Beyond My Diagnosis with Michele Weston

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When your child is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, everything can suddenly feel uncertain. Between learning unfamiliar medical terminology, managing blood glucose levels, understanding insulin, and worrying about what the future holds, parents may feel overwhelmed before they have even had time to process the diagnosis.

This week on Beyond My Diagnosis, Michele Weston welcomes a special guest-host takeover with Dr. Kristen Cook, a pediatrician with more than 15 years of clinical experience, author of Parenting Redefined, and host of Mom Doc Talk.

While Michele takes time to focus on her own health, a well as being a caregiver to her husband after surgery and her aging 18-year-old terrier, Kristen steps behind the microphone to help families understand what it means to navigate a child's type 1 diabetes diagnosis.

Kristen begins by explaining what type 1 diabetes is and why some children receive their diagnosis during a frightening medical emergency. She then addresses something that can be overlooked when families are suddenly immersed in medical appointments and treatment instructions: the emotional impact of learning that your child has a lifelong condition.

Parents may experience fear, anger, sadness, or guilt, and children may have their own complicated feelings about being different from their friends. Kristen reminds families that these emotions deserve attention and that neither the parent nor the child caused the diagnosis.

She also explains why parents need to understand their child's treatment plan, ask questions when medical language becomes confusing, and work collaboratively with their healthcare team.

As children grow older, diabetes management becomes an increasingly important part of their developing independence. Kristen discusses how to involve children in their care without expecting them to assume responsibilities before they are developmentally ready.

She also explores what happens when teenagers become frustrated with their diagnosis or resist parts of their treatment plan. Rather than responding only with criticism or interrogation, Kristen encourages parents to remain curious, maintain communication, and seek support from their child's medical team.

Throughout the episode, Kristen offers practical perspective on blood glucose monitoring, continuous glucose monitors, insulin injections and pumps, changing treatment needs, and why individual glucose readings should not become a measure of personal success or failure.

Most importantly, she reminds parents that children with type 1 diabetes can continue participating in sports, birthday celebrations, friendships, and activities they enjoy, with appropriate planning and medical guidance.

A type 1 diabetes diagnosis changes how a family manages daily life, but it does not change everything about who a child is or what they can experience.

What You'll Hear

• Why Dr. Kristen Cook is taking over Beyond My Diagnosis for this special episode
• What happens in the body when a child develops type 1 diabetes
• Why diabetic ketoacidosis can make an initial diagnosis especially frightening
• How parents and children can process the emotional impact of a lifelong diagnosis
• Why parents should not blame themselves for their child's type 1 diabetes
• How to ask questions and understand medical terminology
• Why birthday parties, sports, and ordinary childhood experiences can still be part of life
• How to involve children in their medical care without pushing independence too soon
• Why teenagers may resist diabetes management and how parents can respond constructively
• The role of glucose monitoring, continuous glucose monitors, and insulin delivery
• Why glucose trends are more useful for care planning than treating one reading as a personal failure
• How families can build a support system as their child's needs change

About Dr. Kristen Cook

Dr. Kristen Cook is a pediatrician with more than 15 years of experience caring for children and families in a busy pediatric practice. She is the author of Parenting Redefined, a guide to understanding and nurturing children's behavior, and the host of the weekly podcast Mom Doc Talk with Dr. Kristen Cook.

She also writes for Psychology Today and brings her experiences as a wife and mother of two to conversations about parenting, children's health, behavior, and family relationships.

Connect With Kristen

• Podcast: Mom Doc Talk with Dr. Kristen Cook
• Book: Parenting Redefined, available on Amazon
• Writing: Psychology Today

Kristen does not provide direct website or social media URLs in this transcript, so I have not inserted unverified links.

Medical Information Note

This episode provides general education and parenting support. Type 1 diabetes requires individualized medical management, and families should work with their child's pediatrician and diabetes care team for treatment decisions, insulin adjustments, and emergency planning.

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This week on Beyond My Diagnosis, Michele is once again handing over the microphone while she takes time to manage her own chronic conditions. Guest host Lisa Richer, neurodivergent success partner, advocate, founder of Journey to Bloom, and mother of two neurodivergent sons, steps in for a deeply personal conversation about parenting and supporting neurodivergent children.

Lisa describes parenting a child with ADHD, autism, dyscalculia, executive function differences, or another neurodifference as sometimes feeling like walking a tightrope. On one side are school schedules, academic expectations, social rules, executive function demands, IEP goals, accommodations, and behavioral reports. On the other is the child standing in front of you, with their own curiosity, sensory needs, interests, communication style, strengths, and ways of experiencing the world.

Parents can easily find themselves trying to manage both sides at once.

Lisa knows that experience personally. She is neurodivergent herself, has raised two neurodivergent sons, and has spent years supporting families. Her perspective has changed over time. She no longer believes the goal is for a parent to become an expert tightrope walker who carries a child across while simultaneously acting as therapist, tutor, coach, advocate, and referee.

