We often tell patients that rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that will follow the patient for a lifetime.
This may sound a bit frustrating, but this is the reality we have to face.
Doctors are not the only ones who face diseases with patients. Family members and friends of rheumatoid arthritis patients will get along longer and closer with patients than doctors. It is no less important to get support and help from them than doctors’ professional treatment.
Dr. Clove has prepared several small suggestions for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, hoping to be helpful to patients and their families:
Should do this
1. Understanding
First of all, we must have the will to enter the world of rheumatoid arthritis patients.
Because they are family, friends, We love them, Therefore, it is necessary to have patience to open books and log on relevant websites to read about diseases. Understand how diseases bring pain, fatigue, joint swelling, joint stiffness to patients. Understand the treatment methods of diseases and the side effects of drugs. For example, using the Clove Doctor App, you can query the album about diseases, learn the basic information about diseases, how to prevent, how to treat, how to manage themselves, and inquire about related drugs.
Another way to obtain information is to join an online group or community of rheumatoid arthritis patients.
Some professional doctors help answer some daily questions online. A group of people suffering from the same disease gather together, with similar symptoms, treatment experiences and stories of their respective diseases. There is no better place for you to better understand the disease knowledge and learn how to support patients.
Step 2 Listen
To be a trusted relative and friend, you can learn a lot about the disease from his conversation. Patient and sincere listening is a panacea for a patient with chronic diseases.
Listen, observe and find the most frustrating problems for patients.
The impact of rheumatoid arthritis on patients is physiological, psychological, social, financial and other aspects. Disease can easily make patients feel depressed and even desperate.
Do you know what are the most frustrating problems for them?
Talk to them openly, get answers, and then try to solve these problems with them.
Step 3: Accompany
Have you ever had to go to the hospital to see a doctor alone when you were ill?
If so, you will understand how supportive it is for a patient to go to see a doctor with him as a close friend or family member.
Moreover, this will give you the opportunity to talk to the doctor, tell the doctor your questions and get answers directly from the doctor, killing two birds with one stone.
4. Communication
Communication has always been said to be two-way.
When you listen to them, you should also tell them how you feel. Having a relative and friend with rheumatoid arthritis will inevitably have many effects on your life. You will sometimes be confused and depressed. You may as well tell them.
5. Adjustment and adaptation
Rheumatoid arthritis itself is a chronic recurrent disease. If a chart is used to describe the disease, the icon must not be a straight line, but a curve that fluctuates up and down.
With the change of disease, patients need to constantly adjust their psychology, state and lifestyle. The family and friends around them must also make adjustments and adaptations according to these changes.
Don’t do this
1. Not assuming
Don’t assume that you already know how they feel.
Zifei fish, although willing to enter their world, and then, in fact, we have never really felt the feelings of rheumatoid arthritis patients one day. Therefore, don’t assume that you can [empathize], but understand.
Imagine a painful arthritis patient smiling and talking to you while his body and heart may be suffering silently. Perhaps this will give a little understanding of their chagrin and irritability.
Step 2: Don’t argue
If you have ever heard the patient say to you [you don’t know how I feel at all], then you may as well try to communicate openly several times to see if you have neglected what.
3. No [over-protection]
Although rheumatoid arthritis will keep patients’ actions partially unchanged, they can still do a lot of things [within their capabilities] unless they reach the latest stage. Overprotection, like parents doting on their children, will make it difficult for them to integrate into society.
STEP 4 Don’t demand
Your relatives and friends are only suffering from a chronic disease and have lost some of their mobility. This does not mean that they have lost their judgment and life ideas.
Don’t help them decide whether to be what or what. No matter when you appear as a proponent, don’t be [the person who makes the decision].
Responsible Editor: Cat Capricorn