Emotional Autoimmunity: Dealing with the emotional issues of chronic illness

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 experience pain, fatigue and disability at any time.

The anxiety of not being believed, not feeling supported or experiencing blame and judgement for 'not trying hard enough to get well'.

The anxiety of feeling let down or abandoned by the medical, social and community systems we thought would be there when we most needed them .

The anxiety of experiencing a major flare, hospitalisation or more pain, disability and fatigue.

Inevitably, all of these anxieties lead to feeling stuck in endless 'what if' scenarios about all the things that you don't want to happen which leaves you losing sleep, unable to relax and dealing with the inflammatory effects of all that stress and fear.

In this episode I break down for you why these fears happen, how they have an impact on your emotions and body and most importantly, I share new skills you can use to overcome those scary 'what if' thoughts.

And if you get some good from this episode, please share this podcast and leave me a five star review to help me reach more people who need this information.

Kerry Jeffery is a Coach, Counsellor and Clinical Hypnotherapist helping clients all around the world to overcome the emotional issues of living with chronic illness.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia along with Hashimoto's, Celiac, Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Type 1 Diabetes.

Find out more about Kerry and her Therapy programs here.

Book your FREE online Discovery Session with Kerry here.

Follow Kerry for daily posts on Facebook here.

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 others down and feel so overwhelmed and anxious because you don't know how to get doctors to help you.

Also as a formerly independent, capable and competent person, you can feel very vulnerable when it comes to asking for help in case the help you need will not be given.

If you want to know how to maximize your chances of getting the support you need, from online groups, doctors, family and friends, then this podcast is for you!

Make sure you share this one with everyone you know who lives with chronic illness because we so deserve to be supported.

Kerry Jeffery is a Coach, Counsellor and Clinical Hypnotherapist helping clients all around the world to overcome the emotional issues of living with chronic illness.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia along with Hashimoto's, Celiac, Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Type 1 Diabetes.

Find out more about Kerry and her Therapy programs here.

Book your FREE online Discovery Session with Kerry here.

Follow Kerry for daily posts on Facebook here.

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 stress and anxiety?

What role does inflammation play with brain fog and how does it affect your cognition and symptoms?

And more importantly, how can you manage brain fog and still work and function without creating even more stress, guilt and anxiety for yourself?

In this episode I cover all of this and so much more including my top tips for managing the impact of brain fog and reducing the frustration for when it happens to you.

Kerry Jeffery is a Coach, Counsellor and Clinical Hypnotherapist helping clients all around the world to overcome the emotional issues of living with chronic illness.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia along with Hashimoto's, Celiac, Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Type 1 Diabetes.

Find out more about Kerry and her Therapy programs here.

Book your FREE online Discovery Session with Kerry here.

Follow Kerry for daily posts on Facebook here.

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 trust me, everyone who contributed to this did not hold back!

This podcast is a great one to share with your friends, family, partners and chronic illness communities so make sure you listen and share and if you want to help me reach more people who need to hear this, please leave me a review.

Let's help educate and spread the word of the practical realities and emotional issues that becoming chronically ill bring from those who know it best.

Kerry Jeffery is a Coach, Counsellor and Clinical Hypnotherapist helping clients all around the world to overcome the emotional issues of living with chronic illness.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia along with Hashimoto's, Celiac, Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Type 1 Diabetes.

Find out more about Kerry and her Therapy programs here.

Book your FREE online Discovery Session with Kerry here.

Follow Kerry for daily posts on Facebook here.

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 'at least it's not cancer' or 'you just need to be more positive'.

Many of the normal emotional experiences that come with chronic illness are so often wrongly interpreted by others as self-pity which feels dismissive, judgmental and demeaning.

In this episode I will walk you through all the ways that self-pity, self-compassion and toxic positivity relate to living with chronic illness and give you some insight into dealing with toxic positivity and learning to practice and benefit from self-compassion.

If you live with chronic illness and have ever worried about getting stuck in self-pity or felt shut down by all the 'just think more positive' people, then this episode is for you!

Kerry Jeffery is a Coach, Counsellor and Clinical Hypnotherapist helping clients all around the world to overcome the emotional issues of living with chronic illness.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia along with Hashimoto's, Celiac, Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Type 1 Diabetes.

Find out more about Kerry and her Therapy programs here.

Book your FREE online Discovery Session with Kerry here.

