Helping a loved one to cope with a debilitating illness can be challenging physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is difficult to assist a person with a debilitating illness as they are dealing with loss of normalcy and function. Loved ones are not only dealing with this loss as well, but they are often caregivers as well as husbands, siblings, parents and friends. Learning to be supportive and encouraging, while also being patient with the all that illness brings is the most important aspect of loving someone with a chronic illness. These articles are a collection of tips and guidelines in learning to be supportive and also helping a loved one cope with their debilitating conditions.
- Parenting Ed: Article for parents discussing how to assist a child to cope with their chronic illness. Focuses on school-aged children with chronic illness..
- Lightship: Tips for helping partners and spouses cope with debilitating mental illness in their partners.
- Soon.org: A British site focused on helping families of loved members with chronic and terminal illness. Reiterates how difficult it is on caregiver as well as the individual affected with illness.
- Dr Oderberg: Tips from a marriage counselor for dealing with chronic illness in a marital or intimate relationship.
- Rest Ministries: A site that encourages spousal support through the tough times of chronic and disabling illness. Gives tips about working together to stay together.
- Clare Berman: Written for children, gives tips about dealing with chronic illness in your parents, and what you can do help them.
- CYH: Discusses managing the emotional issues around children and parents dealing with chronic illness in the child.
- Wonders and Worries: Great site for kids about coping with their parent’s chronic and debilitating illnesses. Gives tips for the whole family on coping strategies.
- Stone Buddies: Foundation that focuses on assisting families with children that have chronic diseases. Parents and siblings are taught how to deal with the sick child and how to deal with illness themselves.
- The NH Mirror: Focuses on mothers of children with chronic illness, with the emphasis of the article being “if you can’t take care of yourself, you cannot take of your sick child and family.”
- WPIC:Foundation for assisting parents of children with disabilities and life threatening tips. How to help child grow up to be all that they can be.
- Gaiam: Focused on helping a loved one with cancer cope with their diagnosis and prognosis.
- Terminal Illness: A British website that has a section for those suffering from terminal illnesses. Also sections for those that are related to, married to, or friends of people with terminal illness, with tips for all in dealing with the terminal diagnosis.
- Cancer Club: Tips for how to support your loved ones with cancer.
- Kidscope: Organization gives tips for helping loved ones (especially children) deal with the chronic illness of a loved one.
- Surviving Bipolar Disorder: Helping a loved one with cope with the debilitating effects of bipolar disorder.
- Facing Bereavement: Intended for family members of those that are facing a terminal diagnosis, and how to face your fear and aid in coping of the ill family member.
- Choose Help: How to help your loved one deal with depression and other mental illnesses.
- Mama’s Health: Geared towards mothers (and fathers), this article focuses on how to cope with having a sick child, and how to assist your child in dealing with their own disease.
- Armchair Advice: British article about How both the afflicted and their family members can deal with terminal diagnosis.
- Guide4living: Informative article about supporting a loved one with MS, and how to assist them in keeping independence as long as possible.
- Caregivers Library: Website that has a database of several illnesses, and tips about dealing with all of them.
- Healthguidance: 20 tips to help children deal with death, terminal illness, chronic illness in themselves and loved ones.
- Methods of Healing: How to help your loved one afflicted with Parkinson’s disease cope with their illness, while still caring for yourself.
- PD Ring: Understanding Parkinson’s disease and how you can help those afflicted cope with their disease.
- Survivors Club: How to be a co-survivor of lupus, and get through day to day challenges and difficulties with a debilitating illness.
- Mollysfund: a blog told by a lupus survivor outlines things people can do to make their loved ones lives a little easier when they have a chronic illness.
- St Maarten AIDS:although written about AIDS, the article has great tips about dealing with any devastating chronic illness.
- My Chronic Life: A blog written by someone who has a chronic illness, gives tips to those that love someone with an illness. Great tips from the perspective of a “sick person.”
- The New Homemaker: Living with a chronic illness can make household tasks difficult, and this focuses on things you can do to help those suffering from an illness make household a little easier to take care of.
- Seniors Site: A site that assists people in dealing with chronic and debilitating illness; mostly focused in the senior population.
- Two Of Us: Dating someone with a chronic illness is difficult and straining, this gives tips on how to manage your own feelings and still support them.
- Humane Healthcare: Chronic illness in marriage can put a strain on the relationship, this website lays out steps to avoid divorce and remain committed to one another despite the illness.
- Kidney Advocacy: This article is written to parents of children with debilitating illnesses, it stresses the importance of educating your child about their disease so they can empower themselves to fight.
- IBS Group
iscusses how chronic illness affects the pediatric population, and what parents can do make the difficult times better for their children. - Connected Kansas Kids: Children with chronic illness are stigmatized by their peers in school, this focuses on how parents and teachers can make the experience easier and also teaching education to schoolmates about the disease.
- Chronic Illness Coach: Living with chronic and debilitating illness is difficult and this article written from perspective of ill person and gives tips to those that love ill ones how to help them cope.
- Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital: This article focuses on the sibling of the ill person, with tips to how make both sick and well child feel included in the family.
- Annies Homepage: Discusses the need for the entire family to go through the “five stages of grief” to accept the loss of health and “normalcy.”
- Lemon Aide :A mother, grandmother, and wife discusses how to help people cope with chronic pain, illness and disability. Don’t give up on them, but support them and encourage them to their fullest potential.
- Cystic-L Handbook: Geared towards Cystic Fibrosis, this article is for siblings of chronically ill individuals. Focuses on how to be supportive, but also how to cope with loss of “normal” sibling relationship.
- Poststat: How to assist your loved one in getting independence back after suffering a stroke. Tips for helping them to get stronger and gain control over their lives.
- Kimi: Caring for someone that has had a stroke, this article may be focused on stroke recovery-but has many great tips for dealing with debilitating illness and physical changes.
- Family Doctor: British article about caring for someone after stroke, and how to help them to cope physically and emotionally with this traumatic event.
- The Brain Train: Living with a brain injury is draining on family and friends. This article is from the perspective of someone with a brain injury and what he has found helpful for him.
- Outreach Online: Discusses types of brain injuries, what a loved one can expect after a brain injured family member is done with rehabilitation and how to continue the rehab at home.
- Healthy Holistic Living: Seven stages of grief and living with a chronically ill spouse.
- All About Life’s Challenges: Focused on spouses of patients with chronic pain, how to make sure the marriage is strong and how both spouses can feel supported and loved.
- Hemaware: Told from someone suffering from chronic illness gives tips for dealing with the pain, the fatigue, and inability to do many activities. How loved ones can help with these challenges.
- Mood Letter: Helping someone who lives with mental illness, tips and strategies to make it easier for all involved.
Image Credits: ulrichkarljoho
