🇬🇧 #23 - Living with a chronic illness: a doctor’s insights from 29 years as a patient - Dr. Charlotte Tourmente

Épisode de Healthier Humanity par Alan · 8 juillet 2026 · 59 min

🤔 Did you know that one-third of people in France live with a chronic or long-term health condition? That 140,000 people in France have multiple sclerosis, with three women affected for every man? And that 1 in 2 people will, over their lifetime, face disability—directly or through a loved one?

🎙️ In this new episode of Healthier Humanity, Dr. Charlotte Tourmente reveals the overlooked realities of invisible chronic illnesses.

She is a physician and sex therapist, couples therapist, author, and president of Dare Women Handicap, an organization dedicated to the professional inclusion of women with disabilities. For nearly 30 years, Dr. Charlotte Tourmente has embodied a deeply human practice of medicine. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 20, in the middle of medical school, she faced relapses, chronic pain, and sudden paralysis on one side of her body before reinventing her career from the ground up. Her path led from Le Magazine de la Santé to writing, then into sexology and advocacy. With uncommon clarity, she shares her philosophy: “Illness does not define you, and it says nothing about your worth. But you can choose how you live with it.”

🩺 In this episode, she unpacks the overlooked realities of invisible chronic illnesses with no sugarcoating. Far from a victim narrative, she offers a radically hopeful approach: tame daily unpredictability, speak up without complaining, and turn every constraint into a lever for reinvention. MS, chronic fatigue, and neurological pain all come into the light with clinical precision and disarming candor.

The numbers are staggering: more than one-third of people in France live with a chronic health condition, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is nearly twice the national average, and 1 in 2 people will face disability during their lifetime. Dr. Tourmente also shares concrete tools: official disabled worker status (RQTH), clinical hypnosis, an anti-inflammatory diet, and peer support. And she drives home a conviction: inclusion isn’t up to the patient alone. It’s a shared effort where managers, loved ones, and coworkers all have a role.

💜 A conversation with rare clarity and generosity, for anyone living with an invisible illness, supporting a loved one, or working to build truly inclusive workplaces.

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