Emotional Autoimmunity: Dealing with the emotional issues of chronic illness

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text From the moment you become chronically ill, all of the focus is on 'getting better' but what does that mean?  And more importantly, how do you know how much recovery is actually going to be possible for you?  The most common expectation is that 'getting better' means getting back to normal, they way you were before. But getting back to no...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text In my 13 years of living with chronic illness, almost every single health improvement I've gained has come from fellow patients, rather than Doctors.  Not everything has worked for me but collective patient wisdom and experience and people being so willing to share what's helped and brave enough to blog about it or share it in online groups has mad...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text One of biggest emotional challenges of living with chronic illness is the impacts it can have on your relationships with others.  So many of us living with chronic illness often feel that the people closest to us either don't understand, believe or support what we are going through and how much it has changes our lives and bodies.  Friends can start to...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text If I had to name the one question that almost every person asks me when we start working together, it's this: Is what I'm feeling normal?  This is because there is a complete lack of understanding about what chronic illness is and what the appropriate and normal human emotional responses to becoming chronically ill are.  Often, currently healthy pe...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text How do you find joy again?  Question: It’s been 4 years now with chronic illness and I am so sick of being sick and I know everyone around me is sick of me being sick as well.     I feel like my whole life now is based around managing my symptoms and the exhaustion and the grief of everything I have lost. How can I start to feel some joy again because right...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text Of all the emotional issues that come with chronic illness, the most painful and most damaging is shame. While guilt is about something we have done, shame is about who we are and all of the ways we feel that we are bad, wrong, weak, lacking or 'less than' that make us so very different to everyone else. Especially when we compare ourselves to othe...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text I asked my email and social media communities a while back to ask me anything about the experience of chronic illness that they were struggling with to see if I could help and in this episode, I am back with part 2.  I was planning to answer three questions this time but unfortunately, I was running out of energy towards the end of recording and had to leave...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text By far, the biggest and most upsetting issue for those of us living with chronic illness is not being believed.  From Doctors, family, friends and even total strangers on the internet, there are so many people full of scepticism, unsolicited advice and downright disbelief.  But how do you deal with the questions and comments like: It's all in your head....

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text The emotional and psychological impacts of becoming chronically ill so often go unrecognised, misunderstood belittled or simply ignored. Which means that when it happens to you, you have no idea if the grief, fear, overwhelm and exhaustion that you feel are normal or that maybe, it is all in your head after all.  A big part of my work is to normalise and val...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text Most of my new clients with chronic illness are starting from a place of complete overwhelm and feeling like they are sitting in the wreckage of their lives and wondering, 'where do I even start to deal with this?' So let's talk about overcoming that overwhelm and finding ways to help yourself take back some sense of direction and control.  In...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text Chronic illness changes every aspect of your life and a large part of that is figuring out ways to best manage your symptoms and protect your energy.  The biggest problem is though that other people can get in the way of that.  Whether it's Doctors not supporting the treatment options you want, friends or family criticising or judging the changes you ar...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text After a while, most people who live with chronic illness give up trying to talk about what it's like and how it feels, because people don't seem to understand.  Especially as time goes on and those around you don't see you 'getting better' and can't seem to grasp what 'chronic' actually means.  Often, when you do try t...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text In this episode I answer questions from my chronic illness community including: Can you speak to the cost of the unique stressors in chronic illness including not being able to trust the guidance of doctors, trying to resolve health problems alone and how do you cope when taking expert advice goes badly for you? How do you revise your story of self, worth an...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text Today (June 19th, 2024) marks 4 years since my Type 1 diabetes diagnosis which makes this the perfect time to talk about how my chronic illnesses affect my everyday life.  In this podcast I open up about each of my 4 different autoimmune diseases, the impact they have on me, what's changed  what ongoing issues I still have and how I deal with them. This...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text One of the big, missing pieces in supporting people with chronic illness is that there is so little acknowledgment that becoming chronically ill changes peoples lives and that this creates complex emotional issues that are in fact, completely normal.  The typical experience is that you get your diagnosis (or not) and leave the doctors office with no idea wha...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text One of my main objectives both with my podcast and my work, is to educate and validate the very normal emotional experiences and issues that come with becoming chronically ill.  The feelings of jealousy and envy are the ones we don't talk about because it creates so much guilt and shame to even admit them to yourself, let alone to others.  Watching your...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text Anxiety and dealing with constant 'what if' thoughts are something that every human has to deal with as our brain is  trying to interpret our environment for potential threats to try and keep us safe.  But when you live with chronic illness, you will experience new levels of fear that create specific types of anxiety that non chronically ill people...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text When you live with chronic illness, you can feel so very alone which makes getting support more important than ever.  What's often shocking though is discovering just how little support is actually out there! There is so little knowledge about chronic illness in our communities, families, medical and social support systems that you can end up feel judge...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text If you live with chronic illness and autoimmune disease, then you understand just how frustrating and debilitating brain fog can be.  From the embarrassment of forgetting simple words, losing your ability to concentrate and focus or reading the same lines over and over again and still not being able to take it in, brain fog can have a significant impact impa...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text This episode is a collaboration between myself, my clients and my social media community.  We all know that one of the biggest issues we face is the lack of understanding about what chronic illness is and the ongoing impact it has on those of us living with it.  In this episode I share what those of us with chronic illness most want people to understand and...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text There is no denying that when it comes to chronic illness, there is a huge gap in peoples understanding of just how much it changes your life, energy and ability.  So when it comes to trying to share your feelings, doubts, fears and sadness about your experiences of living with chronic illness, you are  so often met with toxic positivity responses like &apos...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text When you become chronically ill, one of the biggest challenges you will face because of how the disease so often limits your energy and ability, is an increased need for rest. In fact, rest is an essential component of responsible chronic illness management.  Yet so many of us struggle with embracing rest because of ongoing issues of feeling guilty about the...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text The hallmark symptom of all chronic illness is without question, the fatigue.  Every time I ask my community which symptom they most wish they could eliminate permanently, fatigue tops the list.  It is debilitating, disabling and usually coincides with things like brain fog, pain, anxiety and depression.  So it's no surprise that learning how to manage...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text Having good boundaries in our relationships at any time are essential, but during the holiday season, they take on a much bigger importance! There are so many expectations, pressures and emotions that only happen during the Holidays and New Years Eve that are a sure fire way to ramp up your anxiety and guilt and send you crashing into a major flare that can...

Enjoyed this episode? Send Kerry a text When you get chronic illness, it doesn't only change your life.  The impact on your family and partners can be huge, potentially damaging and be the cause of so much guilt, conflict, resentment and division.  A few weeks ago, I asked my wonderful email community to ask their partners what sorts of issues or advice they most needed and they definitely de...