"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you must stop and look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do." Eleanor Roosevel

If you have been recently diagnosed with a chronic/life threatening conditions, it is common to experience a variety of emotions including: fear, disbelief, numbness, anger , grief, loss, or frustration. While you may want to just "fix it," this may not be an option. Learning to "deal with it" or "adapting" may be frustrating and even difficult, but it can improve the quality, as well as the length of your life.

Whether you've just received a diagnosis, have lived with a chronic condition for a long time, or have been living with an illness and recently learned there have been some significant changes, this website has been developed to help you find resources in your community.

In addition to this website CCIN has developed a booklet for New Hampshire and Vermont residents called "How to Get What You Need: A Resource Guide for those living with Chronic/life threatening conditions." Your state guide, will help you understand what type of issues you might experience, where to go, phone numbers and lots of other helpful tips.

Links for Living with Chronic Conditions

• Stanford University Medical Center's On Line Disease Management Program: The program has been designed for those living with heart disease, lung disease or Type 2 diabetes. This free, six-week online workshop is designed to help participants learn skills to manage their chronic disease and to maintain or increase their activity levels. You can phone toll-free 1-800-366-2624.

• Coping with Chronic Illness: This is adapted from the book After The Diagnosis by Dr. JoAnn LeMaistre.

• Coping With Autoimmunity

• Coping with Chronic Illness from the Cleveland Clinic

• Coping with chronic illness: Notes from a Lecture by Dr. Michael Vallis

• PBS - Who Cares: Chronic Illness in America -- Resources

• Chronic Illness Tips

• Living with Chronic Illness by Elizabeth Holtzman

• Ten Resolutions: For people coping withchronic pain or illness, their family, caregivers and friends. Provides tips, as well as on-line support groups and e-mail list.