Teige's Journey
A blog & resourceful website for chronically ill kids and teens, created by an advocating chronically ill teen herself
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Resources for Chronic Illness(s)
Chronic Illness Management
Chronic illness is hard enough on the body and especially if you are unaware how to manage your illness.
Many who are chronically ill are unsure how to manage their chronic illness and without managing their illness it makes their living quality decline. The chronic pain, stress, brain fog and so much more causes the chronically ill to have to learn to "manage" their illness.
Managing chronic illness is much more than it seems. It's not just keeping up with medications (which is a lot for most) or drinking enough water. Chronic illness management is a lot of work and it consists of a rotation of keeping communication with your healthcare team, up keeping your lifestyle (nutrition, activity etc), identifying symptoms + triggers and try to find techniques to manage them.
Chronic illness management looks different for everyone, which is why I created a list of websites to help those of you who are searching for guidance.
These websites are extremely resourceful and helpful for both the youth and parents. Each website is catered toward different chronic illnesses and how to manage those illnesses.
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Asthma Canada
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Canadian Lung Association
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Migraine Canada
https://migrainecanada.org/migraine-tree/
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Pain Bytes
https://aci.health.nsw.gov.au/chronic-pain/health-professionals/resources-for-chronic-pain
Mental Health
Many youth who are chronically ill are also struck with mental health struggles. Mental health is equally as important as our physical health. Unfortunately, it is more common for chronically ill youth to struggle with mental health addition to their illness.
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Below are two websites to address mental health. These websites have assortments of information regarding disorders, how to manage and so much more.
Anxiety Canada
https://www.anxietycanada.com/
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Canadian Mental Health Association
https://cmha.ca/find-info/mental-health/general-info/
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Help Guide
How do I manage my Chronic illness?
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Every person who is chronically ill manages their illness(s) differently, but some more or less the same than others! Personally I do a variety of rituals, notions, etc...
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ACTIVITY - Activity is scientifically proven to overtime lessen the pain in chronically ill people because it releases endorphins causing reducing in inflammation, increase in energy and overall better mood levels (because anyone with chronic illness knows how bad it affects our mood). ​I have always been an active person, but it has turned into a crucial task for me both out of choice and medically prescribed. I used to dance consistently from ages 3-14years but unfortunately had to quit due to my illnesses. Pilates 2-4 times a week is now my favourite thing to get my body moving!
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​ORGANIZATION - Having an organized life personally has overall improved my day-day experiences. The unfortunate reality of chronic illness is that medication is unavoidable and I myself take various/numerous of meds along with the factor of having to go to regular clinic visits, family doctor visits, my shots and so much more. Being organized helps me stay on top of my medication refills, appointments, scheduled medication, procedures/tests, that would usually pile extra stress onto the present stress from my health.
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SLEEP​ - I know doctors are always on our backs telling us to get enough sleep or to have a proper sleep schedule, and trust me I was always annoyed when they kept telling me/asking me, about this instead of just "treating me" when is was quite obviously in pain. I now know why doctors kept bugging me to get my sleep schedule on track. Sleep is a HUGE part of a proper functioning body for ANYONE. If you're chronically ill we know that sleep is a difficult action to predict when were going to be able to/if were going to be able to sleep because how our illness(s) are presenting that day, week, month etc.. I have found that if I strictly adhere to proper sleep schedule if possible and I get a solid 7-10 hours of sleep or even more my symptoms are the smallest amount less aggressive and my mood/ attitude is way better.
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NUTRITION/HYDRATION - Again I know the doctors always rant/rave about how important it is to eat well and to stay hydrated, but it's completely true! Getting the proper nutritions your body needs and keeping hydrated helps improve your cognitive function, mood, physical activity, and symptomatic pain. I have learned over the years that nutrition is beyond important when dealing with chronic illness and pain management not just something the doctors say.
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