The Chronic Illness Therapists

• Ep 98: You Don't Have to Choose Between Conventional Medicine & Holistic Health w/ Rita Gupta, DO

  SIGN UP FOR DESTINY'S NEXT LIVE WORKSHOP→ When Everything’s Connected: Understanding Autism, ADHD, and Chronic Health Conditions → CLICK HERE TO JOINEpisode summary: In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Rita Gupta, a board-certified family medicine physician and integrative medicine practitioner, to discuss why you don't have to choose between traditional medicine and holistic approaches when managing chronic pain. We explore the three types of pain (nociceptive, neuropathic, and neuroplastic), explore how fear and anxiety create real physical symptoms in the body, and tackle some controversial territory around vaccines and chronic illness. Dr. Rita shares her unique perspective as someone who's lived with chronic pain herself while working within both traditional and integrative medical models, and we discuss practical strategies like understanding your personal recovery times, the importance of pain education in changing beliefs, and why finding practitioners who see you as a whole human - not just a collection of symptoms - can be life-changing. Whether you're feeling stuck between medical approaches or struggling to make sense of conflicting health information, this conversation offers a balanced, nuanced perspective on creating your own integrated approach to healing.MEET DESTINY: Website / Instagram / BlueSky / YouTube / TikTokMEET GUEST: Website / Instagram→ READ THE BLOG FOR THIS EPISODEASK DESTINY ANYTHING→ Submit your questions hereFOR YOU, OUR PODCAST LISTENERSJOIN DESTINY’S MEMBERSHIP - for folks with chronic pain & illness→ ⁠Join Welcome To The Waiting Room⁠ (ongoing support for staying regulated while living with chronic illness - This does not replace therapy, but it’s a great addition to your regular therapy appointments)FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS🏢 WE’RE HOSTING A CONFERENCE! WOOO! It’ll be an IN-PERSON event in Atlanta, GA, in the Spring 2026! Sign up for the waitlist here!🛋️ Join The Mastermind! (monthly business and clinical consultation calls for medical professionals specializing in working with patients with chronic illnesses)🧭 Get Your Client Roadmap For Navigating Complex Trauma and Chronic Illness (specifically for mental health therapists) (COMING SOON- sign up for the waitlist)**WANT TO SAY THANKS - Reviews tell the app, “hey, people like this! Show it in the algorithm to more people!” :)💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts🟢 Leave a rating on Spotify**Disclaimer: Everything we talk about here is just meant to be general education and information. It's not intended as personal mental health or medical advice. If you have any questions related to your unique circumstances, please contact a licensed therapist or medical professional in your state of residence.

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• Ep 97: Beyond Restrictive Diets: Real-World Nutrition Tips for EDS, POTS, and MCAS

  Episode Summary: In this episode, registered dietitian Louisa O'Grady shares practical, evidence-based nutrition strategies for managing EDS, POTS, and MCAS without falling into restrictive diet patterns. Louisa, who lives with these conditions herself, debunks common myths about low histamine diets (they're meant to be temporary, not lifelong), introduces important tips like using belly bands for POTS symptom management during meals, and explains why your food reactions might actually be triggered by environmental factors like stress or barometric pressure changes rather than the food itself. She emphasizes an additive rather than restrictive approach to nutrition, offering practical solutions throughout the whole episode to manage histamine levels and strategic fiber introduction for gut health. Throughout the conversation, Louisa highlights the importance of individualized care, nervous system regulation, and working with qualified professionals who understand the complex interplay between these conditions and nutrition.Resources mentioned:→ Harvard Healthy PlateMEET DESTINY: Website / Instagram / BlueSky / YouTube / TikTokMEET GUEST: Website / InstagramSIGN UP FOR OUR NEXT LIVE WORKSHOP→ When Everything’s Connected: Understanding Autism, ADHD, and Chronic Health Conditions Sat Aug 30th @ 12pm EST→ READ THE BLOG FOR THIS EPISODEASK DESTINY ANYTHING→ Submit your questions hereFOR YOU, OUR PODCAST LISTENERSJoin The Membership (ongoing support for staying regulated while living with chronic illness - This does not replace therapy, but it’s a great addition to your regular therapy appointments)FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS🛋️ Join The Mastermind! (monthly business and clinical consultation calls for medical professionals specializing in working with patients with chronic illnesses)🧭 Get Your Client Roadmap For Navigating Complex Trauma and Chronic Illness (specifically for mental health therapists) (COMING SOON- sign up for the waitlist)**WANT TO SAY THANKS? - Reviews tell the app, “hey, people like this! Show it in the algorithm to more people!” :)💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts🟢 Leave a rating on Spotify**Disclaimer: Everything we talk about here is just meant to be general education and information. It's not intended as personal mental health or medical advice. If you have any questions related to your unique circumstances, please contact a licensed therapist or medical professional in your state of residence.

