Content Warning
This episode contains discussion of chronic illness, medical gaslighting, bullying, poverty, disability, depression, suicidal ideation, and extended periods of being bedbound. Listener discretion is advised, especially if these topics are difficult for you. Please take care of yourself while listening.
------
What happens when your life stops — but the world doesn’t?
In this episode of Spitefully Yours, I talk about the years no one prepares you for: late teens and early twenties, when my health collapsed, my future evaporated, and my life was put on hold without consent.
I share what it was like to be bullied relentlessly, to grow up poor and visibly different, to miss school because of chronic digestive issues no one could explain, and to almost not graduate because teachers and doctors alike failed to listen. I talk about leaving home for independence, catching a viral infection that likely triggered a massive immune cascade, and slowly becoming bedbound while being labeled lazy, dramatic, or unmotivated.
This episode goes deep into the emotional cost of being young, sick, and unseen — the shame of not working, the grief of watching everyone else move forward, the loss of identity, time, relationships, and dreams. I talk openly about medical gaslighting, misdiagnosis, fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism, IBS, and what it’s like when your body becomes something you can’t trust anymore.
There’s no toxic positivity here. No inspirational gloss. Just the truth about what it means to survive when survival feels like punishment — and how spite, anger, and stubborn self-belief kept me alive when hope wasn’t enough.
This episode is for anyone whose life is paused.
For anyone who’s been told their labs are “normal” while their world fell apart.
For anyone who needs to hear: I believe you.
Resources mentioned in this episode, including the Spite to Might Playbook, can be found at aliveoutofspite.com. There’s no paywall and no pressure — just tools, language, and solidarity.
Stay alive.
It pisses people off.
Sign up for the mailing list so that you never miss an episode here.
chronic illness
medical gaslighting
fibromyalgia
hypothyroidism
IBS
chronic fatigue
bedbound
disability
life on hold
invisible illness
patient advocacy
misdiagnosis
bullying trauma
mental health
suicidal ideation
grief and loss
identity loss
chronic pain
resilience
survival
dark humor podcast
healthcare trauma
rare disease journey
patient voice
Spitefully Yours podcast
alive out of spite
