6. AIDS

Most of us know by now that AIDS is the virus which develops when the HIV virus is left unmanaged and untreated. What most of us don’t know is just how painful the effects of this virus truly are. Once a person has been diagnosed with AIDS, their immune system has weakened to the point where catching a cold or getting a splinter may spell death, and the severity of any illness’ effects are amplified by their body’s lack of ability to fight it off. People who have the virus are able to live much longer now than they used to, but it is still a very slow and very agonizing path to passing away.

5. Addiction

Addiction is, in fact, a disease; and an extremely painful one, at that. The above photo depicts mugshots of a repeat methamphetamine offender— one at the early stage of her addiction, and another after having lost herself in the addiction. Having a dependency on any substance causes physical, mental, and emotional pain, most of which manifests during one’s withdrawal from the substance in question. Some have described their addictions as them being “a prisoner of” their substance of choice, and it’s a prison from which they cannot escape. Awareness has been raised over the past couple of decades in hopes of helping addicts find cost-effective rehabilitative treatment and supportive counseling to aid in the prevention of relapse, however, unlike the other diseases on this list, an addict must have the necessary willpower to seek treatment, or they will ultimately continue the vicious and painful cycle which eventually leads to their demise.

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