Ask HN: How do you deal with chronic illness?

Your baseline will be at a different place than someone who is healthy. You must learn it and learn to have realistic goals. You should not try to push yourself past this, it will burn you. Especially if that illness is new and you are used to how you were previously. You won't be the same, and that's alright. Don't aim for "healthy person + 10%". Instead, aim for "your reality + 10%".

What is important is to learn to aim for a little above that baseline. Push yourself in realistic ways. Hit the gym even if you don't want to. See a therapist even if it feels like a chore. Do all the thing you won't want to do. They are hard and it's okay. Especially if you were down for a long time, you probably developed bad habits. It's okay to be lazy at the start but you need to find your cruise speed.

Push yourself as hard as your illness allows. If that means only being able to go to the gym once a month and taking short walks on most weeks, then so be it. But stay active, both of mind and body.

In my case, it was stress related. I quit my job, took another job that paid more but with less stress. And everything disappeared over the course of two weeks.

I realize this doesnt work for every disease, but some are stress related.

But, unfortunately, when you are in that situation (I was), you are under a lot of pressure and making logical decisions is extremely difficult (I couldn't).

1. Try to learn what the world knows. I've read 2 books and close to 100 scientific papers ranging from 1980 up to 2020 about the condition. This helps placing the incident as a point along the timeline. You will see how people in the past coped with it, what are the most promising treatments today, and what is coming up around the corner. Also a lot of insights into what might have caused it and what changes can be made to slow it down. Also you will most likely see that the future is bright. The medicine is full of hot upcoming things. Training t-cells to fight cancer, selectively suppressing certain pathways to turn-off auto-immune responses, healing gut bacteria to get rid of sub-clinical infections, etc.

2. Find the best doctor who takes a personal interest in your case. You should be able to go to your doctor and discuss any new development, any changes you noticed, and get a reasonable advice back. The doctor will compare your case with other persons he/she is treating and will be able to give you a lot of advice, even some anecdotal wisdom.

3. In addition to your local doctor, try identifying the leading figures that are investigating the disease across the globe. They typically attend conferences which you can find online, or write blogs on some website, or other things like that. They will also respond to emails, especially after seeing that you did your homework and know about their work.

4. If the disease is manageable - do what you can to stay healthy. Eat healthier, sleep healthier, avoid stress and excess pollution. Most diseases have some individual-specific corners to them. In this case experiment until you find what works for you.

5. For personal peace of mind, think about the big picture. Do not compare yourself with others. Rather think about what you are able to achieve for this world compared with the case of not being born at all. You will find that it is substantially better, for the world and humanity, for you to be born with the condition, than to loose you. Concentrate on that and do your part, do what you want, do what you can.

In the end I think that onset of some illness might be a hidden blessing. Someone might be healthy all life, seek pleasures too much, and waste a lot of it on hedonism. A durable yet uncomfortable disease can provide direction and a boost in motivation. And if the disease can be managed by a healthy lifestyle, chances are, you will turn out to be healthier than the average person on the street.