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Description
About the Book
In this much-needed guide, popular blogger Ilana Jacqueline writes poignantly about her experience living with two debilitating, yet invisible autoimmune diseases, and offers sound advice and practical tips for living with a chronic illness or disability that others can't see. Readers will learn to deal with doctors who don't understand, are of little or no help, or outright dismiss their condition. They will also learn how to navigate friendships, family, relationships, work, and school; overcome body image and self-esteem issues; become their own best advocate; create a support system; and live an engaged and values-driven life.Book Synopsis
"An important antidote to the dogmatic 'kale and vitamins' tone of most 'self-help' literature."
--Alexa Tsoulis-Reay, senior writer, New York magazine
Do you live with a chronic, debilitating, yet invisible condition? You may feel isolated, out of step, judged, lonely, or misunderstood--and that's on top of dealing with the symptoms of your actual illness. Take heart. You are not alone, although sometimes it can feel that way.
Written by a blogger who suffers from an invisible chronic illness, Surviving and Thriving with an Invisible Chronic Illness offers peer-to-peer support to help you stay sane, be your own advocate, and get back to living your life. This compelling guide is written for anyone suffering with an illness no one can see--such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), Lyme disease, lupus, dysautonomia, or even multiple sclerosis (MP).
This book will tell you everything you need to know about living with a complicated, invisible condition--from how to balance sex, dating, and relationships to handling work and school with unavoidable absences. You'll also learn to navigate judg-y or skeptical relatives and strangers and--most importantly--manage your medical care.
Suffering from a chronic illness doesn't mean you can't live an active, engaged life. This book will show you how.
Review Quotes
"An intimate, humorous, and defiantly real guide to living with chronic illness. Jacqueline ushers the reader with intimate and humorous examples drawn from her everyday life--from passing out in parking lots, to the practicalities of dating and managing relationships, to the pain and frustration of relapse and pill diets while reminding the reader at every turn: Never let your illness define you. An important antidote to the dogmatic 'kale and vitamins' tone of most 'self-help' literature."
--Alexa Tsoulis-Reay, senior writer, New York magazine--Alexa Tsoulis-Reay
"Just as in her blog, Ilana Jacqueline continues to educate chronically ill patients with a sharp wit, insightful information, and, most of all, hope. I would buy this for anyone going through life's journey with the extra burden of ill health to give them effective tools and stories that will support them, and of course, a few good belly laughs."
--Carri Levy, creator of the Behind the Mystery series for Lifetime TV--Carri Levy
About the Author
Ilana Jacqueline is author of the award-winning blog Let's Feel Better. She started the blog at age twenty-two to share her humbling, hilarious, and heartfelt experiences coping with chronic illness. From full-contact fights with skull-cramping migraines to making peace with being a human pincushion, she writes boldly and unabashedly about breaking down, getting back up, and pulling off the bandage that is "coming out" about the shame and frustration of living with chronic illness.
Jacqueline is a health journalist and professional patient advocate whose work has included writing for publications like Cosmopolitan and The Huffington Post on the patient experience, as well as working for health care companies and patient advocacy groups as a consultant and advisor. She has a personal connection with the patient community, as she has been a patient with complex chronic illnesses throughout her life, including immune deficiency, dysautonomia, gastroparesis, and an adhesion disorder. As a health advocate and regularly interviewed expert on chronic illness, Jacqueline looks to help patients advocate for themselves at their most vulnerable moments. She is currently working on multiple projects to help connect chronically ill patients with remote employment opportunities, financial and emotional support, as well as creating new programs for patient empowerment and awareness efforts. Jacqueline lives with her biochemist husband and literally the cutest apricot poodle you've ever seen in Boca Raton, FL.
