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Welcome to the Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge brought together by WEGO Health – a social network for all health activists.  Again, I am participating in the annual Writer’s Month Challenge in which I will be writing about my health activism and health condition based upon given prompts.

Sunday 12th April: Day of Rest

Kick your feet up!  What is your ideal day in?  When you’re having a bad day, or a long week – how do you relax, recharge, and reset yourself?

Self-care can be defined as the process of maintaining health and managing chronic illness through health promoting practices and self-management.  It could also be defined as coping strategies during relapses or flares of symptoms.  Self-management are behaviours that are performed in response to signs and symptoms of illness.

When living with a chronic illness, therefore it is important to embed self-care and self-management practices into one’s routine.  Perhaps one important aspect of self-care is having a day of rest on days in which symptoms are particularly bad, or even days following a relapse to allow the body rest and recuperation, and a chance to regain depleted energy levels.

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Recently, the symptoms associated with my neurological condition such as pain, dizziness and the trembling and weakness in the legs have been debilitating; often finding they become worse days after trips out with my carer.  As a result, I have been in need of days of rest myself, so this post should come easy!

These are some of my top tips for activities to put into place on those bad days, or just for when you need to relax, recharge or recuperate from life with chronic illness:

  • Date with Netflix (other streaming service are available!) or DVD: When I am having a bad day, or in need of a quiet or relaxing day, then watching a film is one of my favourite ways to spend my time, especially for someone who is somewhat of a film buff.  In particularly I love romantic dramas or even a good romantic  comedy.  Nicholas Sparks adaptations, such as Safe Haven, The Best of Me and The Notebook are amongst my favourite films to watch when having a bad day.  Or, the need of a quiet and relaxing day is a perfect opportunity to discover new films to enjoy20150411_183711
  • Art Therapy: The pain that I experience in my legs has been really bad of late.  So bad that it is hard to concentrate or think about anything else.  A while back, however I remembered an article that I read that discussed the new craze and resurgence of colouring books for adults.  In the article it suggested that the art of colouring-in is very beneficial for relaxing and beating stress and anxiety.  Colouring allows a person to concentrate and escape from their thoughts and daily life in a similar way that mindfulness does.  At the same time, I seen advertising for a new magazine called Art Therapy, which has pages of different patterns and designs for users to colour-in, also including pages dedicated to insights  regarding to mindfulness and relaxation.  Basically the magazine allows for quality time with yourself.  I subscribed almost straight away and after receiving the first issue, I have been colouring during my days of rest and has found it has been a great technique to distract myself from the pain.  It’s also really fun!20150404_182614
  • Pampering!: Nothing like a bit of pampering to relax and give yourself some self-love.  If I am feeling down or had a bad week, then I love nothing better than to use one of my luxurious nail kits and paint my nails.  Whilst Mum and I were in Bath, and my pain was bad, she went into the local Lush store and bought me a Massage Bar which includes an oil which has been shown to increase serotonin levels in the brain.  A great way to give yourself a little pampering and lift your mood at the same time!20140920_165005
  • Create a happy and relaxing playlist: Music has been shown to have a positive effect on mood and well-being.  And I love music and have songs on my iPod that triggers a special memory or instantly makes me smile.  So, why not create a playlist of happy and uplifting songs to put on your MP3 player for when you need a pick me-up, or relaxing and chilled music for the times you need to unwind and recharge.
  • Create a Comfort Box: I have written about the concept of a comfort box in previous posts.  But simply, a comfort box is a box that you can fill with things that brings you comfort, joy and relaxation.  Ideas to put in a comfort box include craft kits, pictures of happy times, favourite books, films or television boxsets.  Other examples include scented candles, favourite snacks or even a journal.  The comfort box can even be placed under or near your bed so that it can even be of use when stuck in bed due to chronic illness.

    Inside view of Comfort Box
    Example of a Comfort Box
  • Spend time stroking your pet: Take time stroking a pet (if you have one) as research has found that doing so can lower your blood pressure, helps the body release a relaxation hormone, and even helps cut down levels of a stress hormone.  And it has beneficial effects for the animal too!

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Welcome to the Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge brought together by WEGO Health – a social network for all health activists.  Again, I am participating in the annual Writer’s Month Challenge in which I will be writing about my health activism and health condition based upon prompts given.

The prompt reads as given:

Health Activist Choice Day 1…Write about what whatever you want today!

