How We Really Feel

Dr Sula
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How We Really Feel is the podcast that takes an honest, evidence-based look at what it means to live in a body, especially when that body is doing something no test has fully explained, no appointment has had time to address, or no one has joined the dots on yet. Hosted by Dr Sula Windgassen, PhD, health psychologist, researcher, author of It's All In Your Body and specialist in chronic illness, burnout and the mind-body connection. Each episode brings together leading clinicians, researchers and people with deep lived experience to examine the whole picture: biological, psychological and social. Guests are chosen for their years of peer-reviewed research, frontline clinical practice or a rich lived experience of illness, injury and healing. Every episode is fact-checked by Dr Sula and the show researcher, a trainee health psychologist and PhD student. All studies and resources referenced are listed at howwereallyfeel.com so you can read further, question it and make it your own. Series one explores pelvic and bladder health. One of the least explored areas of health, especially from a holistic and integrated approach that incorporates mind and body and the human at the heart of symptoms. Episodes cover chronic UTI, bladder pain syndrome, the nervous system, pelvic pain, sex and intimacy after illness, and what it means to befriend a body that has fundamentally changed. Between guest episodes, Dr Sula shares her own therapeutic reflections: what stood out, what the evidence means in practice, and what might be worth sitting with or trying. How We Really Feel is for you if:  You're curious about how our biology, psychology and lived experience are woven together and what that means for how we healYou're a urologist, pelvic health physiotherapist, GP, health psychologist, gynaecologist or clinician with an interest in holistic, integrated and evidence-based careYou've ever felt like medicine ran out of answers before you did You're navigating bladder pain, pelvic pain, chronic UTIs, chronic illness or burnout and want to understand what's really going on beneath the surface New guest episodes released weekly on Mondays and reflective summary episodes with Dr Sula Windgassen on Thursdays. All resources at howwereallyfeel.com

  1. 6 days ago ·  Bonus

    My reflections on holding on, letting go and integrated care following episode 11

    This is my last solo reflection of the season and I'm glad it's following this particular conversation. After speaking with Shelli Burton and Katy Hansen about integrated care for pelvic and bladder conditions, three ideas stayed with me long after the recording ended. This reflection is where I sit with them properly. The first is what Katy called "baby birding." That image of holding something just tightly enough. Not so loose it escapes, not so tight you suffocate it. I've been thinking about it ever since in relation to how we pursue recovery, and whether the grip we're applying is helping or getting in the way. The second is Katy's framework of stability, regulation and capacity building and why this matters so much for knowing when to introduce new tools or approaches. If something hasn't worked, it may not be wrong. It may just be the wrong stage. And the third is the thing I keep coming back to from visiting Vanderbilt myself: what it means for a psychologist and a physician to be in the room together. Not as a luxury. As a signal that neither the physical nor the psychological story is more real than the other. This is a short episode, but it carries the weight of a full season's worth of conversations. If you've been listening along, thank you. If this is your first episode, the full conversation with Shelli and Katy is linked below — it's a good place to start. This podcast is supported by Convatec Continence Care and their Me+ programme, which supports people using intermittent catheters with both practical guidance and emotional wellbeing resources. Find out more at www.howwereallyfeel.com/in-partnership-with-convatec. Show notes and resources available here https://www.howwereallyfeel.com/

  2. 5 Jul

    Women's health: Just your hormones? The integrated nature of bodily systems, the mind & medical care

