Another day with Parkinson's

Life is hard - even if you don't suffer from ill health, in today's world, it's not easy to make ends meet, and to uphold a certain standard of living. With the economy worldwide in poor shape, a disabled person, often on a small disability pension; times can be very hard. There are so many extra expenses when chronically ill, and if one were to chart all these additions, it would be quite shocking, as they add up to a tidy sum. The financial side is generally overlooked, and no one, unless in your shoes, knows how difficult life can be. To give you a few simple examples:

Purchasing prescription medications.

Purchasing additional medications that require no prescription which are considered "alternative" or "holistic" medicines and are usually highly expensive.

Any special equipment, walking sticks, crutches, wheel chair, hand rails for bathroom, raised toilet seat, electric bed, heating pads, good shoes or house slippers with proper support.

Loss of spouse's income when spending the day in hospital, not counting all the doctor's appointments, time spent going to the pharmacy, plus car parking charges in medical centres and hospital car parks.

Often little or no time to take food and drink with to hospital, one ends up spending money in the hospital cafeteria.

Much time is spent contacting various authorities when chronically ill and in need of assistance. The amount of running around, bureaucratic forms that have to be filled out by not just your doctor, but an array of health officials,  takes precious time, and again, if the person who is ill cannot get to these offices, then the spouse who brings in the sole income for the family, has to once again take time off work.

Although the saying "money can't buy you health" is true, but having money makes life much easier and  just a little less fraught when chronically ill by alleviating the financial burden.

Take a look at my latest article entitled "The Happy Gene" on The Huffington Post"