A chronic illness is an illness that lasts for a very long time, sometimes for a person’s entire life. Chronic ill-nesses usually develop slowly, often over the course of several years. Symptoms may come and go, varying in intensity, making many chronic illnesses difficult to diag-nose. In fact, some patients search for years for an accu-rate diagnosis.
Chronic illnesses may be progressive, getting worse over time when left untreated, like coro-nary artery disease or type 2 diabetes. Other diseases like lupus and Crohn’s disease have periods of activity and periods of relative calm. The majority of chronic ill-nesses have no cure. Even though there is no cure, chronic illnesses still need to be treated. The goals of treatment are to manage symptoms, prevent permanent damage, and stop or slow the progression of the disease. Some diseases like HIV/AIDS and cancer are gradually shifting away from being a death sentence to becoming chronic conditions.
Acute illnesses, on the other hand, have a clear begin-ning, climax, and resolution. Think about the common cold. You begin to feel sick. Your nose gets stuffy. You feel tired and achy. You cough, and your throat hurts. You run a fever. When the cold is at its worst, you go to bed. You sleep a lot, the fever breaks, and you begin to feel better. Soon you are back to normal with no lasting problems. Some acute illnesses pass with time while others can be cured with medication. In cases of acute illness, patients recover and return to normal (most of them) or they die.