If you have ever experienced body hypervigilance before, then you will know how debilitating it can be. Hypervigilance is a symptom of trauma and PTSD where you are left scanning your environment constantly for any potential external threat. When you have body hypervigilance, the threat is internal and it can feel like your constant awareness and vigilance of what your body is doing right now,  is the only thing that is  keeping you alive. In this episode, I share all about hypervigilance, and body hypervigilance, my own experiences of body hypervigilance and my top skills and tools you can use  to stop it happening.  

Emotional Autoimmunity Podcast: Real life with Chronic Illness

Chronic illness and body hypervigilance.

Dating no matter what your age or situation is absolutely guaranteed to bring out all of your insecurities and living with chronic illness adds a whole new level of difficulties. How do you deal with feeling "less than" you were before?How much do you share about your illness?How do you work around dietary issues?How and when do you disclose your illness?How can you build your self confidence to get out into the dating world?All of these questions and more will be answered in this podcast about dating with chronic illness. Listen now!

Dating with Chronic Illness. Episode 11 Season 2

If you live with chronic illness, then you have probably experienced some form of Medical Gaslighting.  In fact, having an experience of Medical Gaslighting seems to be the rule rather than the exception.Gaslighting in any setting is a form of emotional abuse, however Medical Gaslighting is not only emotionally damaging, it can result in disability, unnecessary pain and suffering and even death. At the very least, it can delay a much needed diagnosis for years or even, for decades so knowing how to identify and deal with Medical Gaslighting is the most important set of emotional skills that you need to have.Want to know all about Medical Gaslighting and how to deal with it? Then you need to listen to this podcast!

All about Medical Gaslighting and how to deal with it.

So there I was, home from my second hospitalisation with Diabetic Ketoacidosis, physically frail, very underweight and emotionally traumatised. I had my diagnosis of LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) and was left to sort out my new life as an insulin dependant person. Chronic illness isn&apos;t just the physical issues though. The emotional issues can be the biggest challenge of all, especially when your life has changed so dramatically and being a Type 1 Diabetic is my biggest challenge yet.In this episode, I share how I overcame all the fear and doubt and walk you through my process and experience at what recovery and acceptance of illness is like for me.

Recovery and my new life with Type 1 Diabetes.

After several months of worsening health, extreme weight loss and becoming physically unable to care for myself, I was admitted to hospital and spent 5 days in intensive care where I came close to dying.I emerged a week later with a new diagnosis of type 1.5 LADA (Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults) that I had difficulty accepting, feeling traumatised by my experience and physically and emotionally exhausted.In this episode I share about the process of becoming so ill, the trauma of experiencing medical gaslighting and my experience of needing to fight and advocate for myself while being in hospital. I also share my two experiences of DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis) and how I managed my very different hospitalisation experiences. 

Hospitalisation and getting my new diagnosis.

We all know that acceptance is key to living your best life with chronic illness. But how can you accept something that has so dramatically changed your life and taken so much from you?In this episode, I share with you a very special mind shift technique that I normally only share with my clients and take you through a visualisation exercise so that you can begin to change how you see your chronic illness.It&apos;s powerful, positive and life changing. Ready to change how you feel about your chronic illness?Listen now!

How to change how you feel about chronic illness.

On one level, we know that chronic illness is life changing and that it has a huge impact on us physically, emotionally and mentally. But when it comes down to actually acknowledging that fact in the choices we make or don&apos;t make, we can so often expect ourselves to go on exactly as we did before. Recently I have experienced a severe Celiac flare that raised some important realisations about acknowledging the fears that flares trigger for me and where my priorities truly need to be. Why is it so hard to stop and put yourself first? How do you deal with a serious flare when you come to that crossroad of pushing through or stopping? Find out in this episode where I share exactly what my process is and give you some important mindset shifts to think about. 

Season 2 Episode 6: Why it's ok to stop.

There is a lot of research including the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) studies, that show a strong correlation between experiencing trauma in childhood and going on to develop chronic autoimmune disease in later life. But what other types of research is there between trauma and chronic illness and what impact does having unresolved trauma have on your chronic illness and day to day health?In this podcast, I go through some of the research and break down why trauma is such a big issue for those of us with chronic illness and what impact it has on your emotional and physical health. 

S2 Episode 5: Trauma and chronic illness.

Avoiding the news and fear of the Corona Virus at the moment is pretty much impossible as the whole world goes into lockdown, panic buying is everywhere and there is so much uncertainty and speculation. But there are opportunities here for those of us with chronic illness to help our friends and family who are getting just a small taste of what we have been living with and the health fears we deal with daily. You could say that we have been training for this experience for years. In this podcast I give you some practical tips on how you can avoid falling victim to the fear and panic, help those close to you and have conversations that build an empathy bridge so that when the virus has finally passed, some understanding of the fears of chronic illness will be present in our families and communities. 

