Living with a chronic illness
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What is chronic illness?
Chronic illness refers to a group of illnesses that are permanent or last a long time. Examples of chronic illnesses include:
Each condition has a different course and different effects. It may be that the illness slowly gets worse over time, causes permanent changes to the body or it may finally go away.
Chronic illness may effect your quality of life and management of the illness can minimise the effect it will have.
Living with a chronic illness
It is not uncommon to feel overwhelmed when you are first diagnosed with a
chronic condition. It may be the first time that you have had to think seriously about your health and about the future. Chronic illnesses may also require changes to your lifestyle by:
- introducing regular medication and/or monitoring of your body
- changes to your diet
- managing your alcohol use
There may also be the long-term impact of the illness to consider. It can be a big adjustment to make. Living with a chronic illness can be frustrating, monotonous, stressful and
depressing. It is not unusual to be frustrated by your illness and want to ignore it or rebel against it. If you are feeling this way it may be helpful to speak to your local doctor, a community health worker, counsellor or nurse. Finding Help gives you more information about what these services do. Living with a
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