Hi all. Unfortunately, I’ve been struggling with chronic health issues for a while now, but this year my symptoms started to get way worse. My symptoms are episodic (IBD) and I’m still figuring out how to deal with the unpredictability that comes with it. Whenever an episode occurs, I get very anxious because I don’t have control over the situation and I’m scared that the symptoms will get worse. I’m also dealing with emetophobia, which isn’t a great combination. The anxiety keeps getting worse with every episode and I feel like I can’t stop the feeling once it’s there.
Therefore, I’m looking for a book that will change my mindset about the situation. Especially something that will make me focus on the positive rather than negative. To give an example, when I experience symptoms, my whole day will be ruined. I’d like to be able to resist the negative thoughts and focus on positive things, and be able to make the most of the day despite the illness.
(Recommendations to go see a therapist are not necessary, since I’m already seeing one).
by honestlouise
18 Comments
Sorry to hear about your health issues. Id recommend Tuesdays with Morrie and When Breathe Becomes Air. They are both books that grapple with the meaning of life, and having a meaningful life alongside mortality
The Fourth Wing. I know, I know. Major hype which annoys a lot of people (me included).
But the protagonist has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) – which I a number of my family members have.
And as much I don’t like fantasy, DRAGONS! I actually found it more dystopian than fantasy, tbh.
Now, Iron Flame, the second in the series, I did not like nearly as much, if at all, tbh.
I think it’s awesome the role the protagonist played and how much she did in spite of her eds.
A little life, if you’re okay with dark/trauma themes. This book was healing for me.
A Short Walk Through a Wide World helped me when I had a flare up of my chronic condition recently (ironically because of travel). Bit of fantasy, bit dystopian, super fascinating concept.
Basically, the protagonist gets this weird curse/illness and if she stays in the same place too long, she’ll get sick and die.
*Man’s Search for Meaning* by Viktor Frankl
I’m sorry that you’re struggling. I have really benefited from How to Be Sick by Toni Bernhard and Living Well with Pain and Illness by Vidyamala Burch. Both are guides to using Buddhist derived practices like mindfulness to help cope with illness.
This is more of a self help book, but it has really helped me with a similar situation. Ive been reading it with my therapist.
Overcoming unwanted intrusive thoughts
*Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions* –Sabine Hossenfelder
the last lecture. this hit the spot and the most relatable book i have found so far for myself, someone who has lived with chronic conditions (plural) since 6 years old with new ones added every few years.
Green eggs and ham
Samantha Irby writes comedic essay memoirs in which her Crohn’s plays a prominent role.
Will on the Inside by Andrew Eliopolis and The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet by Jake Maia Arlow are both great middle grade books with protagonists dealing with Crohn’s disease, by authors who have the chronic illness.
I love all of Jenny Lawson’s books, I’d recommend Furiously Happy. She also has a host of health issues and she writes very candidly about dealing with those with a healthy dose of humor. She helped me learn to laugh through pain.
It’s a long journey but for me Nietzsche has been the one showing me how to live creatively with a terrible health. The man lost his father and his little brother by the age of 6, was technically blind, suffered from horrible migraines, stomach ulcer, ptsd from the 1870 war, bipolar disorder and cadasil that blasted his brain at the age of 44. And yet he spent his whole life celebrating life in its highest forms.
His lesson was: Find the little health that is resisting against the global frailty of your body. This is the great health at joyful work in you.
Hey there! I’m sorry you’re struggling. I’m seeing a lot of self-help recommendations, and if that’s your thing, go for it, but I thought I’d leave you another option as well. Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal is YA magical realism about… exactly what it says. I’m also chronically ill, and this book made me feel seen in ways that are really hard to articulate. It’s just good to see yourself in narrative, sometimes, to know you aren’t alone. The book is controversial in some of its representations of race and religion, and I agree with a lot of the criticism surrounding those aspects. Its depiction of chronic illness, though, is validating and well-put, I feel.
If it helps to hear about others struggling to deal with chronic illness, you might try The Invisible Kingdom by Meghan O’Rourke. I wish you luck!
No Cute for Being Human by Kate Bowler (does have some Christian references in it in case that’s not your thing—but not overarching).
Suleika Jaouad’s Isolation Journals e-newsletter has a lot of reflections on chronic illness. She also has an instagram account that has content in the comments section.
I do not have a book recommendation but I will say, thank god for cbd/thc gummies. I find they alleviate the breathtakingly sharp cramps, my episodes are of a shorter deration and less intense.
Discovering what foods set you off (takes a long time) and avoiding them will help immensely.
I promise it gets better. Over time, once you have cycled through better and worse a few times, when you do have an episode it will not be as emotionally draining because you will know that it always gets better.
Raynor Winn – The salt path
True story. Woman and her husband are made homeless, just after he has a devastating medical diagnosis. Having nothing left, they decided to walk a long distance footpath, despite not knowing if they were physically capable.
Uplifting book.