How do you maintain your emotional well being when you are ill?

more brave and strong ! God bless you !

First and foremost I have to ask if you have forgone your morning coffee and had your bloods done yet? If not I am going to get cross with you! Luckily although I can't do very much I am not housebound but I have no independance and have to be taken by car wherever I do go to! As for maintaining my emotional and mental health well it can be a struggle and I do get depressed, I have even had a breakdown! My family and friends both online and offline are what keep me going, and my kids - I have to keep myself as well as possible for them! I do still have my bad days where everything is too much effort, I don't want to speak to anyone in any form and I hide away and wallow but after a day or two I usually start looking on the bright side and remind myself of just how lucky I am! Keeping your mond busy is vital! xxxx

I don't think any of us are saints, we have our goods emotional days and our bad ones, but we just got to keep on trying because we are survivors, and we will carry on at all cost, we have to, the alternative is worse, think about it, sick and happy or sick and depressed, I would love to be in the first state of mind all the time, though the truth be known it may not even be half of the time. But I constantly try to look at what I have as compared to what I don't have.

I try to interact with friends virtual and actual. I go outside and take small outings when I am able (even if it's just to the mall; hey shopping does a girl- especially a sick girl- good or to my local library or a restaurant I walk to from my apartment). I also write because that helps me stay sane, whether I'm healthy or not.

I have been there too. Two years ago I had a bad fall outside my favorite restaurant that literally changed my life forever. I could not lift my left arm so thought my shoulder was dislocated but no such luck. I had literally smashed my shoulder bones so badly I became a bionic woman with a shoulder joint replacement. well I had physical therapy for months and sadly it did not do much for me. I cannot lift my left arm up more than ten inches so have had to learn to cope and accept this. Thank God it was not my right arm but I had been ambidexterous before and now well I keep reminding myself what one physical therapist told me you can always do more than you think you can. I had also injured my left knee and already had been in a brace on my left foot for years because of a ruptured tendon that did not get taken care of until it was too late.the doctor kept telling me it was just a sprain but he did not know a ruptured tendon from a hole in the groudn hence now I wear corrective shoes with a brace on my left foot. I have been through a slew of emotions but have finally come to grips with all this for the most part. I also hate going to the doctor but I must since on top of everything I have been a diabetic for years thus all the labwork and the doctor visits plus a visit to the renal doctor every three months. I was on heavy doses of motrin for my arthritis and over a year that caused me to lose twenty percent kidney function so now am on a safer medication for my arthritis. I blame my own doctor for not knowing that could happen. but I keep thinking about that: you can do much more than you think you can and that has been my motto lately I am eighty one and going strong anyhow.

I would say stay away from negative people and cling to positive ones. I myself and looking to make friends with more positive people.

Feel free to check out my blog, and see how I have been coping with ALS/Lou Gehrig's Disease for the last four years. I go to support groups, and have to draw on my inner strength to survive.. http://fernals.blogspot.com You will see that I have had my struggles, and plenty of tears!

Thats a veru good question I don't have an answer to it like you I wonder how I get through I know I cry alot more then I ever did. I was always very active and I feel like I am still a young woman but I got struck down. I have been to the hospital so much I feel I should be on the payroll. I guess what gets me through it is my husband and son if not for them helping me with the household things and the moral support I couldn't survive I hope you have someone to support you in life. Another thing I think that helps is mylot coming here to vent it is easier for me to talk to strangers sometimes then loved ones.

hi kbourgerie (and those who are also reading), maybe I would type a long response (quite like self testimonial), so I hope you wouldn't mind. it was hard to live with. I got an acute digestive system years ago (and back then many nose bleeding for the high blood pressure because of the stress level), needed a total rest for the whole month (I'm glad I was working for a good company with wise policy for the employees), and I was living alone as a stranger in a certain house (I don't know how you would call it, the house's rooms were special for rent, mostly for employees whose houses were just too far from their working area, and I was one of them.) and the pain was too much, no matter how I took the meds, the antibiotic from the doctor. not to mention some must bed rest and that was the place very far from my family. and the people there, except the maids, were just too self minded. and more things that just brought more frustration to me. it was just too painful and sometimes I kept thinking "if only ..." this or "if only ..." that. with that situation, I was actually regretting that I still woke up those days. however, I have to admit (even when I'm not too religous) that sometimes a small prayer would lift up the pain a bit more than the pills. that's what I did later. perhaps it also calmed my emotion. and since I had nothing to do, I didn't go to work, I stayed at the room all the day. if I could sleep it would have been better, but I couldn't just sleep and sleep again, even more awake than I wished. and since it was just a rented room, and the Bible was the only book I ever brought with me, so to avoid more mind wandering, I decided to get myself focused on something else and that's what the only thing I got. and coincidentally, what I read was about the struggles of those people told within the Bible. so I don't know if it was the Bible that got me distracted from the pain and emotional problems, or it was what some people called as "GOD's healing" or I just became comforted by reading 'similar' struggles of some frustrated people within the Book. and these times, I would still appreciate this Book for what I have been through. and yeah, perhaps I would admit the truth of some things religious people said: "it wasn't my own strength that I have finally overcome" so I would call it as a blessing when I finally passed the hard times, and when somebody else is getting through this similar digestive system problems or maybe similar situation, the bottom part of my heart wishes that I would know how I should react or how I should help them. and that I could give them some suggestion about how to get back to their health state and to prevent themselves from similar troubles again. the difficult situation has brought me to deep awareness that "health is cheap, and illness is expensive". and I have valued my health more than I did back then. back then I took my health for granted, and the acute condition has become a harsh and very expensive lesson for me. and since I have decided to stay in singlehood, I guess this awareness is important to be able to survive the challenge of life. I can't count on anybody else, so, I know I will always wish there is 'Something / Someone out of my reach' that would touch my life with what other people said as 'miracle touch'. I realize that back then, when I was at the very bottom rock of my emotional health because of this illness, the only thing that helped me a lot was by admitting that I would never be able to overcome anything by myself with that condition and I admitted that I needed help. somekind of unworthy feeling, some confession of 'self unability' perhaps, and a silent hope by voicing what some people called as 'prayer' in the deepest part of my soul, and I think that's what brought my mind into calmness. I don't know what would work for you, but hopefully you and everybody will find some health inspirative people out there that would give better contribution towards your emotional dealing and how to deal better with your current and future situations. just don't focus too much on the pain, if possible. keep doing some small activity / hobbies that turn your attention away from the emotional attack because of the illness, contact your friends for just few minutes talk to get your feeling better, or even a neighbor. just don't let the pain or any frustration consume your attention from any other activity, however when you cannot bear it, just accept the situation that you might need some rest and don't blame your condition too much. some self motivation towards yourself is needed to be done by yourself, from your own side. and that's what I kept doing later, I kept telling my mind "no, this pain will no longer affect my mind, I will no longer let it control my emotion." I started to do some hobbies I could do, I went out of the room and chatted with the maids there (since the other people were just ignoring each other), even some small talks with them would make me forget about my illness. when the pain was too unbearable, I went back to my room to sleep, but at least, my emotion never controlled me the whole day any longer. "okay the pain was there, but life must go on." and know what, I valued the maids better than the top rank employees that lived in the house or any friends I knew at the area. perhaps this is also another lesson that I would only learn with the illness: "the one you think might not care about you, would probably be the most person that cares about you very much". that's what I have been through, and I also wish the best for your health and emotional issues. hope you would have a good day or night. :)