Beyond IBD: transcending chronic illness

Are there things that you know you could be doing to look after yourself and your health, but you just can’t muster the motivation to start? Or you have started but can’t stick with it?It could be an exercise program, or improving your diet, or establishing better sleep patterns, or practising relaxation techniques such as meditation. The plethora of diet and exercise programs and self-help books assure us that we are not alone in our struggle.

And having IBD (or any chronic illness) makes it even harder. We must contend with fatigue, nausea, pain and diarrhea (and more), and with occasional feelings of hopelessness and depression. There are plenty of completely reasonable excuses available: “I’m too tired to do anything” or “I’m sick all the time anyway so why not have that chocolate / coffee / wine, even though I know it will make me feel worse”.

Why try?

As explained on the About page, my philosophy on IBD treatment is that:

• The human body comprises many systems working as a whole;
• Any improvements to your holistic health are beneficial - this applies whether you have a chronic disease or not;
• Improvements to your holistic health may not directly affect the course of your IBD but will help you feel better in your daily life.

However, and most importantly, no-one can know your body like you do and ultimately you must make informed choices about how best to look after yourself.

In the past I have been afraid that exercise will, at best, leave me feeling too tired to get through day to day life and, at worse, aggravate my disease. However, I have read many on the internet from patients, even those with very active disease, citing the benefits they feel from some form of exercise. I have spoken with my own doctor about it, who has said that despite my active disease there should be no problem with exercise such as walking or light weight lifting as long as I did not overtax myself.

Canadian researchers found that for people with mild Crohn’s disease, taking a walk a few times per week helped boost their well-being and quality of life. However the same report says that patients with moderate or severe symptoms of their Crohn’s disease should not engage in an exercise program until their symptoms are better controlled.

Of course, whatever you do must be appropriate to your circumstances and level of health.

Although strenuous exercise might be out of the question for you, you may like to try gentle stretching and movement, or meditation exercises. This, along with having a healthy diet and getting plenty of rest can only help your general health and well-being.

And here’s a final perspective on why we should maintain positive health programs. Referring to another article from “New York Times Magazine”, Gretchen from The Happiness Project surmises:

It turns out that people who stick to a doctor’s orders – say, by taking a prescription – are different, and healthier, than people who don’t. In one drug study, a group of men were assigned a drug or a placebo. The men who faithfully took their pills had significantly better outcomes than the men who didn’t – even the men who were only taking a placebo! The conclusion: a group of people who faithfully adhere to a program that they think healthful (taking vitamins, exercising, eating a better diet) will have a different outcome from a group that doesn’t…

How to build good health habits

Here are some of the ideas I have picked up about how to establish new habit (such as exercise) or change an existing habit for the better (such as switching from sweet to healthy snacking). I am focusing on health in this article, but many of these ideas can (and have) been applied more generally to whatever goal it is we wish to achieve.

The first step is creating the right frame of mind - a positive outlook that will help overcome initial resistance to a new healthy behaviour. Next week is step two - how to turn that new behaviour into a habit and keep it going!

Creating the right frame of mind

I read two great books for the first time this year: Getting Things Done by David Allen and The Now Habit by Neil Fiore. Each time I reread them I find something new. The following is a mash of the concepts from these books which had greatest impact on me, and my thoughts on how to apply them in daily life.

1. Don’t think ‘I have to’ or ‘I should’ or ‘if I don’t I am a bad person’

Trying to badger yourself into a new behaviour with authoritarian or critical self-talk will not work. This will only spark a childish, rebellious resistance which will lead to procrastination, avoidance, guilt and more negative self-talk about your own failings.

2. Make a choice

You choose your path in life, and although certain events (such as having IBD) are beyond your control, you choose how you will respond and behave. This is a powerful thing. Starting an exercise program or changing your diet because ‘it’s the right thing to do’ or because someone ‘told you to’ are not great motivators. Doing it because you have made a positive, informed and deliberate choice is much more powerful and will support you through the process.

3. Think through your options

If you are going to make a genuine choice, then you need to weigh up the options. You can choose not to exercise, to eat fatty or irritating foods, or to sleep erratically. What would the consequences of that behaviour be? Make a list. Or you could choose to undertake some type of exercise, eat better, and sleep regularly. What would the consequences of that behaviour be? Make a list.

4. Pull yourself towards the goal, don’t push

Hopefully you have considered your options and decided that you absolutely want healthier habits. Now focus on the positive consequences of this choice. Be very clear about why you have made this choice, give yourself a purpose statement eg. ‘I choose to exercise because it will make me stronger and give me energy to do things other things I love doing’.

Then, in the words of David Allen, envision wild success and describe what that looks like eg. ‘I will exercise for at least 20 minutes every day and I will be stronger and more energetic and I will be proud of my commitment and my achievement’. Record your purpose and vision statements somewhere you will see them regularly so, on bad days, you will be reminded of the positive reasons for making this choice and will be pulled towards your ultimate goal.

5. Repeat

Keep reminding yourself why you made this choice. Thinking about your higher purpose and your vision of success will get you through the ‘yuck factor’. Don’t dwell on the negative aspects like getting up earlier or stiff muscles or really wanting that piece of chocolate. There will always be less enjoyable aspects of any task, but dwelling on them and then telling yourself to ‘just push on’ will not help. Focus on positive outcomes and pull yourself towards your vision.

Check in next week for part 2 of this post - how to make your new good health behaviour a habit and keep it going!

Rebecca

• Do you have trouble starting and maintaining good health habits? (Part 2)
• Are you trying to do too much? (Part 2)
• 7 reasons not to join a support group (Part 1)
• A secret rebellion: why do you really forget to take your meds?
• Crohn’s disease - overview and latest treatments