5 Tips to Help with a Chronic Illness
- It Could Help
- Jun 19
- 5 min read
Chronic illness is so incredibly hard. It may be one of the hardest things we will ever have to encounter in life. You’re doing everything you can to try to figure out what’s wrong, you’re seeing all kinds of doctors; you may have even delved into the natural world you may have once thought was “kooky” because there has been little to no help in traditional medicine.
Maybe you have seem some small improvements, but you’re still in the middle of the storm. Two steps forward, one step back. Some days, one step forward, three steps back.
It is a frustrating and painful spot to be in.
Belief: A foundation of chronic illness recovery
When I was in the middle of my long Covid journey, it was the sickest I had ever been. My husband thankfully was incredibly loving and supportive, as he had been through his own health journey.
One night, I had overdone it (I would not know what overdoing it meant until after I had overdone it), and I was in my bed, shaking and crying. I was holding onto the bed for dear life, because that’s all I could think to do. My body was doing things I could not control.
My husband came in the room. I was in tears.
“I am so afraid I’ll never get better!” I said to him.
He said, “I know you will get better. You’re going to look back on this day, and it will just be a blip on the screen.”
Time passed, and I was not better immediately. But eventually, he was right! Through my experience, I learned that faith is so important in the recovery process: having faith that you CAN and WILL get better. When I had a really bad day, my husband’s faith encouraged me.
This is not to say that the reason someone is not better is because they don’t have faith. I don’t mean that at all. What I mean is that what we hold in our hearts is a blueprint for healing. We can work on our faith and grow it, and see ourselves healed in our minds’ eye.
Some days, we have more faith than others. But faith and belief can carry us through things that seem absolutely impossible.
Here are a few more things that helped me when I was chronically sick.
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Take it one day at a time.
It is super hard to plan when you have a chronic illness. You won’t know how you’ll feel from one day to the next.
Friends may think you’re being flaky, and family may not understand. It’s important to share how you’re truly feeling. People may think you look “fine” on the outside, but just like we spread “invisible illnesses” to each other in the form of colds and flus, many of us, at some point in our lives, will likely deal with some form of invisible illness. The amount of chemicals in our food, our environment, and common infections like Lyme and Covid make this all too likely.
When you’re not feeling well, it’s important to pace yourself and avoid thinking too far into the future. Just take the next step, and don’t worry about the rest.
2. Advocate for yourself.
There is no doctor, no practitioner, and no other person in the healthcare space that can advocate for you as well as you can. No one knows what it’s like to live in your body and feel how you are feeling.
Far too many doctors tell patients “it is all in their head.” Especially now, there are too many stories to count of people being told this and then finding another, more skilled doctor or practitioner who figures out they in fact have a thyroid issue, an infection like Lyme or a dental issue.
Personally, I think doctors that go straight to the psychiatric diagnosis should be stripped of their medical licenses! But, I digress. Decide to only see providers who support you and you feel understand and believe you. This goes a long way toward your healing.
3. Let go of guilt.
Guilt is another burden on TOP of the burden of chronic illness. Decide that no matter what, you aren’t going to feel guilty, because chronic illness is something no one can help. You didn’t decide to have this happen to you. So if you need to miss a social event or family event due to being sick, so be it. You didn’t cause the sickness, and you didn’t cause what happened as a result.
4. Continue to research.
One thing I have noticed is that a lot of chronically ill people expect that medical providers are going to figure things out for them. Though they can and should do everything they can (and hopefully, a lot is changing in regard to how physicians are trained), we have to unfortunately realize there are a lot of factors at play, and due to the sickness of the medical industry, many decisions are based on profits — not patient outcomes. Every treatment, every therapy, every idea should be thoroughly researched by you so you fully understand the benefits and risks. You are the captain of your ship — which is your body and health. Your doctor isn’t. It is very likely there are relatively safe treatments, supplements and therapies your doctor may know nothing about that could really help you. This was definitely true in my case, although I have an amazing doctor and he pointed me in the right direction. (As an aside: I have to pay out of pocket for him — he does not take insurance!)
5. Practice self-care.
Practicing self-care, especially when you’re sick, is not selfish — it’s essential.
You might have heard the analogy — you can’t help someone else if you don’t put your oxygen mask on first.
What do you like to do to take care of yourself?
These are some self care habits I still use regularly to try to keep my health optimized:
Getting enough sleep — a goal of 8 hours
Limiting screen time, especially when stressed
Journaling — getting emotions out on paper. (Therapy has been helpful for me in tough times as well!)
Eating a healthy diet free from allergens
Drinking herbal tea
Taking a nap
To summarize, dealing with a chronic illness is not for the faint of heart. It is a monuments challenge that people who have not dealt with a chronic illness probably will not understand unless they have lived it.
However, recovery is NOT impossible. I have seen too many stories of incredible humans overcoming Lyme disease, mold illness, hidden dental infections, cancer, etc. to not believe it is possible to heal from any kind of chronic health issue.
If you are dealing with a chronic illness, know you are not alone, and recover is possible. Have faith and see yourself recovered in your mind’s eye. I believe this is the first step to conquering the mountain!
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