As I sat in my car this morning struggling to find the strength to fight the battles I need to fight today I thought of this young women. I thought about what my life was like at her age. At that age I was working almost full time and going to school full time. I was partying with friends, I was looking for romance, I was trying new things, and I was having the time of my life. I can not imagine what it would’ve been like to get sick. I become sick when I was 25 and was much wiser than the person I had been a few years earlier, and I still barely managed to cope in the beginning. It’s taken time and a lot of support from friends and family to pull me out of the hole I was in, a hole which is often easy for me to start slipping back into. I’m one of the lucky ones. I have never considered suicide myself but there have been times when the pain was so severe and my separation from other human beings so complete that I knew and understood why people with chronic diseases kill themselves.
I’ve talked about suicide before. I don’t know that I have much more to add except that people with invisible illness are not going away. This problem is not going away and it’s time for people to start caring. It’s time for doctors to stop passing off the difficult patients whose cases are “too difficult” to deal with. It’s time for the healthcare system to be fixed so there can be thorough treatment for these individuals. I’ll say it again, something needs to be done; there needs to be a place in the healthcare system for us because we are not going away.
Thank you for sharing this. Invisible illness is on the rise. Everywhere I go I wonder if that person or that one are living in constant pain.. you can never tell. I look normal and if you could feel what I feel …oh but then you do Chronic Mom. Hope you have a good weekend.
I saw someone park in the handicap parking this morning who looked perfectly fine on the outside. It made me wonder what invisible illness she had, how she was coping. and if she every got harassed for using the handicapped space. Overall it just made me think we never know who is suffering, there are so many of us.
Very true. I’m always happy smiling no one ever knows I’m in constant pain. I have my days where I just can’t give anymore. It’s hard for people to understand what an invisible illness is all about. Dr. Appointments are so disheartening as much as I want to find a solution they just don’t “see” anything wrong. They even say well chronic pain is just something that doesn’t have a cure. I’ve grown a little mentally stronger because I’ve discovered when you live in constant pain your tolerance goes up a little more each time. However sometimes you feel like pain is a never ending story and you wish you could just have a decent sleep without a sharp needle pain every night. I pray for all of us with this invisible illness no one knows we go through.
I saw someone park in the handicap parking this morning who looked perfectly fine on the outside. It made me wonder what invisible illness she had, how she was coping. and if she every got harassed for using the handicapped space. Overall it just made me think we never know who is suffering, there are so many of us.
It is sad to me that nobody seemed to notice that she was suffering so horribly, but then again chronic pain sufferers are so good at hiding their pain there is almost no way to know. It is just unfortunate that illness is one of the leading causes of suicide, yet we still do not have any place in the health care system for people with chronic conditions. Like you said, we are NOT going away. They need to figure something out and quick!
I thought the same thing, I do have to wonder why people don;t notice these things. I did realize though that very few people in my real life know what is going on with me (unless they read my blog). I'm so good at faking I could be suicidal and the only one who would know would be my husband. That made me sad to think about, and my new resolution is to be more authentic with people, even if it's not pretty.