Supporting someone with a chronic illness

I am sorry I haven't written for a while again, two big thins have happened in the past week so my attention as been elsewhere.

Firstly I have been doing a heap of research about various lifestyle changes that I can make to help improve my quality of life. My pain is consistently high at the moment and I really do not want this is be as good as it gets for me.

The other thing that has happened is that I have launched my YouTube channel. It is really daunting but I want to do something positive with my life and I guess the natural thing to do now if I wasn't sick would be to go back to work or find a community project to get involved with. As it is, I am sick and having to learn to live with this illness but I still have a desire to achieve something. So I guess making films about living with chronic illness and exploring alternative therapies gives me a purpose and also will hopefully help improve my quality of life.

Today I posted a video about supporting someone with a chronic illness and I want to follow that up with a written blog also.

So my first 5 tips for supporting a loved one living with chronic illness...

Number 1.
Learn about the persons disease. Get yourself to the library or search through Amazon but get yourself educated! It will mean a lot to the sufferer if you take time to learn about what they are going through. HOWEVER do NOT become an expert! By suggesting you learn about the disease I am not suggesting you then try to educate the patient!

Number 2.
Be inspirational, Personally I love poetry so when I found a book at my mums house that was a composition of various poems written by people suffering with chronic illnesses I felt really inspired to start writing again. Trying to connect the illness to something the sufferer has een involved with in the past can be really inspiring! Get thinking!

Number 3. Remind the person with the illness that they are important! When you feel ill ALL the time it is really easy to question your self worth. Remind the person how important they are to you and how important they are in general!

Number 4. GO VISIT!  Just because your loved one can't continue to meet you in the coffee house etc does not mean they don't want to see you! Look, let's face it, if you were going to meet the person out somewhere you can meet them at their house. GO KNOCK ON THE DOOR and respect that they might not want to get out! We all know what our bodies are capable of, don't try to make someone feel bad about needing to stay home! If they could leave the house and come with you then they would! Trust me! I know when I am having an awful symptom day 'Fresh air' is not going to magically make me feel better, spending time with another person might but luging myself out the house and into a coffee shop will more then likely just make my physical symptoms worse! Please respect that people with chronic illness do their best to live varied lives. If someone is having to stay home and you had plans then GO TO THEM!

Number 5. Pick up the phone on the day there are big hospital appointments. The person may be too exhausted to explain it all but it will really show that you care. It really is the little things that make a BIG difference when you're going through a tough stage on your life!

I am going to have to stop there today I am afraid :-( I have a really awful headache and the screen is making it quite a bit worse!

Blessings everyone

x x x x