With continued lockdowns and the anxiety surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, many people’s mental health will be affected by the current circumstances. Yet for those living with chronic illnesses, the mental health side effects have and continue to be a part of our everyday life.
The NHS cites Endometriosis as one of the top twenty most painful conditions humans can experience (this is alongside conditions such as broken bones, migraines, arthritis, kidney stones and various others). Exposure to long-term and chronic pain can greatly impact your emotional as well as physical state. Yet throughout my many trips to the doctor, hospital, A&E and surgical theatre – the only time I’ve ever been asked how I’m managing mentally is, unfortunately, just once.
This saddens me because most Endometriosis patients have experienced a traumatic and frustrating diagnosis journey – their pain and symptoms are frequently dismissed or not taken seriously by medical professionals. Not only that, but in some cultures discussing menstrual and women’s health is considered taboo subjects, meaning that patients are often left without the emotional support they need. This can lead to many subsequent emotions, such as isolation, uncertainty, stress, depression.
According to Cathy Stannard from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence “our problem is that we treat pain as a medical thing, like hypertension, and what we use are drugs that interact with the pain pathway, and in fact we neglect the fact that pain is about so much more than that”*. Managing pain and a chronic condition also means managing the emotional strain that goes alongside symptoms. Pain and symptom management will vary from patient to patient and will be something I discuss further in future comics.
[Image description in comments.]
*@theguardian ‘Chronic pain: prescribe mental health support as well as drugs, say experts’, Nicola Davis, Feb 2020
[Image description: Camilla is stood wearing a blue coat, red hat, light blue and white striped scarf with her hair down. Her hair is light brown and she is stood outdoors amongst leaves and pink + red flowers. Above her are pastel coloured (pink, purple and yellow) bubbles which from left to right contain text listing some of the mental health side effects of having a chronic illness: confusion, isolation, anxiety, depression, medical trauma, stress, insomnia, depressive disorders, nervousness and uncertainty.]
allaboutendo 