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”.

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Over at the Happiness Project Gretchen wonders why she often forgets to use simple remedies (like over-the-counter anti-itch cream) to make her daily life a bit more comfortable. I can relate!

Recognise the problem (or itch)

It took me a very long time to realise that my sporadic sore throats were actually caused by ulcers and were, in fact, occurring at quite predictable intervals alongside other symptoms of my Crohn’s disease. I then concluded that, as my Crohn’s was already being treated with medication, the ulcers were ‘one of those things I have to suffer through’.

Of course that was not (and is not) true.

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