Illness and Misery

Illness and Misery

Distress is common during or following an illness. Research indicates that more people, today, experiencing an illness, feel it mentally even more than they suffer the physiological impact of the illness. Even young strong minded youth, with normally fit physique and strong will powers can find themselves in depression, during even the very minor of illnesses, leave alone chronic or life threatening illnesses

Your disease can bring with it negative emotions like anger, sorrow and lack of interest. And not all of it is physiological. It is true that most illnesses have an emotional impact, but the vast majority of these are containable and hardly noticeable. So how is it, that even common cold can induce the most negative of emotions?  Not to mention major and chronic diseases. A diagnosis of diabetes, for example, is often associated with feelings of guilt and grief.  You may even experience various stages of grief including denial, bargaining, anger, and sadness. So is this the norm or is there something we can do about it.

Before we find a solution, it may be better to seek the reasons. On being infected with an illness, your daily routine is slowed down. In fact a person suffering from common cold, can work just as much as one with no cold. Yet a great many of us lie down inducing in us a feeling of helplessness. Activity is known to enhance a feeling of positivity in humans, and lack of it the opposite.

It is okay to minimize stress by letting go of unnecessary obligations. You may be able to take time off from volunteer commitments, for instance, or ask for more help from family and friends. But it can be wholly wrong to give up all activity. A lot of people avoid gatherings in the fear of spreading the illness. However if you have a strong support network you can rely on, it would be great to communicate with them.

Illness can be stressful for an entire family. It’s not unusual for couples to quarrel during illness stints. This may be because the person with the illness assumes that his/her partner understands your misery.  Try to see things from the other’s perspective and keep the lines of communication open. If you have children, play games with them and thank your illness for the time, you got with your family.

However not all illness related depressions are to be ignored. Some study has shown that influenza or common flu can cause depression. Flu symptoms can include fever, body aches, cough, and nausea. Other symptoms of the flu can cause symptoms of depression–like lack of energy, loss of appetite, exhaustion, and difficulty sleeping and concentrating. Cycles of physical illness causing mental health issues, and mental health issues making physical health issues worse also exist. It there are severe feelings of mental depression, it may be a good idea to consult a doctor.

However these are extreme cases and often come with tell-tale warning signals. For everyday illnesses it would be a better idea to continue to work without overly stretching yourself and to enjoy the time off in a manner that keeps your mind off the misery brought about by the illness. This would be an effective way of handling even the physical illness itself.

Ignore the flu and the flu will ignore you………