Useful Resources
Living with chronic illness often means doing SO much extra research, planning and organising, whether that's getting ready for a medical appointment, preparing for a hospital stay, travelling or figuring out what might make daily life a little more accessible.
Over the years I've created lots of templates, checklists and guides from things I've learned along the way, often because I needed something myself and couldn't find quite what I was looking for.
I've brought them together here so you can find everything in one place, including free editable resources that you can personalise for your own circumstances. Hopefully they save you a bit of time and energy!
FREE TEMPLATES & DOWNLOADS
All editable Google Docs below can be copied to your own Google Drive before personalising.
Mobility Assistance Card
A card to help explain that you may need mobility assistance even if you're able to walk some of the time. I created this with travel in mind, especially for situations where explaining your needs verbally might be difficult.
Medical Information Card
A small card with your medical information and important things others might need to know if you become unwell or can't easily communicate. You can keep it with you when travelling or going about everyday life.
Allergy and Safe Food Cards
When you have a long list of allergies, explaining what you can and can't eat isn't always straightforward, particularly when travelling or dealing with language barriers. These editable cards can help you list your allergies and the foods that are suitable for you, with pictures where helpful.
Medical Appointment Preparation
I created this to help organise symptoms, questions, medical history and anything else you want to discuss before a consultation, so there's less to remember when you're actually in the room. You can also share it with the clinician in advance.
Birth Plan for Complex Health Conditions
An editable birth plan to help communicate your preferences, medical needs and things you'd like your team to know in advance, including when you have multiple health conditions, allergies or disabilities.
Birth Decision Tree
A way to think through different possible scenarios and what matters to you if plans need to change. Preparing for alternatives was such a big part of my own birth preparation.
Birth-Room Door Sign
A visual reminder of essential requirements for anyone entering your room, from fragrance avoidance to safe handling and other access needs. This was one of the things I prepared for my own hospital admission.
Birth Affirmations and Partner Prompts
Affirmations and prompts for yourself and your birth partner to draw on during labour, especially when you're tired, overwhelmed or finding it difficult to communicate what you need.
Flare-Up Toolkit
A selection of visual resources for putting your own flare-up strategies somewhere easy to find, because remembering everything that helps can be surprisingly difficult in the middle of a bad flare.
Employment and Reasonable Adjustments
A worksheet to help organise the ways symptoms affect your working day, and the adjustments that might make your job more accessible. You can use it as a starting point for conversations at work.
GUIDES & CHECKLISTS
Preparing for Medical Appointments
How I organise information beforehand, what I take along and the things I've learned about advocating for my needs in consultations.
Preparing for Hospital Admission with MCAS
From my own food and bedding to cleaning protocols, fragrance sensitivities, medical information and communicating across staff handovers, this covers the enormous amount of preparation that went into my two-week admission for birth.
Preparing for Hospital Admission with Chronic Illness
General preparation for any hospital admission with chronic illness, from checklists, packing lists and everything you might need to think about in advance.
Birth Preparation with Chronic Illness
The medical considerations, preparations and practical tools I put together, plus the lessons I learned when birth unfolded very differently from how I'd imagined.
Navigating a Diagnosis
The things I wish I'd known when I first received multiple chronic illness diagnoses and was learning how to adapt my life around them.
Preparing for Travel
Accessible accommodation, medical preparation, allergies, packing and the huge amount of admin behind the scenes of travelling with chronic illness.
MEDITATIONS & MINDFULNESS
Meditation has been part of my life since childhood, but I rediscovered it when I was first diagnosed and going through a difficult time. I've since written and recorded my own free guided meditations, including a few specifically for chronic illness and others for gratitude, self-love, grounding and visualising beautiful places in our imagination.
They're all available on Insight Timer, with a little explanation of what each meditation involves so you can choose what feels right for you.
USEFUL ORGANISATIONS & INFORMATION
When I was first diagnosed, it was difficult to know where to start researching or who to turn to for support. I've collated links to charities, organisations and other information sources that I've found useful over the years, organised by condition.
RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS
I've also put together a separate selection of products and little adaptations that have helped me with life and travel with chronic illness.