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to write about for today’s post.  As we all know living with chronic illness is like riding a rollercoaster with a number of highs and lows; and unfortunately many of these are lows.  However as much as I struggle living with my neurological condition, I try my best to remain positive despite it, and so therefore I would like to write about an achievement that I have finally managed to accomplish.  As most of you may know, due to my neurological condition (a long-standing brain stem lesion) one of the main symptoms that accompany the said condition is severe and constant dizziness.

The dizziness, as we have found out is triggered by certain visual stimuli, such as large stores with its open spaces, high ceilings and fluorescent lighting.  This therefore, restricts me into where I am able to shop,  for example the clothing store Next, which also happens to be my favourite clothing store.  A few years ago, a Next opened up in a local retail store near to where I live, however, I was unable to shop in there because the store itself would trigger the dizziness and vertigo, and as a result make me feel very unwell.  When my carer started working for me, approximately fifteen months ago, we made one of my goals to be able to go into the store that was one of my favourite retailers.  Over the months we have tried and tried to no avail; sometimes we got as far as the door but the dizziness became so intense that we had to go straight back to the car.

However, last Thursday on a whim I decided that we should give it another try. As we are due to go on holiday soon, I still need some new clothes to take away with me and seen some clothes that I liked whilst browsing their website.  I have to admit, I love browsing their website and their delivery options are fantastic, for example you are able to order certain products by 9 PM and have them delivered the very next day.  However, there is a delivery charge, and when you order as much as I have done over the years, it really adds up.

I did it! I managed to go into store, and what’s even more is that I managed to shop and browse their lovely clothing and accessories for nearly an hour! And even managed to buy a couple of items!  I cannot describe the sense of accomplishment that I felt when I paid for my items! I actually did it! I defeated the dizziness and vertigo; pushed through and won.  I admit, there were a couple of moments that I nearly collapsed, and even went back to the car at one stage; and apparently at one point I even went green when the dizziness became so severe it made me feel very sick.  The trembling in my legs was also quite severe, but I took along my wheelchair which made it much easier; and even when I was just pushing the wheelchair it have me a sense of stability, and at least I didn’t have to contend with the worry of my legs collapsing beneath me.

I really have to thank the entire staff of Next at the Talbot Green Retail Store, who really made the experience much easier and were very helpful towards me and my situation.  One staff member noticed how unsteady I looked and offered to open up one of the cash registers to save me from queueing.  And the members of staff who diligently looked for items that I was looking for; going up to the stockroom to show me some of the options that were in stock.  It is fantastic customer service that really helps when suffering from a chronic illness or disability and more than makes us more likely to return.

So, I managed to conquer a very debilitating symptom and managed to physically shop in a store which I love.  Now, I have done it once, I look forward to many more visits to Next…

I hope you have enjoyed the new blog post!  Have you conquered any fears or battled through severe and debilitating symptoms to accomplish something that you have wanted to for so long? As ever I would love to hear your comments and stories of triumph over our symptoms and conditions!!  Feel free to share below in the comment section…

A brand new day…and a brand new post as part of WEGO Health 30 day, 30 Posts Challenge for the Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge. So today’s prompt is the following:

Start with the sentence “This morning I looked in the mirror…” just write, don’t stop, don’t edit. Post!

Okay so here it goes….

Today I looked in the mirror. I saw myself – dark circles, pale. Might be due to the fact that I had a rough night, woke up with the dizziness and when I woke up from it, I found myself holding onto the bars on my headboard – I must even be dizzy in my dreams!!

Even though looking at me, you wouldn’t be able to tell that I was suffering from a ‘disability’. However, saying this I have had many comments, especially of late when it seems my condition has deteriorated somewhat that I look very unwell – with my very pale complexion and bags under the eyes. So, I have started using tinted mosituriser and blusher when going out, whether it be to my voluntary placement, or a mini day-out, to give the illusion of a healthy and natural glow.

The only time that looking unwell is useful, is trips to the doctors’ office or hospital appointments. Sometimes it seems that if you look healthy, there can’t be much wrong with you. I certainly have had experience with doctors’ who have this idea, and often they are more likely to take you seriously if you indeed look ‘sick’.

I remember when I was younger, and kept going back to the doctors because of the frequent dizziness and constantly been sent for blood tests to check if I had anaemia because I was so pale…

It’s ridiculous, surely doctors’ should by now realise that not all conditions are visible, there a lot of conditions that are recognised nowadays that are certainly classed as ‘invisible illnesses’ and just because someone looks well and healthy does not mean that they are…

Remember, you cannot “judge a book by its cover”….

Image: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2008/may/22/howtojudgeabookbyitscov

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