6 Real Ways To Thrive During Chronic Illness

1. NO, YOU DON'T HAVE TO PUSH THROUGH YOUR PAIN. FIND WHAT CALMS YOU AND BRINGS YOU BACK TO PEACE

The hardest part of my job is hearing my clients say that they had to push through their pain to get things done that day; that they felt so weak, tired, sick, or scared but had to push their needs aside to be present for their children and spouses, to be productive at work, or to run their businesses with the same customer service they provided before they became ill.

But the best part of my job is when my clients discover they are stronger than they think and don't need to put on a brave front.

My toughest days during my illness involved severe panic attacks that crippled me into a crying ball of fear. I felt like the earth would swallow me up, or I wanted to throw myself on the floor and cower until it was time to sleep. I had to put all of that fear, loneliness, and helplessness aside to run my home and be present in my family's lives.  Mold and heavy metals caused severe metabolic and cognitive issues in my body. I researched all I could about metabolic syndrome and brain pathway disruptions and designed my own protocol for healing after learning from many health practitioners.  One of the practices I implemented for pain management, neuronal misfiring, and metabolic repair was taking magnesium malate daily. It was quite a life savior. It calmed my symptoms, which led to a peaceful feeling throughout.  Finding what provided a physical and mental break gave me the confidence boost that I seriously needed to get through my days.

 There comes a point where chronic illness devastates the mind and body beyond our own limits. Chemically, things are changing, and neurons start misfiring in the brain. The body’s organs are overwhelmed, and a host of issues arise.

The mind can no longer fully rationalize what is happening to the body and views daily tasks as just as challenging as climbing Mount Everest, but we are told by society to push through it to get the day's tasks done.

During this stage, most people are told to take unforgiving drugs like cortisone shots or gabapentin to alleviate pain, which causes new symptoms, deep vitamin and mineral depletions, brain changes and damage, and so many other devastating consequences. People aren’t usually told how horribly taxing these can be on the body, especially with genetic mutations involved.

What I find interesting and alarming is that most doctors aren’t asking the simplest question to get their patients the help they need before prescribing medication: what is causing the chronic illness in the first place? 

At this point, you can start to investigate what avenues may possibly be best for you to heal your body instead of just treating your symptoms.

Once there is peace of mind about what is causing your chronic illness, you can finally begin to help yourself get through your day with appropriate protocols made for you as an individual.

THIS MAY LOOK LIKE:

• taking specific supplements or products to aid in pain management by reducing inflammation (such as glutathione, ACV, or clean CBD products)
• cognitive exercises
• mental and physical therapy methods based on your illness
• acupuncture and/or chiropractic services specifically tailored to your health concerns
• other helpful resources that target what is causing your illness.

Positivity and confidence in your ability to heal are imperative for getting through your day. Finding out what is causing your illness should be the first step toward alleviating symptoms so you don't have to push through the pain, and it should instill some good faith in yourself in your journey to good health.

 

2. FIND A HEALTH COACH TO DO THE HEAVY LIFTING FOR YOU

Coaching services are becoming more popular as more people develop chronic illnesses. They aid in accompanying those with different health concerns by helping them reach their goals and providing information for healing. There are many coaching services available, and they offer different specialties.

When I first became chronically ill, it was very difficult for me to navigate the health world since I had no idea where to begin and had only been exposed to western medicine. I still had to go through my days in agonizing pain and rely on the health system to find doctors for me.  After I experienced being shamed, belittled, bullied, and discarded by the doctors in the general health system I grew up using, I decided to do my own research to find answers. I wasn't going to believe that nothing could be done to help me clear the 100+ symptoms I was experiencing and that it was all caused by "anxiety" and that I should be put on SSRIs for the rest of my life. Although anxiety can be crippling, it is a symptom of something deeper and not a diagnosis. It took me several months of my own research to finally find answers and get on a healing journey.  If I had had a health coach during this time, they would have saved me the many months I lost while doing my own health research. I could have had someone tell me where to start, explain what was happening to me, read success stories of others that overcame their issues, tell me where I could find a great practitioner for my needs, which type of services to begin with for my specific illness, where to find support groups, share rarely heard of natural practices and products that actually work for pain and healing, provide spousal and family help, financial resources, and learned about so many more helpful resources.

 After I noticed in my chronic illness community that more and more people were busy with their days, didn’t know where to start after a diagnosis, didn’t have the time, or didn't feel well enough to delve further into finding the help they needed, I decided to develop this service for the community of chronically ill women I serve today. I took the role of getting to know these women, reviewing their lab results and concerns, and thoroughly enjoyed locating the answers and resources they needed to thrive.

