DISEASE MANAGEMENT: Hacks to make living with chronic illness easier

 

  1. Have stools in your kitchen. I use the bar stools we have around our island when I’m doing things like chopping vegetables. It’s a lot easier than standing.
  2. Keep to-do lists – prioritized. I use 1, 2, 3 for mine. The 3’s need to be done at some point, but aren’t important enough to spend energy on when I don’t have it. The 2’s are items that have more urgency, but if I can’t do them within the next few days that’s okay. Some will remain 2’s, others may move to 1’s. 1’s are tasks that need to be done within the next 2-3 days, so it’s necessary to manage my energy to accomplish those tasks.
  3. Use Amazon Subscribe n Save. We all have items we buy on a regular basis – paper towels, vitamins, snack foods, etc. They’re delivered straight to my door once a month. Each item can be sent anywhere from every month to every six months, based on the preferences you set. It saves me time and energy on things I know I will need and use.
  4. Find enough comfortable clothing that’s acceptable to wear out of the house. Sometimes you can’t wear sweats, etc, so for times like those, I have leggings, flat-heeled boots, t-shirts, and other things I can put on and look okay for functions.
  5. Have a basket of snacks by my bed. I have everything from healthy stuff like nuts to less healthy things that will give me a mental boost, like chocolate. While I’d like to say I always eat healthy, there are times when I need to soothe myself with food. I don’t feel guilty about it. This saves me from having to go up and down the stairs since my bedroom is on the second floor and my kitchen is on the first.
  6. Use compression socks. I have restless legs syndrome, and it can make sleeping very difficult. Compression socks help a lot and I keep them right near the head of my bed so I don’t have to stumble around in the dark trying to find them. I have a little basket with those, some slippers, fuzzy socks, etc.
  7. Set a blue light filter on my phone and turn down the lights early. This all gets my body in the “time to go to sleep” mode. The filter is definitely a help.

There are other things, but I don’t want to overwhelm anyone, so you’ll see more in future posts. Do you have any hacks? Tell me in the comments!