Chronic disease is a condition that lasts for a very long time and is usually not curable, although some diseases can be controlled through lifestyle (diet and exercise) and medication. Some of the more well-known chronic diseases are diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, HIV/AIDS, lupus, etc.

1. List of common chronic diseases

Chronic disease is a long-term health condition that may not have a cure. Some common chronic illnesses include:

• Alzheimer’s disease  and dementia
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Cancer
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Crohn’s disease
• Cystic fibrosis
• Diabetes
• Epilepsy
• Heart disease
• HIV/AIDS
• Mood disorders (bipolar, psychosis, and depression)
• Multiple sclerosis
• Parkinson’s disease

Living with a chronic illness can make you feel very uncomfortable, lonely, stuck, depressed, and even hopeless.

Heart disease is a chronic disease.

2. How to live with a common chronic illness

2.1. Talk to others who have the same illness

You can share and learn from people who feel the same way as you, they can help you cope with the disease. You can do the following:

• Find a support group in your area for people with chronic illness like you. You will need organizations and a medical facility to run this support group.
• Find an online group that has online blogs and discussion groups on a variety of topics, you can find support this way.

2.2. Share with others about your chronic illness

When you have a chronic illness, you may find it difficult to tell others about your condition. You may even think that they will not want to know about it, or that they will judge you. You may feel ashamed of your illness. These are normal emotions when you first find out you have a chronic illness. But the reality is that telling people is easier than thinking about telling them.

People may react in one of the following ways:

• Surprise.
• Worry: some people may be worried about your condition, they may not know what to say, or they may not say the right thing. Let them know that there is no right way to react and there is no perfect thing to say.
• Helpful: they may know other people with the same illness so they know what is going on with you.

You may feel like everything is fine, so you don’t tell people about your chronic illness. But at some point, you will feel really sick or you will have less energy. You may not be able to work hard anymore, you need to take a break to take care of yourself. At that time, you will want people to know about your illness so they can understand what is happening to you.

Telling people about your illness will help you be safer. Because if you unfortunately encounter an emergency, you will want people to come and help you. Help will be more effective if they know what disease you have, for example:

• If you have epilepsy, people around you should know how to handle it when you have a seizure, epileptic seizure.
• If you have diabetes, your loved ones should know what the symptoms of hypoglycemia are and what they should do to save you. Because hypoglycemia in diabetic patients is a dangerous complication, if not detected and treated promptly, it can be life-threatening.

2.3. Let people help you

Family members, friends, neighbors may always be willing to help you. Let them know how they can help. Sometimes all you need is someone to talk to.

You may not always want people to help you. You may not want to take their advice. If you feel comfortable, talk to them. If you don’t want to talk about your illness, you can ask them to respect your privacy.

If you have joined a support group, you can bring family members, friends or other people with you to group meetings. This can help them understand more about your illness and how to support you.

If you are involved in an online discussion group, you can let your family or friends see some of the posts to help them understand.

If you live alone and don’t know where to turn for support, you can do the following:

• Ask your healthcare provider where you get your care where you can find support.
• Find out where volunteers are needed.
• Find out if there are any talks or classes about your condition in your area. Some hospitals and clinics may have these.

Relatives will help patients get better treatment.

2.4. Get help with daily tasks

There may come a time when you need help with everyday tasks like taking care of yourself, getting to appointments, shopping, or doing household chores. Keep a list of people you can ask for help. Also learn to be comfortable accepting help from others. There are many people just like you, and they are happy to help or ask about their health.

If you don’t know anyone who can help you, talk to your local health facility or hospital to see how they can help you.

In short, chronic diseases are long-term conditions that require ongoing medical care, combined with limiting daily habits that increase the risk, because some bad habits that increase the risk of chronic diseases are exposure to tobacco smoke, poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, and alcohol abuse.

Regular health check-ups are one of the ways to detect and prevent diseases early, especially for patients with signs of cardiovascular disease, thereby having a treatment plan with optimal results.