Health & Fitness

Mental Health Day and Chronic Illness

Mental Health Day and Chronic Illness

On this, World Mental Health Day, I wanted to talk about something near to me, which is mental health in relation to chronic illness. In the US alone, 133 million people are estimated to suffer from chronic illness. I am one of them, and as many people who suffer with chronic illness know, depression can be a huge part of that. Imagine finding out, often at a young age, that you will have to deal with doctors, and medications, and sickness, and pain, and stigmas, and surgeries, and side effects, and all that can come with it, for potentially the rest of your life. That is not an easy thing to hear. It is also why depression is often listed as practically a guaranteed thing that will happen to you at some point in your journey.

Mental Health Day and Chronic Illness

Before I was officially diagnosed, I was extremely sick and the initial hunt to find out what was wrong with me took about 4 months of endless doctors appointments where I was misdiagnosed. During that time, I became so isolated because I just didn't feel good all the time and it became impossible to really hang out with friends or to work. This led inevitably to these feelings of loneliness and all these negative emotions. I was eventually diagnosed with an intestinal disorder, which gave me some relief to know what was actually wrong, but I was experiencing these horrendous side effects from the disease and medications I was given which made every day unbearable.

Mental Health Day and Chronic Illness

I fell into depression, no surprise, and it was the worst I've ever felt in my life. Being young and in long lines for medications with people 3 and 4x your age effects you. You always have this feeling that you shouldn't be there, and the old "why me?" But this is where talking becomes extremely important. I cannot emphasize enough, going through this alone at first was terrible and not being able to tell people what was happening to me, and keeping things bottled up was not the right way and added to my stress and depression.

Mental Health Day and Chronic Illness

My poor best friend, who is a godsend to humanity itself, took me out for dinner a couple months after I was diagnosed. I hadn't told her anything about any of what I was dealing with, but when we got to the car that night, I just broke down in the ugliest way. I felt embarrassed at first, but I also felt entirely free because she knew and could finally understand why I'd been so distant. She just let me explain-sob uninterrupted and gave me the hugest hug afterwards, something I definitely needed.

Mental Health Day and Chronic Illness

We've kept this dialogue going with ACTIVELY checking in on one another every once in a while. It is a practice we have extended to all in our lives, because it's not enough to just say, how are you, but to really sit and listen and talk about the things that maybe we gloss over far too quickly because we think "no one wants to be bothered with someone elses problems." I encourage everyone to do the same with the people in their lives, not just those who may be sick, but even your friends and family who seem to always be happy because you never know what they may actually be going through and if you can be that bridge that helps them over troubled waters.

Mental Health Day and Chronic Illness
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