How To Cope With Chronic Illness. Illness can become an everyday problem for any person at any age. A chronic illness lasting thee months or longer can become as much a mental struggle as it is a physical one. However, there are a few simple steps that one can take to limit the stress and worrying that comes with any chronic condition.
The ability to cope with chronic illness effectively requires three main areas of focus. A compassionate medical care group, fitting encouragement from friends and family and appropriate spiritual and mental guidance.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, a chronic disease is one lasting three months or longer. A competent and supportive medical staff is highly important when it comes to coping with chronic illness adequately.
Both your primary and specialist doctors
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Friends and family play a critical role when over time illness disrupts daily activities.
A long term illness can drive the most outgoing of individuals into isolation once the condition starts to exceed a certain duration. To avoid isolation, family members should be continually updated regarding your condition since they are the ones who interact with you on a daily basis.
Being open and honest with family members allows them to adjust to the limitations imposed by your illness. They have the unique ability to keep you grounded and in touch with the normal routine that you had prior to your illness. They know your hobbies, interests and passions.
Friends are nearly as important as family. If you are comfortable with your relationship, keep your friends informed about your current health condition. Updating them about your circumstances will help to rally them to your side. Information allows friends to adjust to your situation allowing you to enjoy many of the same activities. They will understand if the normal three hour activity is now a one hour
Personal health is extremely important to everyone around the world. But it is especially important to citizens of the United States of America. Being one of the leading countries in Health technology and also in food and beverage leaves most people choosing between living a healthy lifestyle and indulging in the varieties of food we offer. Across the country, many people are living with pre-existing conditions, living in food deserts, living below the poverty line and a long list of other factors that either hinders them from eating healthy or force them to eat healthily. When trying to live a healthy lifestyle in this country not only does the promotion of prevention matter, but also the promotion of Career and job opportunities matter just as much. In the United States, Money equals Power and money also equal the opportunity to create and live a healthier lifestyle.
Being diagnosed with a chronic illness is a life-altering event. During this time, life is not only difficult for the patient, but also for their loved ones. Families must learn to cope together and to work out the best options for the patient and the rest of the family. Although it may not be fair at times, things may need to be centered on or around the patient no matter what the circumstance. (Abbott, 2003) Sacrifices may have to be made during difficult times. Many factors are involved when dealing with chronic illnesses. Coping with chronic illnesses alter many different emotions for the patients and the loved ones. Many changes occur that are very different and difficult to get used to. (Abbott, 2003) It is not easy for someone to sympathize with you when they haven’t been in the situation themselves. No matter how many books they read or people they talk to, they cannot come close to understanding.
Chronic pain is a long term condition, which means it cannot be cured, but the symptoms may be controlled by therapies and medications (Saxon and Lillyman, 2011). When pain is considered chronic, it lasts longer than the expected healing period and there may not be a clear cause (Kraaimaat and Evers, 2003).
In this 21st century, there are more and more policies and guidelines that focused on long term conditions as these conditions are incurable but only can be controlled and progressed with long term management. In Northern Ireland, a policy framework “Living with Long Term Conditions” had been introduced and addressed about long term conditions (LTC) that needs high quality of care. This policy provides a better outcome with supporting good practice through 6 key development areas. The 6 key principles are essential in helping people with LTC to receive a better care, treatment and support. First area is partnership between the service user and the collaboration team whereby communication skill is highlighted to encourage service users to play an active role in managing their own conditions with individual care plan. Next, self-management is also another key principle to be developed so that those people with LTC managed their condition effectively which may progress over time. Through training and education on acquired skills is a good start to promote self-management strategy as they able to deal with flare-ups, condition and lifestyle. Thus, information is vital in helping them understand their own condition and knowing what is the best for them in order to increase their quality of life. A medicines management service help in bringing the best outcome for LTC patients while carer also need to maintain their own health to continue their caring role and act as a safeguarding through the provision of the support. Last principle is improving care and services at the right time and right way to prevent readmission and prolong hospital stay (DHSSPS, 2012).
Each child will probably have many different kind of health issue during his or her infancy or childhood. In addition, for some children these illnesses are mild, they come and go, and they do not have negative influence on their everyday life and development. On the other hand, for some children, there are some chronic illnesses that have a huge effect on their daily life during childhood. Indeed, a chronic health condition is a health issue that last more than 3 months, and it has a big effect on on a child’s daily life, activity, and development. As a result, it demands more hospitalizations, extensive medical care, emergency care, and/or home health care. According to Weiner, “Each year in the US, 6 million children ranging
There are so many types of mental illnesses that affect people every day. When some people think of mental illnesses they think of the ones that would cause people to have physical symptoms as well, but that’s untrue, there are many more that you would never know anyone has if you were to see them on the street. As defined by the 2008 encyclopedia “a mental illness is any disease of the mind or brain that seriously affects a person’s ability or behavior. Symptoms of a mental illness may include extreme moods, such as excessive sadness or anxiety, or a decreased ability to think clearly or remember well.” A mentally ill person has severe symptoms that damage the person’s ability to function in everyday activities and situations. Every nation and every economic level can be affected by a mental illness. In the United States alone about 3% of the population has severe mental illness and to add to that number about 40% of people will experience a type of mental illness at least once in their lives. Some cases of mental illnesses can go away on their own, but some cases are so severe that they require professional treatment. There is so much more available to help people recover from their symptoms than in the past.
