Season 2 | Episode 5: Field Notes from the Oncology Ward

Season 2 | Episode 7: The Weight of Their Words

☎️ Episode 7: The Weight of Their Words What happens when the people meant to heal you become the ones who harm you? This is not a story about weight loss, it’s a story about survival & the cost of being told your body is a problem to fix. At 20 years old, Rachel Blake was told she wouldn’t live to see 30 unless she had bariatric surgery immediately. With no comorbidities and no time for a second opinion, she was rushed into a life altering procedure that left her battling post-surgical complications, chronic deficiencies and a long road to recovery. In this episode of Hysteria Hotline, Vesna, Dr Nurse Paula & Jacky sit with Rachel thirteen years on, as she reflects on the courage it takes to do the slow, painful work of reclaiming her body and her voice. Together they unpack: * How early conditioning to “just trust the experts” can silence self-advocacy especially in women and marginalised people * The devastating consequences of medical coercion and fear-based care * How weight stigma shapes healthcare, turning body size into a moral and medical crisis * Why the absence of informed consent is a breach of medical ethics * The myth that thinness equals wellness Rachel’s journey through medical trauma and recovery reminds us that the body remembers what the system forgets. This episode is a testament to resilience, courage and the radical act of listening to ourselves and to each other. 💌 Subscribe for stories from the unheard, the dismissed, the chronically doubted and the so‑called hysterical. Stay on the line as we continue reclaiming our bodies, our stories and our right to be believed. Listen now → 🎙️ Episode 7: The Weight of Their Words(Available wherever you get your podcasts.) Disclaimer: Hysteria Hotline is for listening, laughing, and occasionally raging, not for medical advice. This podcast contains strong language, sensitive topics, personal stories, blunt opinions, biting truths, and the horrors of the patriarchy. By tuning in, you accept that we’re here to expose bias, share experiences, and spill the tea on medical nonsense — not prescribe treatment, give medical advice or diagnose. If you have health concerns, always seek the guidance of a qualified healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical condition. For everything else like commiseration, validation, and a healthy dose of outrage, then you’re in the right place. Side effects may include laughter, rage, validation, and the sudden urge to demand better care. By listening, you acknowledge that the hosts and producers of Hysteria Hotline are not responsible for any actions taken based on the content of this podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hysteriahotline.substack.com [https://hysteriahotline.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Season 2 | Episode 6: Stop Trying to Fix Me

☎️ Season 2 | Episode 6: Stop Trying to Fix Me Dropping the cure, rewilding the nervous system and trading the “spoon theory” for something a little more honest…the “f*ck bucket”. In this episode, Vesna and Jacky sit down with Lori Glazebrook, a somatic practitioner who spent decades navigating chronic pain while being handed the same answer on repeat, you’re fine. She was not fine. She was just really good at being dismissed. A hysterectomy, a series of complications nobody prepared her for and finally, three diagnoses, peripheral neuropathy, POTS and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. The relief didn’t last long, because after then came the real work of learning to live in a body the world wasn’t built for. Rewilding a nervous system that had been held in captivity for years. And somewhere along the way, swapping I’m going to be productive today for something that actually felt true, I’m going to be creative today. We explore what happens when you stop chasing a cure and start learning to live. Lori shares her journey through nervous system rewilding, a lot of unlearning and an energy management system she calls the f*ck bucket…spoon theory, it is not. Together we unpack; * Why the obsession with cure keeps patients stuck * Disability as grief, as gift and as identity, holding it all without letting the pursuit of a cure taking the wheel * What it looks like to stop apologising for your body and start listening to it instead * Captivity culture vs. liberation and what it actually means to choose the latter * The “f*ck bucket” energy management system and why it works * Capitalism, productivity, and the poem that cracked something open “Stop trying to fix me. Help me learn how to be with this reality.” This episode is about more than chronic illness. It's about identity, autonomy, and the quiet act of deciding that your body, exactly as it is, is worth being with. Stay on the line. 💌 Subscribe if you've ever been sent home with a shrug, told it was stress, or made to feel like the problem was you. It was never you. Stay on the line. Listen now → 🎙️ Episode 6: Stop Trying to Fix Me (Available wherever you get your podcasts.) Guest Info/Resources: Lori Glazebrook - Somatic Practitioner My work goes beyond mapping and naming—as a somatic practitioner I help people deconstruct the nervous system patterns that keep the cycle going—the functional freeze, the burnout, the self-doubt—I help people access their inner-agency and authority, so they have the capacity to live a full life. I also work as a consultant to organizations who want to create cultures of liberation and care for their people. You can find the Raised in Captivity framework and find out how to work with me at rewildingthenervoussystem.com [https://rewildingthenervoussystem.com] and follow my weekly Substack, Reflections From the Roots [https://substack.com/@reflectionsfromtheroots] to learn more. https://www.loriglazebrook.com [https://www.loriglazebrook.com] https://rewildingthenervoussystem.com [https://rewildingthenervoussystem.com] https://substack.com/@reflectionsfromtheroots [https://substack.com/@reflectionsfromtheroots] Disclaimer: Hysteria Hotline is for listening, laughing, and occasionally raging, not for medical advice. This podcast contains strong language, sensitive topics, personal stories, blunt opinions, biting truths, and the horrors of the patriarchy. By tuning in, you accept that we’re here to expose bias, share experiences, and spill the tea on medical nonsense — not prescribe treatment, give medical advice or diagnose. If you have health concerns, always seek the guidance of a qualified healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical condition. For everything else like commiseration, validation, and a healthy dose of outrage, then you’re in the right place. Side effects may include laughter, rage, validation, and the sudden urge to demand better care. By listening, you acknowledge that the hosts and producers of Hysteria Hotline are not responsible for any actions taken based on the content of this podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hysteriahotline.substack.com [https://hysteriahotline.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Season 2 | Episode 5: Field Notes from the Oncology Ward

