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Situation Positive Blog
The Situation Positive blog provides timely articles about living your best life with a chronic illness. Did you know that our co-founder, Matt Cavallo, is one of the top healthcare bloggers in the US? Matt has received numerous awards including Top Health Blog by Healthline and Top Social Healthmaker by Sharecare. Matt writes for the MS Foundation and his freelance work has been featured in prominent news outlets including Boston Globe, US News and World Report, as well as, WebMD.
Our blog will feature some of Matt’s work, but we are also looking for your contributions. Do you like to write about your chronic illness journey? We would love to hear from you! Check out the Positivity Project and contact us today. You can become one of our contributors and showcase your work for all to see!
Situation Positive Blog Articles
Chronic Illness: Why We Don’t Talk About It and What Needs to Change
When you think about it, we talk about everything else. We talk about our families, our jobs, our vacations. But when it comes to chronic illness, we clam up. Why is that? Over 157 million people in the US have 1 or more chronic illnesses and yet we don’t talk about them. Maybe it’s because
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Why Your Man Spends So Much Time in the Bathroom
Urination is an important function of the body, but as men age it can become more difficult, time consuming, and frustrating. Urination may be painful, difficult, or impossible for men due to various causes such as an enlarged prostate due to Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Men tend to suffer in silence with urination problems. A
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 12:31 — 22.9MB)
Why Me? How Did I End Up Diagnosed with a Chronic Illness?
Hey everybody. It’s Matt Cavallo from Situation Positive. I want to talk to you today about putting together the pieces of your chronic illness, where it might’ve come from. How did it get diagnosed? Why was it you who ended up with the condition that you had? I was diagnosed with MS in 2005. And
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What Drug Companies Don’t Want You to Know
Introduction: The high cost of prescription drugs Prescription drug prices have been increasing at alarming rates in recent years, leaving many people struggling to afford the medications they need. The high cost of prescription drugs can have a devastating impact on patients’ health and finances, leading some people to forgo treatment or to ration their
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I am not a Model
Hey everybody, it’s Matt from Situation Positive and I’m not a t-shirt model, but I’ve been getting a lot of comments lately about the t-shirts I wear in my videos. And at Situation Positive, we developed a line of t-shirts. So that way, you know, you could share positive messages with those around you. If
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Belly Fat and Chronic Illness Week 5
Hey everybody. It is Matt Cavallo and I’m checking in with you on my weight loss journey. Now last week ended our medical weight loss journey. That was the first month of the program. Where we were eating certain foods and we were also having medication to help aid us to get the weight loss
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:51 — 10.7MB)
What It’s Like to be Diagnosed with MS
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was May 2005. My wife just woke me up because she was going to work. She was a school counselor and she would leave a lot earlier than I did. So she would wake me up before she left to say goodbye. I had to get up.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:43 — 30.6MB)
Happy Rare Disease Day!
