Hidradenitis Suppurativa and Acceptance
If you have signs of HS or have been diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), certainly it will affect your mind as well as your body. Firstly, What do I mean by this? Well, when we get an illness, a common cold for example, we feel rubbish. You might need paracetamol and throat sweets, but in your mind, you know it will eventually end. You can reassure yourself that in a week or two the cold will be gone and quickly become a distant memory. However, this is not so with chronic conditions. You do firstly begin hoping it will go away. However, for many of us who live with hidradenitis suppurativa, we know its not going to just disappear, or be cured quickly.
Acceptance
If we can learn to accept our chronic condition, then it may subsequently make life a little easier. Why? Because it will be one less battle to fight, one less thing to wear you down. But how do we get to acceptance?
JK Rowling said “Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.”
So one good way is to get more knowledge. Reading the blogs on this website and learning more about your body and what works for you helps.
Secondly, notice things like your diet and mood, the weather, what clothes you wear, sleep routine, and your dressings. Everything can and will affect you so by learning what helps, you can take a big step towards acceptance.
“Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good.” You can read more about coping and resilience here.
― Elizabeth Edwards
Change
Hidradenitis can cause a lot of pain; a lot of discomfort and many people don’t even talk about it. Holding that distress is hard. You will notice that if you can accept that it may well be here to stay, you can then begin to look at things that help. Those things that help may be different to us all. For me, walking seems to be a big trigger, and for ages I let this upset me and depress me. Now however I accept that this is how it is for me and instead of getting upset, I invest my energy in looking at what I can change. The acceptance gives me peace.
So finally I urge you to give it a go. Jump towards acceptance and see if it gives you the energy to focus on things you CAN change.
About the Author
Clare Knighton is a Peer support worker from Worcester, England. Clare lives with HS and has done so for the past ten years. She is passionate about helping others to talk more openly about the condition and about improving our mental wellbeing.
