Chronic illness

For a person with chronic (long-term) illness, everyday becomes a struggle. Especially when the condition flairs. The person not only has to deal with the health condition, but also has to make sure that he/she maintains a balance in all other aspects of his/her life. This is done while the condition demands and saps most of his/her energy – physical and emotional. If the condition affects physical appearance and ability, then he/she has to deal with other people’s perspectives and expectations too. The chronic condition disrupts a person’s life – it affects his life plans, it affects the people around, it changes the persons priorities, it changes his/her perspective towards everything. If something that I cannot control starts affecting my life physically and psychologically, it leads to a feeling of being paralyzed. A person going through chronic illness might feel frustrated (wrongly) at people around as to why they cannot understand him/her, the person might feel disappointed and might loose interest in the things in life. Every person going through this deals with the chronic condition in different ways.

There are two ways in which an illness is approached [1]:

1.    A gloomy perspective of resignation, self-denial, and helplessnes, or
2.    a Pollyanna approach that denies altogether that there has been a real trauma
The resignation viewpoint holds little hope, while the pollyanna approach though useful in social situations holds little reality.

It is important that the person takes conscious effort to improve his outlook towards the condition, towards life and towards everything & everyone around. It is also important to sometimes educate the people around, so that you don’t feel like you are hiding something and hope that people around you understand what you are dealing with.

Why am I writing about chronic illness here? Because I also do not wish to hide it anymore, and wish to educate people around me. I do not want to feel anymore that telling about my condition is a sign of weakness. Yes, I am going through a chronic medical condition, and I can relate to so much of the stuff that is written in the article. I have done the pollyanna approach, and went through confusion, anger, grief, frustration, isolation, acceptance, faith. I have went through cycles of it.

I am going to write a bit about my specific condition here:

Nephrotic Syndrome is a kidney disorder which is characterized by

1. Abnormal protein leak
2. Low levels of proteins in blood (due to protein leakage) Increased levels of lipid
3. Swelling of body parts (called edema).  This includes puffiness of eyes in morning and edema over legs.
4. Hypertension

The term Nephrotic Syndrome is coined from two words: Nephros (in Greek) meaning kidney and Syndrome denoting a group of symptoms.

Nephrotic Syndrome is a set of symptoms related to kidney dysfunction, and not a disease, in and of itself. Nephrotic Syndrome is a disorder characterized by loss of proteins in the urine. In realism, Nephrotic Syndrome can be the first sign of various diseases that damage the kidneys, especially tiny blood-filtering units (glomeruli) in the kidneys, where urine is formed. This causes fall in the protein levels in the blood, and water to move into body tissues, causing swelling and bloating of body (edema/Oedema).

Last, but not the least, here is the dietary recommendations ( that I try to follow, but do miss it many times):

• Reduce sodium intake to 1000-2000 milligrams daily.

• Eat a moderate amount of high protein animal food: 3-5 oz per meal (preferably lean cuts of meat, fish, and poultry)

• Avoid saturated fats such as butter, cheese, fried foods, fatty cuts of red meat, egg yolks, and poultry skin. Increase unsaturated fat intake, including olive oil, canola oil, peanut butter, avocadoes, fish and nuts. Eat low-fat desserts.

• Increase intake of fruits and vegetables. There is no potassium or phosphorus restriction necessary.

• Monitor fluid intake, which includes all fluids and foods that are liquid at room temperature. Fluid management in nephrotic syndrome is tenuous, especially during an acute flare.

[1] – Coping with chronic illness

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