☎️ Episode 5: Field Notes from the Oncology Ward When you’ve spent decades studying how humans build hierarchies and power structures and then you find yourself inside one, you start taking notes. In Episode 5, Vesna, Jacky & Paula sit down with Karin Costenoble, former anthropologist, systems lover and ongoing breast cancer patient who shares her experience navigating cancer care in Australia. What unfolds in this episode is not just a cancer story. It’s a systems story. Karin was diagnosed just over 12 months ago and what followed was a crash course in medical hierarchy, siloed communication, conflicting specialist opinions, a treatment plan delivered by text messaged and a language that somehow still finds a way to call breasts “dense”, a uterus “bulky” and a cervix “incompetent.” Karin coped the way she knew how. She observed, she documented, she bought stationery. There were notebooks, there were tabs, there was a ring binder and when things started to get serious, the clipboard eventually came out. Because when the system doesn’t hand you a map, you make one. This episode moves beyond one diagnosis and into something bigger, the anthropology of modern medicine. Together we unpack; * The quiet indignities embedded in medical terminology. * How “standard of care” seems to depend on which surgeon you see. * The hierarchy embedded in hospital systems. * The emotional labour placed on patients to “manage” their own care. * And the simple fixes that could exist if systems valued patient experience as much as surgical throughput. We talk about simple solutions, checklists, follow-ups, standardised education and why they remain inconsistently applied. Because the issue isn’t a lack of resources. It’s a lack of integration. Karin is still currently in the depths of treatment. This isn’t a retrospective critique from safe distance, it’s field notes written in biro, sometimes through gritted teeth, inside the system itself. This is not a rant, it’s a systems audit. Because systems don’t improve without critique and patients shouldn’t need anthropology training or a clipboard to survive them. 💌 Subscribe for honest audits of women’s healthcare, invisible labour, medical hierarchy, and the design flaws we’re no longer whispering about. Stay on the line. Listen now → 🎙️ Episode 5: Field Notes from the Oncology Ward (Available wherever you get your podcasts.) Resources: Cancer Council Australia https://www.cancer.org.au [https://www.cancer.org.au] Cancer Australiahttps://www.canceraustralia.gov.au [https://www.canceraustralia.gov.au] National Breast Cancer Foundation Australia https://nbcf.org.au [https://nbcf.org.au] Breast Cancer Network Australiahttps://www.bcna.org.au [https://www.bcna.org.au] Think Pink Foundation (Breast Cancer Care & Support)https://www.thinkpink.org.au [https://www.thinkpink.org.au] McGrath Foundation: Cancer Care Support & Awareness https://www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au [https://www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au] Disclaimer: Hysteria Hotline is for listening, laughing, and occasionally raging, not for medical advice. This podcast contains strong language, sensitive topics, personal stories, blunt opinions, biting truths, and the horrors of the patriarchy. By tuning in, you accept that we’re here to expose bias, share experiences, and spill the tea on medical nonsense — not prescribe treatment, give medical advice or diagnose. If you have health concerns, always seek the guidance of a qualified healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical condition. For everything else like commiseration, validation, and a healthy dose of outrage, then you’re in the right place. Side effects may include laughter, rage, validation, and the sudden urge to demand better care. By listening, you acknowledge that the hosts and producers of Hysteria Hotline are not responsible for any actions taken based on the content of this podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hysteriahotline.substack.com [https://hysteriahotline.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Season 2 | Episode 4: Limits of Our Language

