Last week, I gave Caleb Wilemon an earful about my experiences with sciatica and sitting disabilities. He didn’t seem to mind too much, though, since he hosts the ConverSapiens Podcast and the whole thing was being recorded. Our conversation was published this morning, in an episode entitled, “Krista Thom: The Woman Who Never Sits.”
Caleb knows a thing or two about strange medical conditions. In a previous episode, he spoke about his issues with minimal change disease, a kidney disorder in which his kidneys mistakenly started filtering protein out of his blood. Fortunately, minimal change disease is easily treatable with corticosteroids. Unfortunately, corticosteroids themselves can cause nasty side effects including edema and massive weight gain.
Caleb experienced full-blown Cushing’s Disease, which is, well, your body on steroids. Symptoms include a distinctive pattern of weight gain, purple stretch marks, easy bruising, and mood and behavioral changes. Cushing’s can also cause menstrual problems in women (although this was not a concern for Caleb).
All of this is to say that Caleb knows what it’s like to feel your body spiral out of control, and to be on the receiving end of people’s judgements.
Since he teaches Spanish during the day, he also knows how uncomfortable it is to stand on aching feet all day. We were perfectly able to commiserate with each other.
Episode Summary
Krista Thom is a woman who has not sat down in nearly 3 years! Due to a sitting disability caused by sciatica, shew must either stand or lie down at all times. Sitting causes her a whole host of issues including extremely painful cramping and eventual sleep deprivation as a result of nights full of pain. Even sitting for a short period of time causes these symptoms for her. In this episode of ConverSapiens, she shares with us about her life full of lots of walking, tons of standing, and some lying down, but no sitting.
Links
If you enjoyed this podcast, you might be interested in these links:
- Sitting Disabilities Facebook group: A great source of information and support for those with sitting disabilities.
- My review of Back Mechanic: This is Dr. McGill’s book which details a spine care plan that includes good spine hygiene, walking, and the Big 3 exercises.
- BackFitPro: Dr. Stuart McGill’s company. This site includes information on his books Back Mechanic and Low Back Disorders, and video and podcast interviews with Dr. McGill.
- Are You Standing in the Red Zone?: My summary of a paper that listed proposed occupational standing limits.
- In 1700, This Guy Knew Standing Was Bad for Your Health: About the first scientific work I’m aware of that listed standing as an occupational hazard.
