What happens when you're in excruciating pain—but the people who are supposed to help you don't believe you?

In this episode of The Sick and Tired Pod, Mel sits down with Janiya of Pretty Penny Girls Co. to talk about what it’s really like growing up and navigating adulthood with sickle cell disease.

Diagnosed as a baby, Janiya has spent her life learning how to balance chronic pain and unpredictable sickle cell crises with school, work, relationships, and simply being a young person trying to live her life.

She opens up about growing up with classmates who didn't understand her illness, teachers who questioned her symptoms, and the exhausting reality of repeatedly having to prove that she's sick—even with accommodations in place.

Janiya also shares her experiences navigating the healthcare system, including the difficult transition from pediatric to adult care and being stereotyped as “drug-seeking” while seeking treatment for severe pain.

Together, Mel and Janiya talk about invisible illness, medical trauma, self-advocacy, chronic illness and mental health, finding ways to care for their bodies, and why connection with other chronically ill people can be so powerful.

At the heart of the conversation is something that shouldn't be complicated at all: believing people when they tell you they're in pain.

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And remember: we may be sick and tired, but we don’t have to do it alone.