My name is Emma, I’m a weight neutral dietitian and I struggle with chronic illness and pain. This post is about my journey with chronic illness.

My Journey So Far..

I’ve always been the chubby one, and so, as many chubby children of the early 2000’s, my journey into dieting started as a young child. This led me to have poor body image issues from a very young age and well into my early 20’s. I had times throughout my life where I lost weight but, I always regained it. So, in high school I developed an interest in healthy eating, although originally the main reason behind this was to try and finally get skinny. I was always an anxious person and at the age of 15, I was diagnosed with anxiety, which initially I managed with CBT and my parents’ support. 

The start of my chronic illness journey

In 2012, I was in my final year of high school, I started to feel ill almost daily. I had debilitating period pain, and horrible gut symptoms. At first I thought it was just the stress of Year 12. This continued throughout my first year of University and I was diagnosed with IBS. I saw different doctors and health professionals while completing my Bachelor of Health Sciences. I saw some improvement with the low FODMAP diet. However, having so many diet restrictions at 18, made socialising difficult, which increased my anxiety, which led to a flare up of symptoms, and so this became a vicious cycle. Life went on like this for a while, but my symptoms including pain got worse. So I started the investigation process again and had all sorts of tests done, but everything was always normal. 

Things changed again..

In 2019, during my first year of my Master of Nutrition and Dietetics, things once again changed. I finally saw a different doctor who listened and sent me to another specialist. At 24, I had my first laparoscopy and was finally diagnosed with Endometriosis, after suffering debilitating pain since I was a teenager. I thought ‘this is it, I’m finally going to get better’, I had hardly any pain, I could eat what I wanted again, my gut symptoms disappeared and I was able to finally start enjoying my 20s. I was finally able to do things without overthinking every little thing.  

Another Surgery..

A couple of years later, despite my surgery and other medical management, I started to have debilitating pain once again. I tried various different forms of pain relief, both over the counter and prescription, but the pain became almost daily. So in early 2023, I had a second laparoscopy. No new endometriosis was present, but the pain seemed to ease a bit. However, a few months later, the pain became daily, I started getting dizzy, having terrible nausea and fatigue among other symptoms. I tried medication for nerve pain, but I couldn’t tolerate it. I felt like my body, in particular my uterus, hated me. As I’m sure many chronic illness sufferers will relate, I was sick of being sick.  

Finally, things started to look up

After all that, in early 2024, I sought a second opinion from another specialist, who suggested that I see a pain specialist, as I now had chronic pain. I saw a pain specialist who was very understanding and listened to me. I finally felt like I had been heard and I might actually be well again. We decided that along with healthy eating and returning to exercise, we would trial a supplement as well as do a TAP block. So, two weeks later, I had my TAP block done, and felt a bit bruised for about a week. My pain has eased so much and is much more manageable. I had forgotten how it felt to not have debilitating daily pain, and now actually feel somewhat well. While I still experience flare ups and bad days, any improvement is good when pain is daily. 

This led me to start The Spoonie Dietitian to help my fellow spoonies find what is healthy for them. To show that healthy eating can be easy and can help symptom management. So, if you or anyone you know needs help from someone who actually gets it, follow me on Instagram, or book an appointment with me. 

🩷Emma