chronic disease

Chronic disease is a pretty big box (but if you’re looking for specifically autoimmune conditions – I’ve got another post specifically for that; click here to check it out). Chronic disease includes some pretty heavy hitters; heart disease, COPD, arthritis, diabetes, and many many more.

Here’s the honest truth

The issue with these kinds of diseases is that they’re ‘intractable’, which basically means there’s nothing to be done other than manage symptoms. Now please don’t get me wrong, I’m not building up to a grand announcement that Chinese medicine can fix these conditions, I cannot make that promise. But classically speaking these kinds of conditions were considered ‘manageable’ by the ancient doctors. They wrote case studies and treatment strategies into huge volumes more than a thousand years ago. And when you’re living with a chronic disease, proper management can feel like a lifeline.

The last thing I want to do is make any promises that I can’t keep, so I’m sorry if this isn’t the answer that you’re looking for. But being realistic about these kinds of conditions is essential.

So what does ‘manageable’ look like?

What do you want to do, but can’t due to your condition? What have you had to give up? Managing a chronic condition is quite specifically about the impact it has on your life. The goal of treatment is to minimise, or even eliminate those impacts.

Another important thing to note here is that treating chronic conditions takes time, and commitment. Time spent investing in yourself, and commitment to change. Minor lifestyle changes can really add up, and treatment over a period of time builds momentum for change. I’m not going to ask you to suddenly live a Spartan life; cold showers and hours of exercise every morning on a diet of plain rice. But I will ask you to make change.

Manageable change. Living with a chronic disease is all about ‘doing the work’. When you do the work, you put in the effort, you see results. If you fall off the horse, relapse into old habits; guess who’s there waiting for you? But it’s absolutely essential that you pick yourself up, and get back to work. Everybody fails. It’s in our nature. Living, really living life, with chronic disease is about what you do when you fail. Do you get back up?