If you have an employee, coworker, or even a friend with a chronic illness, it can sometimes be difficult to know what to say when discussing your medical condition with them.
However, one thing to keep in mind is that each disease has its own unique challenges. Even the same type of disease can manifest itself in many different ways.
Those of us who have lived long enough with chronic illness have stories of well-meaning people giving us advice that would potentially cripple or kill us if we followed it. The reason: this person has a good friend who has a similar condition. They followed a certain treatment, diet, or regimen that worked well for them.
What people don’t realize is that we are not all the same. Let me give you an example. I have Crohn’s disease, which is an inflammation of the intestinal tract. Common sense dictates that with any digestive disease you should eat a lot of fiber: fruits, vegetables, cereals, etc. If you search the web, you will even find dozens of these whole food diets that are tailored for people with my condition. The problem is that they don’t work for me. In fact, eating a plate of fresh broccoli or bran flakes would send me to the emergency room and possibly kill me.
Why? I have had this condition for over thirty years. In that time, my small intestine and colon have become inflamed and healed hundreds of times, accumulating large amounts of scar tissue that form strictures, narrowing my intestinal tract. Any fiber is trapped and causes an obstruction or blockage that is both painful and dangerous.
However, not a year goes by without someone insisting that I should eat a high fiber diet or judging me because I eat a lot of processed foods, meat, and refined carbohydrates. I have had more than one misinformed person who even hinted that I was responsible for causing my own illness.
Keep this in mind the next time you feel compelled to give advice to others with a chronic illness. You can always tell them what works for you or your friend, but let them know that they also need to find out what works for them. After all, you don’t want to kill them kindly.
