There are so many life threatening diseases in our world and a terminal diagnosis that is attached with only years, months, or even days to live is devastating. I would argue equally as hard but in a different way is being diagnosed with a chronic illness. While it won’t kill you it will be a life-long struggle to manage including medication and other big life changes. I think sometimes people with chronic illnesses wish it was a terminal disease if managing the chronic illness becomes too hard or unbearable.
I have a chronic illness, Bipolar I, and two auto-immune diseases, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Celiac disease. Celiac disease is my most recent diagnosis so I have the least experience with it right now and the eating changes to gluten free have not been an easy transition. But wow have I felt better eating super clean and gluten free!
Bipolar disorder I was diagnosed in 2002 and it has been a struggle these past 20+ years of managing it. It has changed my life in so many significant and non-significant ways that I can’t even begin to fathom what my life would look like and how different it would be if I had not been diagnosed at 17 years old. My whole adult life I have been managing this awful disease and sometimes it gets too hard and I feel burnt out and suffer from illness exhaustion. But I know I have to keep going and pushing through for myself and especially my daughter.
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis I was diagnosed around the same time as Bipolar but it is a much easier disease to manage just requiring medication and little to no side effects or changes to lifestyle to manage.
I seem to experience the most illness exhaustion with managing my Bipolar and especially during a down or depressive episode. It just starts to feel like too much to manage at times. Now I do think it is important to share that I suffer from a pretty severe form of the disease and while I take more medication than the average person with this disease even on large amounts of medication I can experience pretty significant high and low periods depending on my stress and environmental situations/factors at the time. This can be especially hard and complicate my ability to manage the disease successfully, but I have found a way to do it through the grace of God, a great family support system from my parents, and support managing my illness from excellent doctors and therapists over the years. I am very thankful for all of the people who have helped me over the years especially my parents, because I truly feel like I wouldn’t be here without them, I would have given up and succumb to the disease at some point possibility.
What is interesting is the correlation of these diseases to each other and how stress and genetics both play a role in someone receiving a terminal or chronic illness diagnosis. I know Bipolar and Hashimoto’s are linked, as one of my medications for Bipolar attacks my thyroid and thyroid is the organ that is not functioning properly with a Hashimoto’s diagnosis. Also apparently age, stress, and major life changes, including childbirth and divorce (both of which I have experienced in the last 6 years), can trigger a Celiac diagnosis.
Unfortunately, we have no control over our genetics or our specific health journeys and while it is truly discouraging that so many of us are struggling with these illnesses it is also encouraging how far modern medicine has come to saving lives and creating the best situation for managing chronic illnesses and terminal illnesses.
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