Hey everybody. It’s Matt from Situation Positive, and I want to wish you all a Happy Rare Diseases Day! Did you know that across the world, there are more than 300 million people living with a rare disease? And unlike MS, which I have and is the most common neurological disorder, a lot of people
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:00 — 3.7MB)
How to anticipate stressful events
Hey everybody, it’s Matt from Situation Positive. If you’re living with a chronic illness, like I am, you know, that stress is the enemy. So what are some of the ways you could combat stress? One of the ways, and the way that I want to focus on in this video is to anticipate a
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Walking Stairs with a chronic illness
Hey, it’s Matt from Situation Positive out here on a jungle hike. And we’re on a lot of stairs. Stairs are increasingly tough. Make sure you use the rails. Make sure you look where you’re stepping and if you’re like me, let your family go ahead of you. You’ll get there soon enough. Remember, get
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 0:45 — 1.4MB)
How to turn weakness into strength
Fitness expert, champion bodybuilder, and MS advocate, David Lyons, teaches Matt and Tara the importance of community when starting (and sticking to) a fitness routine when you have a chronic illness. David talks about mindset, goal setting, and the importance of joining the right program. David shares tips from his Optimal Body Personal Fitness program. You can find
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:30 — 24.7MB)
Finding a rare disease specialist when all else has failed
Hey everybody, it’s Matt from Situation Positive. Do you believe that people are put in your path for a reason? I know that I do. I want to share with you a story about a chance encounter I had at a salon a couple of weeks ago with a mother, who had lost all hope
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:08 — 16.7MB)
Belly Fat and Chronic Illness Week 4
Hey everybody. It is Matt Cavallo checking in with you at the end of week four of my weight loss journey. Just to recap, in week one, I started at 243 pounds by BMI and body fat percentage standards. I was obese. I had a problem area, which was belly fat. Belly fat’s a dangerous fat
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:13 — 20.5MB)
How to avoid surprise medical bills
Hey everybody. It is Matt from Situation Positive. And I want to talk to you about something that we all worry about, and that’s a surprise bill from a medical encounter. Now, why might you receive a surprise bill? Let’s say you go to a big physician practice. And your doctor is in-network, but they’re
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:43 — 14.1MB)
Why Community is important to a Fitness Routine
Fitness expert, champion bodybuilder, and MS advocate, David Lyons, teaches Matt and Tara the importance of community when starting (and sticking to) a fitness routine when you have a chronic illness. David talks about mindset, goal setting, and the importance of joining the right program. David shares tips from his Optimal Body Personal Fitness program. You can find
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:27 — 19.1MB)
Chronic Illness Got You Down? Go Be In Nature
Hey everybody. It’s Matt from Situation Positive here, watching the tide roll in and out, kind of like Otis Redding did. Listening to the sound of the waves crashing, feeling the spray at my back. These simple moments in life helps us know that we’re alive. So, if you’re feeling limited. If you feel like
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 0:53 — 1.6MB)
Belly Fat and Chronic Illness Week 3
Hey everybody. It is Matt Cavallo checking in with you at the end of week three of my weight loss journey. Just to recap, in week one, I started at 243 pounds by BMI and body fat percentage standards. I was obese. I had a problem area, which was belly fat. Belly fat’s a dangerous
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:08 — 20.4MB)
Inconvenient Vacation
Hey everybody. It’s Matt from Situation Positive. Earlier this week, I was telling people that I had an inconvenient vacation coming up. I had so many things going on at home. I had so many projects I had to do. And it just wasn’t the right time for me to go on vacation. But now
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 0:51 — 1.6MB)
How to Make a Skilly (Skinny Philly)
Hey everybody, it’s Matt from Situation Positive. For those of you who’ve been following my weight loss journey. I wanted to share a recipe that, that my wife and I came up with. So one of the foods that I really love is a good Philly cheesesteak sandwich. I love the bread. I love the
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:19 — 11.6MB)
How to Build the Mind-Body Connection
Fitness expert, champion bodybuilder, and MS advocate, David Lyons, teaches Matt and Tara how to form the mind-body connection when you have a chronic illness. David talks about mindset, goal setting, and the importance of joining the right program. David shares tips from his Optimal Body Personal Fitness program. You can find David on Facebook where he shares awesome fitness
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:13 — 20.5MB)
Things I Learn from My Sons
Matt: Hey everybody. It’s Matt from Situation Positive. We are at Hapuna Beach on the Big Island of Hawaii. And my son thinks I made very risque for taking the camera in the water. And so I wanted to bring him onto my video here. Would you, would you agree that swimming is a good
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 0:41 — 1.3MB)
Belly Fat and Chronic Illness Week 2
Hey, it is Matt Cavallo from Situation Positive checking in at the end of week two of my medical weight loss journey. Now, if you remember last week, it was, it was week one. We had just kind of started it. I mentioned some of the health reasons that I wanted to go through the
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:05 — 13.0MB)
Don’t Overpay for Prescriptions
Hey everyone. It’s Matt from Situation Positive. And I want to share with you a story of one of our community members that called us in crisis, and we were able to turn the situation positive. So this community member had Crohn’s and was paying $400 a month out-of-pocket for their Crohn’s prescription medication. I
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:19 — 7.9MB)
What do a Volcano and a Chronic Illness have in common?
