Home Alone: Coping With Illnesses That Leave You Housebound

Do you have any idea how your life would change if you developed an illness or health condition that would leave you housebound? There are some conditions that might physically impair us, such as breaking a limb or paralysis, that mean we are unable to leave the house for long periods. But there are also some mental health illnesses that prevent us from going outside as well, namely severe depression and agoraphobia.

Lots of people find that this new lifestyle is difficult to come to terms with, especially if they were once very active and led busy with lives. Now that you need to stay at home around the clock, you could easily get bored and feel like you are missing out. And these feelings could be made even worse if your partner is at work often and your kids are always at school. In fact, you could feel particularly isolated.

It’s important that you quickly adapt to this new way of life, even if you know that it is only temporary. Leading a housebound life can upset and demotivate many people, which can cause mental health conditions and worsen existing ones. Here are some great ideas you can use to improve your life with a health condition that leaves you housebound.

Always Get Up

Once you fall ill and need to stay at home all day, you won’t have a reason for getting out of bed every morning. However, this is no excuse to just stay in bed all day! Even if you feel quite ill still, you should always make an effort to get out of bed and dressed. You will be amazed at how much better you will feel by doing something as simple as this! Just getting changed from pajamas to everyday clothes can instantly boost your mood and energy levels, and you will feel like doing useful things around the house, such as chores and hobbies. As soon as you become housebound, you might find that you just want to stop caring and stop taking care of yourself. But it is very important that you keep functioning and looking after yourself. Otherwise, you might slowly spiral into depression.

Create A Routine

You don’t need to create a detailed timetable for your entire day and plan what you are going to do in each hour. But you should try and write a to-do list for each day and, if possible, stick to a routine of activities and tasks. This will give each day a purpose and can help you to stay busy and keep your mind off your illness. It’s also a good idea to eat at the same times every day, as this will help you stick to your schedule. Scheduling TV and activity time is also useful, as it will leave you with time to do chores if you are able to.

Eat Well

While you are housebound, you won’t be able to leave the house to exercise anymore. As a result, you need to be especially careful about the type of food you eat. As you won’t be burning off so many calories, you will need to limit your food intake and ensure that you stick to healthy food and ingredients that are low in fats, salt, and sugar. It can be all too easy to start snacking through the day when you are just at home, so try and keep your kitchen free from any snack foods apart from fruit. If you only have healthy food in your home, you will find that there is no way you can be tempted by any unhealthy snacks! You might also find it helpful to take a daily multivitamin supplement to ensure that your body is getting all the vitamins and minerals it needs to stay healthy as possible through the illness. When it comes to drinking, try and stick to only tap water, as this is free from any calories, salt, and sugar.

Get Medical Help

If you find that you really struggle with everyday chores and tasks at home because of your illness, you should see about getting some help or assistance. There are lots of nurses and other people who work in HCA jobs who visit patients at home to ensure that they are able to manage. These health professionals will visit you as often as you want and can come as often as twice a day. You can get this kind of aid for a variety of things, such as getting out of bed and dressed, help with cooking and preparing meals, and help with cleaning your home. If you ever get very lonely or feel isolated on your own at home every day, you should still contact your doctor about getting a nurse to visit you at home as some visit patients for an hour or two each day just to keep them company.

Keep In Touch With People

Another way to keep the loneliness and isolation at bay is to try and keep in touch with as many people as possible. This is a lot easier now than it once was thanks to social media. You are now just a Facebook message or tweet away from your friends and family! You should also invite people to come and visit you whenever possible. Being in someone’s company and chatting to them can be a great way to take your mind off your condition, and it also gives you a chance to keep up to date with what’s going on in everyone’s lives. Doing something as staying in touch with everyone will prevent you from feeling so isolated, and it gives you a chance of staying in the loop with your loved ones.

Learn New Things

You shouldn’t just fall into a daily routine of TV and social media. It’s important that you keep your mind active, as this can help ward off depression. There are various ways to keep it busy, such as with puzzles and reading, but one of the best things you can do is learn new things. For instance, there are lots of apps that you can download that now make it easier than ever to learn a new language from the comfort of your own home. One of the best for this is Duolingo. You will also find lots of tutorial videos on YouTube that can teach you a range of interesting skills, such as knitting, drawing, and crocheting. This may not be the same as going to work, but at least it still gives you something to do through the day from your home.  If you get very crafty, you might even like the idea of setting up your own Etsy shop to sell all your items from.

Try And Go Outside As Much As Possible

If you have a garden or backyard, you should try and go outside as much as possible, even if it is to just sit outside in the sun. All the fresh air will do you a world of good! If you aren’t able to go outside, you should instead just move from room to room as the day goes on. If possible, it’s a good idea to follow the sun and always be in the room with the most natural light and sunshine. All of that good light can refresh and invigorate you!

Becoming housebound will certainly be a big change in your life. However, if you follow all of the above tips, you should find that it doesn’t become too difficult for you and your family.