You Don't Look Sick : Living Well with Invisible Chronic Illness

You Don't Look Sick chronicles one person's true-life story of illness and her physicians compassionate commentary as they journey through the four stages of chronic illness: Getting Sick, Being Sick, Grief and Acceptance and Living Well. The authors address such practical aspects as hiring a doctor, managing chronic pain, coping with grief and loss of function, winning battles with health and disability insurers, countering the social bias against the chronically ill, and recognizing the limitations of chronic illness care and charting a path for change and more. This warmhearted resource helps you focus on building a meaningful life as opposed to a life of frustration and fear.

This book is thoroughly revised and updated based upon feedback from readers of the first edition. The authors have added a new section on Grief and Acceptance, address the passage of the Affordable Health Care Act and Dr. Overman has added practical travel tips that bring organization and focus to each phase of the journey. Designed for people at all stages of the chronic illness journey, this book is also illuminating for caregivers and loved ones.

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Joy H. Selak has lived with chronic autoimmune, musculoskeletal, and neurological conditions since the late 1980s. She speaks to patient groups nationwide about the challenges of building a menaningful life with chronic ilness. In addition, Joy is the current board president of ZACH Theatre, the premier professional theatre in Austin, Texas. She is also involved in ZACH's education programs and serves on MindPOP, an organization dedicated to providing all Austin schoolchildren with an arts rich education. She is married and her very blended family includes six grown children and ten grandchildren, so far.

Steven S. Overman, MD is a founding member of The Seattle Arthritis Clinic. He is a Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division Chief of Rheumatology and recent Director of Musculoskeletal Planning at University of Washington Northwest Hospital. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and has an MPH degree, was medical director of a Medicare health plan, is board certified in quality assurance and has been active in the American College of Rheumatology. He loves traveling and outdoor activities with his wife and three adult sons.