Living with a chronic health problem

Becoming a teenager is never easy and who said it would be?

With all sorts of changes happening, pressure to excel at your studies, peer pressure and the like. But living with a chronic health problem like diabetes, cystic fibrosis, asthma or epilepsy can make it seem next to impossible! For those living with a chronic illness, rest assured - you are not alone. Thousands of young people are out there living a normal healthy life and keeping their symptoms under control while facing issues like making friends, fitting in, finding a boyfriend/girlfriend, looking for work or even worrying about what the future may have in store. If you're wondering, "How does this person know what I'm going through?" Well, I’m a young person and have a chronic illness called Haemophilia B and have had to live with it all my life but I choose not to let it get me down. Whether you have a mild or severe chronic health condition you will no doubt have to do things or undergo treatment to keep yourself well. Compared to 2 or 3 years ago the task of taking care of you probably fell on your parents but now that you're getting older, you're probably finding that you are taking greater responsibility (yes I said it, the 'R' word) for looking after yourself and your condition as well as trying to juggle your social life with your school life!

Looking after yourself not only involves your physical health but your mental health too.

So what can you do to stay positive, manage your health and handle other people with a less than academic knowledge of your condition?

Take charge

• It's important to learn to live your life the way you want and never let your condition rule your life.
• Never be afraid of what's going to happen if you do or don't do something. If it happens it happens, you will deal with it then.
• Living the life you want does not involve ignoring your condition and any symptoms, neglecting treatment plans or spending your days hoping your condition will magically go away.
• You will have a better chance of living the life you want by taking more responsibility for looking after yourself.
• Become an expert about your condition and how to manage it.
• If you don't know or understand something - ask questions.

As time goes by, you might even take a greater role in administrating your treatment so you don't have to rely on other people like your parents, doctor or nurse always doing everything to keep you well. All these things will help you to feel in control of your health and life and health wise you are more likely to have more up times than down ones so you can get on and do the things you want to do.

Some others things that will help you live the life you want include:

• setting yourself goals
• hanging out with supportive mates
• having a balanced lifestyle of healthy diet, relaxation, exercise and of course having fun!

Stay positive and get support

Staying positive when suffering from the symptoms of a chronic health problem or while undergoing some types of treatments may seem hard at times. The trick is to find something that can take your mind off any pain or whatever else that's getting you down. Try doing something you like or entertains you for hours on end. You might try reading, listening to music, playing PS2 or X-box or maybe writing stories is more your cup of tea. Though not always possible, try and stay positive no matter how bad it is now.

Sometimes no matter what, someone or something will bring you down and you might find yourself pushing others away until you feel alone or you might feel like nothing could ever pull you out of the hole you're in. Just remember even though you may feel alone and isolated you're not. Your true friends and family will always be there to help, support and comfort you even if you try to push them away.

Keeping your worries bottled up could make your situation worse so it is always a good idea to try and deal with them and not let your feelings get out of control – so talk to someone when you need to. Don't forget that there are other people you could talk to and get support from as well, like school counsellors, health or youth workers, your doctor or specialist.

Dealing with family and friends

I once had a friend with cancer and while undergoing her chemo she was getting herself stressed with her family and what her condition was doing to them. It often made her more worried than was necessary. When looking after yourself, there might be times when all you are able to do is take care of yourself and at these times you need to let other people (friends and family) take care of everything else. The best thing you can do to support your family and friends is to take care of yourself this will help them a lot.

And if they do need extra support, then there are other people and places that they can go for help. Never for one second think that by trying to get better and being concerned for yourself means you are being selfish because every one around you wants that too.

Another thing to remember is no matter where you are there can be people out there who don’t know how to relate to someone with a condition like yours and so they end up doing things like making fun of you and your condition or maybe have nothing to do with you. You might feel lashing out but trust me you will just get into more trouble than its worth and it won’t fix the problem. How I’ve coped is to develop a thick skin and I find laughing with them is often the best thing to do. The number of jokes I've heard about me are limitless and it used to get me riled up but I stopped one day and just laughed out loud at a crack about me and started coming up with my own and soon it wasn't fun for them to do it any more because I wasn't getting angry.

It's also important to not let other people's ignorance or lack of understanding of your condition interferes with what you're doing either. You know what you’re capable of, so don't let other people tell you otherwise. It's your call to tell people or not about your condition but it is worth remembering that if you want people to understand you, then you have to be prepared to discuss your condition and any issues with people who ‘need to know’ (like teachers, coaches, etc) or friends you trust so they can best support you.

Finding friends and a boyfriend/girlfriend, well, we all find that one hard even the dudes not living with an illness - which just proves that we are not that different after all! Everyone and I mean everyone wants to belong and work out where they fit. So when living with a chronic health condition try and keep a positive attitude and live the life you want - so go for it and find your own way. Remember if you get lost there are always people and organizations out there to support you!

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