If you have a chronic illness, you already know that one of the many challenges you face is maintaining a healthy body image.
Chronic illness can affect body image in a wide variety of ways. Sometimes a change happens quickly and dramatically—as with skin conditions or epilepsy. Other times it is more subtle and gradual—as in pulmonary or blood conditions.
And because body image is inextricably linked with wellness, you and your caregivers could benefit by taking body image into account during care and self-care.
Two personal reflections on body image and chronic illness describe this experience well:
Chronic illness blogger, Natasha, wrote:
“When I lost a huge amount of weight quite dramatically, it was the silver lining to being so unwell with these new illnesses. It was then that I started to realise my complicated relationship with food, exercise, society, social media and my health.”
Ariane, an artist and chronic illness advocate blogged:
“I seem to constantly have experiences where how I appear affects how people perceive not just me, but also the existence and severity of my illness. These mixed up misperceptions serve to complicate my social interactions, the tentative sense of self I’ve cultivated, and the relationship I have with my body.”
Here are just a few of the ways chronic illness can impact body image daily:
- Using physical aids—canes, oxygen, even handicapped-accessible parking spots—can physically change how you appear. It can impact how you are seen by yourself and others.
- Medications can impact everything from face shape to mood, with many possible effects on body image.
- Drained energy and pain make exercise difficult, and impact how well your body functions.
- Dietary restrictions impact food intake.
- Certain conditions cause changes to skin, nails or hair.
- Many long-term illnesses come with cyclical bouts of health or sickness that leave you bedridden or in the hospital for long periods, inevitably changing your body.
These changes can have negative consequences on your mental and emotional health—including low self-esteem, anxiety, depression and grief. They can also impact your physical health. According to the book Chronic Illness: Impact and Intervention, people with chronic illness may be less likely to stick to their medication or other necessary care because of the impact it has on their body, and body image.
Unfortunately, our society stigmatizes people with illness. This can make the impact of chronic illness on body image even worse—and isolating. Share the many great considerations offered by The Body Project, developed at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., with anyone, including caregivers or loved ones, to help them better understand your experience. Support and connection are crucial to every person.
What can you do for yourself?
If you’re experiencing chronic illness, you can make your doctor and other care providers aware of changes in your body image. Many times you may not even be aware of the impact the way you feel about yourself is having. They can guide you to resources that will help.
Chronic Illness explains the understanding or reworking of body image is an ongoing process. It will be different for everyone. The book offers suggestions by category that can benefit along the journey: communication, self-help, self-care, physical tools for support, and education.
It may take some trial and error. Try support groups. Talk to your loved ones or care providers. Spend more time on self-care. Read more about body image. Keep trying until you find something that helps you navigate the changes. With more awareness of what impacts your own body image, you will have better control over it. You may also find ways to better accept the loss of control you feel.
Everyone’s journey will be different. But acknowledging you’d like to make a change is an important step for anyone. Illana Jacqueline, the managing editor of the blog at The Global Genes Project, shows you where that journey can lead on her personal blog.
She wrote these words of encouragement from her own experience coming to terms with her body image:
“The things our bodies go through—the testing, the exams, the flares, the surgeries, the withering away, the slow recovery, the incredible relief strengthening even one muscle can bring—I have to believe that it’s okay to be okay with where I am. I have to believe that my body is so much more in the grand scheme of things than just a fashion accessory. And while I aim to make my body strong and healthy, I can’t hate it for showing the weathering of disease and time that’s taken place.”
Check out other resources on body image in chronic illness here:
- Study: Art Therapy May Build Self-Esteem in People Living with Epilepsy.
- 10 Affirmations for When it’s Hard to Look in the Mirror from The Mighty.
- Mayo Clinic’s Self-esteem Check.
- Living with a Chronic Illness from Life Esteem.