Using Medications as Part of a Holistic Approach

What is a Holistic Approach

A holistic approach to managing your wellbeing, is looking at yourself as a whole person! When you have a chronic illness, whether it is mental or physical, often all you can see is your illness, because it consumes every part of your existence. However, it’s time to take a step outside of yourself, and look at yourself as an individual, and understand the inter-relationships between your mind, your body, your mental health, and external stimulus or lifestyle habits you have, to analyse what contributes positively and what contributes negatively to your wellbeing.

This will enable you to plan and set boundaries in place, so you can start to understand yourself, and your limitations. Although there are several areas that contribute to your overall wellbeing, a handful of notable ones are listed below: –

How your condition impacts you
Social Circumstances
Financial Circumstances
Diet / Nutrition
Stress levels
Exercise / Physical Activity
Smoking (Tobacco)
Substance Misuse

Fun fact – did you know that your brain can’t tell the difference between physical and emotional pain, as there is no separate pain receptor to distinguish between the two, therefore if you experience physical pain, you are more likely to experience emotional pain as a result, and vice versa!

For more information on various deterrents and factors that contribute to your overall wellbeing, check out this article by Modern Psychiatry and Wellness, here: The 8 Dimensions of Wellness and Their Impact on Your Health (mpwhealth.com).

How your condition impacts you

One of the most important things to recognise when analysing a holistic approach, is ensuring you understand where your body is at now, and where you would like it to be. Always remember, when envisioning your future health goals, you must have realistic expectations, it is very easy to imagine your health at its optimum/peak, but that means something different for every person as your condition is unique to the individual and how it impacts them.

When also exploring your condition, you need to look at how your condition impacts you and what are the areas that you find most challenging for you, so that you can put preventative measures in place, for example, people with chronic pain would find it difficult to do chop food, therefore buying food that is already chopped up would make it easier to cook and allow you to maintain a balanced diet. Another example, for people struggling to manage a mental health condition, sometimes you feel overwhelmed and are finding it difficult to understand where these emotions are coming from, journaling can help identify how you feel.

All in all, it is important to ensure that you not only understand how your condition impacts you, but you also want to ensure that you put measures in place, to enable you to overcome that hurdle. For some people, it may take longer than expected and for others, there is a ceiling to your recovery, understanding this is crucial, as this prevents you from setting yourself up to fail.

There are a variety of things to take into consideration when thinking about how your condition impact you, some include: –

What kind of medication is required?
How frequently do you need to monitor it?
Have you scheduled all your regular check-ups?
What main symptoms impact you and your quality of life?
How does it impact on your diet?
How does it impact on your sleep?
How active you are, vs how active do you need to be?
Does your diet compliment your condition?

Once you have identified what is needed, then you can put a plan in place for how you can counteract these with a healthy coping mechanism. (You know you can use the goal planning template to help put things into perspective – check it out!).

For more information on living with a chronic illness, check out psychology todays article, here: When Your Body Makes the Rules: Living With a Chronic Condition | Psychology Today.

Financial Circumstances

Although we live in the UK where we have the NHS scheme to support patients with chronic illnesses to access healthcare support/treatment, there do still exists hidden costs that often aren’t taken into consideration for someone with a chronic illness.

Finance	Impact
Food / Groceries	Some people with chronic illnesses are house bound and therefore would need to get shopping delivered, this is an additional costSome people wouldn’t be able to chop food, so they would have to buy the more expensive already chopped foods or pre-seasoned food Some people would not be able to cook regularly so would have to rely on takeaway food, this is not only expensive, but this prevents them from having a balanced diet often
Taxis	Some patients, either with mobility issues or social anxiety would often need to be in a car or isolated space Therefore, if you do not drive, you would need to get frequent taxis, either to work or appointments or even to try and socialise
Medications	The NHS do not entirely cover all costs of medications, you are still required to pay a basic rate For someone accessing Cannabis Based Medical Products, these are not covered by the NHS or many insurers and are often funded out of pocket. For anyone who is having difficulty in affording their NHS medications, please be aware that there is a scheme “medical exemption certificate”, if you meet the criteria, you can request your GP fill out an EC92A form on your behalf. For more information on medical exemption certs and whether you meet the criteria, please visit: Prescription charges and exemptions (nhsinform.scot)
The above are just key hidden areas people with chronic illnesses incur, these are applicable to people getting support from NHS and not private healthcare, which would be additional costs. For people struggling with costs, and meet the criteria, personal independence payment is designed to support with hidden costs, to enable you to maintain your independence whilst navigating your way through a chronic debilitating condition. To see if you meet the criteria for PIP, please visit here: https://www.gov.uk/pip.

Stress levels

Stress is defined as “Stress is a biological response to a perceived threat. It’s caused by chemicals and hormones surging throughout your body. It can help you respond to a particular problem, but too much can harm your health” (Everything to Know About Stress: Causes, Prevention, and More (healthline.com)). It’s important to understand that stress releases cortisol into the body, which is known to cause sleep disturbances, sugar retention, headaches, store fat, susceptible to illnesses such colds/flu, and impacts your mood. Chronic stress can lead to frequent ailments such as persistent headaches, upset stomach, and insomnia.

When someone is stress, this can aggravate their physical health symptoms more, as stress generally tends to compromise your immune system, therefore you are more likely to get sick and experience the symptoms your body fights to suppress. The people you surround yourself with can also impact on your health and wellbeing, particularly if the people can cause you to feel stress or overwhelmed. Therefore, it is important that clear, firm boundaries are put in place, to protect yourself and your wellbeing, as some people even with the best intentions can be triggers and can further aggravate your health and wellbeing.

For more information on stress and how it impacts you, please check out this article by Healthline: https://www.healthline.com/health/stress.

Disclaimer – EthVida is not a healthcare provider, we offer awareness in the form of education, signposting and advocacy for plant-based medicines. Please note, all advice given is based on various healthcare models that have been proven to support patients with sustainability and backed by Public Health England (PHE). Nonetheless, you should run any changes to your routine by your GP as they are your primary carer, it is also important that any other healthcare professionals involved in your care is involved in your goal planning. Don’t forget they hold your medical records and would be familiar with you; this will help everyone to be on the same page and will also enable you to plan more realistically and not overestimate your capacity!