- Introduction
- Understand that you are not alone
- Become the captain of your medical team
- Learn about your condition
- Join a Support Group
- Work at being as healthy as possible
- Try complementary therapies
- Make your own treatment decisions
- Rethink your limitations
- Maintain a sense of humor
- Work at being optimistic
INTRODUCTION
Bad news: You have high blood pressure, or diabetes, or asthma, or heart disease, or any one of dozens of chronic diseases. Your doctor said your condition "can't be cured," but can be "managed," a process you'll need to deal with "for the rest of your life."
If you're newly diagnosed, chances are you feel a little frantic: What's to become of me? If you've had a chronic condition for a while, chances are you feel victimized, perhaps depressed, and no doubt hassled by the medication you have to take and the adjustments you've had to make.
Having a chronic disease is certainly no fun. It's perfectly reasonable to feel shocked, anxious, and saddened when diagnosed, and depressed and irritated as you cope with your condition over time. Allow yourself to feel those feelings. Don't deny them. Then, when you're ready, move emotionally past them. The fact is, the vast majority of chronic illnesses are NOT the end of the world. You CAN learn to live with this. And strange as this may sound, in the not-too-distant-future, you might even come to feel that in some ways, your condition has improved your life.
Every chronic condition is different. But the approaches to coping with them are more or less the same:
UNDERSTAND THAT YOU'RE NOT ALONE.
Having a chronic illness is often isolating. You might think you're the only person in the world who has to spend time and energy hassling with what you have to do to take care of yourself. Not true. The fact is that almost half of Americans of all ages have some chronic medical condition, and among seniors, the proportion is more than half: Arthritis affects 32 million. High blood pressure is a problem for 22.5 million. Allergies affect 20 million. Some 16 million have diabetes. Heart disease afflicts 14 million. More than 5 million have asthma. You may feel isolated. But you're not. You're a member of a very large club. There's a lot more to this than: Misery loves company. The prevalence of chronic conditions means that help abounds: specialists, resources, books, counseling, support groups (for example, SeniorNet's "Health Matters" RoundTables)--you name it.
BECOME THE CAPTAIN OF YOUR MEDICAL TEAM.
A chronic condition usually means ongoing contact with one or more medical specialists. For people who are used to having just one family doctor, this can be disconcerting. It takes time to make the rounds of all your doctors. And sometimes they may make conflicting recommendations, leaving you feeling anxious and confused.
Think of your doctors as a team and yourself as the captain. Don't abandon your family doctor. That physician knows you best and can provide valuable perspective on what the specialists say. But don't limit yourself to your family doctor, either. To get the best care, ask for referrals to one or more specialists who focus on your condition. Don't worry that asking for referrals will offend your family doctor. Family doctors make referrals to specialists all the time--and consult them whey they feel the need.
When you see a specialist, ask that doctor to send a report back to your family doctor. That way your family doctor, the physician you know best and are probably most comfortable with, can help you interpret the specialists' findings and recommendations. If you must see several specialists, which often happens when dealing with cancer, encourage your various doctors--pathologist, surgeon, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist--to talk with each other and come to a consensus on what's best for you. This may take some assertiveness on your part. Here's a tip: Obtain all your doctors' e-mail addresses and forward each one's recommendations to the others. Your physicians may disagree at first. That's not unusual. Medicine is as much an art as a science. That's why it's a good idea to share all your doctors' recommendations with all your other doctors. Then they can discuss your situation, and come to a consensus on treatment recommendations.
Frequently, a doctor urges you to begin some type of treatment "right away." When faced with many chronic conditions, prompt treatment is a good idea. But it may not mean you have to begin treatment IMMEDIATELY. It's also important to feel comfortable with your treatment plan, and to check in with your family doctor, or other doctors if you feel the need to do so. Email allows you to check in with your doctors usually in 24 hours. If a specialist seems eager to begin treatment and you'd like a day or so to consider it and check in with your family doctor, say so. Then negotiate.
Except in the case of surgery, once you begin a treatment program, you're rarely locked into it. Medications can be changed. Treating a chronic condition is a process, not a single event. Try to take a long-term perspective.
Return to Top
|
