Dealing and coping with a chronic illness can be extremely challenging and it is only normal for it to affect you and the way you think.
It can influence you psychologically as you go through treatment and find yourself waiting for news on a regular basis.
While the treatment you need is essential for your requirements, your psychology also plays a critical role to maintaining a good quality of life.
This is something that can often be neglected as you fight your way through your illness.
What Is A Chronic Illness?
A Chronic Illness can be defined as an illness which lasts a duration of 1 year and more. The word Chronic means to last for a long time or to be recurring at regular intervals.
Illnesses such as Heart Disease, Cancer and Diabetes can be categorized as Chronic Illnesses.
While these illnesses can be treated with recognized medications such as chemotherapy etc, it is understood that there is almost never really a long term cure.
This means the patient needs to learn to live with the illness and understand that their lives normally will need to change forever in one way or another.
Maybe the illness stops you from working, going out of the house or seeing your friends and family like you are used to.
This can have a huge impact on somebody psychologically and it should not be overlooked.
Your Mindset
Your mindset is all important when tackling a chronic illness. How you think, behave and your positivity/negativity will all have an impact on how you deal with your issues moving forward.
Some people embrace the advice given by professionals such as the doctors treating them. They will follow what they have been told to do and continue with a positive mindset.
Others will try to pretend they are not ill at all. They try to continue on as normal and can ignoring all advice given to them.
Although it is very easy to tell someone what the best route is and to stay positive, it is not always easy when you are the one struggling.
How Does A Chronic Illness Affect Your Daily Life?
Although you may be suffering from a very specific illness, this can affect you in many other ways too. This is often because of the stress and worry of not knowing what the future will bring.
If you consider the following:
- Unable to Work
- Cannot Undertake Daily Activities Without Help of Another
- Unable to Leave the House or Get Around by Yourself
- Cannot Sleep
- Feeling Scared
- Feeling Depressed
All these listed can really be overbearing when you are suffering with an illness. Being denied sleep and suffering depression can often make things worse and it is important you seek the advice you need.
Get The Help You Deserve
Talking to someone can often help.
Getting help from a professional will offer you direction and a plan to move forward with more confidence and understanding. Please contact me if you have any questions!
You will see that obtaining a positive mindset and suppressing your distress to improve your overall outlook will be a huge help in the right direction.
