Episode 19. Kirstie Howard: Hashimoto's, endometriosis, infertility and IVF.

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.

• 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?

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.

When you live with chronic illness, chances are high that you have experienced many moments of fear, overwhelm and grief and for so many of us in the chronic illness community, it can lead to such despair that you give up all hope. 

Hope of ever feeling better, hope of ever finding someone to help you, hope of being believed and hope of ever creating a better future for yourself. 

In this episode of the Emotional Autoimmunity podcast, I walk you through how this process happens, why we are all vulnerable to it and most importantly, how you can help yourself find that spark of hope again.

If you are feeling alone, in despair and finding it so hard to hope, this episode will help you feel less alone, more empowered and more willing to hope again. 

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.

One of the biggest issues of living with chronic illness is that people don't "get it".

They don't understand what it is, how much it impacts every part of your daily life and the complex emotions that go along with it.

And because people don't get it and there's so much lack of knowledge and acceptance, you can be left feeling isolated in your experience, feeling so much grief, anxiety and overwhelm and blaming yourself for not dealing with it as well as you think you should.

After working with 100's of clients around the world and my own experience living with four autoimmune diseases for over a decade now, I know that there are five key emotional issues that everyone with chronic illness feels at some point.

Not only that, I know that these emotions are a completely normal response and reaction to the life changing experience of becoming chronically ill.

In this episode I will walk you through the five key emotional issues of chronic illness and explain how they can affect you so if you are wondering if what you are feeling is 'normal' or not, have a listen.

I promise it's not 'just you."

Trigger warning: I discuss suicidal thoughts near the end of the podcast and give a verbal warning  of this in advance so you can choose to stop the podcast if this is a trigger 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.

October 8th was my 9th anniversary of the Hashimoto's diagnosis that left me sitting in the ruin of my life, cognitively and physically disabled with no idea if I was going to survive or ever have a chance of recovery.

Because my descent into chronic illness was a year long, worsening process of what I thought at the time was terrible perimenopause symptoms, finding out I had an incurable autoimmune disease was devastating, especially once I discovered just how little actual help, support or knowledge was out there. 

Now 4 diagnoses in and having worked with 100's of clients around the world helping them overcome the often complex emotions that go along with chronic illness, I'm sharing with you the 10 most important things I've learned from 10 years with chronic illness. 

Perhaps they will help you as well. Have a listen to this podcast and find out. 

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.

We all know that one of the biggest frustrations about living with chronic illness is the unsolicited ‘have you tried….?’ suggestions. 

Especially when it’s being given by someone who has no experience or knowledge about what living in your body with your illness is actually like. 

Even worse when it's being given by another person with chronic illness who vehemently believes that their diet, supplement or protocol is the only right way and if it didn't work for you, then you must be doing it wrong. 

It's something that we all experience and it very rarely ever feels helpful at all because generally, unsolicited advice always feels like criticism or judgement, especially when it comes from close friends and family. 

Why do people do this and how can you deal with all the "have you tried..." suggestions or the aggressive advice giving? 

Let's talk about it this episode of The Emotional Autoimmunity Podcast, shall we. 

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.