Coping with a New Medical Diagnosis
Chronic illness comes with a grieving process. You are coming to terms with some new realities that weren’t part of your life plans.
Receiving a medical diagnosis whether it is your first diagnosis or another diagnosis on a list of many, comes with many emotions. For some individuals there is a sense of relief to finally have a name for the symptoms that have been plaguing them and hope for new treatment options. Sometimes the diagnosis is unexpected and it can be accompanied by a sense of loss. For most individuals throughout their diagnosis and chronic illness journey it is normal to experience a whole array of emotions including shock, denial, anger, sadness, fear, gratitude, and acceptance. Receiving one or more medical diagnoses increases the likelihood of developing depression, anxiety, and medical post traumatic stress disorder. If you have an underlying mental health diagnosis you will likely find a correlation between your physical and mental health meaning when your physical health is struggling so does your mental health. Every individual and diagnosis story is unique but it is likely whether you meet the criteria for a mental health diagnosis or not that your mental health will struggle at times. As a therapist who has lived experience with and specializes in treating the mental health aspects of chronic illness, here are some tips as you adjust to your new diagnosis.
Chronic illness comes with a grieving process. You are coming to terms with some new realities that weren’t part of your life plans. It is likely you will experience moments of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, fear, and more as time goes on and even in the moments where you come to a place of acceptance it will change. That’s something to remember about emotions and experiences is that they are always changing. Even in the moments where you thought the emotion was so strong and would last forever, it didn’t. My first tip is to give yourself permission to feel however you feel in this moment, knowing that it won't be this way forever.
You likely have heard the phrase advocate for yourself before and it can be really hard to do when you don't feel well and are working in the medical system. You don't have to be the world's best advocate today, but one of my tips is to take little achievable steps to advocate for yourself and overtime your comfort with and ability to advocate in the important moments will increase. This may be something as simple as sharing about something that isn't working in your treatment plan or asking a question at your next appointment. It may be doing something for future you like organizing your medications today as a way to advocate for future you. It may be identifying what you would like to have be different in your care. There are so many ways to work on advocating for yourself skills and again start with what feels doable today.
This is your journey and you get to decide how and when you share it with others. You may process things very openly and with others and may do best when you are processing your thoughts and feelings with loved ones or you might prefer to have time to wrap your mind around things. There's no right or wrong way, but please remember no one is entitled to your story and that sharing your story is something you get to be in charge of.
Reach out to the chronic illness community. Find others who share your diagnosis in real life or on social media, join a support group, and ask your friends if they know others in similar situations. Find your people who are going to understand what you are going through. If you are interested in joining a therapist ran chronic illness support group you can contact me to sign up for ours!
Find a therapist you click with. I would love to work with you! The number one predictor of success in therapy is the fit between client and therapist and I always encourage clients to do multiple consultations to find the therapist that feels like the best fit for you. A diagnosis is a lot to process and coping with the mental health aspects is a lot. Having an unbiased, trained professional with you as you navigate this all is very beneficial.
I am so sorry you have had to join the chronic illness club. It's a tough club to be in and even though it's going to be hard, I know you are capable of getting through this. I would be honored to support you on your journey. If you are in Utah or Idaho please set up a free consultation. If you do no reside in either of those states you can contact me with your location and I will help you find a clinician who can work with you.
