You Don't Look Sick: Living Well With Invisible Chronic Illness
(Chronic Illness)
Selak, J.H., Hadworth Medical Press, 2005
ISBN 0-789024-49-7
"Coming to terms with this reality was a lot like accepting the death of a loved one."
You Don’t LOOK Sick!: Living Well with Invisible Chronic Illness chronicles a patient’s true-life accounts and her physician’s compassionate commentary as they take a journey through the three stages of chronic illness—Getting Sick, Being Sick, and Living Well. This resource helps you focus on building a meaningful life that contains illness as opposed to a life of frustration and fear. Designed for patients in the beginning stages of chronic illness, this book will also be illuminating for caregivers and loved ones.
From the book:
"I’ve learned that having a chronic illness is not a prison sentence. It does not mean I must spend the rest of my life feeling depressed and angry, locked away from the world inside my little sick box. It does not mean that I am useless and no longer have any gifts to share, but it may mean that I must develop some new ones."
You Don’t LOOK Sick! addresses practical aspects of chronic illness, such as:
- hiring a doctor
- managing chronic pain
- coping with grief and the loss of function
- winning battles with health and disability insurers
- countering the social bias against the chronically ill
- recognizing the limitations of chronics illness care and charting a path for change
In You Don’t LOOK Sick!: Living Well with Invisible Chronic Illness, you will find stories, dialogue, humor, examples, and analogy of the three stages to illustrate a challenging but navigable journey. You will also find suggested reading materials for learning to live well, medical internet resources, illness-specific web sites, names and addresses of national associations, and a bibliography of medical books by topic. The short chapters and straightforward language of the book will be helpful for readers who are weary and dispirited.
NOTE: This book is only for loan to our Western Australian members.
