Send a text

What happens when your immune system turns on you. And the healthcare system is not built to catch you.

In this episode of Rupture, Nina Scherenberg shares her experience living with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that reshaped her body, identity, and daily life.

She describes the flare that left her unable to sit upright. The long path to diagnosis. The exhaustion of navigating specialists who do not communicate with each other. And the emotional cost of becoming your own case manager.

This conversation explores chronic illness not just as a medical condition, but as a systems rupture. We talk about stress and autoimmune disease, identity shift, self advocacy, and why universal healthcare would radically change outcomes for people living with chronic conditions.

Rupture is a podcast about personal stories that expose systemic breakdown. If this episode moved you, please follow, rate, and share.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BestGuessistan

Subscribe to our Substack: https://bestguessistan.substack.com/

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bestguessistan/

Join the conversation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bestguessistan/

Send a text

Content Note: This episode contains discussion of self-harm, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), eating disorders, and related mental health challenges. If you are in the U.S., call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. If you are outside the U.S., please contact local crisis support services.

What drives self-harm and eating disorders? How do non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), disordered eating, and maladaptive coping mechanisms develop? And why does stigma prevent honest mental health conversations?

In this episode of Rupture, host Wendy Lurrie and her guest explore non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), eating disorders, self-injurious behavior, and mental health stigma through lived experience and psychological insight. They discuss how behaviors often categorized as self-destructive can function as emotional regulation strategies, distress tolerance mechanisms, and attempts to regain control in the face of trauma, overwhelm, or chronic stress.

Topics include:

• Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) vs. suicidal behavior
• Disordered eating, restrictive eating, and eating disorder psychology
• Shame, guilt, secrecy, and cognitive load
• Compulsive behaviors and ritualization
• Perfectionism, control, and societal pressure
• Rupture as the collapse of unsustainable survival strategies

This conversation engages themes relevant to trauma response, affect regulation, behavioral reinforcement, identity formation, and recovery frameworks. It challenges binary thinking around self-harm and eating disorders and calls for more nuanced, evidence-informed public discourse.

Follow Rupture: The World of BestGuessistan for ongoing conversations about mental health, systems, rupture theory, coping psychology, and stigma reduction. Continue the extended written analysis on our Substack. Links below.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BestGuessistan

Subscribe to our Substack: https://bestguessistan.substack.com/

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bestguessistan/

Join the conversation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bestguessistan/

Send us a text

Traumatic brain injury can change everything. Not just how the brain functions, but how a person understands themselves, their limits, and their future.

In this episode of Rupture: The World of BestGuessistan, host Wendy Lurrie is joined by neuro-ophthalmologist Dr. Melody Merati for an honest, deeply human conversation about what TBI really looks like beyond the MRI.

They discuss why traumatic brain injury recovery is rarely linear, why many symptoms never appear on scans, and why patients so often feel dismissed or blamed when healing takes longer than expected. From dizziness and headaches to emotional volatility, sensory overload, and identity shifts, this episode explains the wide range of TBI symptoms and why no two recoveries look the same.

Dr. Merati also addresses the urgent need for patient advocacy and systemic change. From the shortage of neurologists to the spread of misinformation about treatments, the conversation highlights the gaps in care that leave many brain injury survivors navigating recovery alone.

At its core, this episode is about acceptance. Not as resignation, but as a necessary step toward building a meaningful life after rupture.

If you are living with traumatic brain injury, caring for someone with TBI, or trying to understand invisible disability, this episode offers clarity, validation, and language for what you may be experiencing.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BestGuessistan

Subscribe to our Substack: https://bestguessistan.substack.com/

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bestguessistan/

Join the conversation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bestguessistan/