Coping with a chronic illness is a challenge many of us face as we journey through life’s constant pressures.
I share my tips and perspective on how to find peace despite the many struggles we face in the course of this life. It may be a life saving one.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Health is something we should not take lightly if we plan to live a long, high-quality life. Our bodies are imperfect and subject to illness or disease that eventually wears us down.
Coping with a chronic illness requires critical thinking, imagination, and personal resolve. I did.
I share this perspective with you through three ways that helped me find peace. It’s important that you spare yourself of worry to cope successfully with chronic illness.
My tips are based on personal experience. I know it worked for me. I hope it works for you, too.
Three Strategies to Find Peace
1. Regular Exercise (Really)
I make an effort to keep myself as fit as I could. I walk regularly and run if able and could muster despite cautions and warnings from friends and family that I take it easy because of my age.
I don’t listen intently. But I do listen to my body. If I have pain, or aches somewhere, I simply rest. They’re gone in one or two days.
Then I’m back to my routine, repeating my passionate walking and running activities. It served me well through the years.
Physiological versus Chronological Age
I am physiologically superior compared to my peers. That’s according to my Garmin 165 sportswatch–now the second watch I regularly wear to keep track of my performance and exercise programs. I belong to the “above average” group if a grip strength of 43.2 kg would serve as basis.
My Garmin watch also tells me that I am younger by 4 years my chronological age. I am convinced that I could even bring it down to 8 years as the watch suggests. That is, if I run regularly just like before I was diagnosed with a dreaded disease — a chronic condition that turned into an acute one that eventually needed surgical intervention.
I cannot pee, however hard I tried. There is no other option but submit myself to the surgical remedy: cystolithotripsy and TURP.
As there is a need to clear the urinary pathway of blocking tissue, I finally submitted to a biopsy procedure as part of the intervention.
Vitality Matters
I am still strong, despite the recent surgery. I always go against the odds, silently fighting battles few people know. And even if people know it, I do not show any signs of worry.
This mindset helped me in coping with a chronic illness that had been brewing for years.
One of the notable ones is being able to keep myself sane with 24 years of my late wife’s thyroid cancer. Everyday was a struggle, mentally, physically and emotionally that took a toll in later years. Maybe the cortisols generated during those times contributed to my condition. I don’t know.
Maybe my condition could be largely genetic, because my father also had it in his later years. He died of cardiovascular disease though. Not the one related to my current health condition.
Whether this condition is a result of the incessant struggle or not, I kept myself healthy with regular exercise since my early 30s.
At this point, a few years after optionally retiring from government service, I finally succumbed to illness nobody wants to be in. Retirement was the right decision so that I could at least “enjoy” the fruits of my labor even with all its shortcomings.
Aerobic versus Anaerobic Exercise
Just recently, I added gym workout because I realized I was focusing on the cardiovascular system only.
Aerobic exercise like running is good, but adding strength exercises makes full use of the body’s arsenal of regulatory substances. I need to add strength exercise to build and sustain muscular strength.
Recent studies by Dr. Robert Newton revealed that muscles produce myokines, that help fight off abnormal cellular development. These substances are produced by skeletal muscle cells in response to muscular contractions during gym workouts.
Exercise creates a microenvironment where cells function more efficiently. Hence, disease is prevented or managed towards acceptable outcomes.
Skeletal muscles, particularly the large ones, serve as a massive endocrine organ. They release proteins and peptides that give full-body health benefits.
Besides, undergoing surgery as I did requires a generally healthy body to overcome the potential issues that would arise when anesthesia is administered. After having 2D echo, electroencephalogram (ECG), blood chemistry, among others, my results are all normal or within range. I’m fit aside from the disturbing blockage.
I would undoubtedly attribute that to regular exercise. I burn the sugars and fats efficiently, preventing them from causing other age-related diseases. I seldom, if ever, had a flu with regular exercise. I do not have diabetes like my parents.
