Confident About Health

Colleen Shannon, our Health Writer, shows how you can take charge.

MOST of us are fortunate enough to go for half a lifetime without significant health problems – until the day something goes wrong. Then you can start losing your confidence in so many ways.

One example is having a fall or breaking a bone. Long after you’ve recovered from injury, you may be more timid about going out or staying active, because you dread another accident.

Yet this fear itself can increase your risk of having another fall. This is what I heard from Sarah Leyland, Nurse Consultant at the National Osteoporosis Society.

If you have a long-term condition like osteoporosis (fragile bones), there can be other emotional effects, like worrying about changes it may cause to your spine and thus your appearance, or a sharpened sense of growing older.

But there are ways to build your confidence back up, she explained.

Learning more about your health allows you to take informed decisions and make effective lifestyle changes.

For people who want stronger bones, information and support is available on the charity’s website at www.nos.org.uk or through their telephone helpline on 0808 800 0035.

It’s not only true for falls and bones. Anyone with a serious health condition can benefit from this confidence-building approach, which health professionals call self-management. The idea is to work in a real partnership with health professionals such as your doctor, nurse or therapist.

To learn more, I had a chat with Ian Silver, Chief Executive of Self Management UK. This charity’s aim is to improve the health and wellbeing of people living with a long-term condition.

In addition to finding reliable information, he told me it’s also about learning skills to manage your health day to day. These include goal-setting, problem-solving and action-planning.

Taking charge of your health condition can ease not only the physical effects, but also the emotional impact it might have on your life. You can find out more on the Self Management UK website at selfmanagementuk.org.

In addition, there may be short courses, workshops and support groups in your area which are specific to your health condition. You can ask your GP surgery what’s available locally.

Contacting patient groups can also put you in the driver’s seat.

One example is diabetes selfmanagement courses, which are available as face-to-face training or online and are proven to improve control of your diabetes.

You can learn more from Diabetes UK at www.diabetes.org.uk or call them on 0345 123 2399. They have lots of information, from advice about a balanced diet to medication.

Macmillan Cancer Support is another illustration. They offer a wide range of information online at macmillan.org.uk, or phone 0808 808 0000. So if you are affected by any type of health condition, please don’t let it hold you back.

Find out what’s available to help you manage your condition so you can make the most of life. n