Manage your health issue blog archive
These are all the blogs which contain helpful hints, coaching techniques and advice to help you develop non-medical approaches to managing your health issue. When you get to know your body well and are able to meet its needs, then your energy is freed up to focus on those activities which help you make the most of your life and live it well.
Manage your health issue
These blogs focus on how to proactively
- Learn how to listen to the messages your body is sending you
- Figure out how to live in a changed body
- Design a holistic recovery/rehabilitation plan for the non-medical side of things
- Develop non-medical approaches to managing your symptoms (pain, fatigue, etc.)
- Develop collaborative partnerships with your healthcare team to get your needs met
You may find some of these blogs in the other categories too.
How to move on from being depressed about your illness
Learning to move on from being depressed about your illness is not a small project. It can feel nigh on impossible. You may feel stuck and sad more than you feel happy, and you wonder if you will ever feel better about yourself, your body and your life. If this helps,...
Is the NHS wasting money and recycling enough?
Is the NHS wasting money and recycling enough? I had to ask myself this question the other week when talking to a nurse about hospital procedures and practices. The NHS wasting money might be real. Also, as you will read, the NHS isn’t recycling enough either. I find...
How to know if you are wasting your precious energy
Do you feel like you’re wasting your precious energy? You’re living with a serious health issue or a loved one is so you have that to deal with. And life continues to happen, throwing curve balls your way. You’re trying to deal with it all and feeling pretty stressed...
How to manage your health issue successfully
Learning how to manage your health issue successfully (or well enough) can sometimes feel like a full-time job. You have a lot to learn about your health issue, how people tend to be affected, what treatments there are, is there a cure, what non-medical treatments can...
How to set strong goals for your rehabilitation plan
It’s important to set strong goals for your rehabilitation plan to help you in your ongoing recovery from a serious health issue. Strong goals are the foundation of your plan. They provide a destination to work towards and even the direction to take to that...
Here is what you need to focus on when creating a rehabilitation plan
Creating a rehabilitation plan to manage your recovery from a serious illness, injury, relapse or exacerbation of symptoms is doing what you can to take control and positively influence your outcomes. Sometimes on this journey you can feel at a loss on what to do and...
Here are the 10 principles of a good rehabilitation plan
Having a rehabilitation plan for recovery and managing the illness or injury sometimes feels like an afterthought in the treatment and care of people with serious health issues. Unfortunately, I often hear of people being discharged without any information other than...
Here are the 10 things to do when your recovery is uncertain
When your recovery is uncertain, it can be a difficult time. Scary even because you don’t know how much functionality you’ll get back and how long that will take. That might make for uncomfortable reading. I am mentioning this up front to acknowledge your or your...
How to cope with a setback in recovery from illness
Last week I shared five things you can do to cope with a setback in recovery from illness or injury and this week I continue on that theme by sharing five more. A setback can be really disappointing. It’s typically not expected. And given everything you’ve been...
How to cope with a setback in recovery
The realisation that you have to cope with a setback in recovery can be very disappointing. Especially if you have been doing what you need to be doing to recover well. It’s another piece of bad news. Someone recently asked me for resources on how you cope with a...
How to love your body with illness or injury
How do you love your body with illness or injury? How do you learn to love it again? So much about your body has changed, this can feel like a really hard task. You may have loved what your body enabled you to do previously and/or how you looked. I feel it’s important...
How to make time for exercise to improve your health
We all read about how important it is to exercise to improve your health. Not just for our physical health but also our mental health. And yet, you may find it hard to make time for exercise for all sorts of reasons. Some of those reasons may run more deep than you...
How to make time for exercise
My ability to make time for exercise has been crap. There, I said it. I’ve been feeling for some time that I need to do more to maintain my physical wellness. My line of work is about rebuilding and renewing our sense of wellness after a serious illness or serious...
Why I hope social prescribing by doctors won’t be around for long
Social prescribing is becoming a popular concept in healthcare and treatment. GPs in England can prescribe dance classes for people who are lonely. Doctors in Shetland, Scotland can now prescribe nature. The UK Prime Minister Theresa May has also launched the...
