Episode 25: Living with Chronic Illness
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Sick of the fatigue and fog? Fed up with the unpredictable flares? Hangry from the super restrictive diets?
Hello, and welcome to the Crunchy Allergist Podcast, A podcast empowering those who like me, appreciate both a naturally minded and scientifically grounded approach to health and healing.
Hi, I'm your host, Dr. Kara Wada, quadruple board certified pediatric and adult allergy immunology and lifestyle medicine, physician Sjogren's patient and life coach. My recipe for success combines, the anti-inflammatory lifestyle, trusting therapeutic relationships, modern medicine, and mindset to harness our body's ability to heal.
Now although I might be a physician, I'm not your physician and this podcast is for educational purposes only.
Welcome back everyone and welcome to our new listeners.
This is the Crunchy Allergist Podcast, where we talk about all things, allergy, autoimmunity, and anti-inflammatory living.
I am super excited and honored today to welcome our guest, who is Nitika Chopra.
She is the founder of Chronicon, which is a media and events company.
She has dedicated her life to elevating the lives of those living with chronic illness.
See Nitika was diagnosed with psoriasis at the early age of 10, and then went on to develop psoriatic arthritis at 19.
So she's lived over 17 years of her being defined by her conditions.
But in 2010, she decided to take all of the lessons from her health journey and all those lessons that had taught her and used those to help others with the creation of her online magazine, Bella life.
Since the start of her entrepreneurial journey, Nitika has hosted her own TV talk show on Z living called Naturally Beautiful, and hosted over 40 events with hundreds of guests in attendance, and has created dynamic partnerships with over 150 brands in the wellness space.
She is an amazing pioneer in this space and I was so honored to meet her through our combined efforts with Aila.
Welcome Nitika, thank you so much for joining me today.
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to be here.
I would love, I know in your bio, we share just a little bit about your story, but how did you end up here?
Oh, gosh, Here like as in the founder of Chronicon, is that what you mean?
Yes. Yes.
I ended up there because I had been doing stuff in content creation.
I had been talking about, self love and beauty and wellness.
I had been a certified life coach. Just done a lot of things that were in those different areas.
I loved doing them, but after a while I felt like I wasn't really speaking to the person that I could help the most.
I felt like I was skirting around it.
Through a lot of introspection and a lot of like discovery on my own of figuring out what it is I really love and what I'm passionate about, I realized that the person who's dealing with chronic illness is the person whose journey I know the most about because I'm 41 now and I've been dealing with chronic illness since I was 10.
I have been dealing with it more than I haven't.
It's just something that is so unique in the ways that we have to navigate our health, but also not unique because there are hundreds of millions of us who are dealing with this.
I just like really wanted to take all of the things that I had learned and if I could help one person feel like they are not weird, abnormal, or there's nothing wrong with them.
That they're having all of these challenging situations or they're feeling gas lit or they're feeling confused or all the things.
If I could just help them even a little bit, like my life would have significant meaning. So yeah, that's why I created my company.
Leaning into your genius zone.
Can you share a little bit for those of the listeners who aren't familiar with Chronicon?
What does that do? What is it?
What is it?
Yeah.
I launched Chronicon in 2019.
We started with a live event and it was really like one of the best days of my life.
It was a sold out event.
We sold out months before the event happened and it was in New York city and it was beautiful.
It was a full day of panels, discussions, really incredible advocates and speakers.
We then pivoted when we had the beautiful pandemic situation happen, that's not been beautiful.
That's been really challenging in a lot of ways.
It was a really interesting opportunity because obviously it was really devastating when I learned that this was happening from a business perspective, but then also as an immune compromise person there's just so much that we've had to process in our community.
It gave me this opportunity though to see, " okay, what is it that my audience really needs?"
If we're not gonna convene and meet in person for a little while.
We've developed this online community, which has been honestly like it's the love of my life.
Like it is just one of the things that I will always be the most proud of because the people in there are just phenomenal.
They are smart, talented, kind, resourceful, strong, and all the things that when you meet a fellow chronic illness warrior, or someone who's dealing with their health in the ways that I know you and I have, it's just there's nothing like that kinship.
