| Joy Selak knows what it is like to live with an | | | | Barney office, and her husband was the manager. |
| "invisible" chronic illness. She went from hating it, to | | | | Joy's symptoms of fatigue and pain kept getting |
| embracing it, to using it as a platform to help others. | | | | worse. Sometimes she had to be hospitalized. And |
| She teamed up with her doctor, Seattle | | | | people were worried she'd make a mistake that |
| rheumatologist Steven Overman, M.D., to write a | | | | could be costly. Joy was worried too. At that time, |
| wonderfully helpful book, "You Don't Look Sick!: Living | | | | she was her job. That was her identity. When her |
| Well with Chronic Illness." Our dear host of HealthTalk | | | | husband (also her boss) suggested it was time to |
| Live, Judy Foreman, also interviewed them on the | | | | tend to her health full-time, she went home and cried. |
| HealthTalk site. And I had a fascinating hour with | | | | She went from doctor to doctor and finally got the |
| them this past weekend as they joined me on my | | | | right diagnoses: interstitial cystitis and mixed |
| Patient Power radio show. The following is Joy's | | | | connective tissue disease. She then began to work |
| story: | | | | her way from depression to self-awareness to living |
| She was an investment broker at a major Smith | | | | pretty well. |