A blog post on the effect of chronic disease on emotional health.

[KRG13]

facebook.com/16185032750284...

Having a chronic disease can affect emotional wellbeing.

Arrhythmia, Diabetes, hypertension, thyroid disorders, CFS, arthritis and a host of other common chronic diseases.. how do they affect the patient's mind?

[Equi-geek]

That's a very helpful page - thanks for signposting it - as a sufferer of arthritis in my hip as well as SVT I dont think the medical professions realise what an impact it can have on mental health and wellbeing. In blocking the emotion caused by the chronic pain I inadvertently blocked all emotions. Soon there was no joy - just a zombie-like calmness and a robotic way of living based on doing one task, then the next, then the next. Even meeting with friends became another 'thing to do'.

Meditation practice helped reconnect me with emotion - I know that isn't right for everyone and has to be done carefully. CBT helped to re-engage me with helpful activities I was struggling to be motivated to start. Now, regular exercise (in my case, running) helps to keep me going, so long as the arthritis doesn't cause me problems. A recent running injury in my chronically painful arthritic hip took me down with it again, mentally. Even though I fought to resist them, I knew old habits were leading me back into obesity and depression. Like a diet of junk-food because cooking needed too much thinking about, and staying up too late, to put off waking up in pain and to another long list of 'things to do'. The prefrontal cortex didn't have enough serotonin to calm the amygdala.

Fortuntately the 6 weeks of forced rest and increased binge-eating/starving was followed by a physio-supported change in running form and rehab using the HU Couch to 5k app. I am now just about back to where I was, 10lbs heavier, but with a better diet and doing Parkrun and GoodGym every week. But for a while, I thought running was the latest in a long line of enjoyable activities that arthritis was taking away from me. I'd be left with only swimming - as all we knackered arthitic people are enthusiastically told by young doctors is fabulous exercise for 'us'... I'm not ready for 64 lengths of the same council pool, every day, to be my only choice.

I have a huge amount of empathy for people living with chronic health conditions that spiral into comforting behaviours to provide momentary relief. Because, when something is chronic, nothing you do is ever going to fix it, just make it a bit easier to live with. As a runner I am limited. As a horse rider I am limited. I see others working towards events and competitions and I know I cannot do that.

'Cheer up' I'm told.... 'you'll soon qualify for hip surgery.' Wonderful. I can then look forward to some quality of life for maybe another 20 years if I manage my hip properly (so it's still a chronic problem), before the metal wears out on the second hip and there's no bone to connect a third one into... So once again the clock will be ticking. I find no comfort in that thought, either.

I'm holding out for as long as I can and hoping that stem cells can repair what I have. Because once a hip has been replaced, that option's gone, and I'll have to watch people be cured of their joint damage with an injection in 5 years, while I struggle on with my metal hips and scar tissue.... that's if I don't become too obese for the NHS to exclude me from hip relacement surgery because of my (!) 'choices'. There is no sympathy in some Trusts.

But all this talk is too negative and not resolving anything! Keep fighting everyone - keep doing what you can. Be gentle with yourself if you try and fall short of other's expectations, and hope they are understanding of your situation. They haven't walked a mile in your shoes and they don't know. I'm going to enjoy doing what I can. I'll control what I can, and accept this is how things are. I thank my body - even the difficult painful bits - for getting me this far through my life and coping with everything. To reach even my age (50) is a privalege denied to too many. I'm going to make the best of it while I can.

[KRG13 in reply to Equi-geek]

I'm so glad the write up resonated with you. Emotional well being is an often ignored aspect of chronic diseases. Arrhythmias can be invisible to others, making them harder for the sufferers in the long run.