Instead, she invites parents to step onto the wire with their child and become a partner.

Throughout the episode, Lisa explores what can happen when children understand how their own brains work. She discusses ADHD and autistic experiences of friendship, sensory overload, rejection, communication, executive function, hyperfocus, and school expectations. She also examines the growing willingness among younger neurodivergent people to openly identify with their differences rather than automatically treating them as something to hide.

Lisa introduces the three principles that guide her work at Journey to Bloom: clarity, confidence, and courage. Clarity helps a child understand their brain and gives families a shared language for what they are experiencing. Confidence grows when children participate in conversations about accommodations and learn how to advocate for what actually helps them. Courage allows families to question systems and expectations that measure children primarily by how closely they can perform according to neurotypical standards.

The episode offers parents an important question to consider. Instead of asking, “How do I make my child fit into this school?” what changes when we ask, “How do I help my child understand their own brain so they can navigate this environment?”

Lisa’s goal is not to help children become better at hiding who they are. It is to help them understand themselves well enough to communicate their needs, recognize their strengths, participate in decisions that affect them, and move through the world with a stronger sense of who they are.

What You’ll Hear

• Why Lisa Richer is taking over the microphone for this special episode of Beyond My Diagnosis
• Why supporting a neurodivergent child can feel like walking a tightrope between school expectations and the child’s actual needs
• How parents can unintentionally become therapist, tutor, executive function coach, advocate, and referee all at once
• Why Lisa believes partnership is more useful than constantly trying to manage or fix a child
• How ADHD and autism can shape experiences with peers, friendships, communication, sensory environments, and school
• Why some younger neurodivergent people are becoming more comfortable openly identifying with their differences
• Why understanding a diagnosis can help children develop language for what they experience
• How Lisa approaches ADHD and autism through the lenses of clarity, confidence, and courage
• Why children should have meaningful input into IEPs, 504 plans, accommodations, and school support
• How parents can ask better questions about what actually helps their child
• Why a meltdown, shutdown, freeze response, or difficulty starting a task should not automatically be interpreted as a character problem
• How parents can help children develop self-advocacy skills
• Why emotional regulation sometimes needs to take priority over academic compliance
• How families can move away from neurotypical measures of success and recognize a child's individual strengths and needs

About Lisa Richer

Lisa Richer is a Neurodivergent Success Partner and Advocate who works with students, athletes, parents, and professionals to help them move through internal, relational, and systemic barriers.

As the creator of the Clarity | Confidence | Courage Journey Map™, Lisa helps people better understand how they think, communicate, learn, advocate for themselves, and navigate environments that may not have been designed with neurodivergent needs in mind.

Her work is also deeply personal. Lisa is neurodivergent herself and is the mother of two neurodivergent sons. She brings both lived and professional experience to conversations about ADHD, autism, learning differences, school systems, advocacy, identity, and helping people understand what they need in order to thrive.

Connect With Lisa

Journey to Bloom Resources

Journey to Bloom on Instagram

Lisa Richer on LinkedIn

Journey to Bloom on YouTube

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This week on Beyond My Diagnosis, Michele is doing something special. While she is away tending to her own health, she has invited trusted members of her community to step behind the microphone and share their perspectives with you.

For this special podcast takeover, sisters Amy and Nancy Harrington, co-founders of The Passionistas Project, are your guest hosts. They are talking about something they have spent years creating for other women but unexpectedly discovered they needed themselves: community.

Nancy shares the deeply personal story of what began as what everyone expected to be routine gallbladder surgery. While Nancy was under anesthesia, her surgeon discovered a mass on her gallbladder that appeared suspicious enough that the planned procedure was stopped. When Nancy woke up, she did not initially know what had happened. Amy ultimately became the person who had to tell her sister that the surgery had not gone as planned and that doctors were concerned the mass might be cancerous. 52-Passionistas

In the weeks that followed, Nancy was recovering from one procedure while preparing for another and living with the frightening possibility of cancer. During that uncertainty, she describes feeling surrounded by what she calls “light and love” as family, friends, and members of The Passionistas Project community reached out with messages, phone calls, practical help, and emotional support. 52-Passionistas

Ultimately, testing determined that the mass was benign, but Nancy’s recovery was still long and difficult. The experience gave both sisters a very personal understanding of why community matters when health suddenly changes.

Amy shares the experience from the caregiver’s side. As Nancy’s sister, business partner, and one of her primary caregivers, Amy found herself managing appointments, insurance complications, logistics, their business, and the emotional reality of watching someone she loves face a frightening diagnosis. When Nancy could not carry her usual share of their business for approximately six months, the community they had built began supporting Amy too. 52-Passionistas

What makes their message especially meaningful is that Amy and Nancy are not suggesting that everyone needs to join their particular community. Their message is much simpler: find your people.

