Ways to Live A Good Life While Being Chronically Ill

Living your life while being chronically ill is hard because sometimes being chronically ill is not the only thing that makes your life hard.

Some chronic illnesses cause chronic pain, which makes living your life way harder than only having a chronic disease. Plus, not a lot of people understand what you’re going through.

I’m chronically ill, and I’m also immunocompromised. I’ve been chronically ill since I was a toddler but didn’t become immunocompromised till I developed sepsis and went through septic shock in 2016 and nearly died.

Nowadays, a lot of people are suffering from one illness or another. Some are treatable, and others are lifelong illnesses.

For the treatable diseases, you have pneumonia, the flu, or strep throat, to name a few. You’ll be able to get over them with the proper care and antibiotics. Other diseases that are known as chronic illnesses are not curable.

Take lupus; for example, lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body, from the skin to the joints. Unfortunately, there is no cure for lupus.

Peripheral neuropathy is another chronic illness that a lot of people have. Symptoms of Peripheral neuropathy have the chance of getting better slowly, usually over a few months.

Sadly, sometimes the nerve damage is permanent, and symptoms do not go away. I’ve been suffering from neuropathy for fourteen years and have the type that can’t be cured.

According to the National Health Council, chronic diseases affect approximately 133 million Americans, representing more than 40 percent of the total population of the U.S.

They also report that by the year 2020, that number is projected to grow to an estimated 157 million, with 81 million having multiple conditions.

Luckily for us, having a chronic illness doesn’t mean we can’t have a good life. There are ways we can live a good life while being chronically ill.

---

Ways to Live A Good Life While Being Chronically Ill.

Respect your limitations.

Being chronically ill is tough on people who like to be in control and hard on people-pleasers.

If you wish to be in control, you’ll find living life with a chronic illness to be tiring since you’re continually trying to control every aspect of your life.

What you should do is try to live your life around your chronic illness. Because you’re chronically ill and sometimes your disease takes over, it doesn’t mean you can’t live a good life.

Write down the time of day when your illness takes over and the reason so you can know how to control your life around your illness.

People-pleasers are also known to be the YES people, meaning they will say yes to activities even though they know they shouldn’t because it will affect their health or induce a pain flare-up.

They are so afraid of saying no and letting people down that they’re willing to risk their health by saying yes to everyone.

We all need to learn to say no to activities, especially people-pleasers when we know it’s going to do more harm than good.

There is nothing wrong with telling your friends or family, “I’m sorry, but I can’t.” Respecting your limitations mean you’re choosing your health over going to a party, or on a trip.

---

Let go of the blame.

A lot of people with chronic illness blame themselves for developing the illness.

They feel like if they had done something differently or took better care of their health, they wouldn’t have contracted their illness.

For a long time, I used to blame myself for developing sepsis, which almost cost me my life.

Even though I survived, I was left with a diminished health-related quality of life. I live with chronic pain, which developed after going through septic shock.

For a couple of years, I kept putting myself down and blaming myself for getting sepsis because now I live my life in pain that will never go away.

I would say, “I wouldn’t have gone through septic shock if I would have taken better care of my body and focused more on improving my health.”

Even though I didn’t take incredibly good care of my body, I know it’s not my fault that I developed sepsis, which resulted in me becoming immunocompromised and a chronic pain sufferer.

Just like it’s not your fault for how you developed your chronic illness, and you need to know that.

Learning to treat yourself with compassion and understanding, will help you begin to free yourself from the blame you have, and that will help you to live a good life while being chronically ill.

---

Use your pain for good.

When you’re having a hard day due to your chronic illness, remember to tell yourself there’s a reason for everything, including being diagnosed with a chronic illness.

I know a lot of people don’t want to hear the “there’s a reason for everything” line, but when you accept that it’s true, you’ll start to learn what that is.

After I told myself, “I almost died from septic shock, but I survived and didn’t become an amputee like other survivors, I’m done with the blame game.”

I started to feel better and notice the reason for my experience and suffering, which is to become an advocate for sepsis awareness and chronic pain sufferers.

My experience gives me the knowledge I need to go forth and use my voice for good by supporting sepsis survivors, the dangers of sepsis, and chronic pain sufferers.

Focus on trying to find your reason for your suffering and illness and use that for good. Please know, focusing on your purpose is not meant to blame you or anyone who has a chronic illness.

---

Help others when possible.

Helping others by volunteering gives us a sense of purpose; it makes us feel good inside knowing we helped someone in need.

I’ve written a lot about the need to help others who are struggling in life, especially those who are suffering from chronic pain and chronic illness, along with survivors of sepsis.

When you’re helping others, you are helping yourself. There are many people out there that don’t realize how lousy living with a chronic illness and chronic pain is.

So, my goal behind talking about being chronically ill and suffering from chronic pain is to open people’s eyes so they can be more informed and compassionate.

If your health and pain permits, look for ways to help someone in need, you could even volunteer to help someone who suffers from chronic pain and who is chronically ill.

You already know what it’s like being chronically ill, so that will come in handy since you’ll know how to help them.

You could start small by doing their dishes. Doing the dishes is a great way to help someone who is chronically ill.

It’s one of those good deeds that go a long way. When you do the dishes, make sure every dish is clean, and the sink and dishwasher are empty.

I wouldn’t leave dishes in the middle of washing since that would make it so the person you are helping would need to put away the clean dishes, and that’s something you’re trying to avoid by doing the dishes in the first place.

---

Find your people.

Being surrounded by a group of people that support and empower you will help you live a good life even though you have a chronic illness.

Having compassionate people who understand that you have a chronic illness and are willing to stand by you is your kind of people.

You need to have a good support system of people you can go to for help, or when you’re struggling and need someone to talk to, you need people you can trust.

You need to find the type of people that are willing to have your back and not pass judgment no matter what.

Having supportive people around you makes going through life with a chronic illness a little less daunting.

---

You can live a good life despite having a chronic illness. It would help if you learned not to give your illness power over you and your emotions.

Working on the tips that I mentioned or any other suggestions you find every day will help you succeed and be able to live a good life and be happy.