After being treated like trash by the general health system, I never wanted another person going through the depths of chronic illness to feel as I did: utterly alone, completely hopeless, and like my life was a speck that could be erased.

Finding a health coach can save you time, money, and stress. 

You are not alone here. I do understand and believe you. 

 

3. CLEAR YOUR MIND BY MOVING YOUR BODY WITH THE RIGHT KIND OF EXERCISE YOUR BODY NEEDS

We have all heard about the research on working out and the amazing health benefits it provides. It has been spoken about so many times, and there are tons of articles about it, so I won’t add too much about it here. 

What I will add is that doing the wrong type of workout can definitely harm you instead of help you. If your workout routine causes too much lactic acid buildup, pain, nausea, cramping, or you simply don't feel well afterward, you should reconsider your exercise routine.

When I was just beginning to learn about how the body works, I visited an acupuncturist to help me with horrible upper back and neck pain. I thought it was caused by the upright position I was sleeping in, due to a tightness in my chest, and the excessive workouts I was doing each day. The second she stuck a needle in my hand, it felt like a 1/2 inch nail was being hammered into it. I pushed through the pain as she continued to drill these tiny torture pins all the way up from my arm to my neck. The acupuncturist walked out and said she would return in 30 minutes. She left me a bell in case I needed help. I rang that bell after 10 minutes. I could no longer take the searing pain, and she pulled out all the needles. I was confused about what had just happened. She said, "You don’t have enough oxygen in your muscles, so the needles are painful." I didn’t know what that meant, so I spent the next few weeks researching to find answers. As I searched, it all started to make sense to me. I then knew why I almost fainted when running, why I couldn’t do arm work without feeling sick to my stomach, why my upper arms always hurt at random times until I massaged them, and why my upper back and neck pain would not alleviate no matter how many specialists treated me. My tissues were missing oxygen, so when I did specific exercises that required a higher oxygen load, my body began sending me messages that the supply was severely depleted.

 Understanding what type of exercise to do during chronic illness is imperative to healing. Moving the lymphatic system is crutial for those suffering from illness because it removes toxins from the body and prevents stagnant lymph from forming (increasing symptoms).

Those with chronic illnesses need to pay close attention to their symptoms when working out or speak to a functional medical professional about taking some hormonal and muscle tests. These tests can give you a better picture of what types of (aerobic vs. anaerobic) exercises you should be doing for better health. 

Those with mold issues should stick to aerobic exercise (like walking and cycling) because it does not require a high stored oxygen load like anaerobic exercise. 

Check with your health practitioner about the type of exercise you should be doing, and move that body!

  

4. HAVE A WRITTEN PLAN OF TASKS TO COMPLETE ON GOOD DAYS AND BAD DAYS TO AVOID THINGS PILING UP

We all have those days. When we feel a little bit better, we put off some things that need to get done to enjoy the break we desperately need.

Don’t feel guilty for taking these days to pamper yourself. You deserve it!

When I was just starting to somewhat feel better (around month 11 of my illness), I still had more bad days than good days. I was able to run errands again and felt comfortable driving myself around. On one particular day, I drove my daughter to class, and while I was waiting for her, I started to feel good. I was outside, sitting on a bench, watching her drive arrows into the haystacks for her archery class. I took that opportunity and walked around the park and looked at the flowers, smelled the beautiful roses, and just enjoyed the air I was breathing. I took the rest of the day off from doing any work and went shopping for myself, walked around a park with my daughter and dogs, and bought some delicious food. Once night fell, I knew this good feeling wouldn’t last, so I decided to do something I wouldn’t be able to do on a bad day. I deep-cleaned everything! I knew I needed to clean for my own health and the health of my family, but on bad days, that was impossible. Sometimes, when you are in the midst of a chronic illness, you don’t realize how important cleaning is to your health. So I did the most taxing thing for my body that I knew I could not do on hard days, and I felt amazing for accomplishing it. After this revelation, I began to implement a plan of good days' activities and bad days' activities. I found it very useful for completing some of the harder tasks that took me a very long time to get to when I wasn't feeling my best.

 Try to have a plan in place for better days and for bad days. It's a good idea to write down what you'll do on these days and try to stick to it as much as possible.