Your community may be family, friends, a support group, people who share your diagnosis, a professional network, an online community, or people who understand what you are going through without requiring you to explain every part of it. Amy and Nancy also talk about the value of having a place where you do not have to talk about illness at all, where you can simply be part of life outside your diagnosis. 52-Passionistas

This special episode is a reminder that support is not only emotional. Sometimes community looks like a text or a phone call. Sometimes it means helping someone navigate an insurance problem, covering part of a workload, sharing a resource, making a spreadsheet, or simply reminding someone that they do not have to figure everything out alone.

What You’ll Hear

• Why Amy and Nancy Harrington are taking over Beyond My Diagnosis for this special episode
• How what was expected to be routine gallbladder surgery became a frightening health scare for Nancy
• What it was like for Amy to receive unexpected news while Nancy was still under anesthesia
• How Nancy coped with the possibility that the mass on her gallbladder could be cancerous
• Why Nancy describes feeling surrounded by “light and love” during one of the most uncertain periods of her life
• How friends, family, and community supported Nancy through surgery and a difficult recovery
• What caregiving looked like for Amy as both Nancy’s sister and business partner
• How illness can affect a small business when one partner suddenly cannot work
• Why practical support can be just as meaningful as emotional encouragement
• How Amy and Nancy’s own community stepped in when they became the ones who needed help
• Why people outside your immediate family can provide a different kind of support during illness
• The importance of finding a community where you can talk about your health when you need to, but can also simply be yourself when you do not
• Why Amy and Nancy believe no one should have to navigate a difficult season completely alone

About Amy and Nancy Harrington

Amy and Nancy Harrington are sisters, longtime business partners, and co-founders of The Passionistas Project, a community dedicated to helping women feel seen, heard, connected, and supported.

Their professional backgrounds are in entertainment and production, and they eventually brought their storytelling experience into work centered on amplifying women’s voices. Through The Passionistas Project, they have created interviews, events, publishing opportunities, and a global sisterhood where women connect around personal growth, business development, social impact, and the experiences that shape their lives.

For Amy and Nancy, the word “sisterhood” has particular meaning. They describe themselves as best friends since birth and have worked together professionally for more than two decades. They created their community because they wanted other women to experience the kind of connection and support that has always been central to their own relationship. During Nancy’s health crisis, they unexpectedly experienced firsthand the support system they had worked so hard to create for others. 52-Passionistas

Connect with The Passionistas Project

The Passionistas Project

The Passionistas Project Sisterhood

The Passionistas Project on Instagram

The Passionistas Project on Facebook

The Passionistas Project on LinkedIn

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This week on Beyond My Diagnosis, something special is happening. Michele is handing over the microphone to guest host Ramona Kossowan, a Certified Women’s Empowerment Coach, Gentle Trauma Release Practitioner, and Fitness Trainer.

Rather than a traditional interview, Ramona is taking listeners through lessons she has gathered from more than a decade of working with women who have faced chronic health conditions, physical limitations, trauma, and significant life challenges. She is careful to acknowledge that every person and every diagnosis is different, so her invitation is simple: consider what is helpful for you and leave what is not.

At the heart of the episode is an important distinction between acceptance and resignation.

Ramona shares the story of a woman living with a progressive breathing condition who had been doing everything she could to prevent her health from worsening. When oxygen became necessary, she initially experienced it as a failure. Through their work together, Ramona watched what happened when the woman stopped using all of her energy to fight her current reality and began finding ways to work within it while remaining curious about what might still be possible.

That same idea appears in Ramona’s experiences working with women living with rheumatoid arthritis and other physical limitations. Rather than measuring success against what someone “should” be able to do, she describes adapting movement and strength training to the body in front of her. One client who could not comfortably hold a five-pound dumbbell eventually reached a point where she could say something far more meaningful than a number on a workout plan: “I feel powerful.”

Ramona then takes the conversation deeper into an area central to her work: the nervous system.

She shares why she believes nervous system support should be considered alongside other aspects of wellness, particularly when someone has spent years living in survival mode. She discusses her work with women experiencing chronic pain and fibromyalgia and explains how trauma, stress, identity, relationships, self-care, and health can become interconnected.

Importantly, this is not a conversation about blaming trauma for illness or suggesting that nervous system work replaces medical treatment. It is about widening the lens and asking what else may deserve attention when someone is trying to care for their whole self.

Ramona also shares practical examples of what creating greater safety and breathing room can look like in everyday life. It might mean creating a transition between a stressful workday and the evening, noticing patterns of over-functioning, allowing yourself to receive help, eating more mindfully, spending time with safe people, connecting with pets or nature, or simply asking, “What can I do today to show up for myself?”

