You get sick. You go to the doctor. The doctor finds out what's wrong and tells you how to fix it. You get better. This is the model of sickness that most of us grew up with. This is the model of acute illness.
But for millions of people the model is very different. You get sick. Symptoms come and go. You go to the doctor. Lots of tests are ordered. There is no clear diagnosis. One or more treatments are tried. You are still sick. More tests. More process of elimination. Finally, you have a diagnosis! You have a name for what ails you. The doctor prescribes. You are still sick. You have a chronic illness.
There are 304,000,000 Americans (2000 census) and 133,000,000 of them have chronic conditions. (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) 3 out of 10 twenty year olds today will end up on disability. (Social Security Administration)
For those millions of people with chronic conditions, management not cure is the name of the game. We have no model for coping with chronic illness. We don't know how to be sick well.
But there is hope. Many people with chronic illnesses, myself included, have learned to manage our diseases. We have learned that although we have the disease, the disease does not have us.
You can take control of your life and your health. You may not be cured, but you can certainly live your best life. You can live successfully with your chronic illness.
