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7 Ways to Provide Comfort to a Loved One with a Chronic Illness

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7 Ways to Provide Comfort to a Loved One with a Chronic Illness

Ways to Provide Comfort to a Loved One with a Chronic Illness | Support a Loved One With MS | Support a Loved one with Pulmonary Fibrosis

7 Ways to Provide Comfort to a Loved One with a Chronic Illness – If you have a loved one with a chronic illness like Multiple Sclerosis or Pulmonary Fibrosis, you want to be supportive and encouraging, but might not know where to start. It’s difficult to understand what your loved one is going through, and you don’t want to end up making them feel worse despite your best efforts. Sometimes what we see as supportive can cause a person with a chronic illness to feel guilt or shame about their condition. People with chronic diseases want the same things that everyone else wants. They want to live a life on their own terms, find love and be accepted.

Support from friends and family can be just as crucial to a person’s physical and mental well-being as medical care. If someone you know is living with a chronic illness, they need you more than they let on–but there is a right way to go about providing them comfort. If you want to be a good friend or a supportive family member but aren’t sure how, check out these seven ways experts recommend will help provide comfort to the person.

Listen

It can be easy to want to give your loved one advice, talk to them about cures or be critical of their coping mechanisms. If someone with a chronic illness wants to talk, don’t make the conversation all about you or relate with examples from your life. Focusing on your opinions can have the unintended consequence of marginalizing their challenge, pain or victory.  Don’t try to fit their shoes–just try to be as supportive as you can.

Sometimes your loved one just needs a supportive ear. It’s hard living in a world where most people don’t share your day-to-day reality and having someone who is willing to listen can be a mighty tool. This is a practical and straightforward way to support a person with a chronic illness that you care about and can offer more help than you realize.

Check In

It can be hard for people with a chronic illness to reach out to friends and family, which can make staying in touch more challenging. This happens when a person’s life changes so much that they have a harder time relating to others. Reach out to the person in your life who is living with a chronic illness through a text, email, Facebook or a quick phone call. Even if you don’t have much to say, just letting them know you are thinking of them and that you care can mean the world.

7 Ways to Provide Comfort to a Loved One with a Chronic Illness

Learn About the Illness

You may have never heard of your loved one’s chronic or invisible illness before they were diagnosed. Take the time to give it a quick Google search and gain at least a basic understanding of their medical condition. Or connect with resources providing information about new ways to treat the disease. You will be a much better person in their support system if you know what triggers flares, warning signs of complications and how symptoms usually present.

This knowledge will empower you to have better communication with your loved one, understand their coping strategies and support their treatment. Don’t use what you’ve learned to lecture them on what they should and shouldn’t be doing. Your friend already knows everything there is to know about their illness and needs your support, not direction.

Be Flexible

The relationship dynamic that you originally developed with this person is going to change now that they have a chronic illness. You might not be able to continue certain activities you used to share, like going out for drinks, dancing and hiking. Your friend may not feel like being active or interacting with large groups of people when they are feeling bad or experiencing symptoms. Be flexible enough to enjoy downtime or quiet evenings in, playing a board game or watching a movie. It’s not what you do with your loved one that counts. It’s being there to support them through their chronic illness that will make your relationship stronger than ever.

Encourage Rather Than Pity

Living with a chronic illness can be difficult on a daily basis, and it can be hard for us to handle emotionally when we see the person we care about in pain. If you sense that your loved one is having a hard day or feeling down, offer them encouragement rather than pity. Lead by example and try to practice positivity that day and eliminate negative talk. Sadness and depression can be challenging to support, but encouragement and a positive outlook is more helpful than pity.

7 Ways to Provide Comfort to a Loved One with a Chronic Illness

Don’t Get Frustrated

It’s difficult not to get frustrated when a loved one is in pain and at the mercy of outside forces. Seemingly out of the blue they can become distant, angry, emotionally needy or sad. Their reactions might not be as rational as they would be under different circumstances, so don’t lose your cool or get frustrated when times get tough. Your good intentions won’t always be met with the reaction you expect. Know that pain can bring out difficult qualities in people and be as calm and understanding as you can be.

Be There Long-Term

The definition of the word “chronic” is long-lasting, persistent and constantly recurring. Your loved one isn’t likely to shake this illness anytime soon and they are going to need you to be there for the long haul. As hard as it is to deal with your loved one’s low energy, constant doctors’ appointments and different attitudes, it is even more difficult for them. They will need regular encouragement, support and love–forever. They need your understanding that they are going to have to fight this–forever.

Being there for the long haul is the most important thing you can do for your friend or family member who is living with a chronic disease like pulmonary fibrosis. Let them know that through their good days and bad days, you aren’t going anywhere.

 

About The Guest Author:

Morgan Clarke is a retired caregiver for those with chronic illness. She now spends her time finding ways to make life easier for people with limitations and spending time with her husband, grandchildren and dog Pip.