What You’ll Hear

• Why Ramona Kossowan is taking over Beyond My Diagnosis as a special guest host
• The important difference Ramona sees between accepting your current reality and resigning yourself to it
• Why constantly pushing against physical limitations can sometimes take more from us than it gives
• How Ramona has adapted strength and movement work for women living with chronic health conditions
• Why progress does not have to look like someone else’s version of success
• How curiosity can coexist with acceptance when navigating a diagnosis
• Why Ramona includes nervous system support in her work with women
• How years of stress and survival mode can affect the way someone cares for themselves
• Why receiving support can be difficult for women who are accustomed to over-functioning
• How small moments of safety, rest, connection, and nurturing can become meaningful forms of self-care
• Why the question “What can I do to show up for myself?” can be a powerful place to begin

Ramona’s Free Gentle Trauma Assessment

During the episode, Ramona invites listeners to explore her Gentle Trauma Assessment, a free resource designed to help you notice physical, emotional, and cognitive patterns that may be connected to trauma and begin connecting some of the dots in your own experience.

Take Ramona’s Free Gentle Trauma Assessment

About Guest Host Ramona Kossowan

Ramona Kossowan is a Certified Women’s Empowerment Coach, Gentle Trauma Release Practitioner, and Fitness Trainer whose work focuses on helping women reconnect with themselves and move beyond limiting narratives, past experiences, and patterns that may be keeping them stuck.

Her approach grew from both professional training and personal experience. Inspired by her mother’s work in holistic health, Ramona knew she wanted to create a heart-centered business of her own. Her entrepreneurial journey began after maternity leave, when returning to a job that no longer felt meaningful prompted her to find another path.

She began mentoring other mothers in herbal wellness, opened her private fitness studio in 2017, and became a certified Empowerment Coach in 2020. Today, her work brings together empowerment coaching, movement, strength, and gentle trauma release practices.

Ramona believes that when women have the opportunity to heal, reconnect with themselves, and become more empowered in their own lives, the effects can extend into their families, relationships, and communities.

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This episode of Beyond the Diagnosis was not the episode Michele planned to record.

After spending several days in the hospital, Michele is finally home, and her friend Julie DeLucca-Collins has stepped behind the microphone for an unexpected podcast takeover. This time, instead of Michele asking the questions, Julie turns the conversation around and asks Michele what happened and what this experience has reminded her about living with a chronic condition.

Michele shares how a long, hot day in New York was followed by a persistent headache that felt different from what she normally experiences. As the discomfort moved toward the eye where she had previously experienced optic neuritis, Michele knew she needed to pay closer attention. Her neurologist ordered blood work and a urine test, and concerns about dehydration and her kidney function eventually became part of a much larger medical evaluation. 50-Wellness Wednesday Julie DeLucca.txtTXT

The conversation also explores the realities of managing more than one piece of your medical history at the same time. Michele has lived with MS for years and also has a history of bariatric surgery, which can make something as seemingly simple as drinking enough water more complicated. Julie and Michele talk about why general health recommendations still have to be considered in the context of the individual person and why patients need to be able to tell their healthcare professionals what is realistic for their bodies.

Michele also shares what it felt like to become the patient again, including dealing with hospital safety protocols because of her drop foot and balance issues. She talks about the frustration that can come with losing some independence while also recognizing that the nurses caring for her have protocols they need to follow.

One of the most personal parts of the conversation is Michele’s reminder that self-advocacy does not have to mean becoming adversarial. Even when she was tired, uncomfortable, and ready to go home, she tried to remember that the people caring for her were doing their jobs under difficult circumstances too.

Now that she is home, wellness looks much simpler. It means seeing her dog, getting outside for a short walk, enjoying some fresh air, resting, and giving her body time to recover.

Julie closes this special Wellness Wednesday conversation with a reminder that wellness practices do not always have to be complicated. A few minutes of intentional breathing, turning off notifications, listening to something calming, getting outside when you can, prioritizing sleep, or simply allowing yourself to rest can all be meaningful ways of caring for yourself.

Going beyond a diagnosis does not mean pretending your diagnosis never affects your life. Sometimes it means knowing your body well enough to recognize when something has changed, communicating that clearly to your healthcare team, and accepting that there are moments when pushing through is no longer the right answer.

What You’ll Hear

• Why Julie took over Michele’s microphone for this unusual episode
• What happened before Michele ended up spending several days in the hospital
• How heat affects Michele personally when she is managing MS
• Why the location and persistence of Michele’s headache concerned her
• How her previous experience with optic neuritis affected the way she interpreted her symptoms
• Why Michele’s neurologist ordered blood work and additional testing
• How Michele’s history of bariatric surgery affects the way she approaches hydration
• Why knowing your own body is an important part of communicating with your healthcare team
• What Michele experienced when hospital staff took additional precautions because of her drop foot and balance issues
• Why Michele believes kindness and self-advocacy can exist together in healthcare
• What Michele needed most when she finally came home
• How small wellness practices can support us when our bodies are asking for rest

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Mindfulness, Mini-Meditations, and Chronic Illness: A Healing Conversation with Simone Giangiordano

In this episode of Beyond My Diagnosis, I talk with Simone Giangiordano, Compassion-Based Business and Lifestyle Coach and creator of the BalanceUP® Community. Simone joins me to explore the real, daily experience of living with chronic illness, and why mindfulness, mini-meditations, and self-compassion can change not only how we cope, but how we live.

