Claire Chitham: ‘When you’re chronically ill, you get to a point where you’re willing to try anything’ – Stuff.co.nz

Im no doctor! Im a bloody actor, ok?!

Anyone who lived in New Zealand and owned a TV in the 90s and early 2000s will be familiar with Claire Chitham or perhaps more likely her Shortland Street character Waverley Wilson, who she played from the age of 16.

From cancer scares to her marriage to Nick Harrison, we watched Waverley grow up and saw her through many dramas.

What most of us didnt know was behind the scenes, Chitham was having her own real life health battle. When she was 13, she was diagnosed with Crohns, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, after suffering severe cramps which led to anaemia and drastic weight loss.

READ MORE:* What makes Fresh Eggs' Claire Chitham tick* Claire Chitham: 'Every time I ate I would be in pain'* Watch: Claire Chitham recalls her time on Shortland Street as Waverley

LAWRENCE SMITH

I was aware of was that I was so upset and stressed about certain things that I needed to be really careful that it didnt make me sick, Chitham says.

By her early twenties, Chitham, who has described herself as a Coca-Cola-drinking, afternoon-sugar-eating takeaway queen who smoked and didnt really do any exercise at that age, was paying less attention to her health and more to partying and her relentless acting role which all came crashing down when she found herself back in hospital with life-threatening levels of inflammation and the high possibility of requiring surgery to remove part of her bowel.

Chithams close call left her determined to get her health back on track and keep it that way.

And now, at 42, she is well versed when it comes to illness and wellness.

So much so that she and journalist friend Kylie Bailey have written a book, Good For You; a companion for Good For You TV, an online health and happiness hub the pair launched in 2016.

The book documents both womens health journeys and what theyve learned along the way, advocating an approach that recognises both conventional western medicine as well as alternative methods.

The intention was to create something like a coffee table book that you want to have sitting around it's not the kind of thing thats been designed to be read from cover to cover, Chitham says.

supplied

Karl Burnett and Claire Chitham starred together on Shortland Street. Chitham was just 16 when she got the role.

You might have a read of our stories, and then theres a collection of science-y things that we hope can gently educate people on how the body works, systems of the body and gut.

The second half of the book is all these tips and tricks and ideas that weve followed in our lives to try to either reach or maintain or work our way back to a place of good health.

Its not just telling a story for the sake of it, says Chitham.

I really want people to start viewing their health as something thats fun to engage with and doesn't have to be a chore.

I've been in a position before where that felt like a really big responsibility and too overwhelming and too much work, and we already have a lot going on in our lives, so I really understand how people can get frustrated and exhausted at the idea of trying to look after themselves.

LAWRENCE SMITH

I really want people to start viewing their health as something thats fun to engage with and doesn't have to be a chore.

For Chitham, this includes the ups and downs of acting life, going through a divorce in the public eye, dealing with her fathers dementia (which she writes about in the book) and of course, like the rest of us, adjusting to life in a global pandemic.

At those times I knew that I needed to deal with any emotional stuff as well, because I don't think your body will fully, properly heal if youve still got these things stored in you, she says.

For me I guess I had the benefit of being an actor I'm not scared of my emotions.

Ive been exploring and curious about my emotions from a young age and that's something in my toolbox of being an actor I have packed to explore and get to know.

So I'm aware of why I feel the way I do about things but it doesn't stop the feelings!

So things like going through my divorce and the things I speak about in the book with regards to my dad and his illness and my relationship with my family The thing I was aware of was that I was so upset and stressed... that I needed to be really careful that it didnt make me sick.

I guess that's my version of self-care. So I was actually being more careful with my physical health and making sure that I was exercising, making sure I wasn't eating s*** and that I was putting good stuff in and supplementing my body at that time, because I needed my health.

Chithams approach, and her advice to others, is to start small, doing small things you know will improve your health not just your physical health but mental, spiritual and emotional health too.

Instead of thinking you have to give up everything in your life, just try substituting one little thing a week or a month, whatever you can handle, where you actually feel like youre doing some good for yourself, she says.

And particularly when it comes to that spiritual stuff; Chitham knows its not everyones cup of tea, but stresses its all about finding balance.

I'm really aware of that in fact I have a goal of trying to take the woo woo out of wellness, she says.

I do think when youre chronically ill though, you get to a point where youre willing to try anything.

In her book, she writes: I have been given herbs and potions that made me want to puke. I have taken tiny pills in weird bottles that made me feel like I was invoking spirits.

I have had electro-magnetic bulbs moved up and down my body to balance my electrical charge.

I have had crystals and wands and heat lamps waved at me, needles stuck inside me, and hands moving energy in, on, and around me.

But Im also big on the fact that I needed my gastroenterologist and I needed the drugs to get to a point in my life where I wasnt in pain and when my pain and inflammation was managed and it was only then that I could start to even think about alternative therapies, she says.

Read the original post:

Claire Chitham: 'When you're chronically ill, you get to a point where you're willing to try anything' - Stuff.co.nz