Viewing life with a serious illness as one more of life's challenges is helpful. Understanding that you might experience feelings of worthlessness, depression, anger and self-pity, and that it is normal to experience these feelings, helps you master coping techniques. Joining a support group for persons with chronic illness is very helpful to many patients. Professional counselling may be in order if you are unable to cope in spite of every effort to do so. Understand that you did nothing to cause your illness and that life is not always fair.
Bad things do happen to almost everyone at sometime in a lifetime.
It is how we deal with these life changes that makes the difference between a life of coping and a life of moping. Dealing with the emotional aspect of having a chronic illness is a challenge. Often the unpredictability of a serious illness makes you feel out of control of your life and well-being. This can cause anxiety for both you and your family. It is vital that persons diagnosed with, or suspected of having, an autoimmune disease consult with their physician or with the appropriate division at a major teaching hospital, to assure proper evaluation, treatment and interpretation of information contained on this site.