Self-care for spoonies: mental health for spoonies #3

Follow up post #3 This is a mini-series on mental health when you have a chronic illness or physical disability. The goal is to raise awareness for how high the chance of suicide is, and the fact that mental illness when you have a chronic condition is inevitable. And, also very importantly, to give coping skills to and visibility to those who need it.

TW: talk of mental illness and suicide
I would like to start this blog by saying I'm not an anomaly. 20,000 people with chronic pain commit suicide annually, which is higher than the government's number of opiate overdoses. There is a clear connection between chronic pain and chronic illness (people with a lower quality of life due to a health condition) with depression, anxiety, medical PTSD, and suicide. There's a substantial risk of suicide for people with 2 or more conditions- and most chronic conditions have comorbidities. People with CRPS, the most painful condition, have many risk factors of suicide such as depression and severe pain, with 74.4% of patients being high risk and 25.6% of patients being low risk. At least 40 patients have committed suicide after being taken off of opiates. Traumatic brain injury survivors have 9 times the suicide rate as an able-bodied person. HIV/AIDS and sleep disorders double the suicide rate. People with epilepsy have a suicide rate that is 22% higher than the national average. One out of every 26 men with arthritis attempt suicide, and 4.3% of women have made attempts too.

People who have migraines with auras have high rates of depression and a 47.2% chance of suicidal ideation, and a 13.9% risk of suicide. Out of all suicide victims, 21.3% had hospital-treated musculoskeletal disease. The likelihood of suicidal ideation was 26.9% and the risk of suicide was 48.0% among patients with fibromyalgia. Hypertension, back pain, cancer, congestive heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease all increase the suicide rate of the patient. Cluster headaches, nicknames the suicide headache, is so painful it increases the suicide rate of patients. In the ictal phase, 64.2% of people report passive suicidal ideation, and 35.8% of people report active suicidal thoughts and urges. The suicide attempt rate is 2.3% of patients with the suicide headache. Before you condone the war on drugs, check the facts, and recognize how much it is [literally] hurting our community.

Every life is a life worth living! Here is a list of global suicide helplines:

https://ibpf.org/resource/list-international-suicide-hotlines

Self care is literally a necessity when you have a chronic illness. To offset the stress of our daily lives, we much all be as kind to ourselves (and others) as possible. Here is my list (from experience) of self care no matter how you feel.

Since our days, as spoonies, are ruled by symptom severity, this will also be in accordance to how your day is going. I try to be as inclusive as possive, take care everybody!

I feel great=minimal symptoms
I feel good=some symptoms
I feel okay=moderate symptoms
I feel bad=many symptoms
I need help=severe symptoms- this will be written in the style of what your caretaker can do for you
I'm sensitive=sensory-friendly self care

I feel great

  • exercise
  • go out of the house and socialize
  • have a craft/art/hobby day
  • learn a new skill or hobby
  • volunteer

I feel good
  • cook yourself a nice meal
  • socialize at home
  • go to the movies
  • play with a pet
  • go for a walk outside
I feel okay
  • meditate
  • read
  • pet an animal
  • cuddle with somebody
  • do yoga
I feel bad
  • do bed yoga/stretches
  • progressive muscle relaxation
  • hot relaxing bath (with candles, music, and scent/bath salt/bath bomb if you have it)
  • have food delivered
  • watch your favorite tv show or movie
I need help
  • have somebody massage you
  • listen to music
  • have somebody bring you warm blankets or a hot pack
  • hug a stuffed animal
  • have somebody do aromatherapy for you

I'm sensitive: eyes
  • listen to a podcast, audio-book, or music
  • get a hot pack
  • get a massage
  • play with a fidget toy or sensory toy 
  • do aromatherapy
I'm sensitive: ears
  • watch something muted on the television with subtitles
  • read
  • pet an animal
  • do art/crafts
  • do yoga
I'm sensitive: touch/body senses
  • listen to music or an audio-book
  • text friends using speech to text or a program that can text people at voice command
  • meditate 
  • look through a slideshow of photos you love
  • watch your favorite TV show or movie
https://medium.com/@ThomasKlineMD/opioidcrisis-pain-related-suicides-associated-with-forced-tapers-c68c79ecf84d
A great article about the casualties of the war on drugs












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