Rebuilding Your Life After a Long-term Injury or Disability
One thing that people don’t like to think about is how easy it can be to go from being fit and healthy to chronically ill or disabled. It can literally happen in the blink of an eye, as traumatic accidents that cause major injuries usually come with very little warning. But the repercussions can last a lifetime.
Of course, this post isn’t designed to terrify you. Instead, it’s designed to look at the aftermath of these events and to help people learn how to rebuild their lives so they can still be happy and as healthy as possible.
Understanding Your Prognosis
Once the immediate aftermath has been treated, you need to have a frank conversation with your doctors about your prognosis. You may be able to completely recover from a serious injury over time, although it could take a lot of hard work and rehab to get there. But in some cases, you might not ever be able to completely regain functionality.
In this case, you need to understand what your new limitations are and how you can work around them. Your doctors might recommend mobility aids or other equipment designed to help you have a better quality of life and more independence.
Managing Your Mental Health
As well as the physical injury, you may have to deal with your mental health. There’s a significant link between mental and physical health, and it goes both ways. Poor physical health and chronic pain can have a knock-on effect on your mental health, while depression and anxiety disorders can negatively impact your physical health and recovery.
There’s also the fact that traumatic accidents or attacks that leave you with a lifelong injury are often just that, traumatic. So it’s important to seek the mental health care you need.
Customizing Your Care Needs
We’re all unique, and this applies to our care needs as well. Even if two people were in the exact same car crash, they might have very different injuries.
It’s important to get the support you need, and this might need to be personalized to you. Life care planning services can help you plan ongoing care and support for yourself or your loved ones. You can be sure that, no matter what, your care will be dealt with appropriately.
Restarting Your Career
As you recover as much as you can, you will learn where your limitations are. In some cases, you might be unable to return to your previous career, especially if it depended on your physical fitness. But this doesn’t mean your working life is over.
If you reenter education, you might be able to learn new skills and enter a new career path altogether. This means that you can still support yourself and your family, just without endangering your health.
Speak to your doctor about your physical limitations and how you can support your education and your career. Working also doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t eligible for disability benefits, so be sure to look into how you can benefit.
