BeWell Blog

When you're fighting chronic illness, autoimmune disease, or chemo, "it's just a cold" doesn't even cross your mind. What is so bothersome to everyone else can take you out of commission for weeks or hospitalize you. Your immune system is...

Have you ever noticed how your mood improves when you've spent some time by or in the sea? There actually is some scientific basis to this. The ocean is not just a pleasant picture to us chronically ill folk—it possesses...

Growing up, I had this habit that I now recognize in so many others living with chronic illness - saving the "good stuff" for some perfect future moment that never quite arrives. The Story Behind the Markers I remember the...

But in reality, the day of Valentine's may turn out to be pretty tricky once one has been dealing with some chronic illness. Perhaps on social media, one goes through all these couples all cute and stuff, while you are...

Written by: Amanda Phillips Living with a chronic illness is never easy, but the shorter, darker days of winter can make it especially challenging. A lack of sunlight can leave many people feeling sad, listless, and lethargic—all symptoms of a...

Written by: Amanda Phillips Daylight hours are at a minimum, and temperatures are well below freezing—so, yes, cold and flu season is most definitely here. If you have been diagnosed with a chronic disease or cancer, the cold time of...

Written by: Amanda Phillips While the holiday season is a time of grand celebration, family gatherings, and holiday traditions, for those of us with chronic illnesses, holidays bring added stress, extra exhaustion, and symptom management as we attempt to keep...

Written by: Amanda Phillips To me, living with chronic illness is not just symptom management. I really feel emotional turmoil weighs just as heavy, if heavier. I know the ride that chronic illness can take: anxiety and depression love to...

Written by: Amanda Phillips Living with a chronic illness presents many daily challenges that others may not understand, and exercise is one of these. While it can be hard to exercise when the body is tired, in pain, or stiff,...

Written by: Amanda Phillips It feels so often, living with an autoimmune disease, as if your body is just at war with itself. Inflammation, anxiety, nausea, compromised immunity—managing these symptoms so frequently feels like a balancing act. Most of us...

Written by: Amanda Phillips As the days shorten and temperatures cool, the simple comfort of warmth becomes, quite literally, essential to those of us living with chronic illness. Be it for joint pain, exhaustion, or a seven- or eight-hour hospital...

Written by: Amanda Phillips I know I say no a lot. I know that sometimes, when I actually do show up, I seem exhausted or distant. But when you stop inviting me, it hurts more than you could ever know....