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.
I realize that in most of my columns I’ve talked about my injured ankle and knee, as those are the wounds I’ve been having the most trouble with following my fall off Spotty in November. Honestly, though, the joint that by far tends to cause me the most trouble…
The past two weeks have been a bit crazy. The owner of the farm where I live had ACL and meniscus reconstruction surgery, so I’ve been doing more farm chores, like I do when she’s away. As I’ve talked about in earlier…
Last week, I shared a positive update about my new horse, Cherry. A few days later, Spotty had his six-month checkup for his ligament injury. We got good news from the vet! He’s healing well enough that we can move to the next phase of his rehab,…
Last weekend was my first show after falling off my horse last November and badly spraining my right ankle and left MCL. It also was my first show with my new horse, Cherry.
Pants. For many years, women rallied for the ability to wear pants instead of skirts and dresses. As an extremely active individual, most of the time I fall into the category of women who prefer to wear pants rather than skirts. I get tired…
Perhaps one of the toughest things about Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is the chronic fatigue. It’s invisible, so those around you often don’t understand, and we live in a fast-paced world where there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I work full time as a college counselor at a…
As I’ve shared before, Pilates has been an enormous help in managing my Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). Although I was introduced to it as recently as December, I have noted improvements in my pain level after only a few sessions. The fact that I can actually do Pilates doesn’t make…
When you live on a farm, you are witness to many bizarre events. Animals are amazing and wonderful, but they have their moments and a baffling knack for getting into unusual situations. I have an apartment on a 17-acre horse farm that also has pigs, ducks, chickens, dogs, cats,…
I can manage to do most of what I want to, despite my Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Sometimes, though, I have to get creative to pull it off. Because my joints are too loose, my muscles overcompensate by tightening up — that’s one of the reasons why massage is so helpful.
Overall, things have been going great in my life. My new horse Cherry is learning quickly, my other horse Spots is healing, and Pilates and massages generally keep me pretty well put together. Nevertheless, at times my body decides it just doesn’t feel like cooperating and rebels. As…
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