An avid equestrian and educator, Karen has been a columnist at BioNews — the publisher of this site — since 2019. She was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome in 2009 after years of searching for a diagnosis that explained her symptoms. Karen enjoys working with her students, riding and caring for her two horses (Cherry and Spotty), and connecting with others in the rare disease community through her writing.
Fall in the college counseling profession is like running the proverbial rat race. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day for the amount of work that needs to be done. Students procrastinate and need help at the last minute. Students who don’t…
I’ve made a lot of progress in learning how to manage Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), but I still experience pain flares. My most recent flare improved dramatically after a massage. I was mostly back to normal (at least my version of normal), but then I went to a conference. I…
The past few weeks have been a total whirlwind. I’m a college counselor at a local high school, so September and October are the busiest months for me. They lead up to Nov. 1, which is a major college application deadline. I’m slammed with work and also trying to train…
Life never seems to slow down. Every time I think I have time to take a breath and catch up around the house (you know, cleaning, laundry, dishes …), it’s bedtime and I still have a long list of uncompleted chores. That used to cause…
So after last week’s frustration, this week was about refocusing and figuring out what my “side road” would look like. I don’t respond well to the feeling that my Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is keeping me from doing something…
Generally speaking, I’m not someone who gets angry. It’s just not my style. I like being productive in all aspects of my life, and I feel that anger is counterproductive. Now, I say that, but I get easily frustrated, which one could argue isn’t far off from anger. But that’s…
Things just don’t slow down for me this time of year. Break? What’s that? The school year is starting. It’s college application season for my seniors, competition season for me, and I’m teaching an additional class this year on top of my already hectic schedule. Sheesh. Sometimes I wonder how…
I wrote about it in a previous column, but seriously, how did summer go by so quickly? Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll be thrilled when fall and winter get here — I’d rather have cold weather than hot any day — but it seems as if the summer’s…
I can’t believe it’s the middle of August. Where did the summer go? On Monday, I returned to work as a college counselor for high school students, yet graduation seems as if it were yesterday. I’ve been super busy this summer, but it’s been good. …
A couple of months ago, I started to reduce my dairy intake simply because I’m not a fan of factory farming practices. I hadn’t intended to stop eating dairy altogether, but I wanted to choose produce from smaller and more humane farms. I had noticed…
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