Dr Carly Hudson

22/07/2025

This , I’m thinking about the emotional labor of living with an invisible disability.

For too long, people with chronic conditions have had to prove that their experience is real—navigating dismissal, judgment, and minimization, often from those with the best intentions.

“People with invisible disabilities want to be seen for who they are, and receive the appropriate support to get through their daily lives. By their very nature, invisible conditions need to be explained. They require emotional labor on the part of the individual with the disability to create understanding and validation from other people.”

Support is growing. And that’s good news. But we still have a long way to go in building a world where invisible disabilities don’t require constant justification.

One study I share in the book reminds us why this is so hard: we tend to project our own feelings onto others. If we’re feeling good, we downplay others’ pain. If we’re struggling, we might assume others are too. Empathy requires stretching past that default—especially when someone’s experience is invisible to us.

Here’s to honoring the full spectrum of disability—and creating space for stories that don’t always show on the surface.

📖 Healing Ground is available now.
👉 https://buff.ly/U60GPKn

18/07/2025

📚✨ Healing Ground is officially out in the world—TODAY. ✨📚

My very first career dream was to be a writer.

I started college as a creative writing major, but something in me knew I didn’t yet have the story—or the authority—to say something with real impact. So I changed paths. Changed careers.

I became a massage therapist, and fell in love with the stories our bodies hold.
Later, I realized another childhood dream: I became a doctor. And on my best days in practice, I see the art in the science. I hear the poetry written into our skin and bones—especially in pain, especially in healing.

It was that everyday poetry that reminded me:
I do have a story to tell.

Writing Healing Ground has been one of the most bittersweet, intense, joyful things I’ve done. And today, I’m thrilled to say:
My debut book is officially available everywhere books are sold.

Now that I’ve found the artist within the clinician, I know this won’t be my last.

📖 Thank you for reading, witnessing, and walking with me.

14/07/2025

Healing Ground is for the ones who’ve walked out of a doctor’s office feeling more confused than cared for.
For those of us living in bodies that don’t always cooperate—and still showing up, day after day.
For the clinicians who want to treat the whole human, not just the chart.

If you’ve been looking for a story that sounds a little like your own… or one that helps you understand someone you love more deeply—this book is for you.

📆 Just 4 days to go.
🛒 Preorder now on Barnes & Noble:
👉 https://buff.ly/U60GPKn

11/07/2025

One week from today, Healing Ground will be out in the world.

For years, I carried this story in pieces—too complicated, too raw, too uncertain to tell all at once. Writing this book meant turning toward the parts of myself I had survived, and making peace with letting others see them too.

I wrote it anyway. Because I know I’m not the only one.

If you’ve ever lived with chronic or invisible illness… if you’ve been dismissed or gaslit by a system that couldn’t see the full picture… or if you’re trying to find your way back to yourself through healing that doesn’t follow a straight line—this book is for you.

Healing Ground releases July 18. Preorders are open now, and I’d be honored if you picked up a copy or shared it with someone who needs to feel a little less alone.

📘 https://buff.ly/U60GPKn
📆 Launches next week—July 18

08/07/2025

The countdown is officially on—Healing Ground releases in just 10 days on July 18!

This book has been a long time coming. It tells the story of my own healing journey—from surviving a near-fatal illness as a baby, to living with invisible disabilities and chronic pain, to reclaiming my health and purpose through the support of alternative care and community.

Healing Ground is part memoir, part clinical insight, and all heart. I wrote it for patients who’ve been dismissed, for clinicians who want to understand more deeply, and for anyone who’s ever wondered if things could get better.

🛒 Preorders are open now. I’d be so honored if you picked up a copy or shared this post with someone who needs to read it.
📆 Available everywhere July 18
🔗 https://buff.ly/U60GPKn

After a childhood of compensating for a laundry list of invisible disabilities, Carly Hudson finds herself at the precipice of suicidal depression and a choice to make about her future and her health. Upon pulling herself back from the edge of destruction, Carly finds herself fueled with a desire...

07/07/2025

One year ago, I was barely holding it together.