10 tips to manage scanxiety (scan anxiety) during medical procedures
You may need to manage scanxiety – scan anxiety – when living with illness every few months, once a year or on the occasion when something isn’t right and you need to get it checked out. This type of anxiety can also apply to other medical investigative tests. It’s...
Convalescence after illness is a lost art
I think convalescence after illness has become a lost art. This thought occurred to me last week whilst being horizontal due to the winter flu, which hit me hard this year, and still getting emails from people offering alternative dates for meetings I cancelled due to...
Does your self-doubt kill your New Year’s resolutions?
Setting New Year’s resolutions, or goals, objectives, priorities, dreams call it what you will, is all over the internet at the moment. And there is a lot of good advice out there. But it can be tough when you have a serious health issue. You may want to do and...
When you are forced to change because of a serious health issue & don’t know where to start
Change is often an unexpected but constant presence when you experience the onset of a serious health issue. There is a lot you need to change, but also a lot you don’t know. So making that change can feel very difficult. Sometimes impossible given it’s hard to know...
Learning to trust your body after a serious illness or injury
Learning to trust your body after a serious illness or injury or onset of a long-term condition can take time and involve many mixed emotions. Your body has changed. Forever. You can feel it. You remember what you used to be able to do. And your body has that memory...
Make your New Year’s health resolutions stick in 2017
New Year’s resolutions are upon us. There is a lot of helpful advice out there on how to set resolutions. But keeping them can be the hard part. We may focus on making the change in January, it gets harder in February and by March we find we are not doing very much....
5 tips for using your time well when you give yourself a break
Hello! I am back! And welcome to my new home! As you can see, my website looks very different. I’m very excited about it and want to share it with you ahead of the holiday season and new year. The holiday season is often busy for many people. Shopping for presents,...
How to let yourself take a break
You’ve got a deadline looming. You are aware of it. But maybe there are other important things also with deadlines attached to them competing for your attention. You’ve been focusing on those other things to finish them. But the deadline for that ONE thing arrives and...
Accessible loos for invisible disabilities – They’re coming to a supermarket near you #AccessibleLoos4InvisibleDisabilities
Today I had planned to publish a post on how to respond to people’s questions about your recovery, which would have been the last in a blog series on recovery. You can read the previous two posts here and here. However something happened in the meantime and I’d love...
Is this all the recovery I’m gonna get?
This week I continue the theme of recovery in the context of illness. Last week's blog post focused on the assumptions which lace the recovery process due to society's interpretation of recovery: a) To have (the use, possession, or control of something) restored b) To...
How #Brexit may affect your health
I sit here wondering, questioning and even worrying about the short and long-term impact of the historical referendum on 23rd June, which may lead to a possible #Brexit of the United Kingdom from the European Union. I had a blog all prepared and almost ready to go but...
Reaching out – What would help you live well with a long-term condition or serious illness?
If you read last week's post, here is the unveiling of the second half of my New Year's resolution. I am reaching out to you asking to hear your story of living with a long-term condition or serious illness/injury that has been life changing for you in some way. If...
How to keep resolutions to flourish your health in 2016
New Year's resolutions are upon us. There is a lot of helpful advice out there on how to set resolutions. But keeping them can be the hard part. Change isn't always easy and straightforward. Some stuff I learned about neuroscience seems to explain that. So I will...
How not to sacrifice your health and fun at the holiday season altar – Part 2
This is part 2 of last week's blog. Here's a quick recap. When living with a long-term condition, it can feel that sometimes during the holiday season you are sacrificing the fun you want to have. You may have to watch how much you do to manage fatigue and so feel...
How not to sacrifice your health and fun at the holiday season altar – Part 1
The holiday season is in full swing. Everything is decorated, there are celebratory events, all those mince pies, divine meals, lashings of our favourite wine and bubbly, the desserts, and all the extra shopping! So much to choose from and so much to do! But you look...
These 3 questions will minimise stress’s impact on your health
This is the fifth and final blog in a series which focuses on the subtle psychological processes involved in taking control of yourself, your health, wellness, and your life. You can read the previous four blogs here: The illusion that you control your body a 100% -...