Hey, it’s Matt from Situation Positive. I am at the Mauna Loa volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. The park was closed so this is as close as I could get. The arrow in the video shows when the vent, or volcano’s opening, is located. What do a volcano and a chronic illness have
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 0:46 — 1.4MB)
How To Put On a Sleep Study Kit
Hey, it is Matt from Situation Positive checking in with you. And it’s about bedtime. And I have to do something interesting tonight. It’s called an at-home sleep study. Did you know that more than 70 million Americans have some kind of sleep disorder? Let me tell you a little bit about mine. So earlier
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:27 — 17.3MB)
Life with a Chronic Illness is a Remarkable Journey
Hey, it’s Matt from Situation Positive. Checking in with the green sea turtles on the black sand beach. These turtles travel a great distance, some over 1,500 miles, to have babies here. It’s really a remarkable journey. Just like the journey you’re on. The journey with chronic illness is remarkable and you never know what
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Starting a Fitness Program When You Have a Chronic Illness
Fitness expert, champion bodybuilder, and MS advocate, David Lyons, teaches Matt and Tara how to start a fitness program when you have a chronic illness. David talks about mindset, goal setting, and the importance of joining the right program. David shares tips from his Optimal Body Personal Fitness program. You can find David on Facebook
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:11 — 26.0MB)
IV Tips: Patient to Patient
Hey everybody. It is Matt from Situation Positive and I’m checking in today from my infusion suite. My type of medication isn’t available to be administered at home. So I go to an infusion suite at a doctor’s office where a nurse administers the IV as an outpatient procedure. I’m here getting my multiple sclerosis
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Belly Fat and Chronic Illness
Hey everybody, it is Matt Cavallo from Situation Positive. I want to talk to you today about a problem that I’ve had over the last two years or so. And that’s with weight gain. I’ve lived a very sedentary lifestyle. We had quarantine. A lot of my work has been sitting at my desk and
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 12:14 — 22.4MB)
Why I push myself to walk every day with a chronic illness
Why does our co-founder, Matt Cavallo, push himself every day to walk with a chronic illness? At age twenty-eight, Matt was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Seemingly overnight he went from a fully-functioning, healthy man to someone who was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down and unable to walk. Matt learned how to walk again in
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What do a Cave and a Chronic Illness have in Common?
Hey everybody! It’s Matt from Situation Positive. I’m at Hapuna beach on the Big Island of Hawaii and on my walk this morning I found a cave. In my mind, there is nothing more symbolistic of living with a chronic illness than being in a cave. It’s dark. It’s lonely. It’s isolated. And I know
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02 — 1.9MB)
How to Minimize Your Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenses with a Chronic Illness
Hey everybody, it’s Matt Cavallo, from Situation Positive. It’s January and that means that your health insurance benefits have reset and you’re going to start having out-of-pocket medical expenses again. Nobody likes those, so I’m going to teach you how to minimize the amount of money that you have to spend out of pocket for
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:09 — 24.1MB)
Introducing Situation Positive
Hello, my name is Matt Cavallo, and I am one of the founders of Situation Positive. Situation Positive is a nonprofit organization that provides a community for people living with chronic illness. Did you know that there are over 157,000,000 million people in the United States alone that have one or more chronic illnesses? Those
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:19 — 11.6MB)
How Matt Turned His Situation Positive
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the spring of 2005, and I was laying in my hospital bed wondering if I was ever going to walk again. A month after my hospital discharge, I was devastated to find out at the follow-up appointment with my neurologist that I had a chronic illness,