ILLNESS ON ILLNESS

I’ve done a small post on this before.

Being poorly whilst having a chronic illness isn’t just straightforward.

Having a cold or flu or a stomach bug isn’t what anyone wants.

It’s especially not what you want when your immune system is already suppressed because of the medication you have to take. When you know it’s going to take you longer than usual to get over it. When you know you can’t just power through like most people. When you know if you push yourself you know to expect a flare-up. Or even sometimes you can rest as much as you possibly can and a flare-up will hit. And then, once again you are in the vicious cycle of being ill and being chronically ill and there feels like there’s no way out of it.

Depending on the type and severity of what illness you pick up, you may have to stop taking your regular medication. The toll of this on your body and on you mentally is nothing you can prepare yourself for. You can get to a point where you’ve been through all the medications and once you finally get one working and then you have to stop it. You have to wait until you’re better to start again but by that time your body has already taken the hit.

When you’ve got a chronic illness, there’s no such thing as just a little cold or a bit of a stomach bug. It affects everything. So next time you’re thinking someone is just being dramatic and overexaggerating, don’t be so quick to judge.

I find the hardest part of being poorly is not just trying to push through. Too many times I’ve made myself so much worse by just not resting, by just not taking a few days to make sure I’m fully better and I’ve had to pay the price for weeks instead.

I hope you have found this piece helpful for yourself, your loved ones or just to know.

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Thank you for reading,

Ali x