Laura Nichols is a 23-year-old British software developer, gamer and musician. As a child, Laura struggled to make friends, was teased and bullied, but was baffled as to why. She thought she was broken and needed fixing. As a teen, her mental health spiraled downwards. At 17, she had begun to self-harm and a perceptive school mental health nurse suggested for the first time that she might be autistic. The diagnosis that followed proved to be a revelation. She found support and began to thrive.

It can be more difficult for girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder to get diagnosed properly—in part, because the diagnostic criteria was developed by studying autistic boys. Symptoms often present differently in girls, who may also have a greater ability to hide their symptoms. This “masking” is something at which Laura became adept—until the stress of trying to fit in overwhelmed her.

Sara Gorman was diagnosed with Lupus, an autoimmune disorder, at 26, just six weeks after her wedding. Her joint pain, skin rashes and fatigue were so debilitating that even getting dressed or cooking felt like impossible tasks. She and her new husband's plans to have a family were put on hold as she worked to stabilize her condition. She details how she managed to do that in her book, "Despite Lupus: How to Live Well with a Chronic Illness."

In this episode Sara speaks candidly about how getting healthy also helped get her reach her goal of embarking on a high risk pregnancy. She offers tips for others on how to best prepare for and navigate pregnancy while having a chronic condition.

Chavi Eve Karkowsky is a high-risk pregnancy doctor in a leading New York City hospital, and author of High Risk: Stories of Pregnancy, Birth and the Unexpected.

She oversaw the transition to telemedicine care for their outpatient prenatal care within days after COVID first hit America's shores last year.

For her, and for many of her patients, this was a whole new world.

Our pandemic times have upended healthcare and given telemedicine a rocket boost, but what does that mean for your health or your loved ones with chronic illness? What can and can't be done via telemedicine? What at-home physical devices are helpful to have?

In this episode, Dr. Karkowsky breaks it down for all of us.

Amelia Mardon’s experience with pelvic pain began at age 12, amid heavy periods, intense period pain, and fatigue so bad it sometimes kept her out of school for half the month. Eventually, she was diagnosed with endometriosis. Her long journey with endometriosis is now fueling her life’s work as a researcher trying to apply what we know about pain science to women with persistent pelvic pain.

Paula Dumas knows all too well the misery of migraine. She’s suffered from migraine most of her life and when things were at their worst, she was enduring migraine attacks 25 out of 30 days a month. She has now tapped decades of experience in marketing and business development for companies including Apple and Disney to help people cope with migraine through the creation of MigraineAgain.com and as the producer and co-host of Migraine World Summit, an international gathering for people living with migraine and headache.

Here, she shares updates on the current “breakthrough moment” migraine treatment is experiencing, describing how new medicines and therapies are working to change people’s lives.

In her over 40 years suffering from Hidradenitis Suppurativa, or HS, a debilitating, chronic, complex inflammatory illness, Denise Fixsen has learned a lot about how to speak to doctors and advocate for her own health and the health of others.

Through diligent study of HS, which causes extremely painful recurring abscesses and lesions that can develop anywhere hair follicles are found, Denise found her voice as a patient advocate. She has worked with hundreds of HS sufferers, accompanying them to doctor's appointments and helping them make sense of their condition, find proper treatment and navigate insurance hurdles.

Denise, a co-founder of HS Connect, which provides information and resources on HS, sees patient advocacy as the calling of her lifetime. The wisdom she has collected over the years is something that can benefit anyone navigating chronic illness. Here she shares her story and her tips.

Mascha has two chronic illnesses: ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, and a rare condition called primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), which blocks the flow of bile from the liver and damages liver cells. When her IBD symptoms are at their worst, Mascha says it feels like having “food poisoning every day."

Mascha hit a low point three years ago and decided to take her psychological and physical health into her own hands. As she examined her own health journey, she began to realize that a difficult childhood was likely a contributing factor to why her body developed these conditions. Research has found that trauma-related stress can have a biological impact on the body, and even lead to illness.

Mascha revamped her diet and exercise regimen, worked with a therapist, learned how to slow down and consciously tried to reduce stress for the first time in her life. She embarked on what she now calls her “year of healing," focusing on the interconnected nature of mind and body.

Heather-Elizabeth Brown, a healthy 35-year-old from Detroit, Michigan, is one the tens of thousands of Americans to be hospitalized with COVID-19. In her case, shortly after falling ill, her shortness of breath turned into gasping for air. Within 48 hours of arriving at the hospital, her lungs began to fail and she was put on a ventilator.

For 31 days she remained on the ventilator and six months later she has yet to fully recover from her symptoms, which include shortness of breath and extreme fatigue. She's now one of the growing number of "Long Haul" COVID-19 sufferers.

As the world reels from another COVID surge, hospitalizations are on the rise. A new CDC study found that someone hospitalized with COVID has a five times higher chance of dying than someone hospitalized for the flu. Heather-Elizabeth, an ordained minister, considers herself one of the lucky ones. This is her story.

Maya Wolff, a singer-songwriter and former professional dancer, was in the best shape of her life when she contracted COVID-19. Seven months later, her life remains upended by shortness of breath, tightness in her chest, and stretches of debilitating exhaustion. Maya is one of tens of thousands who have yet to recover fully from COVID-19. They are known as COVID “long-haulers” and they are struggling through the ongoing aftermath of an unpredictable illness whose symptoms just won’t go away. Research is finding that the most hard hit are women, with an average age of 44, who were healthy when the virus struck.

For about two decades, Sabrina Rubin Erdely tried to power through the excruciating pain of migraine attacks, and hide the toll it took on her from the outside world. She thought that to acknowledge the disease's impact on her life was to admit defeat, even though some days it felt like an ice-pick was hacking at her brain. Although as many as 50 million Americans suffer from migraine, they often experience doubt from others who dismiss their suffering as "just a headache" even though severe head pain is only one symptom of this complex disease. Sabrina says finally speaking out about migraine's impact on her life feels liberating - like a great burden that has been lifted.