Ingela Thuné-Boyle, PhD
International Health Coach 
Online Practice

So, I've recently experienced quite a major bump in my ever present, complicated relationship with illness. My quality of life has been absolute crap despite my best efforts. I've had endless issues where nothing I did appeared to provide any relief whatsoever. This is not new to me. Indeed, I've been here before. Quite a few times actually yet each time, a quiet sense of despair sets in and my future seem very uncertain and bleak. Basically, I start to lose hope.

Refusing to accept symptoms or limitations brought on by chronic illness is a good thing, right? It stops us from giving up, does it not? It drives us on. It makes us fight harder, look for better treatments or, perhaps, even use it to maintain hope for a cure. It's a great motivator! Well, maybe to some degree but in the long-term, all it does is lead you down the path of suffering. Hear me out.

Living with a long-term illness can be difficult on so many levels but one aspect sticks out: being minimized and dismissed by healthcare professionals. This is unfortunately fairly common for those living with a rare, 'invisible' or poorly understood condition. When someone in a position of power treats us badly, we usually end up feeling pretty stupid, embarrassed and ashamed and knowing the unfairness of the situation and our inability to deal with it at that moment, we ma

I read an interesting blog article recently. It was written by a woman who felt completely overwhelmed by her illness, especially the chronic pain she was experiencing. Her doctor suggested that she may benefit from a referral to a Pain Rehabilitation Program that included physio therapy, occupational therapy and psychological support, but after years of not having her illness properly validated, her symptoms minimized and often being told, "It's all in your head,"