SI Swim Search's Gigi Robinson Opens Up About Experience with Chronic Illness
The 24-year-old was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.
Gigi Robinson was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a group of inherited disorders that affect connective tissue, at 11 years old. But she hasn’t let it stop her from achieving her dreams.
The 2022 SI Swim Search finalist became a “Gen-Z thought leader and chronic illness advocate” and a student at the University of Southern California on track to receive her Master’s in innovation design, business, and technology.
Yesterday, the 24-year-old opened up about her recent struggles with EDS on Instagram.
“Hi party people. It’s been some time since I’ve openly discussed my chronic issues here. But I’ve been struggling. A lot,” she wrote. “From the outside, things probably looked fine. I smile & laugh, often. But inside I’m having an extremely challenging time. You might be wondering how I “do it all” or how I am “the busiest person you know,” but the truth is, I have an amazing team helping me as I go. Providing me with the time, space & energy to show up & work but also take time to rest.”
View the original article to see embedded media.
Robinson continued: “I push myself to go, and get things done, because what other choice do I have? Being a creator means being my own boss. Which means breaks but also 24/7 attention to detail. At least at this stage of my creator journey,” she said. On each episode of her podcast, she speaks to different Gen-Z change-makers and creative innovators across various social advocacy platforms to “deconstruct ways to navigate the world to make a more positive and impactful future.”
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
The Everything You Need Is Within You podcast host explained that she has been “stuck in the doctor Olympics.” After seeing a chronic pain specialist, an integrative medicine doctor, a neurologist, a dermatologist, a women’s health specialist, a psychiatrist, a dietician, an endocrinologist, a GI specialist, an allergist, and even a holistic medicine doctor, no one has “figured it out.”
“Living with EDS is annoying to be blunt. After a year on pain meds, my body has recently been presenting a variety of issues. EDS is dynamic. It ebbs and flows, causing pain without a direct source,” she wrote.
“I have not shared my chronic health journey in some time, because I was doing so well for a year. And I got comfortable living in a body that allowed me to do more than I could before, thanks to the pain meds I was on. But now, I’m going through it. Again. It’s the same cycle I went through when I hit my burnout back in 2019. And it sucks to come to terms with it being absolutely imperative for me to slow down.”
Robinson's "limit" isn't static; she described how the level of activity her body can handle varies daily. She's tracked her “breaking points” and, with the help of her doctors, tested a myriad of ways to prevent flare-ups and “live life better.”
John Lamparski/Getty Images
Over the past few years, Robinson has become a face for people with illnesses wanting to live an ambitious life–a role she doesn't take lightly.
Robinson concluded: “So if you’re struggling, especially with something invisible, I am here for you.”
More Pop Culture:
