How do Patients react to Chronic conditions?
As people are informed by their doctors about the chronic conditions they have developed, the entire focus of patients shifts towards minimizing the symptoms that are visible to the world. They follow medication schedules; They fix regular appointments and whatnot!
While the above steps might be the need of the hour, what people fail to comprehend is how battling with chronic illness is not just controlling the symptoms of pain but also keeping mental health intact!
How the diagnosis of Chronic Illness affects Mental Health?
Understanding the relationship between Chronic Illness and poor mental health is not challenging. The burden of living every day with pain and poor health puts a toll on one's mental well-being.
You see people eating at different restaurants while you are suffering from obesity. You see people consuming sweets and delicacies while you have Diabetes. You see people running in the fresh air while you suffer from Arthritis. All this makes living difficult and puts in emotional trauma.
Ways to tackle Mental Health issues besides managing other symptoms:
Demystifying the ways to live life happily and stress-free in the midst of all this is the real cure for a lot of long-term conditions.
1- Understanding the condition that you are dealing with should be the first step. Learn about its causes, immediate symptoms, changes to expect in due course of life, the do's and dont's, its treatment, and other minor details can prove to be so vital going ahead.
2- Well, all the doctors are qualified enough to guide you through the tunnel but having a doctor with whom you feel satisfied asking questions and who gives you 'my own' vibe is just a blessing in disguise. This puts the patient in so much mental ease and provides a beacon of hope.
3- Surround yourself with people who don't make you feel indifferent and insecure about your health condition. Hold onto people who help you live a joyous life without putting you in a state of overthinking.
4- Put all your heart into the work that you do with pure grit and determination without any distractions. Only when you start making bad health an excuse for skipping work, it only adds a bad psychological impact to your other life chores.
5- Make and follow habits that allow you to spend quality time and which relieve stress from your head, such as exercises, reading books, writing your daily journal, and listening to your favorite music.
6- Start Meditation. The innumerable benefits of meditation for one's peace of mind can't be ignored. If you are a beginner, we highly suggest you look for the following YouTube channels to attain the highest level of calmness in your head.
Self-care is the ultimate weapon to combat mental health symptoms!
Keep track of the medications you have been prescribed, strictly follow your healthy schedule, and stay miles apart from anything likely to destroy your mental peace.
While physical symptoms of any disease can be assessed via tests, mental health is more of a personalized experience.