We had a 20-foot Sprinter van, a road trip planned to Mesa Verde, and a child absolutely obsessed with campervans.
On the outside, everything looked like a dream.

Inside, my body was unraveling.

A rash that started small had spread across 75% of my arms and legs.
My bloodwork said I was “fine.”
I said I was “fine.”
But I wasn’t.

I was exhausted. I was scared. And I was in denial.

Four days before we left, I woke up clawing at my skin. I was weeping—from pain, from frustration, from the realization that I hadn’t been honest with myself or my care team.

With enough medication, I made it on that trip—but I wasn’t healing. I was surviving. Barely.

Then, like a voice out of nowhere, I remembered:
“Once more, unto the breach.”
Immortal words of Shakespeare reminding me I hadn’t run out of strength.
That healing, even when it feels impossible, is still within reach.

Over the past year, I’ve slowly tended that fire of hope. I’ve faced the fear, let go of the denial, and done the hard work of reclaiming my body as home.

And just last month, we packed that same van and went south again—
This time, I was healthy. Whole. Open to possibility.

📖 I share the full story in my latest blog post:
DrCarlyHudson.com/blog

If you're struggling, I hope this reminds you:
You are not alone.
You are not imagining it.
You are deeply, fiercely seen.

Carly Hudson 3/11/19 Carly Hudson 3/11/19 Once More, Unto the Breach For the last year, I’ve stoked the fire of that hope. I’ve tended it like a hearth, hands outstretched, as it warmed a body once again labeled “invalid.” That fire pulled me through a multi-organ breakdown. It whispered—I...

23/06/2025

📚 Want to support Healing Ground without spending a dime?

Here’s a powerful (and completely free!) way to help share this message of hope and healing:

➡️ Stop by your local library and request they add Healing Ground to their collection!

📖 Bonus: You might even be the very first to check it out once it’s in!

Libraries listen to readers—your request can make a real difference. Let’s get this book into as many hands and hearts as possible. 💛

20/06/2025

Still can’t quite believe it…

A huge thank you to the incredible team at Aviva Publishing for believing in my story, honoring my art, and helping me become the author I always dreamed of being.

This book is more than words on a page—it’s a piece of my heart, a testament to healing, and a reminder that it’s never too late to chase a dream.

Feeling deeply grateful and beyond excited to share this with you all. 💜

17/06/2025

In my teens, I didn’t have the words to understand who I was.
In my twenties, after choosing a man as my partner, I started to question if what I felt could even be true.
Now, in my thirties, I finally have the language, the pride, and the community.

I know exactly where I belong. 💖💛💙

11/06/2025

Healing wasn’t one big win or one perfect moment. It is slow, messy, and deeply human. But somewhere between the struggle and the ink, I found pride in how far I’d come—and peace in knowing growth keeps going.

📖 Healing Ground by Dr. Carly Hudson
This page? It’s staying with me for a while.

06/06/2025

I spent most of my life thinking the insidious symptoms of my invisible disabilities were just "normal." My tests always came back fine. I looked healthy. I was doing “well”—at least on paper. But inside, I was unraveling. I couldn’t understand why I felt like I was constantly falling behind while everyone else kept moving forward.

It took nearly 30 years to get an answer. I cried with relief when I finally heard, “There’s a reason you feel this way.”

Now, I’m the doctor on the other side—listening to patients tell me they know something’s wrong, but no one will believe them. Sometimes, sharing my story is the first time they hear, “You’re not alone.” And that can be the beginning of everything changing.

So I wrote the book I needed when I was lost and searching for answers.

📘 If you’ve ever felt unseen, unheard, or misdiagnosed—this book is for you.
💬 Share this with someone who needs to hear they’re not imagining it.
🔗 www.DrCarlyHudson.com

03/06/2025

Here it is. In real life — a story of chronic illness, addiction, and finding your way back to yourself.
I gotta say, it didn't feel real until I held the book in my hands... and it's still a little unbelievable! 💕 😳 🥺
My author copy is proudly displayed on my desk - yours will be available on July 18. (Or for digital download now!)