Your Long Term Condition Journey

Discovery

Discovering that you have a long-term condition may have come out of the blue, or perhaps you’ve been feeling ill for a while and wondering what’s wrong.

You may go through many visits to doctors, tests and investigations before you receive a diagnosis, and this time of waiting to find out why you are unwell can be extremely stressful for you, and for the people close to you.

When you do receive a diagnosis, it may be at once shocking and painful, and a relief. It’s never good to find out that you have an illness that will affect you seriously, but perhaps it’s the first time someone has confirmed that your symptoms are real, and not all in your head.

The thinking tools we’ve suggested below have helped people to work out what they feel, and what they would like to happen to make this time easier.

Thinking tools to try if you’re waiting for a diagnosis

We’ve worked with many people who think something is wrong with their health and are looking for a diagnosis. Like them, perhaps you:

• think something is wrong, and you are ready to take the next step
• feel that people think you are complaining too much, or over-reacting to your symptoms, but you know something is wrong
• feel awful and are struggling to keep up at work and at home
• are waiting for test results or appointments, and it feels really difficult.

We suggest you try these thinking tools:

• Good Day Bad Day thinking tool
• What’s Working and Not Working thinking tool
• Four Plus One Questions thinking tool