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Combating Anxiety Amidst COVID-19
For many of us living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), anxiety is regularly part of our lives. To date, I’ve never experienced anything as scary as not being able to breathe during the two acute exacerbations I’ve had since being diagnosed with IPF nearly four years ago. Due to this, I can’t help but feel anxious about this disease and the constant threat of being unable to breathe if my disease worsened or something unbeknownst triggered another exacerbation. As you can imagine, COVID-19 is not helping with anxiety.
I am currently in the midst of writing a Pulmonary Fibrosis News column on ways you can help manage your anxieties about COVID-19 from the perspective of someone who is much higher risk of catching the virus. I am doing this to help reassure myself, and others, about some of the ways to sustain us during this difficult time. I’ve been relying on a few other external resources who have written similar topics, see links below, and adding in some ideas that are helping me as well.
Coronavirus (COVID-19): managing stress and anxiety
As a patient living with IPF/PF, are you feeling anxious about the coronavirus?
If so, what are you doing to help yourself (and others) manage this anxiety effectively?
Remember panic is not helpful, and stress is not good for our overall health.
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