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Long term health conditions >> Women 19-23 >> Sophie - Interview 15 >> Explains her condition and her daily care routine and says how hard it is sometimes to get a good balance between her activities and the looking after

Sophie was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when she was 8 years old. She was taught by her parents to do all her own medications and treatments and encouraged to do sport. She is the Social secretary for her university Netball Cub. Sophie has a positive approach to her condition and says that she lives life to the full.

Long term health conditions >> Women 19-23 >> Elizabeth - Interview 01 >> She says that pacing and accepting her condition and limitations have helped her cope better with it.

Elizabeth was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of 16. She now works for a Department of Health funded project. She says that as a teenager she 'rebelled' against her condition and stopped taking her painkillers. Her attitude now is to work with her condition rather than against it. She takes regular exercise and does a lot of walking.

Long term health conditions >> Men 19-23 >> William - Interview 22 >> He says that he knows and respects his limits and when in pain, he just rests until he feels better. He hasn't had a sickle cell crisis for the last t

William has lived with sickle cell anemia since birth. His mother and father have both got the sickle cell trait but his sister is not affected. When he was a child he remembers that he was in hospital many times. His condition is much improved now that he is older. He takes penicillin and folic acid everyday and says that he does not need to take medication but he does it because his aim is to prevent crisis.

Long term health conditions >> Men 19-23 >> William - Interview 22 >> He says that he knows and respects his limits and when in pain, he just rests until he feels better. He hasn't had a sickle cell crisis for the last t

Long term health conditions >> Women 19-23 >> Jodie - Interview 18 >> She 'rebelled' against her cystic fibrosis when she was a teenager and acknowledges that it is important to have someone nagging you and pointing you

Jodie has cystic fibrosis (CF) and was diagnosed with CF related type 1 diabetes in her early teens. Of the two conditions she finds her diabetes the harder to control particularly because she has a very active life. She finds that the specialist care she received is brilliant. She remains thankful for all the nagging she got from her Dad and her children's consultant.

Long term health conditions >> Women 19-23 >> Helene - Interview 04 >> She has learnt from experience about taking care of herself. Says that when you are a teenager you are trying to be like everyone else but your body i

Helene has had sickle cell anemia since birth. Sickle cell is when the blood cells are shaped like a half moon and they cannot pass through the veins so easily and this causes pain in, for example, elbows and knees. Helene takes penicillin and folic acid everyday and needs to avoid getting cold.

Long term health conditions >> Women 19-23 >> Sara - Interview 27 >> Had night time leg splints for her arthritis but found it hard to wear day time splints on her wrist. Wished she had kept doing her daily shoulder exe

Sara was diagnosed in 1990 with Juvenile chronic arthritis. She has had a finger tendon repair & a hip replacement. Current medication Anti-TNF Humira injected 2/month, indometacin, co-codamol & Lansoprazole. Says that with her current medication she has more energy to do things like exercise. She attended a Tai Chi course for people with arthritis and really enjoyed it.

Long term health conditions >> Women 16-18 >> Mica - Interview 16 >> She now knows more about how to control pain. Her mother has played a pivotal role in helping her to keep active and not to dwell on her pain in times

Mica has lived with sickle cell anemia since birth. Her Mum and her brother also have the condition. Her mother has played an important role in helping Mica and her brother to develop a positive attittude towards having sickle cell anaemia. Mica says that she now feels in control of her condition.

Long term health conditions >> Women 24+ >> Lynn - Interview 28 >> The psychologist helped her to understand the relationship between pain and emotions and how techniques such as breathing exercises can help to contro

Lynn has lived with chronic pain for the last fourteen years. She experienced the pain before and during her periods. At first health professionals thought that she had endomietrosis. She had several exploratory tests and treatments, but she still does not have a clear diagnosis. She describes her condition as 'a chronic pelvic pain sufferer; or as a chronic lower pain sufferer with a black hole'.

Long term health conditions >> Women 19-23 >> Jodie - Interview 18 >> She needs to take care of two chronic conditions: type 1 diabetes and cystic fibrosis. Of the two she says that she finds the control of her diabetes

Long term health conditions >> Men 19-23 >> David - Interview 08 >> He does not like relying on others to help with daily activities but knows when he needs help. Learning to drive has improved his life.

David has had twenty-seven operations in twenty-three years - the main ones including knee and hip replacement, leg straightening and spinal fusion. This meant that he has missed a great deal of schooling but he has always been determined to continue with his education. He finished his GCSE's, did his A' levels and has recently finished his university degree.

Publication date: October 2007 Last updated: February 2012

Review date: February 2014

Various long-term health conditions can occur in young people. We interviewed 30 young people about their experiences of different chronic illnesses. Select from the key topics below, choose from the full list of topics on the right hand side of this page, or explore all the interviews by clicking on people's stories below.

Sophie says: “I've had a good weekend despite my lungs not feeling too good. My boyfriend's training to climb Mount Kilimanjaro so we have been hiking!”
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