Life can change or escalate quickly.

josediccus in #hive-146620 • 2 days ago

I caught a very nasty infection a while ago, and as a result, I have been sick for quite some time now. I had a few days where my body temperature was out of control, and no matter what I tried, no matter how many NSAIDS I took, the fever just would not go down.

I was becoming dehydrated so quickly and could not replace body fluids; I knew my system would suffer some consequences, but I could not do anything. I remember going to the hospital a few years ago for the same problem, and the doctors refused to admit me.

So the reason was that I was not in an emergency situation, so they sent me home with pain relievers and NSAIDS. It was a disappointing and traumatic experience for me, and since then, I have tried to avoid getting infections.

It causes chronic inflammations that affect almost all of the organs in the body, particularly the kidneys, and when the fever broke after about 4 days.

I was already broken, my face was swollen from the aftereffect, I could not even open my mouth because there were so many injuries to the tongue and throat, it affected my voice box, and a nasty sore throat followed. So after taking NSAIDS and antibiotics for two weeks, I finally feel better.

Fortunately, I had someone close by who ran my errands during this time, so I did not feel so lonely and bad.

The biggest aspect of being sick is the uncertainty.

I have a chronic medical condition, and whenever I get an infection, these chronic inflammations start to tear down tissues, and the loneliness or prolonged period of not being able to eat or sleep leads to bouts of depression.

Most people, or the healthier population might characterize depression as a money or heartbreak issues, but it really isn't. Chronic depression arises from long standing health issues, not being able to attain remission or catch a break.

The Insecurity That Comes With Stagnation

For example, I follow a footballer who had a lot of potential and was extremely talented, but he began to suffer a series of injuries from which he never seemed to recover.

Even after having surgeries and seeing the best doctors on the planet, he was constantly injured.

The guy gradually lost his ability to smile; everything felt like pain to him, despite his family's wealth and love; he has suffered and continues to suffer from chronic depression as a result of his inability to recover.

There is always some level of uncertainty. For example, what if the manager stops being patient or waiting for him to recover, or what if his £350k weekly salary is terminated because he is unable to perform the job for which he was hired? These are the insecurities that come with being chronically sidelined, which can lead to depression.

I know a few people from way back on Hive, and one of them recently posted about having stage 4 kidney disease. Many people are unaware that the disease is financially draining, and because it is chronic, it is difficult to overcome the mental state of uncertainty that leads to depression.

This person has not posted in a long time, and when they do, it is an update on their health rather than work, vacation, money, or fun. Life changes quickly, and having a chronic condition adds to the uncertainty.

However, it is difficult for the general public to understand how chronic depression can impair a person's functionality; there are no goals, ambitions, dreams, or anything other than the uncertainty of dealing with something that is lifelong.

In recent times, I have received a lot of criticism, and most of the time I just laugh inside because nothing or no one is truly immune.

However, we frequently find ourselves in a state of stability, and this state often blinds us to the fact that stability can quickly become instability no matter how hard we prepare.

Things like money, good genetics, luck, place of birth, history, race, and everything else can act as a shock absorber, giving people a better landing when they otherwise would crash hard, but we cannot completely stop life from being cruel; we can only reduce the impact of the cruelty in a way that we can comfortably bear or live with.

I believe we only know what we know, and we base our understanding solely on what we know. What we do not realize is that there is a whole new level of knowledge that can shift or reshape our reality of life; this is why we can appear identical but never truly understand the struggles or pain of others.

Some things do not get better; we only learn to live with them; however, learning does not imply acceptance; sometimes it is simply denial; we understand that there are things that could kill us, but we balance them with other thoughts: thoughts of survival, victory, and mental strength.

Depression can easily set in and become chronic when we are unable to find relief for our ails or troubles.

You could be fine today but not tomorrow. When I realized I had an infection, I thought I would be able to shake it off in three days, but it lasted more than a week and still did not go away; now the fear of contracting another one lingers in my mind, as does the scar from this nasty one.

Most of the time, we heal, but we will always be weary, fearful, unsure, and uncertain, because there are no straight roads, and this uncertainty is mostly prevalent when you cannot predict where it gets better or worse.