Coping With Chronic Illness - Knowledge Is Power

Knowledge Is Power

My first reaction to becoming seriously ill was to bury my head in the sand and hope that when I looked up again things would magically have improved.   This was not an effective coping mechanism. 

Ignorance does not help us heal.  Instead it keeps us scared and immobilized and, simultaneously, in a pattern of doing more damage to ourselves.. I have learned that knowledge really is powerful.  

Learning as much as possible about your illness can:

• ·         Enable you to regain some lost control
• ·         Teach you about treatment options and alternatives
• ·         Help you manage or quell your fears
• ·         Assist you in taking positive action
• ·         Give insight into how your disease progresses
• ·         Offer hope
• ·         Protect you
• ·         Offer a degree of peace of mind
• ·         Enable you make sense of your illness
• ·         Help you come to terms with your illness
• ·         Help you put things in perspective
• ·         Enable you to accept that your life is changed, but is not over.

How to learn about your illness:

• ·         Go to the library and get as many books as you can. 
• ·         Look for books online
• ·         Look for information online
• ·         Ask your doctors lots and lots of questions.  Make a list of the questions you have and   take it with you every time.
• ·         Figure out your body.  Learn your personal symptoms.  Learn to recognize cause and effect.  Keep a close eye on your physical reactions to various activities, smells, foods, people, etc…
• ·         Do these things over and over again.  Never stop learning.

In my experience knowledge comes in stages over years.  No matter how much you read in the first year of your illness you simply can’t grasp it all.  For one thing your body and illness are now foreign things to you.  Everything is new and you don’t yet know what to expect.  For another, there is a limit to how much the human brain can take in and cope with at one time. And third, your illness may cause difficulties reading, concentrating, and comprehending.   

So, you will have to continue learning about your illness your whole life.  Remember, this knowledge puts you in a position of power.  You may have lost much physical strength or power due to your illness.  But you do not have to lose all your power.  The more you absorb mentally, the stronger will be your position to both fight and to cope.  

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jstar/345712329/">J. Star</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</