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• Ep 96: When You Actually Need a Registered Dietitian, Not More Therapy

  THERAPISTS! Join me and Victoria Rodriguez of Revive Counseling in our 6-week Chronic Illness Therapists Cohort! This is a curriculum-based consultation class for therapists who want to do their best work with the chronic illness population.[CLICK HERE TO JOIN]**Episode summary: In this follow-up episode with registered dietitian Samina Qureshi, we explore her new clinical textbook that tackles something I see all the time in my practice - when chronic GI conditions create eating patterns that look disordered but have nothing to do with weight or body image. Samina and her team of 10 health professionals wrote this resource because they were seeing patients come in terrified of food, experiencing unexplained weight loss, not because they wanted to be thin, but because they were genuinely afraid of throwing up or having worsened GI symptoms. We talk about ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) and how it shows up in the GI space, why it's so important to believe patients when they say certain foods cause pain even without a formal diagnosis, and how the goal isn't just telling someone to "eat and you'll feel better" - because how frustrating is that advice? Instead, it's about finding accessible ways to nourish their body while expanding their diet and helping them feel confident around food again. This conversation is valuable for both clinicians who want to understand these complex intersections and for anyone living with GI conditions who's been told their very real physical symptoms are just anxiety when they're actually doing what they can to keep their body safe.Resources mentioned:→ Samina’s Book, Comprehensive Nutrition Therapy for Co-Occurring Gastrointestinal & Eating Disorders: the EDGI Training ProjectMEET DESTINY: Website / Instagram / BlueSky / YouTube / TikTokMEET SAMINA: Website / Instagram / TikTokSIGN UP FOR DESTINY'S NEXT LIVE WORKSHOP→ Aug 30th → READ THE BLOG FOR THIS EPISODEASK DESTINY ANYTHING→ Submit your questions hereFOR YOU, OUR PODCAST LISTENERSJOIN DESTINY’S MEMBERSHIP - for folks with chronic pain & illness→ ⁠Join Welcome To The Waiting Room⁠ (ongoing support for staying regulated while living with chronic illness - This does not replace therapy, but it’s a great addition to your regular therapy appointments)FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS🏢 WE’RE HOSTING A CONFERENCE! WOOO! It’ll be an IN-PERSON event in Atlanta, GA, in the Spring or Fall of 2026! Sign up for the waitlist here!🛋️ Join The Mastermind! (monthly business and clinical consultation calls for medical professionals specializing in working with patients with chronic illnesses)💻Join me and Victoria Rodriguez of Revive Counseling in our 6-week Chronic Illness Therapists Cohort! This is a curriculum-based consultation class for therapists who want to do their best work with the chronic illness population.⁠[CLICK HERE TO JOIN]🧭 Get Your Client Roadmap For Navigating Complex Trauma and Chronic Illness (specifically for mental health therapists) (COMING SOON- sign up for the waitlist)**SAY THANKS - Reviews tell the app, “hey, people like this! Show it in the algorithm to more people!” :)💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts🟢 Leave a rating on Spotify**Disclaimer: Everything we talk about here is just meant to be general education and information. It's not intended as personal mental health or medical advice. If you have any questions related to your unique circumstances, please contact a licensed therapist or medical professional in your state of residence.