We talk about fatigue, fear, stigma, neuroplasticity, and the emotional layers of managing chronic illness in a world that doesn't slow down. Simone shares how contemplative practice helped her heal, how compassion reduces second-level suffering, and why mindfulness is not about perfection, but presence.

In this episode, you will learn:
• How mindfulness and mini-meditations help calm the nervous system
• Why self-compassion is essential for anyone living with chronic illness
• How neuroplasticity allows the brain to rewire emotional patterns
• Why mindfulness reduces stress, stigma, and emotional overwhelm
• Small, simple ways to bring awareness into daily tasks like walking, dishes, or brushing your teeth
• How to use breath, intention, and presence to navigate pain and fatigue

About Simone:
Simone Giangiordano is a CCT Certified Instructor, chronic illness advocate, and the founder of the BalanceUP® Community. She teaches individuals how to build meaningful, sustainable lives and businesses that honor their health. Her signature program, The Power of I Can’t®, empowers people to find creative pathways around health limitations so they can flourish.

Simone’s Links:
🌐 Website: https://www.simoneg.net

📄 Full Bio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ck56wNRTAbFgjzVWdaLzzaVXDJ4OMMwj/view

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What if the problem is not that someone is unwilling to learn, communicate, or participate, but that the way we are asking them to do it does not work for their brain?

In this episode of Beyond My Diagnosis, Michele Weston welcomes neurodivergent success partner and advocate Lisa Richer for a wide-ranging conversation about ADHD, autism, learning differences, late diagnosis, executive functioning, dysregulation, and what it really means to meet people where they are.

Lisa was diagnosed with ADHD in her late 40s after spending decades wondering why certain expectations in school and the workplace felt so much harder for her than they seemed to be for everyone else. Her understanding of neurodivergence began even earlier as a parent. Both of her sons entered early-intervention services as toddlers, and their different learning and developmental needs eventually helped Lisa understand her own brain more clearly.

Together, Michele and Lisa explore why taking notes, using captions, needing visual examples, avoiding eye contact, fidgeting, asking “why,” or requiring practical application are not signs that someone is lazy, disrespectful, or less intelligent. They may simply reflect a different way of processing information.

Lisa also explains dysregulation and why behaviors such as shutting down, fidgeting, pacing, hand movements, or becoming overwhelmed can be signals that a nervous system needs support, not judgment. She shares a powerful story about realizing that requiring her autistic son to make eye contact actually made it harder for him to listen.

The conversation moves from classrooms to workplaces, relationships, parenting, coaching, and leadership. Lisa challenges parents, educators, managers, and colleagues to replace assumptions with better questions: What do you need to be successful? What did you hear me say? What would help this make sense?

This episode is ultimately about patience, with ourselves and with one another. Different brains learn differently. Different people communicate differently. And inclusion is not a once-a-year training or a checklist. It is the ongoing practice of creating environments where people can understand, contribute, and belong.

If you have ever wondered why something that seems “easy” for one person feels impossible for another, this conversation may change the way you think about learning, communication, and success.

Different does not mean less capable. A person can be highly intelligent and still need information presented in a different way. Memorizing something is not the same as understanding it, and understanding often improves when information is connected to practical application.

Late diagnosis can reframe decades of experience. Lisa describes receiving an ADHD diagnosis in her late 40s and recognizing that many past workplace and learning struggles were not character flaws or a lack of intelligence.

Learning preferences matter. Notes, captions, visual examples, hands-on practice, repetition, or extra processing time can help information become usable rather than simply heard.

Eye contact is not a universal measure of listening or respect. Lisa shares that her autistic son found it harder to listen when he was required to make eye contact. The larger lesson is to avoid assuming one communication behavior works for everyone.

Dysregulation can look many different ways. It may show up as fidgeting, shutting down, repetitive movements, visible anxiety, pacing, or escalating behavior. What helps one person regulate may not help another.

Better questions reduce judgment. Instead of “Why don’t you get it?” Lisa encourages language such as “Tell me more,” “What did you hear me say?” or “What would help this make sense?”

True inclusion is an ongoing practice. Lisa argues that inclusion cannot be reduced to a yearly training or checklist. It requires reflection, implementation, practice, evaluation, and a willingness to change systems and communication.

Sometimes the best support is knowing when to hand off. Michele and Lisa discuss recognizing when a student, client, or employee needs a different kind of expertise rather than forcing one method to keep working.