Follow Kerry for daily posts on Facebook here.

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 amount of rest we need, anxiety about everything that is being left undone and fear of being judged as lazy or selfish.

And if you are resting while still feeling guilty, ashamed or anxious, then you can't get any benefit from rest at all.

In this episode I walk you through the issues with guilt about rest, why it happens and give strategies on how you can start changing your relationship with rest so you can start making the most of it.

Kerry Jeffery is a Coach, Counsellor and Clinical Hypnotherapist helping clients all around the world to overcome the emotional issues of living with chronic illness.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia along with Hashimoto's, Celiac, Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Type 1 Diabetes.

Find out more about Kerry and her Therapy programs here.

Book your FREE online Discovery Session with Kerry here.

Follow Kerry for daily posts on Facebook here.

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 the energy you have is one of the most important challenges those of us with chronic illness face.

Your level of functionality depends on which energy stage you are experiencing now and how much you can resist the temptation to "do all the things" on the days you do have energy.

Because when you try and do "all the things" there is a very real risk of pushing yourself back into another lengthy flare where you are exhausted or bed-bound again.

In this episode, I walk you through what the different energy stages of chronic illness are, share my top tips on managing each stage and more importantly, know how to protect and get the best from your precious energy levels.

Kerry Jeffery is a Coach, Counsellor and Clinical Hypnotherapist helping clients all around the world to overcome the emotional issues of living with chronic illness.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia along with Hashimoto's, Celiac, Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Type 1 Diabetes.

Find out more about Kerry and her Therapy programs here.

Book your FREE online Discovery Session with Kerry here.

Follow Kerry for daily posts on Facebook here.

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 leave you on the sidelines for days, weeks or even longer.

When it comes to chronic illness, there are two key foundations that I use to not only feel good about setting boundaries, but start keeping them guilt free.

In this last podcast of the year for 2023, I walk you through what those foundations are, give clear examples of why and how they work and tell you practical ways you can start thinking about what boundaries you can start setting in place to better protect your precious health and energy.

Kerry Jeffery is a Coach, Counsellor and Clinical Hypnotherapist helping clients all around the world to overcome the emotional issues of living with chronic illness.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia along with Hashimoto's, Celiac, Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Type 1 Diabetes.

Find out more about Kerry and her Therapy programs here.

Book your FREE online Discovery Session with Kerry here.

Follow Kerry for daily posts on Facebook here.

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 delivered!
In this episode I answer questions like:

• Why does my partner seem so negative now?
• How do I stop feeling so resentful?
• What can I do when I am worried that the unconventional diet or interventions they want to use will make them even sicker?
• Why am I feeling so resentful and tired of hearing about the illness all the time?

All this and so much more in episode 12 and if you have any future questions for "Dear Kerry" and you want some great free resources to help you deal with the complex emotional issues of living with chronic illness, make sure you join my email community at my website.

Kerry Jeffery is a Coach, Counsellor and Clinical Hypnotherapist helping clients all around the world to overcome the emotional issues of living with chronic illness.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia along with Hashimoto's, Celiac, Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Type 1 Diabetes.

Find out more about Kerry and her Therapy programs here.

Book your FREE online Discovery Session with Kerry here.

Follow Kerry for daily posts on Facebook here.

Irrational thoughts, otherwise known in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy circles as Cognitive Distortions are something that everyone experiences.

The problem with these irrational thoughts is that they can and do influence our behaviour, emotions, beliefs and relationships and they are key contributors to high levels of stress.

They are also the biggest drivers of things like guilt, anxiety, depression, overwhelm, hopelessness and relationship issues.

While there are many known and common cognitive distortions that have been identified, when it comes to chronic illness, there are five that are the most globally experienced and the most damaging.

In this episode of the Emotional Autoimmunity podcast, I take you through the top 5 Chronic Illness irrational thoughts, how we use them and more importantly, what you can do to challenge and overcome them.

Some of them may even surprise you.

Kerry Jeffery is a Coach, Counsellor and Clinical Hypnotherapist helping clients all around the world to overcome the emotional issues of living with chronic illness.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia along with Hashimoto's, Celiac, Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Type 1 Diabetes.

Find out more about Kerry and her Therapy programs here.

Book your FREE online Discovery Session with Kerry here.

Follow Kerry for daily posts on Facebook here.