About this episode

The episode discusses the impact of chronic caregiving stress on parents' physical health with insights from Andrea Jones, a registered nurse and special needs parent.

Your body has been keeping score, and it may be time to listen. So many of us are living in a state of constant caregiving stress, navigating the endless layers of raising a differently wired child. We are managing meltdowns, fighting for accommodations, fielding calls from school, and pouring ourselves out day after day. But here is what we do not talk about nearly enough: what all of that stress is quietly doing to our physical health. In this episode, I sit down with Andrea Jones, a registered nurse, functional health practitioner, and fellow special needs parent, to have the honest conversation about what chronic caregiving stress actually does inside our bodies. Andrea spent 15 years in inpatient pediatrics supporting families through health crises before experiencing her own. After her daughter was diagnosed with PANDAS, Andrea watched her own body begin to break down, and she had to completely change how she thought about self-care, resourcing herself, and survival. We talk about the difference between acute and chronic stress, why chronic caregiving stress is so unique and layered, and the three most common physical symptoms she sees in caregiving parents. We dig into…

People in this episode

Host: Penny Williams

Guest: Andrea Jones

Topics covered

• chronic caregiving stress
• parent physical health
• self-care
• acute vs chronic stress
• cortisol
• special needs parenting

Keywords

• caregiving stress
• physical health
• self-care
• cortisol
• special needs
• parenting

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: PANDAS

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