You just know each other on a cellular level, like no one else.
To see that happen in the community online from people all over the world, and we have workshops every week, we have, content every single day, but there are like real friendships happening.
There's real camaraderie.
There's real support happening.
That's what it is right now.
We're actually doing our next in person event, May 19th in Brooklyn.
That's gonna be coming up. It'll be here before we know it, I feel like.
That's happening in 2023 and we'll be announcing that and having the website up for that at the top of the year in January.
There's a lot happening.
The base of Chronicon is about shifting culture.
It's about changing this narrative that so many chronically ill folks have.
I know I had this narrative, at least for the first 10 years of being diagnosed, where I felt like all I was was my condition.
Because I had psoriasis from the tip of my foot, to the tip of my head, and I didn't have any clear skin.
Then when I got psoriatic arthritis, my joint started to become deformed.
It was hard to move and the pain, it was constant. It was unrelenting. It was relentless actually is what I meant to say.
Given that, and I know so many people deal with that.
Conditions and symptoms are just literally in your face or figuratively like they just won't quit.
It's really hard to not feel like this is all you are.
Your pain is all you are.
What we're doing at Chronicon is really committing to a profound shift for people to know, you can have this thing going on and we are not ever gonna tell you to slap an affirmation on it and tell you that it's not real, cuz we know it's real.
There's no toxic positivity allowed.
Love it.
I'm also gonna honor that you have so much, that you are also in addition to having a chronic illness.
How can we really elevate you and empower you with programs and workshops and friendship and beauty and all these things to show you that you get to be all of it.
You get to be all of it and you get to honor all of it and it's all valid.
We do that through the work of Chronicon.
I love that. I think one theme that we have come back to time and time again in different applications, is this idea of "and" rather than "or."
Whether it is how you're gonna approach your health and wellness to think of that from the space of abundance or how you see yourself that you don't have to be limited.
Yeah, you don't.
Having so much compassion for the parts of ourselves that feel we do.
I remember that early twenties girl who was like angry that people would tell me I didn't have to be limited.
People would tell me I could have more and I was just like, "you're not in my body. You don't understand. I am in so much pain. Like how could you, how dare you even say that to me?" is like a lot of what I felt.
I had every right to feel that if that was also real, right?
But the amount of beauty and the amount of like expansion and the amount that I have grown as a person, as a woman, as an entrepreneur, as, even as a patient and like the amount that I advocate for myself has just been tremendous.
Once I opened myself up to what if I was more?
What if there was more for me than just being sick?
It's a journey, right?
Sometimes I'm like, "oh gosh, this is a big job I've decided to take on."
Cause shifting that culture.
The other thing is so important to note is that there's so many oppressive systems out there that are designed to keep us not wanting more.
Keep us thinking that we are not more.
And of course, as a woman of color, I'm in multiple, minority groups, but chronically ill folks everywhere are in a minority group in terms of a marginalized group, I should say.
Women, what we have to deal with just not being believed by our doctors.
Just all of that.
It comes into play when we are trying to reshape our mindset and reshape how we treat ourselves and go against all of those systems. It's a big job.
Absolutely.
It's so easy to get stuck in the overwhelm.
I see that too it's one of the little ways I'm trying to make some end roads as in, in medical education, just in the fellows or residents, med students that come across in the clinic, like how can I share with them what it's like to live with chronic illness?
How we can better take care of folks with chronic illness and trying to do that while still working on dismantling my own internalized ableism?
Continuously trying to aim for a little bit of a little bit better, in that regard, every day.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
I think, one of the things to come back to and to counteract that overwhelm that you were describing is what you were talking about empowerment.
Really stepping into that, that self-compassion piece is just, it's huge.
The scientist in me loves it, cuz there's a ton of data to support its use.
But the person in the human in me is " oh gosh, yes, this has just made a huge difference in how I see myself and I've been trying to instill that in my my kiddos too.
Yeah.
I think the thing with that journey is we often get sold this idea that it's like a quick fix or it's once you have compassion, like you're healed or cured or fine or whatever the word is that you would use.
I think it's been really important for me personally, but also just in my advocacy and in my work to say, "No, this is a moment to moment commitment that I have made for myself.