Lisa Richer is a Neurodivergent Success Partner and Advocate who helps students, athletes, parents, professionals, schools, and organizations move from stuck to success. She is the creator of the Clarity | Confidence | Courage Journey Map™, which helps people identify internal, relational, and systemic roadblocks and build practical paths forward. Lisa combines professional experience in business, HR, career development, training, and neurodiversity consulting with more than two decades of lived experience parenting neurodivergent children and navigating her own late ADHD diagnosis. Her work centers on helping people better understand how they learn, process, communicate, and thrive.

Journey2Bloom Resources: https://journey2bloom.com/resources/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/journey2bloom/

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/lisa-richer-6040b74/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Journey2bloom

CDC: ADHD in Adults
Current information about how ADHD can present in adulthood, including organization, attention, restlessness, relationships, and workplace accommodations.
https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/about/adhd-in-adults.html

CDC: Autism Spectrum Disorder
An overview of autism as a developmental disability involving differences in the brain, with wide variation in communication, learning, and support needs.
https://www.cdc.gov/autism/about/index.html

CDC: Autism Signs and Symptoms
Includes information about differences in social communication, eye contact, movement, learning, and attention.
https://www.cdc.gov/autism/signs-symptoms/index.html

Job Accommodation Network (JAN)
A practical U.S. resource for workplace accommodations and disability inclusion.
https://askjan.org/

CHADD
Education, advocacy, and support for people affected by ADHD.
https://chadd.org/

Journey2Bloom Helpful Resources
Lisa’s resource collection for parents, learners, educators, and professionals navigating neurodiversity and learning differences.
https://journey2bloom.com/resources/

Know a parent, teacher, manager, coach, or colleague who keeps saying, “Why don’t they just get it?” Share this episode with them. Then visit Journey2Bloom to learn more about Lisa Richer’s work supporting neurodivergent students, families, professionals, and organizations.

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What happens when a cough simply will not go away?

In this episode of Beyond My Diagnosis, Michele Weston welcomes her friend, and fellow chronic-illness patient Julie DeLucca-Collins for a candid conversation about Julie’s journey to being diagnosed with Sjögren’s disease, a systemic autoimmune disease that can affect far more than the eyes and mouth.

Julie’s story began around 2008 with a persistent cough. Antibiotics did not solve it. Allergy testing provided few answers. Visits to an ENT and pulmonologist still left questions. Then one physician looked beyond the cough. He asked about dry eyes, dry mouth, fatigue, and joint and muscle pain. Those questions eventually led Julie to a rheumatologist, additional testing, and a diagnosis that finally began connecting symptoms that had seemed unrelated.

Today, Julie’s Sjögren’s journey includes managing chronic dryness, fatigue, respiratory symptoms and cough-variant asthma while learning to recognize the warning signs that tell her when her body needs her to slow down.

Julie and Michele also talk about what it means to become an active participant in your healthcare rather than assuming one doctor has every answer. Julie shares why she researches, asks questions, seeks specialists when necessary, and pays attention to what her own body is telling her.

The conversation becomes especially personal as Julie reflects on contracting COVID while already managing an autoimmune condition affecting her respiratory system—and the long road back after losing much of the strength and stamina she had worked years to build.

But Julie’s approach to chronic illness is not centered on perfection. It is centered on progress. Her goal is not simply to grow older. It is to grow “wellderly”—stronger, healthier, more informed, and more intentional about the choices she can control.

Your diagnosis may explain part of your story. It does not get to write the whole thing.

In this episode:

• The symptoms that led to Julie’s Sjögren’s diagnosis
• Why dry eyes and dry mouth were important clues
• Chronic cough and respiratory involvement
• Learning to advocate for yourself in medical appointments
• Finding doctors who listen and investigate
• Recognizing personal warning signs before a flare
• Julie’s experience recovering from COVID
• Exercise, yoga, strength and rebuilding after illness
• Creating intentional margin in your schedule
• Progress instead of perfection
• Why living beyond a diagnosis means asking, “What can I do today to help myself?”

Key Takeaways

Sjögren’s is more than dry eyes and dry mouth

Sjögren’s disease is a systemic autoimmune condition. While dryness is common, patients may also experience fatigue, joint and muscle pain, neurological symptoms and respiratory involvement.

A chronic dry cough can matter

Sjögren’s can affect the throat, airways and lungs. Chronic dry cough and airway irritation are recognized respiratory manifestations, although every patient’s experience is different.

Symptoms that seem unrelated may belong to the same story

Julie initially viewed her cough, fatigue, dry eyes, dry mouth and body discomfort as separate concerns. A physician willing to look at the whole picture helped move her toward the eventual diagnosis.

Self-advocacy does not mean rejecting medical care

Julie works with physicians while asking questions, researching, seeking appropriate specialists and bringing information into appointments.

Your body gives you information

Learning personal warning signs can help someone decide when to slow down, seek care or adjust expectations before symptoms become more disruptive.

Progress beats perfection

Health does not require perfection. Julie focuses on what she can do today to support herself.

