Advocate
In memory of John Ferman, Founder and President of Chronic Pain Partners / EDS Awareness
With heavy hearts we are sharing that our founder and team champion John Ferman has peacefully passed away Tuesday night, November 11, 2025, surrounded by his daughters, Deanna and Deborah. John founded Chronic Pain Partners/EDS Awareness in 2011 in an effort to raise awareness and understanding about EDS and related conditions after his wife Carol […]
“Watch Out For Mum” – Wrongful Child Abuse Allegations Harms Whole Family
Parenting children with Ehlers-Danlos syndromes — or EDS — is a sport on its own. From the moment my children were born, I knew something wasn’t right. They were symptomatic from birth, but for years, doctors couldn’t figure out what was going on. And even when we finally found answers, the hardest battles weren’t against […]
AWOL Zebra Podcast: Building Community (and Laughs) Around EDS
When host CHristie was not able to walk and talk in 2021, she lost the career she had built as a radio DJ. What began as a personal way to process those changes—recording short reflections on living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome—has since grown into AWOL Zebra, a daily podcast that has reached listeners across countries. AWOL […]
Building a Supportive and Caring Medical Team No Matter Where You Live
Guest post by Jon Rodis, President of the Connective Tissue Coalition Finding respectful, knowledgeable care can be difficult, especially for those living with complex or chronic conditions. After years of what I call “the doctor shuffle,” I discovered strategies that helped me strengthen my care and build a supportive medical team. Here are the […]
The Quiet Weight of Chronic Illness Grief
Living with a rare, chronic illness is profoundly isolating—not only physically, but emotionally. Even when surrounded by others, I often feel like a ghost, disconnected from the world around me. I remember sitting at a party, listening to conversations that once felt familiar, and being hit with the stark contrast between their lives and mine. […]
Out of Spoons: A Spoonie-Centered Coloring Book from Author and Artist Jules Machias
Life with chronic illness rarely comes with downtime—or at least, not the kind we choose. For those living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), ME/CFS, lupus, fibromyalgia, autoimmune diseases, or any other related condition that affects your spoons, rest is often a necessity. Author and artist Jules Machias, who lives with EDS, knows this firsthand. Their new […]
Welcome to Lipedema Awareness Month
June is Lipedema Awareness Month. The disease is still widely unknown to people and clinicians. So we are sharing its presentation, how to diagnose and treat it, and, most importantly, how it is connected to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). About Lipedema Lipedema is a complex and poorly understood abnormal fat disease that tends to affect mainly […]
“It’s All in Your Head”: New Study Confirms What hEDS Patients Have Been Told for Decades
A landmark study has revealed what most people with hypermobile EDS (hEDS) already knew since disease onset: a staggering rate of psychiatric misdiagnosis among patients with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS). The study found that 94.4% of patients were initially misdiagnosed with psychiatric conditions—often by physicians without psychiatric expertise—before receiving an accurate diagnosis of hEDS. Many […]
