Disabling illnesses

• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, affects the nerve cells that control voluntary muscles. Little by little, these muscles receive the brain's commands less and less well, weaken and waste away. Walking, gripping, sp… View the explanations
• Cancer (in treatment) Being in cancer treatment means going through a period in which the body receives demanding care, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, or surgery, while continuing, as much as possible, to live one's life. This pha… View the explanations
• Chronic Hepatitis C Chronic hepatitis C is an infection of the liver by a virus that settles in over the long term. It often works in silence, sometimes for years, and can harm the liver well before giving any visible sign.Tiredness is the … View the explanations
• Coeliac disease Coeliac disease is a lasting immune reaction to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. With every intake, even a tiny one, the body attacks the wall of the small intestine, which ends up absorbing nutrients po… View the explanations
• Congenital Heart Diseases A congenital heart condition means a heart that formed differently before birth. Depending on the form, it ranges from a discreet particularity, followed only from time to time, to a heart that has required several opera… View the explanations
• COPD COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is a lasting breathing difficulty linked to a progressive narrowing of the bronchial tubes. Air still gets in, but comes out poorly, and every effort demands more breath. It s… View the explanations
• Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammation that can affect any part of the digestive tract, from the mouth down to the gut. It moves in waves: calm periods when life gets back to normal, then flare-ups when abdominal pain… View the explanations
• Cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis is a genetic condition that makes the body's normally fluid secretions too thick. Mucus builds up mainly in the lungs and hampers the digestive system, which calls for regular care to keep the airways cle… View the explanations
• Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Ehlers-Danlos syndrome brings together several forms of the same genetic particularity: the tissue that supports and connects the body, what is called connective tissue, is more fragile and more stretchable than average.… View the explanations
• Endometriosis Endometriosis develops when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus settles elsewhere in the belly, around the organs. With each cycle, this tissue reacts, bleeds and inflames the areas where it has taken hold, which … View the explanations
• Epilepsy Epilepsy shows up through seizures that occur when the electrical activity of the brain races momentarily. Contrary to the widespread image, not all seizures are spectacular: some come down to an absence of a few seconds… View the explanations
• Fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia combines diffuse pain throughout the body, intense tiredness and sleep that does not really restore. The usual tests show nothing abnormal, which makes recognition long and sometimes draining. The pain, for … View the explanations
• Heart failure Heart failure happens when the heart no longer sends out enough blood to keep up with the body's needs. The organ keeps beating, but with less reserve: the slightest effort, going up a flight of stairs, carrying a bag of… View the explanations
• HIV/AIDS HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system, the defences that protect the body from infections. Managed with a daily treatment, it stays under control today: the amount of virus in the blood becomes undetectable, the … View the explanations
• Kidney failure Kidney failure means kidneys that filter the blood less and less well. The waste and water the body should be getting rid of build up, which shows as stubborn fatigue, sometimes nausea and rising blood pressure. For a lo… View the explanations
• Long Covid Long Covid refers to symptoms that set in or come back in waves long after a Covid infection, sometimes after a mild form. The virus itself disappeared weeks or months ago, but the body keeps running in slow motion.No tw… View the explanations
• Multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis concerns the nervous system: in places, the sheath that surrounds the nerve fibres becomes damaged, and the messages between the brain and the rest of the body pass less well. Depending on the areas af… View the explanations
• Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease changes the way the brain triggers and adjusts movements. The movement remains possible, but it starts later, smaller, more rigid, and the person often has to put in an attention that others do not ne… View the explanations
• Rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis affects the joints in a lasting way: the system that usually protects the body turns on the joints themselves, especially those of the hands, wrists and feet. The inflammation makes them swell, warms… View the explanations
• Severe Asthma Severe asthma is a form of asthma that stays hard to control even with a well-followed background treatment. Where many people with asthma steady their breathing with a few puffs from an inhaler, the person concerned liv… View the explanations
• Sickle cell disease Sickle cell disease is a particularity of the blood passed on from birth. Red blood cells, usually soft and round, sometimes take on a long, rigid shape that slows down circulation. What stands out most about it is how u… View the explanations
• Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Systemic lupus erythematosus is a condition where the immune system, meant to defend the body, turns against its own organs: the skin, joints, kidneys or heart can be affected, in combinations that vary a great deal from… View the explanations
• Type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition: the immune system destroys the cells in the pancreas that make insulin, the hormone that lets sugar enter the cells. Without insulin supplied from outside, sugar builds up in t… View the explanations
• Type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes sets in when the body no longer uses the insulin it produces properly, which is called insulin resistance. Sugar stays in the blood instead of feeding the cells, and ends up tiring the blood vessels, the … View the explanations
• Ulcerative colitis Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammation that affects the large intestine and the rectum. It shows up through flare-ups, with sometimes painful diarrhoea, an urgent need to go to the toilet and marked tiredness, inte… View the explanations

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