When Data Renders Invisible Illnesses Visible

How ‘small’ data visualization helps complex patients be heard, seen, and believed

Imagine your body starting to fall apart. You have heart palpitations, headaches, recurrent infections, painful fingers and toes, crippling brain fog, and body aches. You’ve become sensitive to light and have started wearing sunglasses indoors. Every day seems to bring a new symptom, and your doctors can’t figure out what’s going on. Worst of all, many doctors — and even some of your close friends and family — act as though you’re just trying to get attention or that it’s all in your head.

When you finally get an appointment with the specialist you’ve been waiting for, you want to be sure to use the time well. How can you tell your complicated story and make sure the doctor understands and believes you?

An All Too Common Struggle

This situation may sound outlandish, but it’s more common than you think. There are 25–30 million people in the United States alone with “rare” diseases, at least 15 million with autoimmune diseases, 25 million with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, 10 million with Fibromyalgia, and the list goes on. Many (if not most) of these patients suffer from mysterious, rare or complicated conditions that can cause symptoms like…