All long-term illnesses, whatever their diagnosis, have much in common. The difficulties and challenges that come with illness, and the strategies to overcome them, are shared by most patients. Managing an illness effectively and tackling the difficulties it causes can greatly improve how you feel and your quality of life. This book identifies the challenges posed by illness and suggests a wide variety of ways in which you might meet them. Key to this is the idea of becoming expert in managing your own illness and learning how best to deal with it. The authors accept that you know more than them about how you experience it, so that rather than telling you what to do, they offer a tool box from which you may pick the strategies that best suit you. The two authors, one a person with a long-term illness and one a doctor, combine their expertise and experience to offer a practical and comprehensive guide along your own unique journey. If you have a long-term illness, or if you care for someone who does, then this is a book for you.

This book looks at the practical, emotional, and social problems shared by most people who suffer from a long-term illness, and suggests a variety of ways in which they can do something for themselves to improve the situation. It could also be very useful to family and friends, as well as for health professionals.

The problems of long-term illness or chronic pain are difficult to live with not just for the patient but close relatives, friends and carers too. This book is written with great understanding.