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• Ep 95: The ADHD Brain Food Everyone Says to Avoid & A Secret Ingredient for ADHD Nutrition w/ Annika Angelo MS

  JOIN DESTINY’S MEMBERSHIP - for folks with chronic pain & illness→ ⁠Join Welcome To The Waiting Room⁠ (ongoing support for staying regulated while living with chronic illness - This does not replace therapy, but it’s a great addition to your regular therapy appointments)**Episode summary: In this episode, I sit down with ADHD nutrition research expert Annika Angelo to bust some of the biggest myths floating around ADHD and diet. We talk about why that viral "78% improvement" elimination diet study is actually BS, why you shouldn't be afraid of fruit, and the truth about Red 40 and food additives (spoiler: the US actually has stricter regulations than the EU). We talk about what stress really does to our bodies, why community is the secret ingredient most people ignore, and practical tips that actually work for ADHD brains. If you're tired of conflicting nutrition advice and want to know what the research actually says, this one's for you. Bottom line: stop putting so much pressure on yourself around food choices – there are way bigger factors affecting your health than whether you eat gluten.MEET DESTINY: Website / Instagram / BlueSky / YouTube / TikTokMEET Annika: Website / Instagram / YouTube / TikTok / The Nutritional Mental Health Podcast (Apple)SIGN UP FOR DESTINY'S NEXT LIVE WORKSHOP→ Nervous System-Informed Care for Chronic Illness: Aligning your self-care habits with your personal values, capacity levels, and nervous system needs. https://chronicillnesstherapist.myflodesk.com/selfcare→ READ THE BLOG FOR THIS EPISODE→ ASK DESTINY ANYTHING Submit your questions hereFOR YOU, OUR PODCAST LISTENERSJOIN DESTINY’S MEMBERSHIP - for folks with chronic pain & illness→ ⁠Join Welcome To The Waiting Room⁠ (ongoing support for staying regulated while living with chronic illness - This does not replace therapy, but it’s a great addition to your regular therapy appointments)FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS🏢 WE’RE HOSTING A CONFERENCE! WOOO! It’ll be an IN-PERSON event in Atlanta, GA, in the Spring or Fall of 2026! Sign up for the waitlist here!🛋️ Join The Mastermind! (monthly business and clinical consultation calls for medical professionals specializing in working with patients with chronic illnesses)🧭 Get Your Client Roadmap For Navigating Complex Trauma and Chronic Illness (specifically for mental health therapists) (COMING SOON- sign up for the waitlist)**WANT TO SAY THANKS? - Reviews tell the app, “hey, people like this! Show it in the algorithm to more people!” :)💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts🟢 Leave a rating on Spotify**Disclaimer: Everything we talk about here is just meant to be general education and information. It's not intended as personal mental health or medical advice. If you have any questions related to your unique circumstances, please contact a licensed therapist or medical professional in your state of residence.

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• Ep 94: At my sickest, I couldn't leave my house

  At my sickest, I couldn't leave the house most days. Over 10 years later, I can have full days out without even thinking about it. This is a small part of my real, unfiltered story of living with chronic illness—the struggles with getting diagnosed, what finally started to help, and the hard truths about healing that no one talks about.In this video, I share:Why I stopped chasing diagnoses after being gaslit by doctorsThe role of pharmaceutical medication in my healing journeyWhat trauma work actually is (and isn't)The truth about neuroplastic pain and medical gaslightingHow I went from housebound to living a full lifeI talk honestly about low-dose naltrexone, ketotifen, functional medicine, and why healing isn't a one-size-fits-all journey. If you're struggling with chronic pain, ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, or just feeling lost in the medical system, this might resonate with you.Chronic Pain & Illness IntensivesIf you're ready to work on changing your relationship with chronic pain while still taking proper medical care of yourself, I offer 1:1 intensives over 2-3 days. Apply for an intensive here: https://forms.gle/3Xv6jFcTroX7fbpEA

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