How to look after your mental health when you’re physically ill

How to look after your mental health when you’re physically ill

Last week I got sick.

Not the cute sniffly sort of sick that gets you a day off work and a reason to watch old Pixar films when eating soup.

The gross kind. The ‘dear lord, my stomach hurts’ kind, that made me urgently need a toilet/vomit receptacle near me at all times.

It wasn’t pretty.


In the midst of that physical mess, I found my anxiety having a flare-up. The night before the puking began, I went to the cinema to see IT, and found myself more terrified by the worries in my own brain than Pennywise chewing off a kid’s arm.



The next day, the anxiety kept spinning. As I went home from work early and settled in to bed, I felt darker thoughts coming through, too.

I think it’s because when I’m physically sick, I put myself in situations that I used to relate to my worst periods, mentally.

When I’m at my lowest, I stay in bed, re-watch TV shows and films I’ve seen tens of times to get some sort of comfort, sob, and eat variations of takeaway food and bland scraps from the kitchen.

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When I’m physically sick, I do the same – but suddenly that’s what I’m supposed to be doing. If I try to get up and stay busy, people who care about me will worry about my health.

It’s tricky to do all of those old patterns without my brain falling back into old patterns, too.

This is the first time I’ve been physically sick since I’ve started taking medication and openly talking about my mental illness, and I was taken aback by just how much by body could send my brain back into the pit.

That’s probably because since I’ve started getting help for my mental illness, I’m a lot more in tune with how I’m feeling. I’m always keeping track of my moods and mental state, so it’s easier to see what’s triggering meltdowns.

Plus, I’m more able to deal with it. Those few days sick physically and mentally were, well, pretty awful. But I learned some lessons I’ll be able to use to make sure I stay mentally healthy even when I’m physically sick.

1. Let someone who cares about you know that you’re feeling rubbish

Going days without any human interaction is bound to send you into a negative mental health spiral.

Don’t feel weird about asking someone to take care of you – even if they can only pop by after work to bring you soup, that’ll make a huge difference.

If no one can actually come and visit, try to have a phone call or even have one person who’s going to text and check you’re eating, drinking fluids, and resting.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

2. Give yourself a routine

Meals at weird times, watching the poorest quality movies you can find on Netflix, and refusing to move from your bed.



It’s easy to fall into days that have zero structure when you’re sick. You don’t go to work, you sleep whenever you feel like it, and it’s not long before you’re up at 3am feeling poorly, miserable, and questioning everything you’re doing.

It’s boring and responsible, sorry, but do try to add some structure to your day when you’re off work, just to keep your mind busy and less likely to wander into dark places.

Don’t overload yourself with errands, but it’s worth still getting up to shower, having meals at regular times, and generally making sure your time off doesn’t become a massive blur.

3. And stick to your usual sleeping pattern

When you’re ill, rest is hugely important – but napping all day will only make you feel mentally sh*t when you’re wide awake at 3am.

Set alarms, try not to spend the entire day in bed, and if you nap, make sure it’s not for longer than an hour.

4. Get outside

Even if it’s just for five minutes.

Popping into your garden for a bit or strolling to the corner shop for more tea will stop you feeling like you’re locked up in your house, remind you that the world’s still turning outside your sickbed, and expose you to fresh air and daylight.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

5. Keep taking your meds

But be mindful that they may not be as effective if you’re throwing up or have diarrhea, and make sure they won’t cause issues with any physical sickness medication you’re taking while you’re ill.


Your best bet is to give your GP a call and go through anything you may need to know about your meds. You’ll likely be fine combining them with Lemsip, but give yourself peace of mind by checking.

Oh, and don’t just stop taking your mental health medication because you’re taking physical health medicine. Your mental health is just as important when you’re feeling poorly.

6. Only let yourself look at your work emails in scheduled windows

Seeing all the stuff that’s happening while you’re away can only be damaging.

Either everything’s going great, and your poorly brain tells you you’re absolutely useless and might as well not go back, or things are going wrong and you’ll blame yourself.

The temptation will be there, so if you can’t put off all work-related stuff while you’re off sick, at least schedule in your work focus to specific windows of time so it doesn’t take over your entire day.

7. Be your own mum

Remember when you had to take the day off school because you kept puking?

Your mum probably did all that classic, lovely mum stuff – taking your temperature, setting you up on the sofa with a blanket, giving you a sick bowl, making sure you were constantly drinking fluids, and making you comfort food.

Give yourself permission to baby yourself a bit. Treat yourself how your mum would treat you, with the highest level of care and comforting noises.

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

8. Remember that this will pass

Not to sound like that weird new age-y therapist that p*ssed you off by suggesting you walk around barefoot to get rid of your depression, but it’s important to live in the moment, dudes.


When you’re feeling like dirt, can’t breathe through your nose, and feel like you’re at your absolute lowest (crying while sitting on the toilet with re-runs of Kitchen Nightmares playing on your laptop on the floor, anyone?), remember that all the other times you were sick, you did eventually get better.

You will get out of this pit. Your body will recover and your brain will stop telling you the worst things about yourself.

View your physical and mental symptoms as passing experiences, and when you feel like they’re going to last forever, remember that they won’t.

This is a low point, but you will get better.

This article is part of Getting Better, a weekly series about my journey through getting help with my mental health. You can read all previous Getting Better posts here, and check back next Monday for an update on how everything’s going.

Chat with me on Facebook about all things mental health if you fancy, but, obviously, I am not a therapist or expert of any sort – just someone going through not-so-great stuff, mentally. Let’s get better together.

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