Joy Selak knows what it is like to live with an ?invisible? chronic illness. She went from hating it, to embracing it, to using it as a platform to help others. She teamed up with her doctor, Seattle rheumatologist Steven Overman, M.D., to write a wonderfully helpful book, ?You Don't Look Sick!: Living Well with Chronic Illness.? Our dear host of HealthTalk Live, Judy Foreman, also interviewed them on the HealthTalk site. And I had a fascinating hour with them this past weekend as they joined me on my Patient Power radio show. The following is Joy's story:

She was an investment broker at a major Smith Barney office, and her husband was the manager. Joy's symptoms of fatigue and pain kept getting worse. Sometimes she had to be hospitalized. And people were worried she'd make a mistake that could be costly. Joy was worried too. At that time, she was her job. That was her identity. When her husband (also her boss) suggested it was time to tend to her health full-time, she went home and cried. She went from doctor to doctor and finally got the right diagnoses: interstitial cystitis and mixed connective tissue disease. She then began to work her way from depression to self-awareness to living pretty well.

Although we talk a lot about chronic illness on HealthTalk and on my radio shows, medical ?news? tends to focus on acute illnesses and so-called ?breakthroughs.? Yet most people have chronic health concerns - the ones that usually can't be cured and we have to learn to live with. It's not the kind of stuff featured on the medical drama television shows.

That's why Joy and Steven's book stands out. It's not about a specific disease or how to be cured in 30 days. It's about a way of thinking no matter what the chronic concern is. It's an acknowledgement of the stages one goes through and how to move efficiently to the most positive one ? even when people around you can't relate to your condition or, perhaps behind your back, whisper that you did something to bring it on (stress, your divorce, etc.)

I urge you to take a look. For people who are ?stuck? in the pain of diagnosis and trying ever harder to cope, but (like the car stuck in the mud) are only sinking deeper, this is a real find.

One of Joy's tips is to give the world your gifts, even if you have been/are sick. Joy's gift is writing (http://www.joywrites.com/), and we thank her and Dr. Overman for the present!