Chronically Looking To Make Life Easier
By now you should now I’m addicted to Amazon. To be honest, it is the convenience. If you are living with a chronic illness you know how many spoons it takes to get yourself up and presentable. Let alone run around in the Louisiana heat to 5 different stores. The best thing that came out of COVID was the multitude of curbside pick up participants.
After a lot of trial and error, I have come across a few things that make my life a little easier. It could be something to reduce my stress and anxiety, make my house not feel like a hospital, or just a simple treat to myself.
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The “Essentials”
Essential Oil Diffuser
I was never an oil person until COIVD hit. I worked in healthcare, and it was an incredibly scary and stressful time. Imagine having an autoimmune disease affecting your lungs while working in direct patient care every day… I was fortunate enough to stay in an outpatient setting, so I felt most protected.
Anyways, a coworker brought in her diffuser and oils as a means to reduce stress and relax during our breaks. I was instantly hooked! You mean I could make my house smell like a spa? Sign me up! But not really, because I was not about to fall for another MLM scam.
I don’t use oils as remedies, but I do appreciate the calm smells. Also, when you have oxygen tanks lying around your house, you can’t really light a candle whenever you feel like it…
These are 2 of my favorite tried and true diffusers. The smaller one is great for a bedroom or small room, and the bigger one is perfect for my living area.
Essential Oils
You can’t have a diffuser without the oils, right? I loved Young Living’s Peace and Calming. I couldn’t bring myself to spend $60 on one 10 ml bottle of oil though! So what did I do? Spend $60 anyway on 4 different oils! After some research, I decided Plant Therapy was a great brand that was still affordable. These are the blends I diffuse on the regular. My house always smells like chill out or tranquil.
Believe it or not, these oils give me some sort of normalcy. It is a scent I resonate with and brings back memories of my “old life.” It is comforting, and calming. These oils and diffuser was the FIRST thing I bought to replace after we lost our home to the hurricane. It was grounding. I needed something familiar to keep me sane.
Jade Roller
I’m no expert in jade or facial rollers, but the cold stone in the morning really helps my moon face. I keep mine in the refrigerator and a few mornings out of the week, I’ll roll my extra swollen cheeks and eyes. It is very refreshing. I do believe it helps displace some of the extra fluid around my eyes and chin.
Hospital House
At one point, I had lots of medical supplies to organize. Renee had loads of supplies which needed precise organization. Pretty soon, I’d come to need some extra storage space when my subq remodulin came on board. I hate when supplies are just everywhere. Plastic containers are great for storage, but “it’s not the vibes.” If it is not aesthetically pleasing and put away properly, I may or may not become overstimulated and anxiety ridden. No joke…
I try to make my house look more like a home and less like a hospital. It makes me feel like a “normal” person when I don’t have random needles and pill bottles lying around. That’s what cabinets and drawers are for, right?
Storage Solutions
These storage cubes are great for hiding unsightly supplies. I like to keep all of my oxygen tubing and nasal cannulas in them. They are also great at hiding my sharps container, portable oxygen concentrator, and its accessories.
Sanitizing Station
Who says hand sanitizer can’t be pretty? I told y’all I’m trying to make my house look more like home and less like hospital. I use these little soap dispensers around my house to make hand sanitizer look more appealing. People actually use it more in this form too!
Medication Management
As I mentioned, I don’t like for all my medication and supplies to be out everywhere. I want my living area and house to look as “normal” as possible. I also find it hard to know when I need more supplies and medication if everything isn’t organized in one spot.
Having a chronic illness is a fulltime job. It feels like I am calling some pharmacy every other week to request a refill or more supplies. I try my best to stay organized and make my life a little bit easier.
I use these containers to line one of my kitchen drawers with all of my remodulin supplies. It is aesthetically pleasing and easy to see what is running low. I also use them in another cabinet to keep everyone’s medication separated. I’ll keep all of my prescriptions in one bin. Then in another I’ll keep common meds and vitamins.
Another organizer I can’t live without is my pill box. I have to take one of my medications 3x a day. If I am lugging around a pill bottle, I’ll likely lose it one way or forget to take it all together. With the pill organizer I use, I you can take the day’s worth of pills with you. It’s a lot easier than carrying 7 pill bottles around.
There is one caveat. I LOATHE refilling these things. I don’t know why. It is so convenient to use, yet I hate refilling them each week.
Travel Tricks
Wardrobe Malfunction
I’m still overcoming my prednisone body changes, and clothes fit me weird. I essentially had to buy a new wardrobe with all of the weight I gained. On top of that, I have to manage my remodulin pump and wires around my clothes.
I have a few outfits that I feel good and comfortable in. I woke up one morning getting ready to go to an event, and I was planning on wearing a dress. Then it hit me, where am I going to hook my pump? My underwear? Then it could fall off or stick out like a sore thumb.
I found this pump holder and it saved the day. It’s actually more comfortable than the 90s waist clip and I even sleep in it at times. Y’all probably figured this one out before me, but it is life changing.
Packing Hacks
Pre pulmonary hypertension I traveled a lot! If anything, I took one bottle of pills with me. If I missed a dose, no big deal. Now I travel with at least 7 bottles of pills, and a whole month’s worth of remodulin supplies. If I miss a dose, I’ll likely be in the hospital.
I first traveled to San Diego for a medical procedure and had no idea how I was going to pack everything with me. Of course, I headed to Amazon. I could not travel with all of my essentials in a ziploc bag, I just couldn’t. I ended up finding a variety of cosmetic bags that do the trick.
These are still a lot of bags to pack and carry on a plane. No worries, they all fit in this very fashionable backpack. It’s technically a diaper bag, but no one has to know. This bag fits all of these smaller totes, plus my portable oxygen concentrator accessories, and actual things you want to pack in a carry on.
I hope y’all enjoyed my alliteration! These are just a few things I enjoy that make my life a little easier. I DO actually use EVERY SINGLE ONE of these exact products.
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