This is not, I woke up on a Monday and I do it for a week.
Now I'm good for the next 40 years. "
No, this is, " I woke up on a Monday at 8 and then like by 8:15 I forget to be compassionate with myself. Then by 8:30 I remember and then by 1230, I forgot again."
It's literally like that every single day.
I think it's been a real big disservice that people haven't been as forthcoming about that and just direct about that, right?
It's like marketing that it's that hard is not the sexiest marketing.
That it takes a crystal or a bath or this one product is much easier.
You know, A 30 day plan.
I think one of the biggest things that I have been working on lately is focusing on the process rather than the result. That idea of this is the journey, not the destination.
That makes a huge difference.
Actually, it sounds like maybe cheesy or like everyone says that, but I think it actually lately especially has really been helping me.
Especially with so much unknown.
I think with our chronic illness journeys there's always that element of unknown, but even more so during the pandemic with so much volatility in the world.
The unknown has been really loud lately, especially in the last couple of years.
I think going back to those basics of,
" Okay, I don't know how I'm gonna get to January in this particular area of my life.
I don't know how this thing is gonna come through.
Or I don't know how my symptoms are gonna change with this new treatment or whatever it might be.
But okay. I know I can take my medication today.
I know I can work out and move my body today.
Okay. I know I can do that.
So let me just do that and then I'm gonna do it again tomorrow and then tomorrow and tomorrow."
It does make me feel more energized when I do that.
So I think that's great.
You think about all of the proverbial spoons I've wasted.
Worrying, sometimes, for things that just never happened.
Being able to at least recognize that and try to halt some of the dead end worrying is helpful.
It doesn't always happen and that's okay. Again, part of the journey.
But just having some awareness of it is pretty, pretty damn powerful.
I agree. I agree.
If folks are looking to join Chronicon or how does that look? What would that experience look like for someone?
We have our conference, which is happening in the Spring.
You can come to that once the tickets are on sale.
But we have Chronicon every single day, which I think a lot of people don't realize, cuz it's just me out there, like telling people with a sign, " come join us!"
I've just hired a marketing person because I'm not a marketer.
I'm just like, "I'm obsessed with this you should join. Come on."
Basically we have a monthly membership, so you can sign up.
It starts at 25 bucks a month so it's less than a dollar a day.
Gosh, that's awesome. Yeah.
They're affordable and I made it affordable.
There's different tiers. There's actually a new tier. We just started that you can actually coach with me one on one as a part of it.
That's obviously more expensive, but it starts at 25.
Everyone gets the same community, whether you have a add on or whatever.
We also have a scholarship program for anyone who needs it.
I know a lot of folks who struggle with chronic illness, are also dealing with a lot of medical debt, a lot of medical bills and it's just never been my thing where I feel that if someone doesn't have dollars, that they don't deserve access, it's just a huge thing for me.
It is my honor to give scholarships away.
I always say, if you wanna be there, you showing up and commenting on people's posts and coming to our zoom, virtual events, and telling people about the community that is paying it forward.
It actually, we're such a small company, it actually really matters to me.
So if you wanna be there and you can't afford it with your dollars, but you have a heart to show up and be a part of it, I urge people to sign up for the scholarship.
It's the sliding scale from zero to $15 a month, depending on what you can afford.
We have that and so you sign up and then you get, we're actually, I haven't even told anybody this yet, but we're gonna be launching a new app.
We're gonna have our own Chronicon app.
Oh, awesome.
That I'm excited about.
Should be really great.
Right now it's through a platform called mighty networks, which is really great and you sign up.
It's also really nice because there's a feed, there's events, there's resources, there's community, there's all.
It's off of social media, it's off of Instagram.
People have given me like a lot of feedback that it's nice.
It's like your own little safe space that you can check in.
The check-in is always gonna be positive and it's always gonna be nurturing and it's always gonna be comforting and supportive.
Whereas like when you go on other platforms, it's like "ugh."
Even like other support groups, like I say that in quotes, cuz I don't really consider us like a traditional support group.
We have support embedded in everything that we do. I think that's been a huge struggle for people.
They assume that every group that's talking about chronic illness is gonna be a super downer and it's gonna be really depressing.
