MS and Type 1 Diabetes: Rachel’s Voice

Living with a chronic health condition can change how we feel about ourselves in ways we don't always recognise. Maybe you used to be confident at work, socially, in your body, or just making everyday decisions. But after years of unpredictable symptoms, cancelled plans, physical changes or having your experiences dismissed, that confidence can start to disappear. In this episode, Sally and Seona explore why chronic illness can chip away at our confidence, how confidence differs from self-esteem, and what we can do to begin rebuilding trust in ourselves. Because confidence isn't necessarily about getting back to who you were. Sometimes it's about learning to believe in the person you are now.

What do you do when you wake up and realise a flare might be starting? When you’re exhausted, overwhelmed or feeling unwell, it can be incredibly difficult to make thoughtful decisions about what you need—and what can wait. In this episode, we’re talking about creating a flare plan when you’re well enough to make those decisions clearly. We’ll explore how to recognise your early warning signs, who you might need to contact, what you can cancel or postpone, and how to work out what genuinely helps (and what definitely doesn’t!). We’ll also talk about the practical things that can make a flare easier—from asking for help with the kids to having messages ready for work, friends or family. Because you don’t need to figure everything out when you’re feeling terrible. Create the plan now, so that when a flare comes along, you can move from “Oh no, what do I do?” to “Okay, I’ve been here before. I know what to do next.”

When you live with a chronic health condition, paying attention to your body is important. But what happens when paying attention turns into constantly monitoring, checking, Googling and worrying? In this episode, Sally and Seona explore health anxiety and why it can be particularly complicated when you already have a genuine health condition. We talk about the difference between sensible health vigilance and anxiety, why previous medical experiences can make us hyper-aware of symptoms, and how the anxiety–symptom cycle can keep us stuck. We also look at reassurance seeking, Dr Google and the challenge of living with uncertainty. Most importantly, we share four practical and psychological strategies to help you manage health anxiety without ignoring your body or allowing worry to take over your life. Because managing a chronic illness is already a lot of work—we don't want worrying about our health to become another full-time job.

Managing a chronic health condition can sometimes feel like a part-time job — and on bad days, a full-time one! There are appointments to organise, medications to remember, symptoms to monitor, paperwork to complete, decisions to make and endless energy calculations. And that’s before you’ve even started your actual job, looked after your family or tried to have a social life. In this episode, Seona and Sally unpack the hidden physical, cognitive and emotional workload of chronic illness management, including the mental load of constantly planning around symptoms and uncertainty. We also talk about why “just resting” isn’t always as simple as it sounds. Finally, we share four practical and psychological strategies to reduce the workload, protect your energy and make sure managing your health doesn’t become your whole life.

When you live with chronic illness, social media can be a lifeline. Finding people who truly get it, discovering practical tips, feeling validated and connecting with a community can make an enormous difference. But there’s another side to the algorithm. Comparison, doomscrolling, symptom searching, scary stories and the pressure to be “doing illness right” can leave us feeling anxious, overwhelmed or inadequate. In this episode, Sally and Seona explore both sides of social media and chronic illness, including why diagnosis-specific communities can sometimes become echo chambers. We’ll also share three psychological strategies to help you curate your feed, set information boundaries and protect the parts of your identity that have nothing to do with being unwell.