Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions – by Dr. Kate Lorig et al.

The “et al.” here is a collection of other medical professionals, and indeed the first edition of this book was based on a 5-year study they did. Since then, it’s grown as a collaborative endeavour between the listed authors and colleagues in their field who didn’t make the author list on the front cover, but did contribute research, feedback, additions, etc. This has been so comprehensive that one could argue that in essence, this whole book itself has been as-though peer-reviewed by the extent of the professional collaboration.

The authors make the case that while a lot of people are in the happy position of considering “chronic conditions” to be something suffered by other people, most of us—even most of the healthiest of us—will acquire at least one in our lifetime.

You may be wondering how the book addresses the incredible heterogeneity of chronic conditions; surely there is no one-size-fits-all advice for sufferers of things as diverse as diabetes and lupus and long COVID and osteoporosis and depression.

And the answer is that while there are sections for condition-specific advice, a lot of the book takes a “different conditions, similar symptoms” approach that notes that, in fact, self-managing these symptoms typically is an endeavor in which we find more commonalities than differences.

Nor is it your average industry professional book of “get some exercise, eat more plants, do some meditation”. Because yes, those things are good (and the book does cover them too), but that’s a little basic and is more a fair topic for a leaflet than a 418*-page tome. Instead, this book goes far beyond that, covering everything from self-advocacy in healthcare settings, to sex positions (in fact there is a whole chapter about sex and intimacy, including dealing with symptoms that occur during sex, and other ways that chronic conditions can change sex, and what can be done about that in practical terms).

*The Amazon listing currently says 344 pages, but this reviewer is distinctly looking at page 418 here, so perhaps the 344-page count got copied and pasted from a listing of an older edition.

There are also whole chapters about managing medications actively (i.e. not just doing whatever you are told without question, but actually being able to understand and make more decisions for yourself), pain management of course, the broad topic of safety and freedom (reducing the limits placed on one’s life and what one can do, where one can go, etc, and doing so safely) and so much more.

The style is highly-polished high-quality science education. It’s neither dumbed-down pop-science nor inaccessible academia. It’s clear and easy to read, and incredibly informative.

Bottom line: if you or a loved one has a chronic health condition, we recommend getting a copy of this.

Click here to check out Living A Healthy Life With Chronic Conditions, and live a health life with chronic conditions!