How To Manage Living With Chronic Disorders

Written By Maggie Bloom / Reviewed By Ray Spotts

Chronic disorders are conditions or diseases that last more than three months, and they require regular medical attention. They may not have the cure and can affect your physical abilities and appearance. These disorders include arthritis, diabetes, cancer, asthma, cystic fibrosis, COPD, and obesity.

When diagnosed with a chronic illness, you start developing anxiety, stress, fear, sadness, and anger. Uncertainty of your condition may bring in many questions like, “Will I ever get better? How will I manage my condition? How will this condition affect my daily activities?”

Once you find yourself in such a situation, seek help from a trained counselor to help you develop strategies to control your condition.

Below are valuable strategies to help you manage your chronic disorder:

Pain Management

It would be best to manage your pain by taking pain-relieving medication or undergoing therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy. Pain relief medication includes Panadol, medication prescription such as morphine, or even complementary medicines.

You can also use the following non-drug treatments to manage your pain:

• Massage - massage your soft-tissue injuries, but in case the pain comes from the joints, avoid this technique.

• TENS therapy - involves using electrical current passing through your skin via electrodes, inducing a pain-relieving response.

• Physical therapy – this includes walking, stretching, and other exercises.

• Heat or cold technique - involves using heat packs on musculoskeletal injuries and icepacks on a swelling injury.

• Stress management techniques – this involves meditation and yoga.

• Acupuncture – this is done by inserting thin needles on the skin, and then you allow your body to heal by itself by producing a natural pain-relieving compound, endorphins.

Before you undertake any non-drug treatment, engage a medical practitioner and follow their instructions strictly to avoid worsening the condition.

Get a Better Understanding of Your Condition

You should have adequate information and knowledge concerning your condition. Once you get empowered with knowledge, you make the right decisions and choices that are vital to illness management. You can go to your local library and look for resources to help you increase your knowledge base.

Moreover, you should also observe your body. Pay attention to what seems to worsen or ease your symptoms. You can mark it on your calendar or put it down in your notebook to record the trends that might be helpful in the management of your symptoms. Equipping yourself with this helpful information makes you understand your body better

You can involve your doctor or nurse by asking them questions of concern. If you want to do more research concerning your illness, you can ask them to allow you access to their trusted medical website.

Manage Your Emotions and Relationships

You can be distressed once you are diagnosed with a chronic disease. Digesting the news about your condition can bring a lot of emotions. However, according to recent studies, exercise can improve your moods.

Other techniques you can incorporate into your weekly routine to help you manage your feelings include stretching, deep breathing, reading, spending time with friends and family, cooking, and listening to music.

When living with a chronic disorder, you barely get time to socialize. Friends and relatives may sometimes fail to understand your whereabouts, so they may think you are dissociating yourself from them.

You should not worry much about them. Instead, it would help if you focused on relationships that are helpful to you. Relationships that are stressing you - let them go.

Develop Adaptability

Accept changes brought by your condition and move on. Develop new habits and skills and adopt a problem-solving approach to identify what works for you best.

Remember, chronic disorders bring in new requirements, and you may be required to change your diet, family planning method, and even your daily routine. However, these changes are adaptable and will help you live a better life despite your condition.

Find a Qualified Health Services Provider

You should find a provider whom you feel comfortable expressing yourself and asking questions. To get a qualified provider, you may be required to explore more and look for one from a trusted teaching hospital like Zeto or an insurance company.

Alternatively, you can talk to people suffering from the same condition to recommend one for you. Your service provider can conduct an EEG test on you, so be sure to inform them in advance so that EEG preparation can be done.

Living with a chronic disease is manageable once you implement the above practices. Follow your treatment plan strictly and adopt a healthy lifestyle. Create time for activities and ensure you relate well with people.

You should also adjust your expectations and concentrate more on your self-care. So, take charge of your condition by managing it instead of allowing it to rule you.

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Written By:

Maggie Bloom graduated from Utah Valley University with a degree in communication and writing. In her spare time, she loves to dance, read, and bake. She also enjoys traveling and scouting out new brunch locations.

Reviewed By:

Founder Ray Spotts has a passion for all things natural and has made a life study of nature as it relates to health and well-being. Ray became a forerunner bringing products to market that are extraordinarily effective and free from potentially harmful chemicals and additives. For this reason Ray formed Trusted Health Products, a company you can trust for clean, effective, and healthy products. Ray is an organic gardener, likes fishing, hiking, and teaching and mentoring people to start new businesses. You can get his book for free, “How To Succeed In Business Based On God’s Word,” at www.rayspotts.com.

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