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Working & Having Pets with a Chronic Illnesses
Invisible illnesses are a physical, mental or neurological conditions that are not visible to others but highly limit or challenge a person's day to day life.
I have endometriosis (endo), and as a working animal professional who has pets, working and having pets while battling this invisible illness is exceptionally challenging. Endo is where tissue similar to BUT different than the lining of the uterus grows throughout the body, it has even been found in the brain. Endo lesions create its own blood and estrogen supply, adhesions which then cause bands of scar tissue that glue organs together. It affects 1/10 women and trans individuals. It's excruciatingly painful yet women on average wait 8.5 years to be diagnosed as it is thought that painful periods are normal, which they're not. There is no cure but the gold standard for endo is excision surgery, which is equally as complex as cancer surgery. Endo requires a multi-disciplinary approach to help patients like me.
Having flare-ups or agonizing pain that couldn't be seen was very hard for my family and friends to understand, let alone dog students. "But you don't look sick?" is a common refrain for those with invisible illnesses. As people couldn't see my endo they had a hard time believing me when I said I couldn't go out or wasn't feeling well. I felt so guilty that I would go, go, go until I couldn't, which put me into even more pain and brain fog. I learned that I had to be open and upfront about what I was feeling as having an invisible illness, if people can't see it, they don't understand or believe it.
Coping Strategies for Dog Training/Working in pain
How to train when chronically ill and in acute pain? These solutions helped me, but each of us are distinctive individuals who feel pain differently and it's good to find what works best for you.
Coping Strategies for at Home
The Spoon Theory
The Spoon Theory is used to describe what it is like to live with a chronic/invisible illness such as arthritis, fibromylagia, lupus or endometriosis. People with chronic illnesses have limited energy which is represented in spoons. It was created by Christine Miserandino. Each unit of energy for the day is measured in a spoon. Some activities cost more spoons than others. For those with chronic illness, if they do too much, they will not have enough spoons for the rest of the day.
For those who are healthy, on a regular work day they start off with 12 spoons and on a day off, they start with 19 spoons. A person with chronic illness can start their day minus 4 spoons, starting only with 8 spoons, and if they have a bad pain flare, they will only have 4 spoons to go through the day. If I had a flareup and had to train a dog, that was all my spoons for the day, the rest of my day, I had to rest.
But how does it relate to your dog?
All dogs have limited energy, same as all people do. Puppies, adolescent dogs (teenagers), senior dogs and dogs with chronic illnesses have more less ability to cope before they go over the threshold, meaning their emotional bucket is overflowing. This is like subtracting their spoons.
This can look like;
How to Add Spoons
How to help your dog cope? What you do can add or subtract your dog's daily spoons, in other words, help them to cope and not go over the threshold when they have limited energy.
Adding spoons
When we forget about our dog's limitations and emotional states, we subtract spoons and often unintentionally trigger stack our dogs to the point of going over the threshold. Let's add spoons in our and our dog's lives.
DISCLAIMER: The content of this website and community is based on the research, expertise, and views of each respective author. Information here is not intended to replace your one-on-one relationship with your veterinarian, but as a sharing of information and knowledge to help arm dog parents to make more informed choices. We encourage you to make health care decisions based on your research and in partnership with your vet. In cases of distress, medical issues, or emergency, always consult your veterinarian.