My story

About Me (and Why I Started This Blog)

Hi, I’m Helen, and I’m the person behind *Calm in the Chaos – Living with Chronic Illness*.

I live with IIH (Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension), Fibromyalgia, CFS/ME and IBS, the last seven months have been some of the toughest I’ve ever faced. Ongoing shunt issues have made life feel unpredictable and, at times, overwhelming. In that time I’ve had five surgeries, and I’m now preparing for another one.

There have been days where it’s taken everything I have just to get through the next hour—appointments, recovery, setbacks, waiting, hoping, and trying to stay steady when nothing feels certain. Chronic illness can be isolating in a way that’s hard to explain. Even when people care, it can still feel like you’re carrying a lot of it on your own.

But I’m learning that hard seasons can also show you what you need.

I needed an outlet. A place to be honest about what living with IIH and other ultiple chronic illnesses is really like—without minimising it, and without pretending I’m fine when I’m not. And I also wanted to create something that reaches beyond my own experience.

That’s why I started this blog: to bring people together. To share the reality of chronic illness, to hold space for the difficult parts, and to make room for hope too. Because hope doesn’t always look like big wins—sometimes it’s simply continuing, asking for help, finding community, and choosing to believe that better days can still exist alongside the hard ones.

If you’re here because you live with IIH, or you’re navigating chronic illness of any kind, or you’re supporting someone who is—welcome. I’m really glad you found your way here. My hope is that this becomes a place where we can feel understood, supported, and a little less alone.

We’re stronger in shared journeys.