Greetings, today I will speak from my personal experience, after my mother tested positive for covid-19, first of all it is essential to know my mother's position on it, because this will help to understand a little how she feels right now, she like many and I include myself, said that this covid-19 was a thing invented by the Chinese to manipulate the world, however although I share part of the theory of my mother we have always been careful, she on the contrary did not, when we called her attention and told her to please not go out to meet with her friends or at least put on the mouth cover she was annoyed with us, in short she was very stubborn and did not pay us even a little bit of attention.
Which led to feelings of guilt, when the symptoms began she immediately isolated herself, she lives alone, she did not tell us that she felt bad, we communicate daily by text and I call her about every three days approximately, one day I called her and she did not answer, Then my sister went to visit her and found that my mother had a fever, dry cough, tiredness, sore throat, loss of sense of smell and taste, my mother told her "don't worry, that's tonsillitis, I feel fine". Obviously at that point we asked her to go to the doctor, as the symptoms were covid-19.
Effectively when they examined her they decided to start the treatment for covid-19, after a few days other symptoms appeared such as diarrhea, headache, skin rashes, change of color in the fingers and toes.... she is now more worried about the economic expenses than about her health, she feels guilty for having been infected and it is so much guilt that she preferred not to tell us that she felt bad, even though she knew that if she did not take care of the disease it could continue to progress and even cause death.
We talked to her, friends and family we have tried to make her feel supported, making her see that we understand that she did not want to get sick, and that obviously it is something that can happen to anyone, it is important that she feels well emotionally, as we know this disease apart from the physical symptoms is accompanied by a strong emotional burden, which also must deal with it in isolation, so we as support networks must give her encouragement to continue.
Guilt has an adaptive function which means that it is not entirely bad, but we must know how to handle it, because if we anchor ourselves in maladaptive guilt things can go wrong, which was what happened to my mother, she did not want anyone to go to take care of her, She said that she had brought this disease on herself and she had to see how she could cope with it, but to overcome it she needs everyone's support, and that is what we are working on, making her see how important it is that she tells us if she feels bad, if the symptoms worsen, if something new appears.
Thank God she has been evolving favorably and recognizes that she must take care of herself, that the virus does exist, that the symptoms are strong, with much faith we hope that soon she will be fully recovered, so let us continue to comply with the biosecurity measures, do not forget to call our family and friends and if they are going through this difficult time do not fail to give them words of encouragement.
La culpa, en pacientes con covid-19
Saludos, hoy les hablaré desde mi experiencia personal, luego de que mi madre diera positivo al covid-19, primeramente es elemental saber la posición de mi madre ante el mismo, pues esto ayudará a comprenden un poco como se siente en estos momentos, ella como muchos y me incluyo, decía que esto del covid-19 era una cosa inventada por los chinos para manipular al mundo, sin embargo aunque comparto parte de la teoría de mi madre siempre nos hemos cuidado, ella por el contrario no, cuando le llamábamos la atención y le decíamos que por favor no saliera a reunirse con sus amistades o que por lo menos se colocara el tapa bocas se molestaba con nosotros, en fin era muy terca y no nos hacía ni un poquito de caso.
Lo que conllevo a sentimientos de culpa, en el momento que le iniciaron los síntomas de inmediato se aisló, ella vive sola, no nos dijo que se sentía mal, nos comunicamos a diario por medio de textos y la llamo como cada tres días aproximadamente, un día la llame y no me atendió, al rato me escribió que estaba ocupada y por eso no contesto, luego mi hermana fue a visitarla y se encontró con que mi madre tenía fiebre, tos seca, cansancio, dolor de garganta, pérdida del sentido del olfato y del gusto, mi madre le dijo "no te preocupes eso es amigdalitis, yo me siento bien". Obviamente en ese momento le pedimos que fuera al médico, pues los síntomas eran de covid-19
Efectivamente cuando la examinaron decidieron iniciar el tratamiento para el covid-19, a los días aparecieron otros síntomas como diarrea, dolor de cabeza, erupciones cutáneas, cambio de color en los dedos de las manos y de los pies... ella en estos momentos se muestra más preocupada por los gastos a nivel económicos que por su salud, se siente culpable de haberse contagiado y es tanta la culpa que prefirió no decirnos que se sentía mal, aun y cuando sabía que si no se atendía la enfermedad podía seguir avanzando y hasta causar la muerte.
Hablamos con ella, amigos y familiares hemos tratado de que se sienta apoyada, haciéndole ver que entendemos que ella no se quería enfermar, y que obviamente es algo que le puede pasar a cualquiera, pues es importante que se sienta bien a nivel emocional, como sabemos esta enfermedad aparte de los síntomas físicos viene acompañada de una carga emocional fuerte, que además debes lidiar con ella en aislamiento, por lo cual nosotros como redes de apoyo debemos darle ánimos para continuar.
La culpa tiene una función adaptativa lo que quiere decir que no es del todo mala, pero debemos saber manejarla, pues si nos anclamos en la culpa desadaptativa las cosas pueden marchar mal, que fue lo que le paso a mi madre, no quería que nadie fuera a cuidarla, que nadie se le acercara, decía que ella se buscó esa enfermedad y ella tenía que ver como la aguantaba, pero para superarla necesita del apoyo de todos, y en eso estamos trabajando, haciéndole ver lo importante que es que nos diga si se siente mal, si los síntomas empeoran, si aparece algo nuevo.
Gracias a Dios ha ido evolucionando de manera favorable y reconoce que debe cuidarse, que el virus si existe, que los síntomas son fuertes, con mucha fe esperamos que pronto este totalmente recuperada, así que continuemos cumpliendo las medidas de bioseguridad, no olvidemos llamar a nuestros familiares y amigos y si están pasando por este difícil momento no dejen de darles palabras de aliento.