7th Sept: Living with a long term health condition?

I have both chronic physical and mental illnesses that I've had from childhood and have lingered into adulthood. What I struggle with the most is knowing I'll never be rid of the conditions and that everything in my every day life to grand things has to be adapted because of them. You do learn to adapt mostly but sometimes the conditions still get the better of you, no matter how long you've suffered from them.

Have been struggling with depression for almost 8 years and am honestly just exhausted. The lack of help for adolescents for mental illnesses in the UK has left me untreated and rather hopeless. This obviously impacts the way I see myself. For me, a lot of my life has been halted by my depression and so I can't see myself going anywhere. I'm then stuck in a cycle of my depression getting worse, talking to a doctor, seeing a counsellor that doesn't help, feeling worse about myself, my symptoms getting worse, etc...

Living with a long term health condition? How does it make you feel about yourself?

This week on The Surgery we're talking about the psychological impact of living with a long term illness or health condition.Being diagnosed with diabetes, MS or any long term health condition can affect how we see ourselves.

Did you react badly after being diagnosed with an illness? Have you had to struggle to come to terms with having a health condition? Do you suffer because you’re not able to do everything your friends are doing?

Share you experiences, and join Gemma and Dr Radha on The Surgery this Wednesday 7th September from 9pm and let’s talk about it.

Please note: You can post on this forum anonymously.

I've got chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic blood problems and deficiencies, queried fibromyalgia, and another chronic condition that is yet to be diagnosed for sure. It's impacted my whole life. Not being able to go to school regularly and do the things my friends were doing was and still is incredibly difficult. I feel like I haven't had the experiences that I normally would have had by now, and even things like my social skills have suffered. I see myself as an outsider, really. In a way, I had to mature and learn to look after myself a lot earlier than my friends, but I'm also behind them in other ways. It makes me feel like I don't have a place to fit into the world like everyone else does. I think discussing mental health issues has been a lot easier for me since being diagnosed with chronic health conditions, because doctors outright ask me and somewhat expect it. It's meant I've been able to get help very quickly, and since starting treatment for anxiety and depression I'm starting to feel like I can do a lot more than I first thought, even if not in the conventional ways. It's very upsetting to not know whether I'll ever get better though, and to know that I'll never know what I'll be able to do in the future. Everything is unknown.

I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome /M.E. and it is very frustrating to live with as you aren't able to do 'normal' things with your friends. What is more frustrating is that so little is known about the condition so they aren't able to treat it quickly and effectively.
Initially, I just retreated as I didn't know what to expect from the condition and how my life was going to be affected but having lived with it for a while now I am able to deal with it and cope better. Even though, as @chelseadagg3r said, you don't know how long it will take or indeed if ever you will recover.

I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis 2 years ago. It was very tough and felt embarrassed talking about it at the start. I eventually had emergency surgery which saved my life and I am now doing a lot better

3rd ME/CFS member of the club checking in I too suffer from anxiety which is mostly based around worries around my illness, because I've been diagnosed with PoTS too and I'm prone to drops in blood volume which is pretty ****ing scary to deal with when it happens.
I used to be very active as a teenager, I'm in my mid 20s now and am not very active these days. I just about manage to hit the gym 2-3 times a week in the winter these days, but I always get off-track in the summer because the hot/humid weather exacerbates my symptoms ten-fold. When I was diagnosed the condition was considered mild and I could function fairly normally for the most part, nowadays I'm moderate on the severity scale and have really had to scale back on my activity levels and social activity which I've found really hard to deal with. I'm still a bit active whenever possible and do still have a social life (that doesn't mean drinking as I can no longer tolerate alcohol due to my conditions), but both aspects of my life have been cut back considerably.

Heyyyy I was tested for POTS too but it didn't work properly but nevertheless I haven't been diagnosed with it but still experience some of the symptoms! That's great that you can go to the gym! Were you put on a program called GET at any stage? If this is looking too long winded then just PM me