Chronicling what living with multiple chronic conditions, past and current
challenges, and the implications as they affect our quality of life…
Quality of life is subjective and depends on so many variables, and all I can
reasonably comment on is how my own quality of life has been affected.
This is not an academic exercise but may include a few references to data
and numbers, but very little.
You may have shared experience, as you read about my lived experience,
and it is my hope that in some way it helps, as the reader; understand that
you are not alone. I am interested in hearing about your experiences too.
In my journey there is no starting point, as in a definitive date, but I may
make references to time periods, like 20 years ago or similar. My start
down this road began around 30 years ago, but feels like forever at times,
or no time flat on other days.

Where to start?
There are a lot of chronic conditions, and I hope that if you have one, you
don’t have several! In talking to several others, many of us are dealing with
multiple chronic conditions/diseases.
To name a few; I have on my personal experience list:

 Asthma
 Hepatitis C
 Autonomic Dysfunction
 Peripheral Neuropathy
 Parkinson’s Disease
Some of these conditions are considered infectious or caused by
infection, but not all. Most are not curable, except for hep C.

HCV (hepatis C) is curable for almost all affected who are living with
chronic HCV. Treatment is nearly 100% effective with one course of
pills taken daily for 8-12 weeks, one can achieve what is called SVR
(sustained virologic response) or what is now referred to as cured.
Unfortunately, none of the other conditions I have experience with
have a cure, and this can be said about a long list of conditions like
hep B (HBV) and so on. There are treatments to help manage the
progression of damage and/or symptoms of the multitude of chronic
conditions, with some of these being more effective than others,
which in my experience speaks to the variability in each of us. What
works well for you may prove to be only moderately helpful for me
and others.