Head (Inside)

• Start getting angry at your disease rather than at yourself. (i.e. Old Habit - "I can't believe I couldn't ...." New Habit - "I hate that "This Disease" has taken *that* away from me."
• Start disecting the activities that are giving you trouble. What ABOUT that activity is the problem? (i.e. Prob: Cannot sit through dinner and dessert with my significant other. Why: sitting too long causes terrible pain. Solution: Get up and take a walk to the ladies/mens room and back every 20 minutes or however long before your pain overcomes you -- make sure you get up for a few minutes BEFORE the pain hits too hard though. This is a preventative measure, not a cure for the problem.)
• Before you say yes to that date with friends, think carefully about what the date will entail. Then think about what other commitments you may have the day of, or the day or two before, that date. Can you anticipate a problem? If so, try to find a way to avoid the conflict...if you can't avoid it, why not say no to that date?? There will be another time... (i.e. Friends want to go out Sat. night, but I know I've got a lot of errands to run on Sat. I must choose to either push all or some of the errands off to another day, or reschedule the time with friends.)
• Stop just looking at the home health care product catalogs and start ordering! For a long, long time, I'd look through those catalogs and think how nice it would be to have different items, but I couldn't make myself order. Somehow I felt I wasn't *that* sick, or I'd be giving up, or something -- NOT TRUE!!!! If it makes any part of your life easier, no matter how small, DO IT!!! You DO deserve it! You deserve whatever is out there that can help you. Reachers, special pillows, elevated toilet seat, cane, walker, heating or ice packs, etc....you are 100% entitled to have these things. Stop beating yourself up about being ill and start taking care of yourself. Just think -- the energy you save by using these products can be used on something enjoyable -- what a great payoff!!!

Please! If you have found things that help you in any of these areas, let me know! You can click here to fill in a form with your helpful hint and if you'll include your name, I'll list your name as the contributor. Make sure you list your name as you'd like to see it appear.

Please feel free to send me an e-mail to ask any questions. I'd be happy to try to answer your questions from my personal experience, or if possible, I will try to seek out an answer for you. I'm dedicated to helping you get through your chronic illness - no matter how big or small your question is, it's worth asking - if I can't answer you, I'll let you know!

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