Chronic Illness: Popular Literature

There has been an alarming rise in illnesses that defy diagnosis through clinical tests or have no known cure. Millions of people, especially women, with illnesses such as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, and chronic fatigue syndrome face skepticism from physicians and the public alike. Through research and patient narratives, health writer Laurie Edwards explores patient rights, the role of social media in medical advocacy, the origins of our attitudes about chronic illness, and much more.

A young journalist's awakening to chronic illness, weaving together personal story and reporting to shed light on living with an ailment forever.

For as long as author Porochista Khakpour can remember, she has been sick. For most of that time, she didn't know why. Several drug addictions, some major hospitalizations, and over $100,000 later, she finally had a diagnosis: late-stage Lyme disease.

Elisabeth Tova Bailey shares an inspiring and intimate story of her encounter with a common woodland snail. While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. As a result, she discovers the solace and sense of wonder that this mysterious creature brings and comes to a greater understanding of her own place in the world.

Chronic illness creates many challenges, from career crises and relationship issues to struggles with self-blame, personal identity, and isolation. Toni Bernhard addresses these challenges and many more, using practical examples to illustrate how mindfulness, equanimity, and compassion can help readers make peace with a life turned upside down.

The last thing Lucy ever expected was to end up as another teen statistic Sixteen-year-old Lucy gets diagnosed with HIV. Off script and without the comforts of her simple high school problems, Lucy must figure out how to live and even embrace a life she thought was all but over.

Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak to live. So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. Aza is lost to our world and found, by another. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power but as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war between Magonia and Earth is coming. In Aza's hands lies fate of the whole of humanity, including the boy who loves her.

Two teens fall in love with just one minor complication--they can't get within a few feet of each other without risking their lives because they both have Cystic Fibrosis.

As if her parents' divorce and sister's departure for college weren't bad enough, fourteen-year-old Ricky Bloom has just been diagnosed with a life-changing chronic illness.

Brianna gets the lead in the Thanksgiving school play-she'll be Hero the Hen! At the dress rehearsal, she has a bad coughing attack and feels a tightness in her chest. A doctor diagnoses Brianna with asthma. Brianna begins to learn about her disease and how to manage it.

Moon is everything Christine isn't. She's confident, impulsive, artistic . . . and though they both grew up in the same Chinese-American suburb, Moon is somehow unlike anyone Christine has ever known. Moon tells Christine her deepest secret: that she has visions, sometimes, of celestial beings who speak to her from the stars. Who reassure her that earth isn't where shereally belongs. Moon's visions have an all-too-earthly root, however, and soon Christine's best friend is in the hospital, fighting for her life.