Emotional Autoimmunity: Dealing with the emotional issues of chronic illness Kerry Jeffery

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 includes how it's affected my sleep, diet, social life, friendships, relationships and the many ways in which it has changed my life....

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 what to do next and how to even start to cope with how much your life and self have changed and no recognition of just how lost, confuse...

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 friends doing all the things that you can no longer do, feeling so jealous and envious that you need to stop using social media becau...

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 never need to think about. The anxiety of living in a body that is unpredictable and no longer feels safe and can make you experienc...

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 judged, blamed, isolated and left to fend for yourself. You can feel guilty for what your illness is doing to others, worry about letting o...

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 impact on our work, relationships, study and motivation. But what is brain fog exactly and what is its important relationship to str...