WHO (2005). Preparing a health care workforce for the 21st century. The Challenge of Chronic Conditions. World Health Organization, Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster, Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion Department. http://www.who.int/chp/knowledge/publications/workforce_report.pdf?ua=1 [Accessed 1/4/2014]
Chronic illness or chronic condition is a long lasting or persistent disease or condition in a person’s health. A chronic illness can affect anyone’s life at any time. A person’s life can be affected greatly in many ways by a chronic illness. A person may be affected physically, their independence may be taken away, they may feel tired and/or in pain due to a chronic illness they may be suffering from. Financial problems may occur due to the high medical costs treating the chronic illness, someone could lose their, job, their appearance may be affected, and a person may experience confusion. If a chronic illness unexpectedly approaches someone’s life, a person may feel overwhelmingly confused. This confusion may come, because they don’t understand why they now have this illness. This confusion is primarily seen in children. Since chronic illness affects lives so greatly, a person may start to feel anger, stress, or anxiety because of the interruption of the chronic illness in a person’s life.
A long-term health condition can also be referred to as a ‘chronic illness’ and it can be used to define recurring conditions such as asthma, arthritis, and diabetes.
There are many ways to categorize illness and disease; one of the most common is chronic illness. Many chronic illnesses have been related to altered health maintenance hypertension and cardiovascular diseases are associated with diet and stress, deficient in exercise, tobacco use, and obesity (Craven 2009). Some researchers define the chronic illness as diseases which have long duration and generally slow development (WHO 2013); it usually takes 6 month or longer than 6 month, and often for the person's life. It has a sluggish onset and eras of reduction for vanishing the symptoms and exacerbation for reappear the symptoms. Some of chronic illness can be directly life-threatening. Others remain over time and need intensive management, such as diabetes, so chronic illness affects physical, emotional, logical, occupational, social, or spiritual functioning. Chronic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, all of these diseases are the cause of mortality in the world, representing 63% of all deaths. So a chronic illness can be stressful and may change the way a person l...
The uncertain nature of chronic illness takes many forms, but all are long-term and cannot be cured. The nature of chronic illness raises hesitation. It can disturb anyone, irrespective of demographics or traditions. It fluctuates lives and generates various inquiries for the patient. Chronic illness few clear features involve: long-lasting; can be managed but not cured; impacts quality of life; and contribute to stress. Chronic illnesses can be enigmatic. They often take considerable time to identify, they are imperceptible and often carry a stigma because there is little sympathetic or social support. Many patients receive inconsistent diagnoses at first and treatments deviate on an individual level. Nevertheless, some circumstances require
Imagine having to wake up each day wondering if that day will be the last time you see or speak to your father. Individuals should really find a way to recognize that nothing in life is guaranteed and that they should live every day like it could be there last. This is the story of my father’s battle with cancer and the toll it took on himself and everyone close to him. My father was very young when he was first diagnosed with cancer. Lately, his current health situation is much different than what it was just a few months ago. Nobody was ready for what was about to happen to my dad, and I was not ready to take on so many new responsibilities at such an adolescent age. I quickly learned to look at life much differently than I had. Your roles change when you have a parent who is sick. You suddenly become the caregiver to them, not the other way around.
This research is guided by two major theories. First, Transactional Theory, which is a widely accepted theory of coping developed by Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman. Second, the Control Theory developed by Charles Carver and Michael Scheier.
Mental health refers to the state of individuals psychologically, emotionally and socially. Mental health affects a person’s emotions, feelings, thoughts, and sections when exposed to different situations. Furthermore, mental health is responsible for a person’s reaction to stress and other social conditions. Generally, mental health affects how a person relates to others and their ability to understand and interact with them. Therefore, problems that affect a person’s mental health affect the abilities to socialize, their feelings, moods, reaction to situations. The person experiencing mental health problem may portray different behaviors when confronted with different issues. Mental health issues have several
My personal health has been something I constantly think about. Whether it’s myself, my parents, my doctor, or others that bring it up, I’m reminded that I need to eat healthier or exercise more, etc. I know that I need to get better about what I eat and try to work more exercise into my daily routine, I just find it hard to find the motivation to go and actually accomplish what I know that I need to do. Especially in today’s society where we’re surrounded by a lot of non-healthy food, and getting access to healthy food is more expensive than the latter, it’s hard to make the better choice and choose the healthy option. I’m hoping now that I’m in college that I’m able to get better at taking care of myself than I have in the past.