Mental health does not exist in a separate room from disability, trauma, chronic illness, or intimacy. In this episode of Rewired and Desired, Trina Ricketts and Nicole Richards have an honest conversation about anxiety, depression, PTSD, emotional triggers, healing tools, and what it takes to rebuild yourself when life has cracked you wide open.

Nicole shares parts of her story she has never spoken publicly about before, including childhood trauma, abuse, hospitalization, and the diagnosis she has struggled to talk about. Together, Trina and Nicole explore how mental health can be shaped by disability, chronic stress, family history, medical trauma, and the stories we keep telling ourselves.

This episode also dives into what has actually helped them cope: self-awareness, repetitive self-talk, affirmations, boundaries, structure, spiritual tools, micro goals, and learning how to respond differently when life gets hard.

This is not a conversation built on perfection or toxic positivity. It is about responsibility, compassion, inner work, and the possibility of healing, even when you still have hard days.

If you live with an ostomy, chronic illness, disability, trauma history, or simply feel overwhelmed by the weight of life, this conversation is for you.

📌 Connect With Us
Trina Ricketts – The Intimate Ostomate
Website: intimateostomate.com
Instagram: / intimateostomate
Youtube: / @intimateostomate
Books, guides, coaching & resources
Coaching • Books / Guides • Resources • Intimacy Advocacy

Nicole Richards - Ostomy Innovations
Website: ostomyinnovations222.com
Instagram: / ostomyinnovations
Youtube: / @ostomyinnovations222
Coaching • Wellness • Disability advocacy • Ostomy Clothing

What happens when you’re the strong one for everyone else, but your body, emotions, and nervous system are running on fumes?

In this episode of Rewired and Desired, Trina and Nicole talk honestly about burnout, feminine energy, chronic illness, motherhood, entrepreneurship, dating, and the pressure of holding everything together.

In this raw follow-up conversation, Trina opens up about what it feels like to build a business, support a family, manage chronic illness, and still carry the emotional weight of other people’s needs. Nicole and Trina unpack the tension between feminine and masculine energy, the guilt many women feel around ambition, and the reality of trying to pursue purpose while exhausted.

They also explore secure attachment, dating after healing, emotional overwhelm, chronic illness fatigue, and the challenge of staying grounded in a world that constantly pulls at your nervous system.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing your best while quietly falling apart, this episode is for you.

📌 Connect With Us
Trina Ricketts – The Intimate Ostomate
Website: intimateostomate.com
Instagram: / intimateostomate
Youtube: / @intimateostomate
Books, guides, coaching & resources
Coaching • Books / Guides • Resources • Intimacy Advocacy

Nicole Richards - Ostomy Innovations
Website: ostomyinnovations222.com
Instagram: / ostomyinnovations
Youtube: / @ostomyinnovations222
Coaching • Wellness • Disability advocacy • Ostomy Clothing

They saved your life. But they didn’t tell you this.

From gray mucus to blockages, withdrawal symptoms to smell shame… this is the conversation we wish we’d heard before surgery.

In this episode of Rewired and Desired, Trina Ricketts and Nicole Richards share the real, unfiltered truths about what they were not told before, during, or after ostomy surgery.

We cover:

● The mental health impact no one prepares you for

● Why your bag may stop fitting if your weight changes

● Smell, noise, and the shame that follows

● Blockage risks and foods to watch

● Gray mucus discharge (and why it’s normal)

● Hernias and posture

● Skin breakdown and yeast infections

● Opioid withdrawal after surgery

● Hydration dangers

● Mixing and matching ostomy systems

● Showering, swimming, and bathing with confidence

This is not medical advice. This is lived experience from two women who have been there.

If you’ve ever thought, “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?” — you are not alone.

Timestamps

00:00 – Welcome to Rewired & Desired
01:30 – Emergency vs planned surgery differences
03:00 – Weight changes & bag system issues
04:45 – Smell & odor drops
06:00 – Gray mucus discharge explained
09:45 – Blockages & dangerous foods
11:00 – Skin breakdown & yeast under the flange
12:30 – Mental health support gap
14:20 – Clothing fears & body image
15:40 – Always carry supplies
16:45 – Opioid withdrawal after hospital
20:30 – Hernias & posture
21:20 – Hydration risks
22:50 – Showering, bathing & swimming myths
27:30 – Masterclass announcement
28:20 – Medicare supply decision concerns

📌 Connect With Us
Trina Ricketts – The Intimate Ostomate
Website: intimateostomate.com
Instagram: / intimateostomate
Youtube: / @intimateostomate
Books, guides, coaching & resources
Coaching • Books / Guides • Resources • Intimacy Advocacy

Nicole Richards - Ostomy Innovations
Website: ostomyinnovations222.com
Instagram: / ostomyinnovations
Youtube: / @ostomyinnovations222
Coaching • Wellness • Disability advocacy • Ostomy Clothing

Parenting while chronically ill isn’t “hard.” It’s a whole different planet.
In this episode, Trina and Nicole get real about what it’s like raising kids through Crohn’s, ostomy life, disability, hospital stays, shame, and the emotional aftermath.

We talk about the stuff nobody posts: the guilt, the survival-mode parenting, the “technology babysitter,” and what happens when your kids see you in pain… or have to step up too soon. And we share the 4 things we wish we did differently so you can suffer less and stabilize faster.