Resources for Listeners

Sjögren’s Foundation

Patient education, symptoms, research, clinical guidelines and support.

https://sjogrens.org/

NIDCR: Sjögren’s Disease

Overview of symptoms, causes, diagnosis and treatment.

https://www.nidcr.nih.gov/health-info/sjogrens-disease

Sjögren’s Disease Signs and Symptoms

A useful overview showing how systemic the disease can be beyond dry eyes and dry mouth.

https://sjogrens.org/understanding-sjogrens/sjogrens-disease-signs-and-symptoms

About Julie DeLucca-Collins

Julie DeLucca-Collins is a business strategist, TEDx speaker, award-winning #1 bestselling author, podcaster, coach, and entrepreneur who helps women build profitable, sustainable businesses with greater clarity, confidence and visibility.

After more than two decades in the corporate world, Julie founded Go Confidently Services and later co-founded Casa De Confidence Productions with her husband, Dan Collins. She is the author of Confident You: Simple Habits to Live the Life You Have Imagined and the host of the Casa De Confidence podcast.

Julie is certified in the Tiny Habits® methodology and as a Thrive Global coach. In this episode, she steps away from her usual role as strategist and coach to share her personal experience living with Sjögren’s disease, advocating for her health, and learning to pursue progress rather than perfection.

Connect With Julie

Go Confidently Coaching: https://www.goconfidentlycoaching.com/

Julie’s Speaker & Author Website: https://juliegoconfidently.com/

Casa De Confidence Podcast: https://casadeconfidence.buzzsprout.com/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/casa-de-confidence-podcast-grow-your-business-life/id1510255268

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/goconfidentlyjulie/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julie_deluccacollins/

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Living with chronic illness can make ordinary accomplishments invisible.

Getting out of bed. Making it to an appointment. Going for a walk when your body would rather stay still. Asking a doctor one more question. Starting a new job. Finding the right job your body can tolerate. Choosing to try, again, after a difficult day.

In this personal episode of Beyond My Diagnosis, Michele Weston welcomes her sister, Amy, for an honest conversation about chronic illness, family, mental health, work, medication management, stress, and learning to keep moving forward.

Amy shares her experiences with gastroparesis, PCOS, insulin resistance, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, Graves’ disease, depression, and weight management. Michele reflects on living with multiple sclerosis, bariatric surgery, osteopenia, anxiety, mobility challenges, and the emotional impact of chronic illness.

Together, they discuss why there is no competition in illness, why the right doctor-patient relationship matters, how work can provide purpose, and why asking for help is part of self-advocacy.

They also explore the small choices that create momentum: going for a walk, keeping an updated medication list, tracking your mood, asking better questions, changing doctors when necessary, and recognizing that one difficult day does not define your future.

As Amy says: “Living with chronic illnesses reminds me of making a layer cake, you may need to keep making room for more layers.” You can let chronic illness sit on top of you—or place it beside you and learn how to work it into your life.

Your diagnosis may be part of your story, but it does not get to be the whole story.

In this episode:

•  Living with multiple chronic conditions 
•  Family support and honest communication 
•  Mental health and depression 
•  Work, purpose, and changing jobs 
•  Medication management and multiple specialists 
•  Finding doctors who listen 
•  Personal experiences with GLP-1 medications 
•  Building sustainable habits one step at a time

Subscribe to Michele’s free Substack at:

https://micheleweston.substack.com/

Learn more about Michele’s coaching and patient advocacy work at:

https://michelewestoncoach.com/

If this episode resonates with you, leave a review or share it with someone who needs to hear that they are not alone.

This episode is intended for education and personal empowerment. It is not a substitute for medical diagnosis, treatment, or individualized advice. Always speak with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to medications, treatment, nutrition, or physical activity.

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Inflammation is one of those words that can make eating feel complicated very quickly.

Search social media for “anti-inflammatory diet” and you may find a growing list of foods you are told to avoid. Seed oils. Dairy. Nightshades. Sugar. Processed foods. Red meat. Fried foods. Before long, eating can feel like one more thing you are afraid to get wrong.

But is that really what the science tells us?

In Part 2 of her two-part inflammation series, Michele Weston continues the conversation from “Inflammation: The Good, the Bad and the Chronic” by asking a more useful question: What should we really be eating?

Michele begins by returning to an important point from Part 1. Inflammation itself is not automatically the enemy. Acute inflammation is part of the body’s normal protective response to injury or infection. The concern is chronic inflammation, when inflammatory activity persists over time and may be associated with chronic health conditions.

So the goal is not to eliminate every trace of inflammation from the body. The better question is how we can support our health and our body’s ability to regulate inflammatory processes.

That brings us to food.

Michele challenges the idea that a single food can magically cause chronic inflammation in everyone who eats it, or that a single “superfood” can switch inflammation off. Instead, she focuses on the overall pattern of what we eat and how that pattern fits our individual bodies, medical conditions, lifestyles, budgets, cultures, medications, activity levels, and health goals.

