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Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2017 Apr 17;12(1):71. doi: 10.1186/s13023-017-0623-3.

A window into living with an undiagnosed disease: illness narratives from the Undiagnosed Diseases Network.

Collaborators (178)

Adams CJ, Adams DR, Alejandro ME, Allard P, Ashley EA, Azamian MS, Bacino CA, Balasubramanyam A, Barseghyan H, Beggs AH, Bellen HJ, Bernstein JA, Bican A, Bick DP, Birch CL, Boone BE, Bostwick BL, Briere LC, Brown DM, Brush M, Burke EA, Burrage LC, Chao KR, Chen S, Clark GD, Cogan JD, Cooper CM, Craigen WJ, Davids M, Dayal JG, Dell'Angelica EC, Dhar SU, Dipple KM, Donnell-Fink LA, Dorrani N, Dorset DC, Draper DD, Dries AM, Eckstein DJ, Emrick LT, Eng CM, Esteves C, Estwick T, Fisher PG, Frisby TS, Frost K, Gahl WA, Gartner V, Godfrey RA, Goheen M, Golas GA, Goldstein DB, Gordon MG, Gould SE, Gourdine JF, Graham BH, Groden CA, Gropman AL, Hackbarth ME, Haendel M, Hamid R, Hanchard NA, Handley LH, Hardee I, Herzog MR, Holm IA, Howerton EM, Jacob HJ, Jain M, Jiang YH, Johnston JM, Jones AL, Koehler AE, Koeller DM, Kohane IS, Kohler JN, Krasnewich DM, Krieg EL, Krier JB, Kyle JE, Lalani SR, Latham L, Latour YL, Lau CC, Lazar J, Lee BH, Lee H, Lee PR, Levy SE, Levy DJ, Lewis RA, Liebendorfer AP, Lincoln SA, Loomis CR, Loscalzo J, Maas RL, Macnamara EF, MacRae CA, Maduro VV, Malicdan MCV, Mamounas LA, Manolio TA, Markello TC, Mazur P, McCarty AJ, McConkie-Rosell A, McCray AT, Metz TO, Might M, Moretti PM, Mulvihill JJ, Murphy JL, Muzny DM, Nehrebecky ME, Nelson SF, Newberry JS, Newman JH, Nicholas SK, Novacic D, Orange JS, Pallais JC, Palmer CGS, Papp JC, Pena LDM, Phillips JA 3rd, Posey JE, Postlethwait JH, Potocki L, Pusey BN, Robertson RBRAK, Rodan LH, Rosenfeld JA, Sadozai S, Samson SL, Schaffer KE, Schoch K, Schroeder MC, Scott DA, Sharma P, Shashi V, Silverman EK, Sinsheimer JS, Soldatos AG, Spillmann RC, Splinter K, Stoler JM, Stong N, Strong KA, Sullivan JA, Sweetser DA, Thomas SP, Tifft CJ, Tolman NJ, Toro C, Tran AA, Valivullah ZM, Vilain E, Vogel TP, Waggott DM, Wahl CE, Walley NM, Walsh CA, Wangler MF, Warburton M, Ward PA, Waters KM, Webb-Robertson BM, Weech AA, Westerfield M, Wheeler MT, Wise AL, Wolfe LA, Worthey EA, Yamamoto S, Yang Y, Yu G, Zhang J, Zornio PA.

Author information

Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.



Patients' stories of their illnesses help bridge the divide between patients and providers, facilitating more humane medical care. Illness narratives have been classified into three types: restitution (expectation of recovery), chaos (suffering and loss), and quest (unexpected positive effect from illness). Undiagnosed patients have unique illness experiences and obtaining their narratives would provide insights into the medical and emotional impact of living with an undiagnosed illness. Adults and children with undiagnosed diseases apply to be evaluated by the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN). Written illness narratives from 40 UDN applicants, including 20 adult probands who applied for themselves and 20 parents who applied for their children, were analyzed for: 1) narrative content and 2) narrative type.


Narrative content: could be grouped into three themes: 1) Expectations of the UDN: the majority felt they had no further healthcare options and hoped the UDN would provide them with a diagnosis, with the adults expecting to return to their previously healthy life and the parents wanting information to manage their child's healthcare. 2) Personal medical information: the narratives reported worsening of symptoms and some offered opinions regarding the cause of their illness. The proband narratives had few objective findings, while parental narratives had detailed objective information. 3) Experiences related to living with their undiagnosed illness: frustration at being undiagnosed was expressed. The adults felt they had to provide validation of their symptoms to providers, given the lack of objective findings. The parents worried that something relevant to their child's management was being overlooked. Narrative type: All the narratives were of the chaos type, but for different reasons, with the probands describing loss and suffering and the parents expressing fear for their child's future. The parental narratives also had elements of restitution and quest, with acceptance of "a new normal", and an emphasis on the positive aspects of their child's illness which was absent from the probands.


These narratives illustrate the chaos that coexists with being undiagnosed. The differences between the proband and parental narratives suggest that these two groups have different needs that need to be considered during their evaluation and management.


Narrative typology; Patient narratives; Undiagnosed; Undiagnosed diseases network

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