Author: Chris Hutchins-Joss
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Grieving the Person You Were Before Chronic Illness
Your thumb pauses mid-scroll. There’s a photo from two years ago: you at a friend’s wedding, dancing without a second thought. Or that weekend hike where you packed nothing but a water bottle and optimism. The person in those photos feels impossibly far away now. “I’m still not the old me.” The thought arrives like…
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Understanding Isolation in Chronic Illness
You’re sitting with friends, but you feel utterly alone. They’re laughing about weekend plans while you’re calculating whether you’ll have the energy to make it through lunch. Someone complains about being tired, and you bite your tongue. They have no idea, you think. And in that moment, the chronic illness makes you feel alone in…
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Gut-Brain Connection: Managing IBS Anxiety Effectively
You’re queuing at the supermarket when you feel it – that familiar cramping in your abdomen. Your chest tightens. Within seconds, you’re scanning for the toilet, heart pounding, mind racing through worst-case scenarios. Later, at home, your stomach feels worse. And you wonder: did the anxiety make your IBS flare up, or did your IBS…
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How to Communicate Pain Effectively to Your GP
You already know that normal test results don’t mean nothing’s wrong. You’ve probably experienced being dismissed as “just anxious.” If you’ve been reading along, you understand why this happens and how frustrating it is. But here’s what you might not know: how to communicate your pain in a way that helps your GP help you.
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The Emotional Toll of Unexplained Symptoms
You’ve finally got the appointment. You’ve waited weeks. You’ve rehearsed what you’re going to say. You walk in, describe the exhausting fatigue, the unexplained pain, the symptoms that are slowly dismantling your life. And then your doctor says it’s just anxiety.
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When Your Tests Are Normal But You Feel Terrible: What Now?
You’ve been to your GP. Again. You’ve described the exhaustion that makes it hard to get through a workday, the pain that keeps you awake at night, the symptoms that have quietly taken over your life. You’ve waited weeks for blood work, maybe even had a scan. And then the results come back.
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Understanding Decision Fatigue in Chronic Illness
You wake up at 7am. Before you’ve even left the bed, you’ve already made twelve micro-decisions. Do I take the painkiller now or wait until after breakfast? Can I manage a shower today? Should I push through the fatigue or call in sick? Which symptom should I track first? Is this the day I finally…
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When Managing Diabetes Feels Harder Than the Disease Itself
Living with diabetes isn’t just about managing blood sugar – it’s an unrelenting emotional and mental challenge. Here’s how to recognise diabetes distress and burnout, with practical, compassionate steps to find your way back to balance.
