Challenges and Management of Chronic and Terminal Illness

¶ … Management of Chronic and Terminal Illness

For people dealing with chronic or terminal illness, stress levels can be very high. While that is to be expected, high stress levels only make things worse. Accepting the inevitable is easier on a person's emotional well-being, but it may take some time to get to that point (Taylor, 2005). If a diagnosis is new, denial is often the first emotion the person faces. He or she does not want to believe the sickness or the severity of it. After denial, there are other stages that a person usually works through, including bargaining, anger, and depression, before acceptance finally sets in and the person is able to get on with life as much as possible. Chronic illnesses can include things like diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, COPD, and other health problems (CDC, 2010). Many of these diseases are preventable, but they are not curable once they are acquired. They can only be managed.

Terminal illnesses are those that are chronic and not curable - and where treatment cannot prolong life past a certain point (Anderson, 2004). When a person has an illness that is chronic, terminal, or both, that person's quality of life may be severely affected. In some cases, there is still a relatively high quality of life that can be maintained - at least for a period of time. If the disease is terminal it stands to reason that the quality of life will diminish over time until the person passes away from the disease. If the disease is chronic but not terminal, the person may have both good days and bad days. How he or she feels can fluctuate based on other factors, and also on the severity of the chronic illness itself (Taylor, 2005). The quality of life may decrease as the person ages, but that will not necessary be the case and can vary between different conditions.

Some chronic illnesses can be physically disabling, while others are more mental in nature. How a person is affected by a chronic or terminal illness varies by illness and also by the person. Personality type, support from family and friends, coping skills, and other factors come into play when considering how a person may function when dealing with a terminal or chronic illness (Taylor, 2005). Some people have very positive responses to a chronic or terminal illness. In some cases a person has not felt well for a very long time and is relieved to get a diagnosis. In other cases, being diagnosed reminds the person of the preciousness of life and causes that person to go and do all of the things he or she has wanted to do but has not yet accomplished in life (Taylor, 2005; Anderson, 2004).

Educating patients who have chronic and terminal illnesses can help those patients make informed decisions about their care and their end-of-life choices. Even for patients whose chronic illnesses are not terminal or likely to shorten their lifespan, care issues may come up that need to be dealt with. The sooner these kinds of things are planned for, the better off the person and his or her caregivers will be and the less stress they will feel. Therapy has often been used to help people who are coping with chronic and terminal illness (Taylor, 2005). In addition, some patients are turning to pharmacological therapies in order to get relief - not only from the physical symptoms of their condition but from the anxiety and depression that can come along with their diagnosis (Taylor, 2005).