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| Chronic Disease (Photo credit: tamahaji) |
Dealing
with Chronic Illness
There
are many challenges you will have to face when dealing with chronic
illness. If you have been diagnosed with having a long lasting health
condition, then understanding it and learning what you can do
yourself to manage it, can help greatly.
Having
a chronic illness doesn’t have to mean that it is dangerous or
deadly, asthma, diabetes and arthritis are all classed as chronic
conditions that can be kept under control with medication and
supervision. Providing you take care and have the proper treatment,
people with these conditions can lead a normal life and are healthy
for the majority of time. Although the underlying condition won’t
go away and is always there, it can be controlled successfully.
Many
people who have conditions such as asthma don’t consider themselves
as having a chronic condition as they feel relatively well most of
the time and think of their illness as more of a condition. However,
a few people are affected not only physically but also emotionally,
socially and for some even financially. The severity of the way it
affects you is based on the severity of your condition and the
treatment involved in your particular condition. However you are
affected by your condition it will take time to accept and adjust to
your chronic illness.
There
is a certain process that everyone will go through whatever their
illness, this is known as the coping process. When first diagnosed
with chronic illness the person may have many different feelings,
anger, worry, confusion and vulnerability are some of the most common
feelings. The next stage to the coping process is the want to know
and learn everything they can about their illness, by gaining insight
and knowledge into their condition it makes it less frightening and
they feel more in control.
The
third stage is developing confidence in the treatment they have been
given for their condition. Realizing that their medication or
treatment will help to relieve symptoms and attacks such as those
associated with asthma and low blood sugar levels. Over time managing
the condition becomes second nature and worry and fear drop off as
the person becomes more confident with their self-management.
Everyone
will go through the stages of coping at their own rate, recognizing
the various feelings and thoughts as you go through different stages
is important and are all part of the coping process. To help you get
through the coping process you should remember these tips.
Accept
any feelings and thoughts – there are many emotions you may go
through during the coping stage, it is important that you just let
them come and go without giving them too much thought. Letting the
feelings out by talking with someone can be a great release.
Ask
questions and play an active role in self-care – make sure that you
know everything about your illness that you possibly can, the unknown
can be frightening, but what we know we can deal with much better.
Learn what you can do to help your condition and what to do during
the bad times of it.
Talk
about your condition – remember other family members or loved ones
will probably be going through similar feelings as you are after the
diagnosis. Talk with family members and loved ones about your
condition, don’t leave them out of the loop.
Keep
a perspective – when first diagnosed it can be easy to let your
illness take over your life and become the most important thing, keep
things in perspective and carry on living your life just as you did
before.
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