Prepare to Flare

When you have a chronic health condition, symptoms can pop up seemingly out of nowhere, leaving you incapacitated for days, weeks, or longer. In the chronic illness world, we call the times of increased pain and symptoms, "flare-ups". Having chronic health problems has taught me to be more open handed about my plans, trusting that God will lead me to the places I am meant to be at the right time. However, if I'm being honest, each time I experience a flare-up or new injury, it is still difficult.

My health condition, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, causes my joints, ligaments, and tendons to be less stable than the average person. As a result, I can experience disabling levels of pain and injury from doing relatively mundane activities. For example, after walking more frequently over my winter break, I came home after work one evening and collapsed in pain. The joints in my left foot were NOT HAPPY and neither was I! My mind began to race, "How am I going to walk around the building at work tomorrow?", "I was supposed to volunteer at church this week, should I cancel?", "What about my trip to D.C. this weekend?!" I had the immediate problem of being in pain, but the fear and worry were even more disabling.

Going through this experience yet again has led me to reflect on how I can care for myself well when I'm unexpectedly struggling with my health. Since I know that I have a chronic health condition, this sort of thing will likely keep happening to me from time to time. So I've come up with some tips for myself and for anyone else out there struggling with chronic health problems.

Things to do When You Experience a Flare Up:

1. Acknowledge what is happening. Do not feel like you need to keep going about your day like everything is fine. You are experiencing a challenge and it's okay to acknowledge that. Just because this is a chronic issue, doesn't mean each individual flare-up isn't hard.

2. Think through how you can physically make yourself more comfortable. You may not be able to eliminate the pain or other troubling symptoms, but is there anything you can do to take the edge off (I'm talking about SAFE and LEGAL things)? For me, physical pain management may involve medication, heat/ice, compression, and using support braces until the pain calms down. For nerve pain, a hot shower has also been helpful.

3. Consider changing your plans. When you have chronic health issues, it can feel like you don't have time to slow down and care for yourself. Because we experience issues so frequently, we feel like the show must go on. We may worry that others will think we are weak or attention-seeking if we act like we're not feeling well. Well, I'm here to give you permission to DO WHAT SICK PEOPLE DO when you are in a flare-up. When the average person gets sick, they may go to the doctor, they may take medicine, they may cancel plans with friends or volunteer commitments, and they may even miss a day or two of work. Just because you feel unwell more frequently, does not mean that you should push through it when you truly are struggling. It is okay to change your plans, it is okay to cancel commitments you had made, and it is okay to rest! I advise thinking/planning for only a few days at a time, up to a week at most, and then reassessing. Thinking too far ahead can feed the worry spiral.

4. Nourish your soul. Spend some time in prayer, journal, meditate on a scripture passage. Read a good book, create art, go outside and soak up the sunlight.

Feel free to use this free planning tool that I've created to guide you in creating your own pain plan! If you don't struggle with a chronic health condition, feel free to pass this along to someone you love who does!

Happy Healing!

<3 Lauren

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-black-tablet-computer-8376285/