    Most people who end up with chronic pelvic or bladder pain have seen a lot of clinicians. Often separately. Often with no one quite connecting the dots. Dr Sula is joined by Shelli Burton and Katy Hansen, both nurse practitioners at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Shelli specialises in interstitial cystitis, bladder pain syndrome and pelvic health, working within Vanderbilt's multidisciplinary IC clinic. Katy works at the Osher Center for Integrative Health, bringing a whole-body lens shaped by her earlier years as a massage therapist. Together, they unpick why treating pelvic and bladder symptoms in isolation so often stalls recovery, what changes when care is genuinely integrated, and why hormones, fascia, the nervous system and the mind are never really separate stories. Here's some of what you'll take away: Why looking at one body part in isolation misses the picture. The cost of treating symptoms without asking about sleep, stress, hormones or other overlapping pain conditions.The difference between two types of pain, and why it matters. Understanding nociceptive versus central sensitisation pain changes which tools are actually likely to help.Why being seen by two clinicians together changes the experience of being believed. How integrated care quietly removes the "it's in your head" framing before it even starts.The fear and the evidence around vaginal hormone treatment. Why a localised, low-risk option is so often avoided, and what's actually true about it.A new way to think about control. Katy's idea of "baby birding": Holding on just tightly enough to make progress, without gripping so hard that nothing can move. This podcast is supported by Convatec Continence Care and their Me+ programme, which supports people using intermittent catheters with both practical guidance and emotional wellbeing resources. Find out more at www.howwereallyfeel.com/in-partnership-with-convatec. Whether you're navigating a complex pelvic or bladder condition yourself, supporting someone who is, or working clinically with this patient group, this episode will help you feel less alone, better informed, and clearer on what integrated, whole-person care can actually look like. References and resources discussed in this episode, fact-checked and collated by our show researcher, are available at www.howwereallyfeel.com

  3. 2 Jul ·  Bonus

    My reflections on dismissal, medical misogyny and self-advocacy following episode 10

    This is one of my solo reflection episodes. Just me, sitting with what the conversation with Dr Catriona Anderson and Neha Visavadia stirred up. We covered a lot of ground in that episode: chronic UTI, the gap in the medical definition, what it means to be dismissed by the healthcare system, and what you can actually do about it. This reflection picks up on three threads that I couldn't let go of afterwards. The first is the psychological cost of not being believed - not just as a frustrating experience, but as something that actively changes your behaviour, closes down your options, and makes the next appointment feel harder before it's even happened. Neha described this so clearly, and I've seen it in clinical practice more times than I can count. The second is medical misogyny - the expectation, embedded across centuries, that women will absorb a higher baseline of pain and difficulty without it being fully investigated. Dr Catriona named it plainly in the episode and I want to sit with it plainly here too, because naming it is part of shifting it. And the third is what self-advocacy actually looks like in the room — not as a performance, but as a regulated, grounded way of communicating that actually changes how the person in front of you responds. This reflection is for anyone who has ever left an appointment feeling smaller than when they walked in. And for anyone who works with patients and wants to understand why that happens. This podcast is supported by Convatec Continence Care and their Me+ programme, which supports people using intermittent catheters with both practical guidance and emotional wellbeing resources. Find out more at www.howwereallyfeel.com/in-partnership-with-convatec. Show notes and resources at https://www.howwereallyfeel.com/episode-10-when-youre-not-believed

  4. 28 Jun

    When you're not believed: chronic UTI, advocacy and medical misogyny

    If you've ever been told there's nothing wrong with you and felt worse, not better, this episode is for you. Dr Sula is joined by Dr Catriona Anderson, a GP with a special interest in recurrent and chronic UTI and founder of the Focus Medical Clinic, and Neha Visavadia, a women’s health coach and product consultant in health tech with an MSc in Health Psychology who draws on her own lived experience of long-term health conditions to articulate what so many people struggle to put into words. Together, they unpick why chronic UTI still has no formal medical definition, why that gap leaves patients stuck in a tick-box system, and what it actually takes to be heard, believed and properly treated when your symptoms don't fit neatly into existing guidelines. Here's some of what you'll take away: Why a negative test doesn't mean nothing is wrong. The real limitations of dipstick testing, and why recurrent and chronic UTI are so often missed, minimised or misdiagnosed as a result.The psychological cost of not being believed. How dismissal in healthcare can quietly fuel avoidance, and why that avoidance, while understandable, can make things worse.Medical misogyny, named plainly. Why women's symptoms are so often expected to be endured rather than investigated, and what's changing.How to prepare yourself to be heard. Practical, psychologically grounded ways to walk into an appointment ready to advocate for yourself, without needing to fight for it. This podcast is supported by Convatec Continence Care and their Me+ programme, which supports people using intermittent catheters with both practical guidance and emotional wellbeing resources. Find out more at www.howwereallyfeel.com/in-partnership-with-convatec. Whether you're navigating chronic UTI yourself, supporting someone who is, or working clinically with this patient group, this episode will help you feel less alone, better informed, and clearer on what to ask for next. References and resources discussed in this episode, fact-checked and collated by our show researcher, are available at www.howwereallyfeel.com

