By Danielle Briggs
In 2013 I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue along with that my anxiety and depression has appeared more than it used to, it comes and goes. My anxiety was the worse and it stills does creep up on me from time to time and I sometimes will have panic attacks from heart burn/ indigestion/ arthritis in the sternum.
These conditions have made me depressed, angry and frustrated especially when my body won’t allow me to do something or won’t stop hurting even when you have done everything to try and stop it, the pain killers, the heat packs, the massages. Sometimes while I am out, I will pick up a virus or a bug due to my low immune system, that can cause my whole body to feel the full effect.
I am only 33 and having these conditions have really taking over my life and I worry that when I am out and about my hip will go out or I will fall over and seriously hurt my back or myself and that gives me anxiety sometimes so I normally grab a trolley when I can, even though I might be getting a few things it still helps me feel a little more stable and in control.
When I was dealing with everything at the start a few of my GP’s suggested that I go see a councillor and they did actually help by letting me get my frustrations out and talking about what is going on inside my head and my body without the judgement or the I feel sorry for you face.
I have found a few things that work for me like laying down and listening to music, going out for a walk ( I usually try and do 5,000-10,000 steps a day depending on what my body allows me to do) and that has been helping to clear the hornets in my head as well as doing Warm Water Movement Therapy class that has definitely made a great change in not only my mental state but also my flexibility and weight loss, I have currently lost around 30kgs since I started going to the pool at the end of January this year. I have found that my trainer Martin O’Toole has really helped me in a lot of ways, I know if have put in the work, but he really has changed me in so many ways.
I also like to write down things or write blog posts. Most of them I will post on my blog but there are some things I just write down and just to get things off my chest. I will also try doing some adult colouring books or a jigsaw puzzle (depending if my hands allow me to do so).
The best thing that I found for me is to have rest days as stress does make my condition worse, so get rid of as much stress as possible from my life.
I have also found that if I am having a moment of sadness or anger I usually allow myself to feel it for a little while and then do something about it and try to remember that there are people in this world worse off than I am, and my condition is what it is, nothing is going to change that and there is no cure. So, I pick myself up, dust myself off and keep going to the next hurdle and get ready to do the same thing again. Key word is you always get yourself back up no matter what, because you always have a choice in life, You can wallow in self-pity or keep fighting and keep going no matter how hard things seem at that moment in time, things will get better.