Corona Virus, Conversations and Opportunities.

When you become chronically ill, your first instinct is to fight for your life against this disease that feels like it has taken so much from you. The illness becomes the enemy, something that you need to battle against and beat.But when you have chronic illness, is this actually the best thing you can do for your health and happiness? And if fighting doesn&apos;t work, then what does and how can you help yourself feel better, emotionally and physically?In episode 3, I unpack what it actually means to make the illness your enemy and explain why going to war against your chronic illness can actually make it worse. Do you need to stop fighting your chronic illness? Find out here.

Why you need to stop fighting your chronic illness.

When you become chronically ill, you really want those closest to you to understand what you have lost, why the illness feels so devastating and  how you feel about what chronic illness has done to your life. But needing people to understand how you feel can be a big emotional hook that you can get stuck on.When the people around you don&apos;t understand or don&apos;t seem to want to listen to how you feel or even worse, accuse you of constantly complaining, you can feel hurt, betrayed, rejected and abandoned. This is why you need to know why it&apos;s not important that they understand how you feel.In this episode, I break down why it&apos;s so difficult for others to understand your chronic illness and what you can focus on instead that will help you, your partner and your family adapt to your life with chronic illness in the best possible way for you.

Why it's not important that they understand your chronic illness.

Of all the emotional issues that come with chronic illness, guilt is the most damaging and the most common. In this episode Kerry breaks down the most common reasons that people with chronic illness feel guilt and why it is so damaging to you and the people you love. Stuck in toxic guilt? Then you need to  listen to this episode!

Episode 1, Season 2: What guilt is doing to your life and relationships.

Lisa Douthit developed her first cancer at age 25, having had no prior health issues before. She noticed that she was having trouble breathing when exercising and a few other worrying symptoms. A chest x-ray showed a baseball sized tumour on her heart that required open heart surgery to remove.All in all, Lisa has experienced four different cancers and has three autoimmune diseases that she now lives with and needs to actively manage which are: Myasthenia Gravis, Lupus and Hashimoto&apos;s.Dealing with the cancer had been difficult enough but it wasn&apos;t until she developed autoimmune disease commencing with Myasthenia Gravis, Lupus and later, Hashimoto&apos;s that it finally began to break her down, literally.After helping to heal her trauma, Lisa now manages her illness using twice yearly immunosuppressant chemotherapy drug which completely wipes her out but helps to control all of her AI conditions.This is such a wonderful story of transforming pain and suffering into strength and purpose and creating meaning through the experience. Have a listen. 

Episode 30: Lisa Douthit: Surviving 4 cancers and living well with 3 autoimmune diseases.

Four years ago, Jessa Lewis was pregnant with her daughter when she received a diagnosis of Hashimoto&apos;s Autoimmune Hypothyroidism Disorder. Her body was attacking her thyroid and threatening the pregnancy, as it likely had with two prior miscarriages. Hashimoto&apos;s Autoimmune has 400+ potential symptoms with some of the most common being fatigue, sensitivity to cold, dry skin, brittle nails and hair, weight gain, muscle aches, joint pain, excessive menstrual bleeding, depression, infertility and high rates of miscarriage and stillbirths.Now, she balances her thyroid hormone levels with synthetic hormone replacement medication and, is on a mission to stay the fluctuations of her disorder through changes in food, lifestyle and fitness. She juggles her disorder alongside two earth side toddlers and a thriving online business. 

Episode 29: Jessa Lewis, miscarriage, Motherhood and building a business with Hashimoto's

V Capaldi otherwise known as "The Paleo Boss Lady" is a force to be reckoned with. V was raised in a very dysfunctional family where chaos was the norm in life. At 23 years old  and 6 weeks after marrying her childhood sweetheart, V was given a death sentence diagnosis that she had an inoperable brain tumour and lived for almost 6 months believing her life was over. Then the death sentence turned to a life sentence when her diagnosis was changed to MS. As a result, her whole life blew up. The twitching and spasms in her face caused by the MS made her own Father unable to look at her. After investing all of her money and assets into conventional treatments and testing, V now manages her life and health naturally, is passionate about creating community and gives generously of her time to help as many people as she can. Warning: This podcast contains strong language. 

Episode 28: V Capaldi, managing her life naturally with MS and the power of community

Living with chronic illness completely changes your life but nobody talks about it. It's so easy to feel that you are the only one struggling but I am here to tell you that you are not alone! As a therapist living with three autoimmune conditions, I know exactly how it feels to lose your old self and life and I am here to share how I learned to cope with many changes chronic illness brings and all those other things your Doctor didn't warn you about. Let's talk about real life with chronic illness.

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Emotional Autoimmunity Podcast: Real life with Chronic Illne...

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