Getting a handle on life with an invisible illness can be tricky at first, and well every day after that to be honest… So I thought to make it easier for those of you recently diagnosed, wanting to learn new tips or remember some basics I thought I would share my tips & tricks on daily living! So here goes and please feel free to comment any of your tips, tricks and hacks below so we can build each other up together!
- Set your daily plan, each morning!!! Weekly simply won’t work as each day is different, plan half a day at a time. How many spoons are you planning to use today and what on?
- Meal prep on your good days, baking and slow cookers are best 3-4 meals are best so you don’t get bored of each meal.
- Buy and take a collapsible walking stick with you on outings! Great on public transport if there’s no seats, makes our invisible illness, less invisible!
- Water!! water is your friend, if you don’t like water, add sports drink powders or lemon/lime/oranges/strawberries/watermelon etc as being hydrated will be a huge symptom relief. TYPO has really adorable 2ltr drink bottle with a pop top (pop tops for some reason make me feel less bloated when I drink water, no idea why?)
- Sleep… your body needs it, although we feel like we have not done much to be tired… A war is going on inside our bodies, causing it to be exhausted quite often, so if you can nap when possible
- HELP! Get help when you need it, do not put your pride first. It took me a while to be able to ask for help, help getting to appointments, help cleaning etc you name it if you need help ask a family member or friend or hire someone. Its not worth going down hill to get something done!
- Get a doctor on email! One of the many doctors you visit should be easy going enough to allow email contact. Someone who knows your medical history who you’ve seen regularly. I say email because if you have brain fog like me, you forget why you even booked the appointment, when you booked it, forget to talk about specific problems or it doesnt come out the right way when your trying to explain it or something new happens and because you cant see the DR for a few days you GOOGLE your symptoms and stress 10 x more!!! So it’s best to have a DR on email so you can word it the way you need to, email when needed and get answers sooner!
- LISTS: Create a list of things you WANT to do with your time, if you were to die tomorrow what would you regret… Seeing friends and family more? enjoying outdoors? you name it! PUT it on your list and do it! Have lists of activities you enjoy that you can do at your best and ones at your worst! Puzzles, crafts, drawing… options are endless. I will have a blog on that soon.
There is my top 8 tips & tricks. comment yours bellow! I hope this helped!
INVISIBLE but STRONG 