When a flare-up happens, it can throw a wrench in your plans. Don’t let a flare-up define your agenda. Prioritize your health and always be prepared to handle a flare-up.

Don’t Get Discouraged

Flare-ups, as frustrating as they can be, are to be expected in most chronic conditions, including Crohn’s disease, MS, rheumatoid arthritis and many more. If you’re prescribed a therapy like Tysabri, Cimzia or Remicade to help manage your symptoms, be diligent about making your regularly scheduled appointments. If you’re receiving your infusion or injection regularly and can’t seem to control your flare-ups, consider discussing with your doctor about changing the dose, frequency or therapy.

Click here for five tips to maximize the time spent at your next doctor visit.

Take an Inventory of What You’re Eating

If you’ve been lax on what you are eating, now’s the time to get back on the healthy track. Tracking what you’re eating is something that particularly helps Crohn’s/UC patients as their GI tracts can easily become inflamed and without tracking it can be difficult to pinpoint the cause.

Getting in the practice of journaling your food will not only show you ways to eat and live healthier, but easily allow you to look back and see what items you cannot tolerate — My Food Diary is offered as an app for easily mobile tracking.

Listen to Your Body

Stress, lack of sleep, and overexertion are all contributing factors to chronic condition flare-ups. If you are particularly susceptible to stress, it is important to have a regular practice of stress management, such as yoga or meditation. Sleep is incredibly important to not ignore even though restful sleep can be difficult to achieve for those with MS or RA. If your body is showing signs of being overexerted, pay attention and take the time to give it the rest its requesting.

Spend Quality Time with Friends and Family

Flare-ups are unfortunately a part of having a chronic condition, but they don’t have to define you or your plans. If you’re feeling well enough for company, take the opportunity to invite friends over or to have a low-key family night in the comfort of your own home. You can take your time with conversations, play a board game, order in some healthy dinner or enjoy a favorite movie all together.

If your condition has you struggling to make time for family and friends figure out how to “fit it all in,” watch this great TED Talk about how to gain control of your free time.