  5. 25 Jun ·  Bonus

    My reflections on confidence, catheterising & finding your way back to yourself following episode 9

    Sometimes the hardest part of a new way of managing your body isn't the technique. It's everything that happens in your head before you even get there. This is my reflection following last week's conversation with Dr Angie Rantell, consultant nurse in urogynaecology at King's College Hospital, and Keira McGarrity, psychological wellbeing practitioner and intermittent catheter user. We talked about how long bladder symptoms can go unheard, what a negative test actually does to someone who knows something's wrong, and the moment everything shifted for Keira as she stopped trying to do it "right." I keep coming back to that. How much of healing - physical, practical, everyday healing - depends on how we're relating to ourselves while we do it. A few things I sit with in this episode: Why self-blame so often fills the gap before a diagnosis arrives, and what that does to the nervous system over time. What it really means when a test comes back clear but the symptoms don't. Why easing up on perfectionism changed Keira's catheter use more than any equipment could, and what that tells us about the mind-body loop in chronic and intermittent health management. This conversation connects closely with the work I'm doing with Convatec Continence Care and their Me+ programme, which supports people using intermittent catheters with both practical guidance and emotional wellbeing resources. Find out more at www.howwereallyfeel.com/in-partnership-with-convatec. More resources and references for this episode are at www.howwereallyfeel.com

  6. 21 Jun

    Confidence, catheterising, fear and finding your way back to yourself

    If you've ever been handed a medical device and sent home to figure it out alone, this episode is for you. Dr Sula is joined by Angie Rantell, Consultant Nurse in Urogynaecology at King's College Hospital and Senior Lecturer in Pelvic Health at Brunel University, and Kiera, a psychological wellbeing practitioner, patient advocate with Convatec and catheter user herself. Two perspectives on the same experience -one clinical, one lived - sitting down together. Kiera shares what it was like growing up with bladder symptoms from childhood, the years of being told tests were normal, and the long road to finally learning intermittent self-catheterisation, including the months of setbacks that nearly made her give up. Angie brings twenty years of teaching patients to catheterise, and how her own approach has changed dramatically over that time once she realised the skill isn't really about the technique at all. Here's some of what you'll take away: Why help-seeking takes years for so many women with bladder issues, and what tends to be the tipping point that finally gets someone into a doctor's officeThe difference between teaching a procedure and teaching a life skill. Why where and how catheterisation is taught matters as much as what's taughtHow fear and tension physically interfere with catheterisation, and the small mindset shift that helped Kiera stop bracing against her own bodyWhat recurrent UTIs after starting catheter use actually mean, and the realistic, layered approach to managing and reducing them Whether you're navigating bladder symptoms yourself, learning to use a catheter, or supporting someone who is, this episode will help you feel less alone, better informed, and clearer on what comes next. This conversation connects closely with the work I'm doing with Convatec Continence Care and their Me+ programme, which supports people using intermittent catheters with both practical guidance and emotional wellbeing resources. Find out more at www.howwereallyfeel.com/in-partnership-with-convatec You can access the Me+ free holistic programme here (UK) https://shorturl.at/TsOdG or here (USA) https://shorturl.at/Lh8XS  You can access references and resources discussed in this episode, fact checked and collated by our show researcher and trainee health psychologist, here: www.howwereallyfeel.com

  7. 19 Jun ·  Bonus

    My reflections on acceptance, resignation and advocacy following episode 8

    Acceptance gets treated like a dirty word in chronic illness. So does resignation, but for the opposite reason  we barely talk about it at all. This is my reflection following the episode with Matt Castelluccio and Jane Werbicky from United Spinal Association, where we explored what it actually takes to keep going when the systems around you weren't built with you in mind. I sit with the distinction between acceptance and resignation, why they can look identical from the outside, and why resignation isn't poor coping, it's a natural, protective response to feeling like control has been taken away. I also reflect on what Matt shared about the power of one question from his urologist, "what's not working for you?", and what that tells us about what collaborative care could look like, even within short appointment times. If you haven't yet listened to the episode with Matt and Jane, you can find it in the show notes. I hope this reflection gives you something to sit with. This conversation connects closely with the work I'm doing with Convatec Continence Care and their Me+ programme, which supports people using intermittent catheters with both practical guidance and emotional wellbeing resources. Find out more at: www.howwereallyfeel.com/in-partnership-with-convatec Show notes, resources and references: https://www.howwereallyfeel.com/acceptance-advocacy-bladder-care

