How to cope with the ups and downs of chronic illness

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When coping with a chronic illness like Meniere’s disease, you are also coping with – or let me put it this way – you have no other choice but to cope with its ups and downs as well. I have been having my downs for the last couple of weeks after having almost two weeks of my ups previously. Those two weeks were amazing and productive. I was feeling on top of the world designing this blog and writing my first blog posts.

HOWEVER,

Not only have the symptoms including extreme fatigue and brain fog reached the peak – with a vengeance – again and again, but they also seem to be very determined to stay for a little bit longer than usual.

Consequently, I have been feeling physically sick and emotionally frustrated. These frustrations have led me to hyperventilate unconsciously – and this hyperventilation always leads to more dizziness, amongst additional symptoms.

In the past, I used to feel sorry for myself, and then I got angry with myself because I had to stay in bed and disconnected from the (real) world for a few days, for a few weeks even.

Unfortunately, none of those negative feelings has ever benefited me with anything. Luckily, I have realized that I need to embrace more positive and happy feelings to cope with the downs of my chronic illness and reach my ups:

1. Listen to your body

I am and have always been impatient, and I hate not being able to do things the way I would like to do or not. Staying in bed, due to Vertigo’s attacks, has been one of those things that I have dreaded the most. The thing is that the longer I ignore what my body tells me, the longer I have to stay in bed. I have started to listen to it and be patient about it.

Instead of forcing my body to recover “as soon as possible” as I previously did, I have now made a list of activities I can do while recovering. There are just some simple, fun, and non-demanding activities such as refreshing my German using the Dualingo app, decluttering my closet, and planting some herbs on my balcony.

It is the Summertime after all. And when my body tells me to take a rest, I’ll take a rest immediately.

2. Stop feeling guilty

There is no doubt that chronic illness – along with its symptoms messes up almost every single part of your life. I used to feel guilty about canceling or rearranging so many important appointments and/or not being able to attend other activities due to Vertigo’s attacks.

But, here is the bitter truth about chronic diseases: it is not curable, it will not magically disappear over time and it is especially you that will have to cope with it for the rest of your life, whether you feel guilty or not.

I have stopped – or at least tried very hard to stop – feeling guilty about it and paying a lot more attention to feeling better.

3. Keep your faith

Although dealing with the downs of chronic disease is anything but easy — fortunately, there are also the ups as you can have some better days and sometimes weeks. There are also days when you feel “perfectly” fine and you are capable of doing almost anything you want – as you should.

Besides having a list of activities that I can do while I am recovering, I have also been making a list of activities that I can do when I am feeling great. It is a list that consists of my plans, my hopes, my dreams, and my faith in life in general and in my own life particularly.

I don’t know for sure if those plans, hopes, and dreams will ever come true but they certainly keep my faith alive. And that is exactly what you and I need when coping with Meniere’s Disease.

Books worth reading:

Now, it is your turn. How do you cope with the ups and downs of your chronic illness? Please share your tips in the comment section below. Thank you.