| Living day to day with IST IST is a chronic condition. What is meant by that? A chronic illness is the name given to an illnesses that is permanent or lasts a long time1. IST most often begins to affect an individual when she or he is young (from teens through twenties) this in itself can have the added burden of an individual having to face many years of dealing with the condition. For some help on chronic conditions and the many issues surrounding this, please check out these links: The Chronic Illness Alliance of Victoria ChIPS - Chronic Illness Peer Support program for young people living with any type of chronic illness or medical condition I have been living with IST for about 10 years and have my own coping strategies I think this is something that you develop over time, it is essential and is a very individual process; but this does not mean you should not look to others for support - in fact I could not have coped as I have without the support of those close to me and the other IST and heart disease sufferers I have met through online support groups. My top pointers for day-to-day living with IST: (in no particular order! - but the last point is very important!) 1 Give yourself plenty of time (time to climb stairs, time to do the shopping sloowly! time to get to a meeting etc) 2 Don't give yourself a hard time when you can't quite manage everything you want to do 3 Try to avoid things you know aggravate / worsen your IST symptoms, some past and present examples of mine include: - caffeine2 - smoking - meals high in carbohydrates - consuming alcohol with meals 4 If you are able - trying to keep in contact with other IST sufferers is a way to share info on treatment and coping strategies - but more importantly - a way to share your feelings and thoughts on how this is affecting you, doesnt have to be every day, just when you can 5 Try to be honest about things you can acheive and help you need in order to acheive them 6 Becoming Informed about the IST yourself may make you feel more comfortable and more in control of the symptoms you experience. 7 Importantly - If you have unbearable symptoms - ask for help. Contact your GP / PCP or cardiologist directly, there may be some other treatment that could be tried to help you. If you are feeling extremely unwell (e.g. you have a very rapid pulse rate, more so than normal, you are very short of breath at rest or are experiencing new or alarming chest pains) then dont delay - head to the ER / A&E asap! |
| If you have any links you would like to see here on IST or related conditions; then please send them to me via email. I cannot guarantee all submissions will be posted, some may be editied if necessary. |
| information & support for patients and their families |
day to day with IST by Fran Horne |
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| The content of this page was last modified at 14:00 GMT Wednesday 26th March 2008 |
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