by Susan
Dion
(reprinted from The Mass CFIDS Update Fall 1999)
Many
people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (myself included) have suffered through
heavy loads of guilt in conjunction with the illness. This
guilt is often difficult to separate from the deep sorrow accompanying the many losses sustained by the patient.
The losses go far beyond the former healthy body; they often include loss of employment, loss of income, loss of
intellectual acuity, loss of former
Guilt
is an awful feeling. It never feels
right; it's awkward, defeating, and miserable.
A sense of guilt is generally counter-productive in terms of emotional balance.
It increases feelings of sadness and hopelessness.
The
guilt relates to the losses. For example, one may feel guilty for letting others
down. Disabling illness distorts prior arrangements with
loved ones, employers, friends, and ourselves.
Guilt may relate to the necessary financial contribution one formerly
made, which now is lost to the individual and his or her family.
One may feel guilty because he or she can no longer parent adequately,
let alone do so in the manner previously enjoyed.
Patients may feel useless because they cannot easily manage simple basic household tasks. One may feel guilty about not carrying one's chores and
making others bear an extra burden. There's
much more to guilt, of course. Some
folks may actually blame themselves for contracting the illness.
Regardless
of the nature of each person's guilt, there are ways to get beyond it.
Self-talk helps to defuse the destruction of guilt.
This might be called cognitive self-therapy as you rationally walk
yourself through the conundrum. Seeking
assistance through support groups, books, prayers, and professional counselors
may help too. However, one of the
biggest steps may be to rethink usefulness: reconsider your definitions of what
it means to contribute and redefine your ideas about what makes your life
worthwhile.
My
daughter and I were talking about another person with CFIDS – someone
struggling with the turbulent emotions engendered by crushing sickness and
multiple losses in those early months. My
then sixteen-year-old Raena (who is strong and healthy, but lives with asthma
and coped with epilepsy) said, "Yes, that person is feeling useless.
No one wants to feel useless."
What an astute comment! For
most people living with debilitating illness, the fear of being or becoming
useless is potent. Each individual needs to redefine usefulness within his or her current limitations.
Rethinking and rediscovering a new usefulness can help diminish, or even
erase, the misplaced guilt. Feeling
useful is crucial to overall well-being and helps sustain the patient through
the struggles of daily sickness.
We
are profoundly useful simply by caring in the most nominal of ways for others;
our kids, our partners, our pets, our parents, our siblings, our friends, our neighbors, and more.
Even though we have to radically change the way we handle these
relationships, caring is one of the most important, most useful thing we can do
to make this a better world.
We
can even extend it beyond our close-knit circle. We can reach out to another
patient, perhaps with a monthly phone call or letter. We
can advocate (yes, even from bed!) for causes of concern to us, such as welfare
reform, school issues, disability concerns, peace, or controversial state and
national agendas. We can try to perform random acts of kindness in whatever
seemingly minuscule path that may open to us.
We can give in some minor way to charitable efforts perhaps by addressing
a few letters for the Heart Association, sending two dollars to the local
women's shelter or making a few brief, staggered phone calls to ask others to
give to an important program.
Finally,
we can be especially useful by patiently advocating and educating others about
CFIDS and broader topics related to illness.
This last type of usefulness is a very powerful tool for both individual
and collective reasons. Whether one
writes a three-sentence note to a senator urging more research money for CFIDS,
or sends an information packet to a doctor, or volunteers as a patient in
research studies, to list but a few - by educating and advocating, we can
contribute to change. The tiniest
of efforts makes a difference. It is empowering.
There
are even bolder steps undertaken by some patients, often with extreme
difficulty. For example, several
individuals have initiated thoughtful and inspiring publications, giving
patients a forum to assist each other through the written word.
Varied local, state, and national CFIDS groups have been founded by
debilitated, but brave patients. Their
contributions are enormous.
I
was deeply moved by one very ill PWC who told me of her effort to do something
useful. This courageous, unselfish
woman volunteered to hold cocaine-addicted newborns at an inner-city hospital.
She thought that it might be a good way to contribute her caring.
After all, how hard could it be to sit and rock a tiny, ill infant for
one-half hour? After getting her
doctor's and the hospital's approval, she started this task.
Sadly, after several attempts, she realized the effort was too difficult.
Her already intense flu symptoms were aggravated to intolerable levels.
But, she tried and she gave. And
she has continued to rethink usefulness.
Not
one of us has to give in these extraordinary ways, of course.
There is an element of the sacred in caring for others in the most
ordinary ways. One kind word to a
person is an enormous gift. Giving
to others in small ways contributes to a kinder world.
Most
of all, don't forget to care for yourself in a kind and generous manner.
Take some quiet time. If the
guilt over what you can't do is still overwhelming, try some slow, gentle
efforts on rethinking usefulness. Consider
what you can do to care for and give to others.
The world is a large place with many cruelties.
Regardless of how many constraints we face due to pain and overwhelming
sickness, we can continue to care. Indeed,
we must.
Susan Dion has been ill since March 1989. She is the author of a booklet, "Write Now: Maintaining a Creative Spirit While Homebound and Ill" and has published several articles in The CFIDS Chronicle. A version of this essay was first published in The National Link and on About.com's CFIDS web site at (http://chronicfatigue.about.com).