It is more than certain that at this time those of us who are suffering from long term health conditions are extremely scared and concerned about what the future holds for them. Amongst them, I am as well and the thought of a ‘lock down’, cancelled appointments, the undoing of mental health progress and suddenly are totally ‘out’ of control which for anyone is unnerving but for those of us who are unlucky to have the underlying medical conditions this is becoming reality.
There are huge concerns for me over medication, the fact that my carer is over 70, the issue that long awaited specialist medical appointments are approaching and not to mention the everyday need to stay safe and well.
In a lot of ways my need and desire to be in control is actually a good one. It allows me to focus on what can be done although control can only be taken at home. You can’t control what others do, who may be listening to and adhering to the guidelines and who isn’t.
Even if don’t like it or not COVID-19 isn’t going to disappear and is going to be a part of our lives and will seriously affect what we can or can’t do in each individual persons situation. The shocking status and speed that this condition is moving at is frankly terrifying and leaving a lot of people extremely uncertain about their future. Everyone has worries and everyone is cutting back but we need to keep things in perspective which I admit to having a big problem with!
We have no option other than to embrace the advice and come up with a positive mindset to deal with the situation and minimise the risks that we are facing, whilst keeping our minds, bodies and mental health as stable as is possible.
We may need to think outside of the box and come up with new strategies to cope. We cannot bury our heads in the sand or in the clouds and go into denial. This takes action and needs to be as controlled as possible. the relentless worry and confusion alongside the potential exposure is having an effect on all of us.
There are many things I can’t do BUT there are things that I can do to help others and to help myself and to share that information with you. Psychosis will be my nemesis. The difficulty of knowing what is ‘real’, what is ‘fake’ what could be termed a ‘set up’ and a connection between things that happen on TV. Now is the time to be very vigilant about what you read and watch, using only trusted groups and not falling for the online phenomenon of ‘scare mongering’ which is flying around at the moment.
Staying well informed is the best way to start and ensure that only official sites are looked at and not random sites that will scare people including me! Even doing that we can expect to experience up’s and down’s. I had awoken with an inner calm this morning and then I watched the news over breakfast which unsettled me somewhat. Thankfully, the GOV.UK email was sitting in my inbox to bring me back to a state of controlled concern.
I realise this is psychosis playing tricks. Today is normally a day to swim and whilst the water is my ‘haven’ my ‘tranquility’ the place where I can loosen my aching joints and loose myself in complete focus, there is always the mental battle to leave the house and that has now been removed.
Another peril for me is of being told to stay home is that I’m accepting and justifying safety behaviours. My inner calm could be classified as a good thing BUT what happens when life goes back to 'norma'? Finding the balance between being ‘safe’ in a disciplined manner and maintaining some normality in leaving the house will be my biggest challenge. Staying ‘connected’ with the outside world is something I will need help with as I'm sure many of you will be experiencing as well.
My Daily Checklist & Practical Precautions & Crucial facts to Remember
As anyone who reads my blogs will know I am a bit of a ‘control freak’ and plan my days, clothes, food etc. So in addition to my daily plan I now have a short checklist, A crucial to remember and Practical precautions around the house. These are short and on post it notes in my diary. These are just practical guidelines and nothing too much but focused and easy to look at. You could come up with your own or use some of my ideas. So for example:
Daily Checklist - This is all about being informed and knowing what to do.
GOV.uk Newsletter
Boris @5pm
Hospital Guidelines for appointments
Medication Check
Analyse food supplies
GP Surgery Advice.
Around The House - Practical Precautions - really basic but important.
Use microfibre towels and wash regularly instead of kitchen roll
Keep rooms clean and tidy
Sterilise water bottles, mouthguard etc on a regular basis.
Have tissues ready with a sanitiser next to them.
Wash hands regularly with soap and water.
Stay Connected - Keep in touch with your hobbies
Football - my club Ipswich Town have a great phone app and sharing community projects & football updates, old match reports, photo galleries.
Swimming - visualise, organise my log, write out my training sets for when it’s safe to swim again, join the ‘group’ sessions online with my swimming club squad
Craft - use supplies and things from around the house
Ideas from Pinterest
Stay in touch with friends and family.
Crucial to Remember
These actions are to control the spread of COVID19 and not to concern
These drastic actions will limit the spread Some ‘normality’ needs to exist A
ll my tasks except swimming can be kept moving such as physio and my website and blogs.
I have also added a ‘we are lucky’ list which includes things like having computers, the TV, craft activities, someone for company, food in the fridge and freezer.
In order to get to this stage I have used the links that you see below.
Important links
The links below are all sites that you can trust. Of course having the links and using that to our advantage is something that we can only do for ourselves.
The Addison’s Self Help Support Group
The Addison’s society have a fantastic set of videos to help you recognise symptoms of an adrenal crisis and videos that will help you with the correct technique for administering injections. Even if you’ve used these for years it’s definitely sensible to refresh your mind, especially if you have had your condition under control and not injected for sometime.
They have also published some ‘sick day rules’ aimed at those who are newly diagnosed but again they are worth a read.
The Official Government Site
The Government have their own specific website and newsletter. Click the link below and you can subscribe to a fantastic newsletter. You can choose to have a daily email, up to the minute emails or less. Boris Johnson and the relevant cabinet members and advisers will be live from Downing Street at 5pm everyday. This is the best thing to watch and then I would recommend Channel 5 News as a follow up. They have two news programmes each evening. They present the information in headlines at 5pm and then in more detail with appropriate people from society to answer questions and talk through the announcements in an easy format to understand.
You can also read the full manuscript back to yourself at the gov.uk site or from the email you receive. Just pick out the points that relate to you and then put your phone or tablet away! Easier said than done but that’s the crucial information you need in order to be able to make sensible decisions about what you need to do next.
Pituitary Foundation
The Pituitary Foundation UK are as ever taking swift action to ensure that the information you need is there and ready to utilise should it be needed.
The Society for Endocrinology
The Society of Endocrinology have also put together guidelines for adrenal insufficiency and pituitary patients.
(Screenshot from The SfE's advice on COVID-19)
Exercise and your mental health.
‘We Are Undefeatable’ is going to be a hugely beneficial programme to utilise at this time. Exercise is good for us and with limited opportunities outside of the home and especially those who are in ‘lock down’ for potentially 3 months or more we need to be creative about how we maintain our fitness and muscle strengthening.
Active Essex
This link is a fantastic resource for anyone. It includes a variety of youtube video’s with exercise activities for people of all levels including a seated yoga class. Extremely important and something that is safe to utilise.
I really hope that this helps you in the way that writing this has helped me too. Facing our fears and trying to apply our everyday coping strategies to manage this situation can only be of benefit to us and how we come out the other side. Being realistic we know that some people won’t come through this and the figure of people expected to loose their lives is too much to bear. Therefore, we need to move forward with caution, follow the correct advice and make sure that we are staying safe in order to help other people to feel safe and well too.