Let me tell you, I agree. I made Chronicon because I can't handle any of those groups.
Me too. I joined a lot of the Sjogren's groups off the bat and thought, "oh, this, might be a great way."
Even though I obviously have some of the academic knowledge, although admittedly did not learn even 10% of what Sjogren's is in my education, but that's a whole nother thing, but I think what I realized was there was just a lot of the, I call it like the negative vortex, like of pulling you down and sometimes almost who has it worse as opposed to like less let's lift each other up.
Yes, this can totally, the circumstances can totally, they can frankly suck.
We don't need to always be positive about it, but there's that line that for me, it was not conducive to a healing space.
Not at all. I joined one support group years ago when I first started, like one of the medications I had to take and I was like, okay, let me join the support group.
I was in there for 24 hours and could not get out fast enough because it was so scary.
Honestly, it was so scary and I'm already scared.
I don't need you to tell me that this is scary. I'm already scared.
Yeah.
I'm trying to lift myself up so why would I go to this group and then feel so scared, so depressed?
One person has a symptom worse. I didn't even know you could get that side effect and now I'm like worried that I'm gonna get the side effect.
Yeah.
Chronicon is somehow I think because I've been incredibly intentional about the space.
It is the space that is not toxic positivity, where we pretend that everything is perfect all the time, but it also is focusing on what's working a lot of the time.
It could be something simple.
I've been having a flare for two weeks and today was the first day I was able to go for a great walk.
I'm just like so happy. I got to see the birds and I got to hang out with my favorite trees.
We've got members all over the world, but there are posts like that.
I'm so happy. Here's a little picture of me on my walk.
It's yes, she had a flare, she also had a great breakthrough today.
Both can coexist.
It's a really fine line.
I think, again, like we are changing the way people interact with us.
We're changing the way we interact with ourselves.
We're changing culture and narratives, and it's a big job, but I think we can do it. Yeah.
Agreed.
If people would love to find you, if they want to get involved, where should they go?
The best place is our Instagram is @chroniconofficial and you also can go to chronicon.co.
The community specifically is thechroniconcommunity.
Which you can get to from all of those different places too.
thechroniconcommunity.com is if you wanna go straight to the community.
You can always DM me, if people are nervous on my Instagram, Nitika Chopra, you can always DM me and people are nervous or have questions about the community.
I'm a small business.
I know sometimes people think Chronicon is this huge company.
I think I really invested in like the branding and things like that.
I tried to make sure it looked, as grand as I know we're meant to be but it's a small company.
It's me out there doing a lot of the work.
Now I've just recently hired a really beautiful freelance team to support in some of the things, which is really great.
I want you to feel like you can reach out and ask me questions and DM me.
I'll support you and whatever's blocking you from joining us.
Let me know and we'll get you situated.
That's that's so awesome.
I think it goes to show like you embody what is so awesome about this chronic illness community.
There's a kind of a sub community we have of physicians with autoimmune conditions and we joke that it's the best community that you never wanted to qualify to join or to be a part of.
The college I went to was too small to have sororities, but it has what I would envision that would be like.
Yeah. Yeah. I feel that too.
We've got cute merch.
We're coming out with more so that's our Chronicon shop.
We deserve to have it be like fun and beautiful and interesting.
We are all of those things.
Why wouldn't our communities reflect that. Yeah. It's, that's really cool. I am so glad to hear that you have that support.
Awesome. Thank you so much.
Would you like to share any parting words or advice to any of our Crunchy Allergist listeners?
Thank you so much for having me.
If you're feeling alone, reach out. Know that you don't have to feel that way.
It's also understandable given everything that we're all going through why that might be how you feel.
But know that there are people out there like me and like you, that, wanna love you up and support you, and hopefully I'll hear from you soon.
Awesome. Thank you so much. I wish you the absolute best and I hope we get to talk again very soon.
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
If you have found this information helpful and empowering, I would strongly encourage you to hop over to *www.crunchyallergists.com* And subscribe to our weekly newsletter where we dive in to all things allergy autoimmunity and anti-inflammatory living.
Thanks so much for tuning in and I look forward to talking again next week.
