By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

How do you take care of yourself when you feel overwhelmed taking care of someone with a disabling chronic illness? Can an anti-inflammatory diet help prevent migraines? What is “ableism” and how does it harm the disabled? Will they ever find a cure for long covid?

The answers to these and other questions can be found in our annual holiday gift guide. If you’re a healthcare provider, caregiver or you live with chronic pain and illness -- here are 12 books that would make great gifts over the holidays. Or you can always “gift” one to yourself.

Click on the book’s cover to see price and ordering information. PNN receives a small amount of the proceeds -- at no additional cost to you -- for orders placed through Amazon.

The Long Haul: Solving the Puzzle of the Pandemic’s Long Haulers

This timely book by Ryan Prior looks at how the Covid-19 pandemic left millions of people around the world with chronic fatigue, pain and other disabling symptoms. Many of these “long haulers” are now fighting for recognition and treatments for a puzzling new disease that could be challenging the healthcare system for decades to come.

Self-Care for Caregivers

In this handbook for caregivers, Susan White offers tips on how to maintain good physical and mental health, and how to avoid feeling angry, lonely and frustrated. Regular self-care is vital for caregivers, and means finding time to relax, rejuvenate and reconnect with others.

I’m Fine: A Practical Guide to Life with Chronic Pain

After a series of failed spinal fusions, author Toni Woodard has lived with chronic back pain for over 25 years. In this book, she describes how physical and emotional pain can impact work, relationships and mental health, and shares some simple practical lessons on how to manage pain and still enjoy life.

Raising Lazarus

The sequel to Dopesick, Beth Macy’s latest book takes a more nuanced approach to the opioid crisis, briefly acknowledging that many pain patients were harmed by the backlash against opioid medication. But Raising Lazarus primarily deals with Purdue Pharma’s corporate greed and the ongoing struggles of working-class people in Appalachia to overcome addiction and a healthcare system that doesn’t work for them.

The Migraine Relief Plan Cookbook

Author Stephanie Weaver spent years researching and interviewing migraine sufferers and healthcare providers about ways to relieve migraine pain through good nutrition. The result is this cookbook, filled with over 100 anti-inflammatory recipes for meals, snacks and drinks — all designed to help manage migraines, headaches and chronic pain.

Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment of Adhesive Arachnoiditis

It’s fair to say most doctors don’t know what adhesive arachnoiditis (AA) is, much less how treat it, which is why Dr. Forest Tennant wrote this handbook about the chronic and debilitating inflammatory disease of spinal nerves. The book will help clinicians understand the various causes of AA; how to diagnose it through lab tests, MRIs and patient symptoms; and how to treat AA through hormone therapy, good nutrition and medication.

The Nurse Practitioners’ Guide to Autoimmune Medicine

Dr. David Bilstrom wrote this book primarily to help healthcare providers diagnose and treat autoimmune disease — but patients will find it easy to understand. Chapters explore symptoms and diagnostic testing, as well as the stress, toxins, and hormone and vitamin deficiencies that cause autoimmune problems. Bilstrom takes a holistic approach to treatment, emphasizing diet and lifestyle changes over antibiotics and medication.

Wildest Hunger

The fourth in a series of paranormal crime novels by Laura Laasko, who lives with Ehlers-Danlos and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Laasko believes chronic illness is poorly represented in fiction, so many of her characters are given invisible illnesses like EDS to help educate readers about what it’s like to have a disability and manage its symptoms.

Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life

A collection of essays on living with disability by Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project. Wong is a fierce critic of “ableism” — systemic discrimination and prejudice against disabled people, who are often defined and devalued by society for what they can’t do, as opposed to what they can.

Tao Calligraphy: To Heal and Rejuvenate Your Back

Dr. Master Zhi Gang Sha introduces readers to the ancient Chinese healing art of calligraphy, which professes to transform health, relationships and all aspects of life through positive energy and spirituality. This book focuses on healing back pain — and comes with QR codes that readers can scan to access videos that will help them rejuvenate their backs. Some reviewers claim just putting the book on their backs gave them pain relief!

The Hard Sell: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Startup

Journalist Evan Hughes lays bare the inside story of Insys Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical startup that deceived insurers, corrupted doctors, and used brazen sales tactics to market Subsys, a potent and expensive fentanyl spray. The scheme made a fortune for Insys until federal investigators began looking into hundreds of overdose deaths and prosecuted company executives for drug trafficking.

The Song of Our Scars: The Untold Story of Pain

Chronic pain was a “distant, hazy concept” for Dr. Haider Warraich until he began experiencing it himself after a severe back injury. In this book, he explores the cultural and medical history of pain from ancient Greece through modern times — concluding that today’s healthcare system is broken and leaves many patients with chronic pain worse off than they were before.

These and other books and videos about living with chronic pain and illness can be found in PNN’s Suggested Reading section.