For anyone living with chronic illness who has spent years trying to find the “perfect” diet, that distinction matters. The science is more nuanced than the headlines.

Michele walks through foods and ingredients often labeled inflammatory and asks listeners to look beyond the blacklist.

Red and processed meats are frequently included in discussions about inflammation and chronic disease. Refined carbohydrates and foods high in added sugars can be part of dietary patterns associated with poorer metabolic health. Fried foods and diets high in ultra-processed foods also raise important questions about nutrition. But context matters. One hamburger, French fry, dessert, or packaged food does not define an entire eating pattern.

She also makes an important distinction between processed and ultra-processed foods.

Processing alone does not automatically make a food unhealthy. Frozen vegetables, canned beans, plain yogurt, tofu, whole-grain crackers, and canned fish are examples of foods that undergo processing and can still fit into a nutritious eating pattern. Fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables can all be nutritious choices, with sodium and added sugars to watch for in packaged versions.

The same individualized thinking applies to dairy and gluten. Lactose intolerance, milk allergy, celiac disease, and non-celiac gluten sensitivity are not the same thing. Some people may need to limit or avoid certain foods because of a diagnosed condition or individual symptoms. That does not mean the same restriction is appropriate for everyone.

Then Michele tackles some of the biggest inflammation myths circulating online.

Myth number one: Seed oils are inflammatory.

Michele encourages listeners to look more closely at the evidence, the quantities consumed, and the foods in which these oils appear, rather than assuming the oil itself is responsible for every health concern. Current American Heart Association guidance does not support a broad avoidance of seed oils because they contain omega-6 fats.

Myth number two: All processed food causes inflammation.

Michele points to foods such as frozen fruits and vegetables, canned beans, canned fish, pre-washed lettuce, and tofu as practical examples. The word “processed” is not enough information to determine whether a food supports your goals.

Myth number three: Everyone should avoid nightshades.

Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes are frequently accused of causing inflammation. Michele reminds listeners that individual allergies or intolerances matter, but universal elimination rules are very different from personalized nutrition. Current evidence does not support routinely eliminating nightshade vegetables for everyone because of inflammation.

Myth number four: Dairy is bad for everyone.

For someone with a milk allergy or lactose intolerance, dairy may need to be modified or avoided. Other people tolerate dairy without difficulty. Personalization matters. Research reviews do not support the idea that dairy is inherently inflammatory for everyone.

Myth number five: Sugar in any form is inflammatory.

Michele distinguishes between added sugars and the naturally occurring sugars found in whole foods. A banana, an orange, or a handful of berries is nutritionally different from a doughnut or a sugar-sweetened drink. Rather than creating another rigid rule, she asks listeners to focus on the pattern over time. FDA nutrition labeling also distinguishes naturally occurring sugars from added sugars.

So what does a supportive eating pattern look like?

Michele explores Mediterranean-style eating, as well as the DASH and MIND approaches. What these patterns have in common is not one miracle ingredient. They emphasize combinations of nutrient-dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds when appropriate, fish, adequate protein, and unsaturated fats such as olive oil and avocado. DASH is designed as a flexible, heart-healthy eating pattern, while research continues to examine the Mediterranean and MIND-style eating patterns in relation to brain health.

They also leave room for real life. You do not have to swear off dessert forever, promise never to eat another hamburger, or throw away everything in your pantry.

Instead, Michele asks practical questions:

What are you eating most of the time?

What foods make up the foundation of your meals?

Are you getting enough fiber and protein?

Are you eating a variety of plants?

Are you choosing nutrient-dense foods regularly?

Are you staying hydrated in a way that meets your individual needs?

And most importantly, is the way you are eating sustainable for you?

Because the best eating pattern is not necessarily the most restrictive one. It is one that nourishes you, supports your health goals, fits your life, and is realistic enough to continue.

Food is also only one piece of the conversation about inflammation. Michele brings movement, sleep, and stress back into the picture. Walking, strength training, yoga, tai chi, resistance bands, and other sustainable forms of movement can all be part of self-care. Sleep and stress matter too, especially for people already navigating chronic illness.

Even Michele’s beloved ginger tea gets put in perspective. A warm cup may be comforting, help with hydration, or create a quiet moment in the day. It is not a miracle cure for chronic inflammation, and it does not need to be.

The goal is not perfection or fear, nor another list of 25 things you have to change by Friday. The goal is to become more informed about your body and make choices that are sustainable for you.

If living with a chronic condition has made eating feel like another test you are constantly failing, Michele wants you to hear this: your body is not a textbook. Personalization matters.

Your diagnosis may be part of your story, but it does not get to be the whole story.

Listen to Part 2 of this Beyond My Diagnosis inflammation series and share it with someone who is tired of nutrition fear and conflicting food rules.

Michele Weston’s Substack
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