2. Undertake Research on the Latest (and Even the Past) Developments
I have been dealing with this chronic health issue since 2015.
At that time, my doctor, without batting an eyelash, suggested that I undertake a biopsy which I vehemently denied. I cited a landmark study on patients who underwent a biopsy and intervention and those who waited it out. The result—there is no significant difference in their lifespans.
My doctor told me that what I read may just be a blog with no reliable foundation. He didn’t know my profession is along the research field. And I always verify the information I get by reading the journals which claimed a finding. I read the scientist’s method or methodology to identify any inconsistency or weakness. Besides, I have a medical background in my undergraduate years.
Based on personal research, biopsy itself can invite infections or complications that some medical specialists omit telling their patients as part of the risks they have to take. I wouldn’t want to take that risk if I could afford not to.
I asked what could possibly happen in the next five years or so if I do not submit to a biopsy to identify and treat the condition. He said, I might suffer excruciating pain in my bone, among others.
I decided not to do the biopsy, and took the risk. It took 11 years for that condition to progress towards an acute condition.
Fast forward, it was in April 2026 that I suffered an acute blockage of the urinary tract that definitely needs intervention. I had haematuria every time I run at least 5 kilometers, due to several bladder stones that caused the bleeding and blocked the urine pathway. It was a sleepless night before I got admitted in the hospital emergency room.
But I don’t have bone pain whatsoever except that one instance when I could not sit on a garden stool. It went away after a few carefully executed back stretches.
The prediction, based on a PSA score, was off. My vitality, perhaps, is a major factor that slowed down the progress of the chronic illness.
Opting for the Latest, Less Invasive Technology Available to Deal with Health Issues
A catheter provided temporary relief until I had surgery to remove the stones. I opted for the best technology available to lessen the risks. Laser was used to remove bladder stones and TURP, a surgery gold standard, to enlarge the urethra.
The urinary pathway was clear. I am virtually back to normal. I have very few symptoms to deal with. I got plenty of rest and healthy food whenever possible. I avoided all processed food to rule out their negative effects to my health.
Food as Medicine
It takes a few seconds or minutes to identify undesirable food content found in the labels. Being vigilant in the food that you take is a desirable step to take to get rid of and cope with a chronic illness.
I did examine every package of food I buy in the supermarket, but I tend to stray off the path when I’m well. Again, I emphasize VIGILANCE if you want to avoid disaster. It’s just that I have this human nature of not heeding what’s right for my health based on evidence.
When I did start to buy the healthiest products I could see around in the supermarket, I bought less than half the grocery I usually buy. Most of the products in the shelves have preservatives, high sugars, and artificial colorings and flavor in them.
Why buy preserves when you can buy fresh ones?
I’m fortunate that finally the two soursop fruits I planted several years back in the yard has borne a lot of fruits. This amazing fruit has a lot of health benefits.
3. Be Realistic
Health challenges never cease to appear. But there are blessings and opportunities, too, that allow me to dampen the impacts of the negative pressures of life.
No one is immune to the difficulties associated with bodily imperfections. If you are without health issues, then you can rest assured that you belong to the few accomplished individuals who navigated this life damn so well.
I know that dealing with health issues is just a matter of perspective. If we cling to this life, then we suffer pain and feel bitter. But if we laugh it out, convince ourselves that there is always hope and do whatever we can to support our bodies, whatever ails we suffer will pass away. We can face the hurdles of living with confidence and resolve.
If all else fails, then we pass away. We cannot afford to live long indefinitely.
The final destination—DEATH—is imminent. It’s just a matter of time.
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. – James 4:14
I’ve had my fill. Maybe it’s time to go.
Note:
I wrote the significant part of this article on paper while waiting for my turn to get interviewed before undergoing a diagnostic scan. Since medical information is a private matter, I advertently omitted getting into the details of my case. But reading between the lines, you can imply what it is.
I avoided using AI in this post. It’s a personal milestone to mark a major event in my life. I beg your pardon if you spot grammatical errors.