A chronic illness diagnosis is no joke. It typically involves a lengthier time frame, at least one year or more, and significantly impacts day-to-day life functioning. Chronic illness results from family genetics, age, lifestyle habits, environmental factors, Covid, dietary habits, and substance use. They can become rather costly over the course of a person’s life and are occurring more frequently. Roughly seven out of ten health condition-related deaths in the US result from a chronic condition. A chronic illness can span the spectrum of severity. Arthritis, diabetes, and long Covid fall on the lower end. Diagnoses like cancer, dementia, Parkinson’s Disease, stroke, brain injury, MS, and ALS are on the more severe end. Either way, each of these diagnoses carries a chronic nature.
The Mental Health Tie In
Battling a chronic condition can cause stress on the brain and the body. Hospitalizations may result. Changes in the body occur over time. Daily habits (including diet, exercise, and sleep) are changing and can have a negative impact. With these moving pieces changing the status quo in your life, developing a mental health disorder will likely occur. The stress placed on the body and the distress you feel about managing symptoms is taxing. Depending on your illness, it can be all-consuming. The longer an illness goes on, the more negative thoughts can creep in. Why me? When is enough enough? It becomes easy for things pertaining to the illness to trigger feelings of anxiety.
The Course Of Anxiety
When you’re living with a chronic illness, it is natural to begin to fear for the future. What will progression look like? How will symptoms evolve? Will there be a burden on your family? How will you afford to manage your health and daily activities? Worrying about any of these things can cause you to feel anxious, let alone worry about multiple factors. Sadly, that anxiousness can cause further anxiety over an already trying situation. Anxiety is a vicious cycle like that and can easily compound in other areas to exacerbate them. As your chronic illness flares up, so can your anxiety. Even on days when symptoms are just a little worse than usual, it can trigger anxiety.
The Double-Edged Sword
In some instances, your chronic illness can cause anxiety, and that anxiety can then cause the illness to worsen or even bring on something new. Vicious cycle to a new degree. Being stressed or excessively worrying about daily realities can cause sleep disturbances, fatigue, pain, tension, and irritability. All of these symptoms can interfere with the management of your chronic illness itself. If it isn’t medical interfering, it can be downright mentally taxing. The last thing you want when dealing with a medical illness is to have further cause to feel helpless or avoidant of the small things that bring you joy.
The Importance Of Treatment
In the over-stimulating world we live in today, it can be easy for chronic illness management to spiral out of control when co-existing with anxiety. Medical management should have the full focus, or as much as possible, to maintain a good, healthy status quo. There will likely always be some stress, whether frequent or intermittent, with chronic illness. You don’t want that to always trigger these feelings of anxiety and add obstacles to something that is already overwhelming. Treatment options exist to combat any anxiety you may have and allow you to be as mentally focused as possible to push through your chronic illness and find joy in living your life.
We are always here to help. Contact us for a free consultation if you are finding yourself facing anxiety obstacles in your chronic illness course.
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