Chronic illness insights, tips & resources

I’m Katya. Here I share my experiences of everyday life, travel and motherhood with multiple chronic illnesses - along with the practical things that help me manage.

TRAVEL

Making travel possible with chronic illness, from planning to accessible trips abroad

RESOURCES

Free guides, templates and checklists to make navigating life a little easier

DAILY LIFE

Everyday adaptations, managing symptoms and finding what works for our bodies

MY STORY

From diagnosis to Positively Chronic_ and everything that's happened along the way

MOTHERHOOD

Pregnancy, birth and figuring out motherhood with chronic illness

CONTACT

Questions, collaborations or just want to say hello? I'd love to hear from you!

positivelychronic_

_ travels, life, motherhood with chronic illness
🔗 Resources on my website
Formerly positivelychronictravels

https://www.positivelychronictravels.com/instagram-bio

Pregnancy made some of my access needs EASIER for others to recognise, even though I had those same needs for YEARS due to my chronic illnesses and invisible disability...

These are just a few examples of many to prove my point, but it really sheds light on the difference between a condition being invisible or not and the way people react and perceive us 👀

One day I hope that people with invisible disabilities and chronic illnesses are so much better understood - share or repost to advocate 🗣️

This isn't an exhaustive list so comment an example of yours that you'd add 💬

Getting diagnosed with multiple disabling chronic illnesses (part 3)

The lowdown of the journey in the past 6 years since creating this account in 2020

You'll find lots more resources, templates and what I wish I knew sooner on my free website - comment LINK for the direct link 🔗

Living, travelling and now motherhood with chronic illnesses - lots of unknowns but join me along on the journey 🛫🥰

The hilarious thing that led to my diagnosis with multiple disabling chronic illnesses and caused my coccyx to still to this day wiggle...

If you're new here hi 👋 I'm Katya and I share resources about life, travel and motherhood with chronic illnesses, with free resources also on my website this is part 2 of 3 videos sharing my story 📽️

Hi 👋 I'm Katya and this is my story being diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses...

Spoiler it may have taken longer than you'd expect 👀

You can find loads of resources on here @positivelychronic_ and my free website 🔗 comment LINK and I'll send it to you

It's invisible disabilities week, so let's make some more noise about what it's like to live with one 🗣️💬

Repost or comment 🌻 if any of this resonates 💞

This Mast Cell Diseases Awareness Day please learn more and swipe through ➡️ and repost to raise awareness 🧡

Living with MCAS means navigating a world full of potential triggers, often in ways other people don’t see

Sometimes, the smallest adaptations from those around us can make the biggest difference in helping us feel safe, included and understood 💜

💬 Comment ‘MAST CELLS’ and we will DM you a link to learn more about MCAS symptoms and how you can support someone living with it 🥰

Before having a baby I'd also rarely leave the house, due to it flaring a range of symptoms - so not much has changed there 👩‍🍼

But join us on our first trip out properly in 3 months (not to a hospital) whilst I talk about the adaptations I make for my dynamic disability, which means my mobility is variable - due to frequent joint dislocations in hEDS

A reminder this invisible disabilities week... that you might not be immediately able to tell, but it doesn't mean it isn't there! So here's a little insight into our reality on a trip out 💙

Drop a comment if you can relate 💬🫂

🤨"Why are you calling yourself disabled if you can still walk?"

This invisible disabilities week I'm debunking this common misconception about dynamic disability 🤍

This example is short and oversimplified and there is sooo much more I could go into on the topic - which will be elaborated on in more videos 🎬

With Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) you often live in a constant state of unpredictably that just becomes the norm and it's just something you've gotta get used to...

For example you might never know when a joint is going to partially or fully dislocate, whether it will go straight back in or if you'll get stuck

✈️ 📍 Specific example last year on the plane to my wedding I dislocated my hip by the toilets on the tiniest aircraft and was standing for HOURS by the emergency escape as I couldn't walk to get back to my seat - the air hostesses brought over my phone and filled up my hot water bottle, as I hoped and waited for it to go in - I luckily had the wheelchair already pre-booked and waiting for me when we landed and within a day it finally went fully back in by itself 🦴

I wanted to shed some light on the unpredictable, variable and often invisible nature of the condition - so more people can comprehend what it's like to live with this disabling chronic health condition 🤍

📌 I have many more resources on managing EDS on my website @positivelychronic_ - just comment "EDS" and I'll dm you the link 🥰💞

What we wish everyone knew about Mast Cell Activation Syndrome...