📌 Connect With Us
Trina Ricketts – The Intimate Ostomate
Website: intimateostomate.com
Instagram: / intimateostomate
Youtube: / @intimateostomate
Books, guides, coaching & resources
Coaching • Books / Guides • Resources • Intimacy Advocacy

Nicole Richards - Ostomy Innovations
Website: ostomyinnovations222.com
Instagram: / ostomyinnovations
Youtube: / @ostomyinnovations222
Coaching • Wellness • Disability advocacy • Ostomy Clothing

In this Rewired and Desired episode, Trina Ricketts and Nicole Richards swap real, unfiltered ostomy stories: loud bag noises in quiet rooms, near-miss leaks on dates, a grocery store blowout, and the weird places people have had to do emergency changes. We also share the practical stuff that actually helps: what to avoid before conferences, how compression layers can muffle sound, why leaks happen more in the beginning, and how to handle awkward moments without making them bigger than they are.

If you’ve ever feared a leak, a smell, or a sound in public (or during intimacy), this episode is for you.

📌 Connect With Us
Trina Ricketts – The Intimate Ostomate
Website: intimateostomate.com
Instagram: / intimateostomate
Youtube: / @intimateostomate
Books, guides, coaching & resources
Coaching • Books / Guides • Resources • Intimacy Advocacy

Nicole Richards - Ostomy Innovations
Website: ostomyinnovations222.com
Instagram: / ostomyinnovations
Youtube: / @ostomyinnovations222
Coaching • Wellness • Disability advocacy • Ostomy Clothing

Dating with an ostomy doesn’t mean dating with shame.

Let’s talk when to disclose, how to filter faster, and how to keep your standards intact.

In this episode of Rewired and Desired, Nicole Richards and Trina Ricketts get real about dating with an ostomy: when to tell someone, what actually matters, how to spot red flags early, and why your mindset walking into a date changes everything. We also unpack the pros/cons of dating apps, “too much texting,” confidence traps, and practical do’s and don’ts that have nothing to do with a bag and everything to do with boundaries.

📌 Connect With Us
Trina Ricketts – The Intimate Ostomate
Website: intimateostomate.com
Instagram: / intimateostomate
Youtube: / @intimateostomate
Books, guides, coaching & resources
Coaching • Books / Guides • Resources • Intimacy Advocacy

Nicole Richards - Ostomy Innovations
Website: ostomyinnovations222.com
Instagram: / ostomyinnovations
Youtube: / @ostomyinnovations222
Coaching • Wellness • Disability advocacy • Ostomy Clothing

Your body can change overnight. So can your relationship to meaning, faith, and “why me.”

Two ostomates share how medical crisis cracked open a spiritual awakening, without preaching.

In this episode, we talk about how our health journeys (Crohn’s, ostomy surgery, medical trauma) reshaped our spirituality, our sense of purpose, and the way we interpret “signs,” connection, and healing.

Trina shares a powerful near-death style experience during emergency surgery, including the feeling of peace, familiarity, and a moment of choice. Nicole shares a different path, a slower awakening through medical hardship, grief, and the search for meaning after everything changed.

We also get into past life regression, why it’s so expensive sometimes, what it’s actually like, and why “woo-woo” labels often miss the point. No conversion attempts. Just two women telling the truth and letting you take what helps.

📌 Connect With Us
Trina Ricketts – The Intimate Ostomate
Website: intimateostomate.com
Instagram: / intimateostomate
Youtube: / @intimateostomate
Books, guides, coaching & resources
Coaching • Books / Guides • Resources • Intimacy Advocacy

Nicole Richards - Ostomy Innovations
Website: ostomyinnovations222.com
Instagram: / ostomyinnovations
Youtube: / @ostomyinnovations222
Coaching • Wellness • Disability advocacy • Ostomy Clothing

What if confidence isn’t about how your body looks… but how you see yourself?

In this episode of Rewired and Desired, we dismantle unrealistic beauty standards and explore how confidence, mindset, and authenticity shape attraction—especially for people living with disability, ostomies, scars, and medical devices.

We talk honestly about:

● How beauty standards are manufactured (and who benefits)

● Why confidence makes people appear more attractive than “perfect” bodies

● Aging, surgery, scars, ostomies, and learning to feel desirable again

● The difference between hiding your body and being at home in it

● Practical, grounded ways to build confidence without changing your body

This is a real conversation for people who’ve been told—directly or indirectly—that their body is “too much” or “not enough.”

No hype. No fake empowerment. Just truth, compassion, and lived experience.

🔗 Links

Trina Ricketts – The Intimate Ostomate
Website: https://intimateostomate.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intimateostomate
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@intimateostomate

Nicole Richards – Ostomy Innovations
Website: https://ostomyinnovations222.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ostomyinnovations/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@OstomyInnovations222

Join My Free Course and Community: https://www.skool.com/digestion-ostomy-renewal-8187/about?ref=9fa274f7d99a45faa465fce6882b8547

Community
Ostomy Body Positive: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2093760487654150

Check out our MASTERCLASS! https://www.intimateostomate.com/masterclass

📌 Connect With Us
Trina Ricketts – The Intimate Ostomate
Website: intimateostomate.com
Instagram: / intimateostomate
Youtube: / @intimateostomate
Books, guides, coaching & resources
Coaching • Books / Guides • Resources • Intimacy Advocacy

Nicole Richards - Ostomy Innovations
Website: ostomyinnovations222.com
Instagram: / ostomyinnovations
Youtube: / @ostomyinnovations222
Coaching • Wellness • Disability advocacy • Ostomy Clothing