Chronic Illness
Many live lengthy lives with Arthritis, Diabetes and ‘silent’ conditions like High Blood Pressure.
Many live with and manage more than one health condition:
- Heart Failure
- Kidney Failure
- Respiratory (Lung) Disease COPD
- Dementia – Alzheimer’s, Vascular and Lewy Body Dementia
Living with one or more of these diseases also means taking several medications, and having several different health care professionals to manage. Managing can be exhausting – mentally as well as physically.
Since the body’s ‘systems’ are all interconnected, often these chronic life-long illness and their treatment can cause other problems:
- stomach (gastro-intestinal or GI) ,
- skin (psoriasis, exzema, bed sores)
- mental (brain function: cognitive) and depression.
Getting ever older, many of these contribute to health crises that can weaken to the point of frailty. Often ‘taking a turn for the worse’ prompts thinking about the approaching end. It can help to understand what may be ahead, to avoid making decisions when in a crises.
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