I'm not a doctor, so I'm not the person you should come to for any kind of medical advice.
I'd say that of all celebrities who aren't celebrity doctors.
What I will say is that Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is very, very, very tricky to live with.
It's a really, really exhausting condition. It's very, varied.
There are also lots of different types of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
I have EDS 3.
And so what I know is I can't play any contact sports.
I don't have great balance.
I faint most of the times that I get out of bed
because I still get out of bed too fast.
So don't do that because that's really dumb.
And I keep hitting my head when I do that
and push pushback against doctors
and family members and people who don't believe you about your experience,
because I know that it's real
and it's a really, really tricky, invisible illness
and chronic illness to live with.
And you should know that you should treat yourself very tenderly
and not listen to other people
who think that just because you look visibly okay that you are okay.
Know your own boundaries.
Know your own limits,
and know that it's okay to treat yourself so, so tenderly in doing so,
in making all of the right decisions for what is best for you daily for your body.
You will live a longer and better and happier life,
So just treat yourself with care.
You have nothing to be ashamed of.
Also, if you are someone like me who gets lots of swelling in your legs,
I recommend lying on the floor with your legs up against the wall in the middle of the day.
I don't know about the link with, like weight loss and body positivity.
I think that there are healthy ways to lose weight.
And if that is your decision and you're doing it from a place of not hating your body,
then that is okay.
I just think that if you are ever going to try to lose weight for whatever that decision may be,
maybe it's because your joints hurt
and you want to be lighter so that you have less weight on your joints.
I support that.
I'd support anyone's decision to do whatever they want with their body.
Just make sure that you do it slowly and carefully with the help of professionals.
So be that a personal trainer or a nutritionist or a doctor.
Make sure that you are having.
That you are getting advice from people who know how to help regulate you.
Anything quick fix anything that happens very dramatically, very quickly.
Normally will come back and then some and will hurt your organs in the long term
in a way that can often be irreversible.
So don't do it. It's not worth it.
Just take your time and do it for the right reasons.
You don't have to deal with someone calling you hysterical
when you are feeling furious and emphatic about something.
That is not on you to correct your behavior.
It is upon the person who is calling you hysterical.
If you know that you have a reason to be very, very upset about something unjust that is happening,
then you have every right to express that.
And if someone rejects that and then makes you feel bad about it,
then maybe that's someone who doesn't need to be around you for now
until they correct their own behavior.
And is someone who is just willing to listen to you and try and understand your pain, empathize with you and help you through it.
I'm pretty ruthless about that sort of thing.
And as a woman,
I get caught hysterical so often
that it's insane when I'm actually a pretty level person.
My way of dealing with a toxic family is to not talk to anyone who behaves in a toxic manner towards me.
I don't believe in the whole blood is thicker than water shit.
I do the same thing with people in my life who are friends, or my chosen family, or colleagues.
I just believe that each person in your life,
whether or not you are related to them, whether or not you share DNA,
has a social responsibility and duty to treat you with respect.
And if they don't, then you do not have to tolerate their behavior.
You don't have to be around them. You'd have to return their calls.
You can block their number. You should feel no guilt.
Only the person mistreating you should ever feel guilt.
Do whatever you have to do at all times to protect yourself.
There's only so much you can do when someone else is struggling with their mental health.
You cannot save them at the end of the day, really.
It has to come down to someone else wanting to save themselves.
Of course, you can help them access mental health care
or encourage them gently to try therapy or medication
or encourage them away from negative things they do that hurt themselves.
But essentially, you do have to be willing to let someone sit in their own shit.
I don't mean that, literally.
Unless that's their thing.
I just mean you have to let someone kind of come to their own point of realization of when they are ready to get help
because it's a big and difficult journey.
And so you should try and make sure that it doesn't create tension between the two of you
because you want to be there when they get ready to go through that process.
You want to be their ally and their support system.
And I think that it's really important to just try and keep things as calm as possible
and let them know all times you are supportive of their choice
and you are there to help them through their recovery,
but always gently just encourage them towards actual recovery.