Effects Of Chronic Illness

It's been found that most people with diabetes are also more likely to face depression. Unfortunately, this may affect a diabetic's ability to manage their own

There is an illness like none other, that sweeps across nations but is not contagious. It withdraws any and all feelings of all from from every area of life. Many experience it after a specific situation that elicits extreme sadness, loss, or pain. Other’s feel it for no apparent reason and are left seemingly to fend for themselves in the only dark abyss that they know. This malady is known as depression affects many people of all kinds every singly year. If the world knew how depression truly affects its victims, it would realize it’s not merely a mood or emotion one experiences, but rather a true and physical disease.

Aristotle stated “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, the same applies in the care of the dual diagnosis of diabetes and mental illness, the intertwining of the two chronic illness increases the blurring the lines of cause and effect, patients diagnosed with serious mental illness are at greater risk for the development of diabetes due and diabetics are at increased risk for depression due to the chronic nature of diabetes. Numerous studies have delved into the health disparities of mental illness and diabetes contributes to the detrimental outcome for physical and mental health. Diabetes and mental illness do not afflict in a vacuum, through addressing the dual diagnosis the quality of health for other at risk groups in the Hispanic, African American, Native American and impoverished communities, results in decreased comorbidities associated with the dual diagnosis . ADD STATS FOR THE other groups.

Likewise, according to Harkness, E., Macdonald, W., Valderas, J., Coventry, P., Gask, L., & Bower, P.(2010) patients with diabetes suffer higher rates of depression, consequently this combination contributes to poor health outcomes. Even though, effective treatments exist for both diabetes and mental health problems, care services remain separate for diabetes and mental health problems. Unfortunately, the lack of integration and coordination of care

To illustrate the long term effects of disease, consider this analogy about an individual with cancer. Developing cancer will generate short-term and long-term effects in a person’s life. The disease and the medications could affect their personality and therefore their social relationships and they could be confined to a hospital for months and not be able to communicate well with the friends that are unable to visit. Cancer patients’ financials are consumed by countless expensive medical bills, and their personality could be effected from the medication as well. Like cancer, the effects eating disorders can span throughout an entire lifetime. Either way, if one choses to adopt the lifestyle of an eating disorder or acquires one over time, this disease will have the same effects on the body, mind, and social wellness.

Chronic disease is an issue that affects multiple American families no matter their race, religion or gender. It can accrue in the youngest member of the family to the oldest with little to no warning signs. Even the treatments for chronic diseases can be costly ranging upwards to thousands of dollars with little to no results in the long term. Although chronic diseases can be expensive once diagnosed there are ways to lower the chance of contracting a disease as well as types of interventions that are used by public health specialist to prevent the diseases.

I have been diabetic since I was a toddler; I have been depressed since middle school. In my life I know nothing but the diabetic life: blood sugar test, giving myself shots, going to the doctors, writing everything down, etc. Being diabetic is a full time job; a job you don’t get paid for. Being depressed is something that follows you around -- just like diabetes. There are points in a diabetics life where we don’t want to do it anymore. Having depressing along with this only makes it harder.

Jennifer, I agree that chronic illness is affecting more and more elderly each year. I think with improved access to healthcare, nurses are seeing these patients regularly. As the nurse, not only do we need to educate patients on routine testing and screenings, we need to be knowledgeable in insurance coverage. Patients over 65 years have Medicare as a supplemental insurance, but some patients only have Medicare. Over time Medicare has changed their coverage to allow patients to be seen yearly to prevent illness (Tabloski, 2014). In my office we see elderly woman, and the diagnosis is important when ordering testing, such as the mammogram. If we use the wrong code, then Medicare will not pay for the test. Therefore, nurses need to be

Another benefit is the increase number of patients that compliance with medical treatment. According to studies, "depression occur in up to 20 percent of patients with diabetes and coronary heart disease" (Olse, 2014). These are the most common conditions in primary care that people suffer from and less likely to change their

“Sickle cell disease is an autosomal recessive disorder of blood cells caused by a genetic defect of the beta-globin chain of adult hemoglobin (HbA). The mutant forms of hemoglobin are sickle hemoglobin (HbS) because HbS polymerizes in deoxygenated blood, causing red blood cells to form a sickle shape. Normal hemoglobin has a biconcave disc shape that allows for maximum transportation of oxygen” (George, Mitchell, Mitchell, Eason, Fuh, & Embse, 2014).

An individual with chronic conditions is commonly seen by a physical therapist. However, it is very common for the individual to be treated for secondary symptoms that are caused by the chronic condition, but not the primary condition itself. Over time chronic conditions result in a loss of independence, function, and a sense of wholeness. It requires long-term management by the patient, and if this is not done correctly, could lead to a more harmful condition. A physical therapist typically sees chronic conditions such ALS, Alzheimer's, cancer, COPD, diabetes, and osteoporosis. There are different parameters that need to be used using modalities, when it comes to chronic

Psychological wellbeing is often regarded as an important aspect of quality of life due to its impact on adjustment to chronic illness (Gies 2016). Serious mental illness conditions are associated with the need for recurrent treatment, persistent symptoms, and a decreased quality of life (Dickerson et al 2011). In a 2011 study conducted by Dickerson et al, it was noted that there was a higher prevalence of diabetes with people who had serious mental illness than in the population at large. A person who has to deal with both diabetes and serious mental illness may have a higher risk of decreased quality of life.

According to the World health organization , chronic diseases take the lives of more than 30 million people each year and are defined as an illness that is long in duration, slow in progression and is not passed from person to person. For Australia alone chronic diseases are the leading cause of death and disability. The Australian department of healths defining factors of chronic disease include, illness that is prolonged in duration, rarely cured completely and disease that does not often resolve spontainiously. (aus gov).

The phrase chronic illness is one that no one wants to hear when going to the doctor. We do not want to hear about a diagnosis that will be with us for the rest of our lives, but it is even worse when we learn that our child or our younger sibling is sick. For my family this happened about six years ago with my little sister. We learned that she had Chron’s Disease. At first we though to ourselves at least it is not cancer, at least we will not have to deal with chemotherapy and constant doctor visits. My family quickly learned that we were wrong and while most cases of the disease are mild, and you can lead a normal life my sister did not have a normal life ahead of her. She would spend three years in a hospital becoming friends with

Although something is said unintentionally a person with an illness will not know that and will take it in a different way. These can lead to a person feeling like they and/or their illness is not taken seriously or not being validated. Most likely this can lead to an individual not wanting to seek treatment because they have constantly heard their disorder is not a real concern as well as not wanting to seek treatment. Going back to Wolpert and his case, the stigma he had faced from his wife; convinced him that his depression was purely biological, he believed it was all his fault he was depressed (Wolpert, 2001).