It's not "only a scent" 💨

for many of us it impacts where we go, who we see and whether we become extremely unwell for the rest of our day

To help more people understand what it can do to us, please let us know in the comments how fragrance can affect you 💬 and vote in the poll if it also triggers you! 😮‍💨🧡

To let people know they are not alone, pop a 🧡 in the comments if you have MCAS

Which adaptations have worked well for you? Everyone with MCAS is different but your experience might help someone else who is struggling. Did we miss anything important? Let us know in the comments 💬

To learn more about Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and / or for some resources of inspiration for awareness content so you can make some noise this upcoming awareness day (20th October 2026) comment "MCAS" and we'll DM you a link 🔗

7 things I learned after spending 2 weeks in the hospital for giving birth 🤰 as someone living with multiple chronic illnesses

I've made a free full guide with packing lists, everything I wish I knew, templates, playlists and more... to make your birth prep more streamlined if you have any complex health issues

just comment GUIDE and I'll share the link with you 🔗 💞🥰

Drop a 💜 in the comments if this resonates...

Understanding the Unpredictability of Chronic Illness Symptoms 〰️📈📉 in comparison with the weather 🌤️🌪️

Opening up in a very vulnerable way about my birth story that felt like a two week rollercoaster🎢 👀

With multiple lifelong chronic illnesses and experiencing chronic pain on a daily basis would you believe I was actually really EXCITED for labour 😂🙃

I wanted to FEEL the pain to compare with daily life and try to increase my future pain tolerance and so opted for no pain relief... 🤦‍♀️

Now you know what happened... there's SO much I learned along the way that I'll be elaborating on here in more detail on soon, alongside more on daily life with a baby plus managing several chronic health conditions at the same time 🧡

In the meantime you can access all the info on my full free website resource on birth prep with a complex health condition by commenting "GUIDE" and I'll DM it straight to you 💞 hope it's useful 😘

I'm really curious though - was this rare or has anyone experienced anything somewhat similar...? Feel free to share your experience if you're open to it 🫶

➡️ third trimester photo dump from the last weeks before going in for induction at 38 weeks...

Stay tuned for my birth story that I'm gonna open up about super duper soon 💞

[my school girlies hosting an incredible baby shower for me 🚿 👶]

"you don't look pregnant" 🤰😂

relaxing baths with a ceiling projector (highly recommend) 🛁

squeezing in lots of pre baby double dinner dates - ft. my seat at the recliner because it hurt too much to sit vertical in a chair

(something I already actually often do with my chronic illness and EDS making my coccyx and hips constantly dislocate/subluxate!)

6 weeks of antenatal classes to prepare all things baby (they were amazing but *spoiler* there is never enough you can prep 😅)

seeing if medjool dates helped to ripen my cervix (spoiler - it didn't work) 😂

meticulous organisation of so many hospital bags with so much prep for a stay with MCAS and allergies - it took up a WHOLE bedroom

SO much to share on this - I'll elaborate on separate posts but let me know any specifics you wanna know about?

obsessively cleaning tiles, a nesting sign I think many pregnant women experience 👀

📌 🧽 this electric scrubber is amazing to avoid bending down and equally useful for chronic illness and EDS daily life

raspberry leaf tea and birthing ball 🎱 🫖

trying to naturally induce in all possible ways 😆

I thought the ball would hurt my coccyx and slip my hips out of place but it was surprisingly pleasant and pain relieving!

lots of sleep with added afternoon naps

= not much different to life before pregnancy with tons of rest needed due to all the chronic illness symptoms 😅💤

me hosting a baby shower with another group of girlies - I LOVE putting on a spread 🍇

testing my blood sugars 5x per day for gestational diabetes that was diagnosed really late at 36 weeks

I don't know why they only test certain groups (like people with a direct relative with diabetes) because it meant mine was not caught until sooo late 🤯

gentle daily walks (or sunset walks if it was too hot) and lots of rest around that

the same as my routine pre-pregnancy! = lots of rest + one little walk a day

trying to calm my nervous system (ft

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About

Hi, I'm Katya!

I'm the creator of Positively Chronic_, a platform where I share my experiences, insights and resources about navigating life with multiple disabling chronic illnesses.

I started this little corner of the internet back in 2020, after being diagnosed with several complex health conditions in my twenties and spending over a year meticulously researching how I could make travelling possible again.

Back then it was Positively Chronic Travels, documenting the enormous amount of preparation, adaptations and advocacy involved in travelling with chronic illness, alongside everything I'd learnt about managing daily life.

But six years on, life has changed SO much!

From navigating the ongoing challenges of chronic illness and creating a flexible career, to getting married, moving into an accessible home and more recently becoming a mum for the first time, there's been a whole lot more to share.

So I've dropped the 'Travels' and left a little blank at the end with an underscore, because chronic illness is something that affects every part of life, and I want this space to reflect all of it.

Positively Chronic_ Life. Travel. Motherhood...

plus whatever comes next!

I hope that by sharing my experiences, the adaptations I've made and all the resources I've created along the way, I can help make navigating life with chronic illness a little easier for somebody else.

Perhaps show that even when life looks very different from what we'd originally imagined, there's still so much to experience, enjoy and look forward to

READ MY STORY →