 

What tips have you found helpful when providing comfort to your loved one? Or what do you wish your loved one would do to provide support and comfort for you?
Please us a comment in the section below.

 

7 Ways to Provide Comfort to a Loved One with a Chronic Illness

Benefits Of Meditation To Reduce Anxiety

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Benefits Of Meditation To Reduce Anxiety

Benefits Of Meditation To Reduce Anxiety

Benefits Of Meditation To Reduce Anxiety – Meditation is a great tool to help you calm down and get back to thinking clearly when you’re feeling particularly anxious. It can instantly calm down the overexcited nervous system and have you feeling more centered and ready to face whatever live throws at you. As helpful as it is in reducing anxiety on demand, it’s even more powerful when it comes to prevention.

There are two components of anxiety that relate to the brain. The first is those random thoughts and worries that keep running through your head, and making you feel anxious. The second part is that as a person that worries and gets anxious a lot, you are using the amygdala, the part of your brain that’s associated with regulating emotions a lot. This particular area of the brain lights up more on scans with people struggling with anxiety. Since you are essentially rewiring your brain to increase activity in this area, you may think yourself into worse and worse anxiety. Thankfully meditation can help with both.

First I want you to realize that this isn’t the only aspect of anxiety. While meditation will greatly benefit you, it may not be a cure all. That being said, meditation is simple to do and something that can be done by anyone. I encourage you to give it a try. If you find yourself struggling, it may be helpful to find a meditation teacher who can guide you through your first few sessions. This will help you calm your mind enough so you can continue to practice this ancient technique on your own going forward.

For many of us, listening to a good guided meditation, and simply practicing it daily is enough to see results. Start by reading up on the benefits of meditation and how to do it. There are many different ways to start meditating. The easiest one to get started with is a short guided meditation. You can find online recordings, cds, and even smart phone apps like a play list, that will get you started.

Sit or lay comfortably, listen to the recording and follow the instructions. Don’t worry if your thoughts start to drift. Gently bring yourself back to the meditation. It’s surprisingly hard to focus on nothing but the meditation. Start with short sessions of 10 minutes or less. Once you get comfortable, you can extend your meditations as needed. The key to getting better at meditating and reaping the benefits of calming down those random thoughts and worries, as well as rewiring your brain to be less anxious in general, is daily practice. Get started, and then make it part of your daily routine.

 

Have you found meditation helpful for your anxiety?
Please comment below and tell us about it.

 

Benefits Of Meditation To Reduce Anxiety

Being Anxious vs. Anxiety Attacks

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Being Anxious vs. Anxiety Attacks

Being Anxious vs. Anxiety Attacks - Today I want to talk a little bit about the difference between being anxious a having a full-blown, debilitating anxiety attack.

Being Anxious vs. Anxiety Attacks – Today I want to talk a little bit about the difference between being anxious a having a full-blown, debilitating anxiety attack. I mentioned in previous posts that we all have times when we’re a bit anxious. It’s a natural reaction to a perceived future thread. Sometimes it’s simple the fear of the unknown. Sometimes we’re afraid that we’ll embarrass ourselves or that we disappoint out loved ones. It’s often not a problem. It’s uncomfortable, but it can also be a good way to motivate you to work harder, study more and the likes. Simple little occasional feelings of anxiety are not a problem and not what we try to reduce in during this challenge.

On the other end of the spectrum are big anxiety attacks. For a few unfortunate individuals, anxiety spirals so badly out of control and their bodies release so many stress hormones that they have to deal with anything from total isolation to frequent panic attack. It is also often accompanied by severe physical symptoms including vomiting, diarrhea, migraines etc. Treating these types of severe anxiety attacks is also outside of the scope of this challenge. If you suspect you’re suffering from this, please seek professional help immediately.

What we can address is the stuff in the middle. If you are worried and anxious frequently and it’s starting to have an impact on your quality of life and your health, without being a serious medical problem. If your anxiety if impacting your sleep, your ability to relax, to enjoy life with your loved ones, I hope I can give you some tips and ideas to help you reduce it. Give this challenge a try, but if at any time you feel yourself spiraling out of control and towards severe anxiety attacks, don’t hesitate to get help.

What I can show you is how to relax, how to put your thoughts into perspective, how to calm your nervous system down, and how to change your attitude from constant worry and fear to looking forward to what the future brings.

Think about how you stumbled across this post though a Google search, or what made you seek out more information about the difference between anxiety and anxiety attacks. Reflect on how often you’re feeling anxious on a given day, in a given week, or even a month. Between the spectrum of feeling a little anxious every now and then, and debilitate chronic anxiety, where do you think you’re at? Figure that out and then decide if this challenge over the next few weeks could be helpful, or if you need more help. If you’re on the fence, give it a chance and see how it goes. You may not feel like you need to change at all, but I promise you that in this day and age we can all benefit from a little less stress & anxiety and more relaxation.

