Chronically Glitched: A Digital Diary
New Episodes every 2nd Sunday.
A raw, working-class account of life with ME/CFS, no sugarcoating, no recovery fantasies, no safety net. This is the real version of chronic illness: the collapse, the grief, the complete destruction of identity, and the fight to build a life that still feels like yours. Honest but never cruel, darkly funny, emotional, human. A place where your feelings are seen, heard, and understood.
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/chronically-glitched-podcast/home
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This week, Mum and I go right back to the beginning and talk about our very first jobs, both of which happened to be in Sheffield, and what our first experiences of working life were actually like.
I tell Mum how the caravan holiday went, and about trying to juggle enjoying a change of four walls and some family time with Gary and Gabriel while being desperately exhausted and asleep for a lot of it. There were plans for fish and chips, exploring the site and making the most of being away… but ME had other ideas.
We also talk about our sister cats and the fact that, despite living completely separate lives, they’ve somehow both turned out equally strange.
Then there’s the spider incident. I walked through a web in the garden and, out of Gary, Gabriel and Red, it was Red who immediately sensed that something wasn’t quite right with me. Unfortunately, Red’s response to something being wrong is less concerned companion and more identify the threat and attack it.
We also get into those repetitive words, phrases and bits of songs that can get stuck in your head — intrusive, persistent and seemingly impossible to switch off.
And Mum asks what I actually do when I’m so poorly that I can’t face anything at all — no TV, no watching something, not even audio. That leads us into visualisation, imagination and dreaming, and the places your own mind can take you when the outside world is simply too much.
Plus, as always, we finish with what we’ve been watching, listening to and recommending lately.
#ChronicallyGlitched #MECFS #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #ChronicIllness #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #LivingWithME #InvisibleIllness #ChronicIllnessLife #Disability #DisabledLife #Spoonie #SpoonieLife #PEM #PostExertionalMalaise #ChronicFatigue #MEAwareness #ChronicIllnessPodcast #DisabilityPodcast #Podcast #UKPodcast #PodcastRecommendations #MotherAndDaughter #LifeWithChronicIllness #CaravanHoliday #Cats #CatStories #Dreaming #Visualisation #IntrusiveThoughts #Earworms
19 Sept 2026
Before ME There Was Me, Gail, Madonna and Kylie
Before ME There Was Me, Gail, Madonna and Kylie
This week I’m joined by my lovely friend Gail, someone who’s known me through a lot of different versions of my life.
We take a trip down memory lane and revisit some of the things we used to get up to — our annual trips away, seeing Madonna, a very drunken Kylie concert that neither of us can remember quite as well as we probably should, ending up in a drag bar attempting karaoke when we could barely talk, never mind sing, and plenty of other memories from over the years.
We also talk about our friendship, how life has changed as we’ve got older, and the huge difference ME has made to what I’m able to do and what our friendship looks like these days.
There’s lots of laughing, reminiscing and probably a few stories we’d have been better off keeping to ourselves.
A catch-up with an old friend, a look back at life before chronic illness changed everything, and another little piece of my Chronically Glitched life.
#ChronicallyGlitched #MECFS #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #ChronicIllness #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #InvisibleIllness #LivingWithME #ChronicIllnessLife #Disability #DisabledLife #Spoonie #SpoonieLife #LifeWithChronicIllness #Podcast #PodcastUK #UKPodcast #ChronicIllnessPodcast #PersonalPodcast #DigitalDiary #Friendship #OldFriends #LifeBeforeME #LifeBeforeChronicIllness #Nostalgia #Memories #Madonna #KylieMinogue #ConcertMemories #GirlsTrips #FriendshipMemories
6 Sept 2026
12 Days for the Crime of Leaving the House
12 Days for the Crime of Leaving the House
This episode, I’m talking about what happened when I dared to leave the house and try being a normal human being for two hours — and ended up sentenced to 12 days of PEM for my crimes.
I talk about what those 12 days actually felt like, both physically and emotionally, and the point where I was just really bloody upset and grieving the life ME has taken away from me.
There was also the small matter of my leg deciding it no longer wanted to behave like my leg, another blood-pressure drop, crawling upstairs, the stroke clinic getting involved and finally having a CT scan of my brain — which, thankfully, came back normal.
I also had an appointment with the ME/CFS clinical psychologist to talk through how things have been and the impact the illness is having on me. I found out there’s around a year’s waiting list for one-to-one support, with group sessions likely to be available sooner.
That led me to self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies, where I was genuinely surprised to see chronic fatigue syndrome specifically mentioned as a long-term health condition they may be able to support people with.
NHS Talking Therapies – find your local service and self-refer:
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/mental-health-services/find-nhs-talking-therapies-for-anxiety-and-depression/ (https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/mental-health-services/find-nhs-talking-therapies-for-anxiety-and-depression/)
There’s also talk of eConsults, Mum’s trip to the dentist, and the usual Mum & Me wandering off in whatever direction the conversation takes us.
And, because I need some escapism from all of this, I share what’s been keeping me company lately — Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, Big Finish’s The Eleventh Doctor Adventures: Hidden in Plain Sight, Mad Men, far too much Love Island USA, and disappearing into Ghost of Yōtei whenever my hands will let me.
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