MY LIFE: 6 things that are difficult for me because of chronic illness
Chronic Mom had a great blog post the other day, and I totally agreed with it, so I’ve revisited the material here. What are some other things that healthy people take for granted?
- Cleaning
When your body isn’t functioning well cleaning is exhausting, so it isn’t unusual for someone with chronic illness to have a house that isn’t spotless.
2. Weather
Where I live the weather yo-yos back and forth so fast you practically get whiplash. While this is inconvenient for healthy people (it wreaks havoc on allergies), it’s even harder when you live with pain. My pain levels are always higher when the weather does this. Many chronic illness warriors struggle with winter and lower temperatures.
3. Getting ready for the day
I often tell my husband that getting ready to go somewhere is worse than actually going somewhere. There are lots of social rules I feel obligated to follow. Just a few examples of the basic tasks that can be daunting to someone with chronic illness: showering, blow drying hair, putting on makeup, and wearing socially acceptable clothes that don’t make the pain worse.
4. Regular sickness
For healthy people getting a cold is miserable, for people with chronic illness it can take over your life for weeks, even months. When you’re barely functioning as it is, additional sickness can knock you out completely.
5. Driving
A normal everyday task that most people take for granted. When you have a chronic illness, driving can be agonizing if you are forced into an uncomfortable position, and can cause vertigo if you suffer from it.
6. Going shopping
Very few people like going to the store, but for someone with chronic illness it’s exhausting. Not only does it involve getting ready, but parking and walking to the store, walking around the store, dealing with the bright lights, bending over to get things from shelves, carrying heavy groceries etc.
Life isn’t easy for chronic illness warriors, and we’re doing the best we can. What are some ways you make life easier to deal with? Tell me in the comments!
The Chronic Illness Warriors 
I can definitely relate to all of these. The one thing that makes my life easier with cleaning is that I divide my bigger tasks up into different days; for example, I try not to have to vacuum and clean the bathrooms on the same day, and I definitely don’t try to do ANY cleaning (other than normal picking up after myself) on days that I go shopping.
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