 

Join us for next weeks post “Benefits of Meditation to Help Reduce Anxiety“

 

Being Anxious vs. Anxiety Attacks

How To Recognize Anxiety Quickly

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How To Recognize Anxiety Quickly

How To Recognize Anxiety Quickly

How To Recognize Anxiety Quickly – If you’re just joining us we have started discussing anxiety over the last few weeks, you can find last weeks post here. One of the best ways to deal with anxiety is to recognize it quickly. The problem with this state of mind is that it quickly spirals out of control. The sooner you recognize that you’re getting more than a little anxious, the better you’ll be able to combat the effects it has with various techniques that help you calm back down.

Whether you use breathing techniques, meditations, positive thinking, or any of the other tips and techniques you come across during this challenge and elsewhere, the key to being less anxious is to notice it as soon as it starts. It’s much easier to calm down when you’re feeling a little stressed and worried than when you’re in the middle of a full-blown anxiety attack.

Your approach to noticing when you’re getting anxious without a valid reason – remember, sometimes anxiety is helpful and necessary – should be two-fold. You want to pay attention to both your mind and your body. Each will give you clues long before you start to feel out of control. Staying in control and forcing yourself to calm back down is the entire point of this exercise. The earlier you can disrupt the feeling of anxiety, the easier it is to break through and stop yourself from spiraling out of control.

You’ll experience both physical and mental symptoms long before you get too nervous and anxious to do anything about it. Before I share with you what to look for, I want you to be aware that it varies from person to person and event to event what you’ll experience. Sometimes you’ll notice most of these, while you only get a few symptoms here and there at other times. Don’t wait until you show every single symptom before starting to work on alleviating your anxiety.

They physical symptoms are comprised of what we talked about in last weeks post. They include trouble sleeping, insomnia, upset stomach, nausea, diarrhea, sweating, increased heart rate, headache, fatigue, and weakness.

The mental signs that you’re starting to get anxious are a feeling of dread of fear, having a hard time concentrating or having a blank mind, feeling high strung and on the alert for danger, being tense and unsalable to sit still, and being irritable. Again, you won’t feel all of these mental and emotional times every time, but they are good signs to look out for.

Pay attention to your body and mind. Recognize the signs of anxiety early and then make an effort to relax and rationalize your fears. Break the vicious cycle and avoid spiraling down into a pit of anxiety.

 

Join us next week when we discuss being anxious vs. anxiety attacks

 

How To Recognize Anxiety Quickly

The Physical Side Of Anxiety – Signs To Watch

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The Physical Side of Anxiety – Signs To Watch

The Physical Side Of Anxiety - Signs To Watch

The Physical Side Of Anxiety | Signs To Watch – Last week we looked into Anxiety can be debilitating, you can read that here. While the cause of anxiety is mainly mental, it manifests in physical form through the changes that our bodies undergo when we start to feel anxious. The bigger our anxiety gets, the more pronoun the physical changes will be. Often it is those physical impacts that have the biggest negative impact on our health and our quality of life. Making an attempt to reduce both the frequency and severity of anxiety experiences will have an immediate positive effect on the body.

It’s important that you recognize these physical manifestations of anxiety. Think of them as warning signals. When you start to notice them, it’s time to get proactive about dialing your anxiety down. Let’s take a look at what you might experience on the physical side of anxiety.

Trouble Sleeping

Often you first sign of anxiety is that you’re having trouble sleeping. It may be harder to fall asleep with random thoughts running through your head. Or you may wake up in the middle of the night with worries.

Excessive Sweating

Sweating and sweaty hands in particular are another sign that you’re getting anxious and stressed out. Listen to your body and work on calming down. Running your hands under slightly cool water can give you immediate relieve, but won’t help reduce your anxiety.

Pounding Heartbeat and Headache

As your anxiety and your stress level go up, you may start to notice a pounding heartbeat. Your body is pumping blood through your system in an effort to get ready for a fight or flight. With the increased adrenalin and higher blood pressure, you may also start to get a headache.

Nausea or Upset Stomach

Nausea and an upset stomach can be another physical symptom of anxiety. I’m sure you’ve experienced this at times when you were nervous about an exam or public speaking engagement. You know your anxiety is spiraling up when you start to feel extremely nauseous.

Fatigue and Weakness

Listen to your body. Being on high alert for long periods of time, as during an anxiety attach, is exhausting. Get extra rest when you can and don’t push yourself too hard.

Insomnia

As the level of anxiety rises, you’ll see some of these physical symptoms increase. You can quickly move from having trouble sleeping to full-blown insomnia. If it lasts for more than a couple of nights, and your attempts to relax and reduce your level of anxiety, it may be time to get professional help so you can rest.

 

Join us next week as we dive deeper into anxiety and discuss how to recognize anxiety.

 

The Physical Side Of Anxiety – Signs To Watch