☎️ Episode 4: Limits of Our Language In this episode, we unpack a central truth; language doesn’t just describe reality, it constructs it, and in healthcare and helping systems, that construction is shaped by power. Vesna, Jacky & Dr. Nurse Paula are joined by Maria Papadontas, a mother, social worker of nearly 30 years, trauma counsellor, and somatic-based trauma-informed yoga teacher, for a conversation that moves between culture, migration, medicine, and the body. Maria reflects on connection as something we are wired for, yet increasingly distanced from by fast-paced systems, productivity culture, and institutional structures that prioritise throughput over presence. From growing up in Australia to living in Greece, she shares how culture shapes belonging and how language shapes what feels possible. At the heart of this episode is an exploration of discourse in healthcare. How women’s bodies have historically been framed as emotional, hormonal, unreliable. How those narratives seep into clinical spaces. How power shows up quietly, in tone, in documentation, in what gets written down and what gets dismissed. Together, the conversation explores what happens when women preface their pain with apology.“I’m sorry.”“It’s probably nothing.”“I know you’re busy.” And what it means when tears in a woman confirm a narrative, but tears in a man signal severity. At the heart of this episode is repair as practice. Not being nice. Not being perfect. But staying. Sitting in discomfort. Naming mistakes. Allowing both stories to exist in the same room. Together, they unpack: • How language shapes embodied authority • The impact of cultural and colonial narratives on care • Why women pre-discredit themselves in medical spaces • The power of rupture and repair in therapeutic relationships This episode is about slowing down inside systems that reward speed and choosing connection anyway. 💌 Subscribe for honest conversations on women’s health, invisible illness, trauma, systems and healing. Stay on the line with us as Season 2 continues to unfold. Listen now → 🎙️ Episode 4: Limits of Our Language (Available wherever you get your podcasts.) Disclaimer: Hysteria Hotline is for listening, laughing, and occasionally raging, not for medical advice. This podcast contains strong language, sensitive topics, personal stories, blunt opinions, biting truths, and the horrors of the patriarchy. By tuning in, you accept that we’re here to expose bias, share experiences, and spill the tea on medical nonsense — not prescribe treatment, give medical advice or diagnose. If you have health concerns, always seek the guidance of a qualified healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical condition. For everything else like commiseration, validation, and a healthy dose of outrage, then you’re in the right place. Side effects may include laughter, rage, validation, and the sudden urge to demand better care. By listening, you acknowledge that the hosts and producers of Hysteria Hotline are not responsible for any actions taken based on the content of this podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hysteriahotline.substack.com [https://hysteriahotline.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Season 2 | Episode 3: Nurse Mildred & The Responsibility Thread

☎️ Season 2 | Episode 3: Nurse Mildred & The Responsibility Thread If you’ve ever powered through exhaustion, been praised for coping or your body whispered slow down and then eventually screamed it, this space is for you. In this episode of Hysteria Hotline, we welcome back Thea Baker, a trauma-focused somatic psychotherapist, counsellor, and PhD researcher at Deakin University, who first joined us in Season 1 for The Imposter [https://hysteriahotline.substack.com/p/season-1-part-2-episode-7-the-imposter?r=2m32md]. This time, we meet her on the other side of a clinical trial, a transcontinental caregiving trip and a body that said “enough.” After months of holding space professionally, parenting, navigating aging parents, and carrying the invisible labour that so many women know intimately, Thea returned home to Australia and collapsed into forced rest. Infection. Inflammation. Antibiotics. Corticosteroids. A system that had quietly accumulated more than it could metabolise. Together, they unpack: * The lifelong thread of over-responsibility * Being the emotional regulator in your family of origin * The sandwich generation squeeze, adult children and aging parents * When burnout turns into bodily shutdown * The grief of not launching into the New Year at full speed * And the radical practice of asking: Is this actually mine to carry? Thea shares the moment she caught herself holding other people’s imagined sadness and chose gently to put it down. The practice of interrupting the default and the power of naming parts. Where even Nurse Mildred, a caregiving alter who gets shit done, makes an appearance. There is laughter. There is grief. There is the messy in-between of shedding skins and renegotiating who we are as daughters, mothers, carers, professionals and women moving through another round around the sun. We explore what it means to stop logging ourselves to death. To notice the voice that says “What about them?” and gently respond, “Not mine.” To sit in disappointment without turning it into failure. To refine instead of shame. This is a conversation about capacity. About boundaries that evolve. About inherited expectations we never signed. About forced rest as initiation. About being the lizard in the Australian summer instead of the martyr at the altar of productivity. 💌 Subscribe for conversations on women’s health, invisible labour, trauma, caregiving and the quiet rebellions that change everything. Listen now → 🎙️ Episode 3: Nurse Mildred & The Responsibility Thread (Available wherever you get your podcasts.) Guest Info/Resources: Thea Baker - Thea Baker Wellbeinghttps://www.theabaker.com.au [https://www.theabaker.com.au]https://www.instagram.com/theabakerwellbeing [https://www.instagram.com/theabakerwellbeing] Disclaimer: Hysteria Hotline is for listening, laughing, and occasionally raging, not for medical advice. This podcast contains strong language, sensitive topics, personal stories, blunt opinions, biting truths, and the horrors of the patriarchy. By tuning in, you accept that we’re here to expose bias, share experiences, and spill the tea on medical nonsense — not prescribe treatment, give medical advice or diagnose. If you have health concerns, always seek the guidance of a qualified healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical condition. For everything else like commiseration, validation, and a healthy dose of outrage, then you’re in the right place. Side effects may include laughter, rage, validation, and the sudden urge to demand better care. By listening, you acknowledge that the hosts and producers of Hysteria Hotline are not responsible for any actions taken based on the content of this podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hysteriahotline.substack.com [https://hysteriahotline.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]