Things to do on these days can include:

GOOD DAYS:

• go out in the sunshine
• walk a bit longer
• see some friends
• take a spa day
• leave work early
• do something you haven't been able to do in months that brings you joy
• spend uninterrupted time with your friends, family, kids and/or partner
• leave your kids with a trusted person and do nothing but treat yourself
•  ADD ONE DIFFICULT THING THAT YOU CANNOT DO ON YOUR BAD DAYS, so your tasks don't overflow when a string of bad days hits

BAD DAYS:

• take a longer, warm, and soothing bath
• only do the minimal tasks required at work that day
• sleep earlier
• call someone for support
• sit in nature
• Don't push yourself beyond what your body requires.
• take a day off of work if need be
• cuddle your pets
• snuggle with someone you love
• stay off social media unless you’re watching funny or uplifting videos
• don't engage in arguments
• ignore criticism
• eat very nutritious food
• be very kind to yourself

Having a plan in place that reminds you what to do on these days relieves you of any stress. It’s a great way to keep your day from feeling overwhelming.

  

5. DELEGATE TASKS TO OTHERS

This is definitely a controversial topic in my health community. Some people are taught to put their health aside and get the job done. That is very far from what a healthy lifestyle looks like.

I've heard time and again how a broken down, scared, malnourished, sick parent will get up from their bed to make their child some food while the spouse, who is also broken down and worn out, sits on the couch watching TV after a long, difficult, and unforgiving day at work.

In this scenario, I can see both sides of who should make the child's meal. Sometimes it's better to ask for help in order to help yourself and your relationships. 

If you can afford to pay for or find some free help, then do it! Stop caring about how it looks to friends, family, or co-workers. This is your health journey, not someone else's. 

Finding a way to fit these types of services in the budget can really help speed up recovery. Get rid of your unnecessary subscriptions like Netflix, cable, expensive phone bills, etc. to cover costs. Keep in mind this is temporary and not forever, so it will be easier to make this decision.

You can delegate chores to neighbors, pay a school kid whose parents you know, use dog walking services, try Doordash or Instacart, order prepared meals (there are many nutritious options now), ask your adolescent children to assist (if they are homeschooled they can get credit for home economics), ask church members for assistance, and so on.

When  I was at my sickest, my husband was working 40-60 hour weeks and I was completely bedridden. He had to take over my part of the parenting, homeschooling, business, housekeeping, and finances. He was not well during this time, either, with the high stress and extreme lack of sleep my illness caused him. We started to order Doordash every day, used Instacart for groceries, had our teenager help me with daily tasks, asked friends and family to drive me to appointments, and took our child for a few hours until I didn't need these services anymore. It took about 9 months until I could handle some things on my own again. The help was greatly appreciated by all of us.

 The point here is that there is help out there. If you truly need it, you can find it. There are many support groups that also exchange services for those bad days. You can build new friendships this way as well, with people who understand what you are going through. Take care of yourself, and don't feel like you aren't worth other people's time. You are. 

 

6. DON'T EAT LATE

This one might sound strange, but bear with me.

Eating late disrupts the gut cycle. When the gut cycle is disrupted, there isn't enough time to digest and rest properly for optimal health and healing. 

Because the gut is responsible for a large portion of the immune system, keeping it at peak performance is critical for patients with chronic illnesses.

When I first became ill, I would eat until 2 a.m. to comfort myself and could not sleep until 3 or 4 a.m. I would wake up soaked in sweat a few hours later. I had no idea the liver worked its hardest between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m and my late eating added to the hard work it was doing. My body had to do everything it could to rid itself of the thousands of toxins that were causing my chronic illness because I was not allowing my liver to do its job. Once I learned how important sleep was and started eating according to the time, the night sweats stopped.

Chronic illness patients should go to bed around 9 or 10 p.m. Your last meal of the night should be about 3–4 hours before bed to allow your body to properly repair the damage from the day.

Side note: Melatonin is not a great choice for a sleep aid. After 2 weeks, the body gets used to using synthetic melatonin and stops its own production of it. This is a big no-no when healing chronic illnesses. (The only exception I have seen is for those that take Advanced TUDCA. This is a powerful liver support supplement that contains a low dose of melatonin.) A high-quality magnesium supplement taken at night is a better option for those looking for sleep help. 

Something great you can start doing today for your health is not eating past 7:00 p.m. and not sleeping past 10:00 p.m.

 

WRAPPING IT ALL UP

Now that we have gone over 6 real ways to thrive during chronic illness, I hope you can start implementing these today and help yourself improve symptoms and alleviate stress. There are many ways to get your health back to where you want it to be. You just have to be willing to try them.