  8. 15 Jun

    Acceptance, advocacy & bladder care: navigating systems without losing yourself | How We Really Feel

    When your body changes, the system rarely changes with it. Here's what you can do about that. This episode explores one of the most under-examined tensions in living with a health condition: the space between genuine acceptance and quiet resignation. Knowing the difference might be the most practical thing you can do for your own care. Matthew Castelluccio is the interim CEO of United Spinal Association and has been a wheelchair user and paraplegic for over twenty-three years. He brings both lived experience and two decades of professional work in rehabilitation, peer mentoring, and patient advocacy to this conversation. Jane Werbicky is a nurse information specialist at United Spinal Association, with over thirty-five years of nursing experience focused on spinal cord injuries, bladder and continence care. Together, they field calls from people at every stage of navigating their condition,  from newly injured to decades in, recognising where the system helps and where it lets people down. What we explore: Why acceptance and resignation can look identical from the outside and how peer connection is often the thing that starts to pull them apartThe isolation that commonly follows a new diagnosis or injury, how bladder and continence concerns intensify it, and what small steps genuinely helpWhat collaborative, curiosity-led care looks like in practice  and why the question "what's not working for you?" can open more than a full clinical assessmentHow to advocate for yourself in a medical appointment, including what to prepare, how to paint a full picture for your clinician, and when it is okay to change your doctorThe systemic barriers -geographic, financial, architectural - that make this harder than it should be, and why collective voice has already shifted thingsWhat advocacy actually looks like for someone who is overwhelmed and exhausted and why showing up to listen counts Whether you're navigating bladder or continence changes yourself, supporting someone who is, or working clinically with people who are, this conversation offers something grounding: the reminder that systems can and do shift, and that small, sustainable steps towards engagement are where it begins. Show notes, resources and references: www.howwereallyfeel.com This podcast is supported by Convatec Continence Care and their Me+ programme, which supports people using intermittent catheters with both practical guidance and emotional wellbeing resources. Find out more at www.howwereallyfeel.com/in-partnership-with-convatec

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About

How We Really Feel is the podcast that takes an honest, evidence-based look at what it means to live in a body, especially when that body is doing something no test has fully explained, no appointment has had time to address, or no one has joined the dots on yet. Hosted by Dr Sula Windgassen, PhD, health psychologist, researcher, author of It's All In Your Body and specialist in chronic illness, burnout and the mind-body connection. Each episode brings together leading clinicians, researchers and people with deep lived experience to examine the whole picture: biological, psychological and social. Guests are chosen for their years of peer-reviewed research, frontline clinical practice or a rich lived experience of illness, injury and healing. Every episode is fact-checked by Dr Sula and the show researcher, a trainee health psychologist and PhD student. All studies and resources referenced are listed at howwereallyfeel.com so you can read further, question it and make it your own. Series one explores pelvic and bladder health. One of the least explored areas of health, especially from a holistic and integrated approach that incorporates mind and body and the human at the heart of symptoms. Episodes cover chronic UTI, bladder pain syndrome, the nervous system, pelvic pain, sex and intimacy after illness, and what it means to befriend a body that has fundamentally changed. Between guest episodes, Dr Sula shares her own therapeutic reflections: what stood out, what the evidence means in practice, and what might be worth sitting with or trying. How We Really Feel is for you if:  You're curious about how our biology, psychology and lived experience are woven together and what that means for how we healYou're a urologist, pelvic health physiotherapist, GP, health psychologist, gynaecologist or clinician with an interest in holistic, integrated and evidence-based careYou've ever felt like medicine ran out of answers before you did You're navigating bladder pain, pelvic pain, chronic UTIs, chronic illness or burnout and want to understand what's really going on beneath the surface New guest episodes released weekly on Mondays and reflective summary episodes with Dr Sula Windgassen on Thursdays. All resources at howwereallyfeel.com

Information

  • Creator
    Dr Sula
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    22
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Dr Sula

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