Chronically Glitched Podcast ( M.E / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome )

Martina

Chronically Glitched: A Digital Diary New Episodes every 2nd Sunday. A raw, working-class account of life with ME/CFS, no sugarcoating, no recovery fantasies, no safety net. This is the real version of chronic illness: the collapse, the grief, the complete destruction of identity, and the fight to build a life that still feels like yours. Honest but never cruel, darkly funny, emotional, human. A place where your feelings are seen, heard, and understood. Website: https://sites.google.com/view/chronically-glitched-podcast/home Buy Me A Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/chronicallyglitched

  1. Aug 9

    A Lot of Lestat: Wellness, Wobbles & Vampires

    This week, there’s actually something to celebrate! Chronically Glitched has been ranked number 7 on Feedspot’s list of the Best ME/CFS Podcasts. I’m absolutely chuffed to have made the list, so thank you to everyone who listens, follows, shares or has found their way to this little digital diary. Feedspot – Best ME/CFS Podcasts We also talk about my home wellness day – my attempt at creating my own little retreat without having to leave the house. We chat about what I got up to, what worked for me and some of the different therapies and techniques we’ve been looking into, including red light therapy, meditation and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). If you want to see some of the photos from my home wellness day, you can find them here: Facebook We also get into something a bit heavier this week: the mental and emotional side of living with ME/CFS. I talk about the grief I still feel for the life I had before becoming ill, the things I’ve lost and how difficult it can be to come to terms with a life that looks completely different from the one I expected. I’ve finally asked for some help with that and requested to speak again to a clinical psychologist specialising in ME. I talk about how much seeing a clinical psychologist through the ME service helped me in the past, and why I feel like I need that support again now. We also chat about CBT and some of the resources available online. The NHS has free self-help CBT information and exercises through Every Mind Matters, as well as information about accessing NHS Talking Therapies: NHS – Self-help CBT techniques:https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-wellbeing-tips/self-help-cbt-techniques/ NHS – Talking Therapies:https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/talking-therapies/ And, of course, we finish with our recommendations – including my latest obsession, Interview with the Vampire, and particularly the utterly brilliant, beautiful, terrifying and completely unhinged Vampire Lestat. In fact, I’m currently sat here in my Vampire Lestat T-shirt while writing up these episode notes, which probably tells you everything you need to know about how that obsession is going. Chronically Glitched: A Digital Diary is my honest account of living with ME/CFS and chronic illness – the good bits, the awful bits, the ridiculous bits and everything in between. Available on all good podcast platforms. #MECFS #ChronicIllness #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #ChronicallyGlitched

  2. Jul 12

    #Martina'sMissing & The Life I'm Waiting Around For

    This week I’m talking about something that’s been on my mind a lot lately. It struck me recently that if you scroll back through our family WhatsApp group, I’m hardly in any of the photos anymore. It’s not because anyone’s left me out. It’s because I haven’t been well enough to be there. I ended up calling it #Martina’sMissing because that’s exactly what it feels like. After a while, you realise you’ve quietly disappeared from family memories. That was one of the reasons I decided to see everyone when they came to visit. I was fed up of always being the one who wasn’t there. As expected, I had the delayed crash afterwards. I was already in PEM when the heatwave arrived, which made coping with the hot weather even harder. I also talk about eating a whole tub of ice cream, the vasovagal response that followed and what that actually is. I’ve started tapping (EFT) again, so I talk about why I’ve decided to give that another go. The biggest thing I’ve been thinking about is whether I need to stop waiting for the day I get better before I start living the life I’ve got now. That doesn’t mean giving up hope. It means trying to find some peace with where I am now instead of always thinking, “I’ll do that when I’m better.” As always, this is just my experience of living with severe ME/CFS. Check out us on Spotify for links to recommendations #ChronicallyGlitched #Martina’sMissing #MECFS #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #ChronicIllness #InvisibleIllness #SevereME #Housebound #PEM #PostExertionalMalaise #Vasovagal #Grief #Acceptance #BigFinish #DoctorWho #AudioDrama #Podcast

  3. May 31

    The Holiday Crash ( M.E / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome )

    In this episode Mum and me talk about our little holiday to Marske and how it actually went in reality. We talk about the good moments, the bits where I managed to feel a little more normal again, and then the aftermath afterwards and how long it took my body to recover from pushing beyond its limits. We end up talking a lot about family health and the strange ways illness and certain traits seem to pass through generations. Mum talks about things she later discovered about her grandma and how many similarities there are between different members of the family, from bowel problems and diverticulitis to the way our bodies seem to react to stress and illness in similar ways. It becomes a bigger conversation about genetics, inherited health issues, and how families slowly piece these patterns together over time. We also talk honestly about ME/CFS treatments, symptom management, and the reality that most people with chronic illness spend years trying different things hoping for improvement. Some things can help a bit, some things help certain people more than others, but there still isn’t a cure. We discuss pacing, rest, and why protecting your energy becomes one of the biggest parts of surviving with this illness. Another big part of the conversation is work and the damage that can happen when you spend every bit of energy trying to prove you can still keep going. We talk about how work can end up taking everything from you. You force yourself to show up, push through, and hold yourself together for work, but then there’s nothing left afterwards for family, hobbies, relationships, or yourself. The crash comes later, behind closed doors. We also mention one of the support groups I’m part of, Brain Health Breakthrough CIC, and how important it can be to find people who genuinely understand this illness and the reality of living with it day to day. You can find them here:https://brainhealthbreakthrough.co.uk And as always, we finish with the things that have been keeping us company lately.

  4. May 17

    This is Also M.E, Crashing with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Real Time

    Episode 13: This Is Also ME, Crashing with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Real Time This wasn’t supposed to be the next episode. Mum and me were due to record properly, but I’ve been really unwell, and instead of disappearing for weeks until I could manage a full episode, I wanted to leave something honest behind in the gap. So this is a shorter episode. About half an hour. Recorded while I’m in the middle of feeling properly rough after family visits, overstimulation and trying to recover again out in the garden. I think it’s important to capture these moments too. Not just the “best version” of chronic illness where you can tidy yourself up enough to speak clearly and sound normal for an hour. Sometimes ME is unpredictable. Sometimes it pulls the rug completely. Sometimes all you can do is sit outside and try to calm your nervous system back down again. This episode is basically a little bridge between now and the next full episode. But it’s also probably one of the more accurate snapshots of what living with ME actually feels like day to day. #MECFS #ChronicIllness #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #InvisibleIllness #DisabledCreator #Spoonie #ChronicFatigue #PodcastUK #MentalHealth #HealthPodcast #ChronicIllnessPodcast #MELife #NeuroimmuneDisease #Housebound #PostExertionalMalaise #PEM #ChronicallyGlitched #MECFSAwareness #RealLifeWithME #PodcastRecommendation #BritishPodcast #YorkshirePodcast #DisabilityAwareness #LivingWithME

About

Chronically Glitched: A Digital Diary New Episodes every 2nd Sunday. A raw, working-class account of life with ME/CFS, no sugarcoating, no recovery fantasies, no safety net. This is the real version of chronic illness: the collapse, the grief, the complete destruction of identity, and the fight to build a life that still feels like yours. Honest but never cruel, darkly funny, emotional, human. A place where your feelings are seen, heard, and understood. Website: https://sites.google.com/view/chronically-glitched-podcast/home Buy Me A Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/chronicallyglitched

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