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Responding to “How Are You Feeling” as an IPF Patient.
As an IPF patient, I find responding to the question: “how are you feeling”, both exhausting and frustrating.
I understand that the intention behind this question is out of concern and genuine interest in how I am doing while living with a life-threatening lung disease at 30 years of age. However, the impact of this question sometimes takes more out of me mentally than what it is worth. I explain this in more detail in my column posted below. In summary though, I find my response to “how are you feeling” changes or is tailored to the audience that is asking, despite the fact that how I feel does not change no matter who is asking.
Recently I spent time with extended family members who all ask me how I am feeling. Mostly my responses were that I was doing “ok”, or “pretty good”, because who really wants to hear about my regular struggle to breathe? My answer is usually a cross between not wanting to burden others with the negativity of my illness, or just not wanting to talk about it because most others’ cannot understand (and I am glad, because it means they don’t have PF).
How do you respond to the infamous question: “How are you feeling”, when the answer can change from moment to moment? I’d love to hear from you!
Here is the link to my full column on responding to this question, and why I find it so difficult: https://pulmonaryfibrosisnews.com/2017/10/05/ipf-my-emotional-trigger-responding-asked-how-are-you-doing/
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