Category: Chronic Illness
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Where Do You Go When Your Body Becomes a Cage?
The author shares their journey of living with Addison’s disease, reflecting on feelings of grief, loneliness, and loss of identity. Despite being diagnosed after years of struggle and misunderstanding, they express resilience through writing. They acknowledge the isolation brought on by illness and emphasize that they are not alone in this experience.
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When Safety Returns, So Might I
The author reflects on the connection between illness and unexpressed emotions. They articulate that survival differs from true living and healing cannot occur in turmoil. The hope is for a future where safety allows for gradual healing, transforming feelings of dread into peace and restoring a sense of self and wellness.
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After the Name, Comes the Grief
The author reflects on the deep grief that follows medical validation. After years of struggle, the diagnosis feels paradoxical, bringing relief alongside sorrow for lost time, relationships, and self-identity. This complex emotional journey showcases the coexistence of gratitude for answers and the mourning of everything endured while seeking care.
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What Nearly Killed Me Wasn’t the Illness—It Was the System
The author reflects on their five-year struggle with chronic illness and inadequate medical care. Despite multiple specialists and difficult experiences, they emphasize the ongoing battle against the medical system, marked by negligence and lack of accountability. They seek compassionate, trauma-informed care and highlight the necessity for medical integrity and respect for patients’ suffering.
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Anxious Is the New Hysterical
Jessica Woodville reflects on the historical context of women’s emotions, equating past “hysteria” with today’s labeling of anxiety. She argues that these diagnoses often dismiss deeper issues, particularly when trauma is involved. Women are urged to be believed and listened to, advocating for acknowledgment beyond superficial labels of anxiety.
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I’m Not Failing at Healing: What It Really Takes to Rewire a Trauma-Wired Body
They say healing takes time.But no one talks about what else it takes. It takes energy you don’t have. Support you no longer do. Money that doesn’t exist.It takes silence when you live with chaos, rest when you’re a mother, and trust when your body is still waiting for the next blow. And when talk…
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What I Wish Health Professionals Knew About Trauma
They called it anxiety. They called it depression. But no one asked what happened to me. Here’s what I wish every doctor, therapist, and provider understood about trauma—and what real healing actually takes.
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The Morning Everything Changed
One night, she drifted off — a child spun from stardust and backyard laughter, dreaming of bigger bikes, summer rains, and birthday candles burning too fast. One night, the world was still simple. And then — somewhere between one breath and the next — the earth shifted. She woke up and the world was heavier,…
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This Is What It Cost Me: Five Years, One Body, and a System That Still Won’t Listen
I’ve written about this before—maybe two, three times now. Chronic illness. Storms. Parenting through it. The trauma it leaves behind. But the truth is, every time I write, I hold a piece back. Because reliving it costs energy I barely have. Because writing about being dismissed starts to feel like shouting into a void. But…
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Too Sick to Be Ignored, Too Complicated to Be Helped
After years of mysterious symptoms, trauma-informed insight, and medical dismissal — including at one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country — I’m left wondering if there’s a place for people like me in modern medicine. This is what it’s like to be chronically ill, gaslit, and out of strength.
Jessica Woodville | Memoir & Musings 