Coping With Chronic Illness - Dealing With Its Unpredictable Nature

Be Flexible Like A Gymnast

Unpredictable Chronic Illness - Be Flexible.

“Today is canceled, go back to bed.”  

When you live with an unpredictable chronic illness you really do live day by day, hour by hour.  At any given moment you may have to chuck the plan aside and go to bed.  You don’t always have control – even if you’ve been trying to be good and take it easy and take care of yourself. 

Coping With Chronic Illness - Getting To Know Myself - Part 1 - The Outside Me

Chronic Illness.  Getting to Know Yourself.

I became ill at a very young age.  As the years went by the lines between me and my illness started to blur.  And at some point I realized that I was mixing the two. 

Coping with Chronic Illness - You Do Not Need to Justify Your Existence

Coping With Chronic Illness - You Don't Need to Justify

“Never make excuses.  Your friends won’t need them and your foes won’t believe them.”  -Wooden

With some of my old friends I always had to excuse myself for being ill.  I had to say I was sorry to them over and over for something that wasn’t my fault.  And it made me angry. 

Energy Economy - 10 Ways to COMBAT Cognitive Dysfunction (Brain Fog, Fibro Fog)

10 Ways To Combat Brain Fog

As I see it, dealing with cognitive dysfunction falls into two categories:  1. Coping, and 2. Combatting.

Coping means to accept that it is a problem and do what you can to live within its limits.  Cope can literally mean to come into contact with, to meet.  So to cope is to go out and meet the challenge as best we can.  Last week we discussed 10 ways to cope with this problem.  Today we will discuss how to combat it.

When I think of Combat, I think of a battle.  And often battles are fought over territory.  So, ‘to combat’ means to fight for our mental territory.  Literally it can mean to take action to reduce, destroy, or prevent something.

Coping With Chronic Illness - Talk. And Talk Some More.

Talking Is Important During Chronic Illness.

I am not a big talker.  I prefer to listen, to watch, and to work things out in my head.  But coping with illness involves many different emotions and I just can’t seem to sort through them all on my own.  

 Somehow, just speaking the words out loud to a trusted person clarifies things.  And because the person(s) is trusted I don’t have to worry whether I am right or wrong, betraying a flaw, being little or petulant or negative, whether I sound like a crazy person.  They will not form a negative opinion of me based on the wild talk of a grieving person, or the confusion of an overwhelmed one.  They will listen and they will help me find sanity again.

Energy Economy - 10 Was to COPE with Cognitive Dysfunction (Brain Fog, Fibro Fog)

Brain Fog (Cognitive Dysfunction) and Chronic Illness

One of the most difficult and devastating things I have had to deal with in this last year is a worsening of my brain fog/cognitive dysfunction.  I thought, ‘so my body doesn’t work, at least I can catch up on some reading and studying’.  But no.  To my horror, I found that even reading caused extreme exhaustion, pain, and debilitation.  This realization was a very low point for me.
 

Cognitive dysfunction (or brain fog) has many causes.  It can be a symptom in illnesses like depression, lupus, Celiac disease, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis, fibromyalgia, sjogren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity), and many more.  It is also sometimes a symptom in ADHD and peri-menopause.  And this barely scratches the surface.

Coping With Chronic Illness - I Can't Do It Alone

Coping With Chronic Illness.   I Can't Do It Alone.

I have a lot of friends, whom I love and care about and who love and care about me.  But I have a small support group, the nucleus of my everyday life, who are my inner circle.  I could not do it without them.

My inner circle helps me with:

Energy Economy - 12 Ways To Simplify Your Grooming And Dressing Routines While Chronically Ill

Have you ever felt like the woman in this picture?  By the time you are ready to leave the house you have already used up all your energy?  I have.  So, I'm trying new and different methods to more successfully deal with these things.

These suggestions may be controversial and I am by no means to be taken as law on these points.  Your appearance can be a very personal matter fraught with deep emotions.  Take my words with a grain of salt.

 

With that proviso in mind, here are the suggestions I am working on for saving energy while still putting your best foot forward.