My Invisible Illness

Sick
Originally uploaded by ghindo

It can be easy to know what to do to get better if you have a health condition with visible symptoms.

If you notice that your nose is a little stuffy you could relieve your symptoms with cold medicine, tissue, or a little steam. However, there are many people in society today that are facing the much more complicated task of relieving invisible symptoms. Whether you have visible or invisible symptoms, the result is the same – you don’t feel well. The difference with an invisible illness is that your symptoms are not visible to other people, which means that others usually assume that you are feeling well and expect you to live your life as such. For example, if you were facing a physical condition with visible symptoms such as a broken bone, people would see your cast and would not necessarily expect you to participate in social activities while you were ill. When you are facing a physical condition with invisible symptoms such as arthritis, other people might see you as well and expect you to participate like normal. Anyone with an invisible illness would need to learn to communicate their needs more so than someone with a visible illness.

Many invisible illnesses are a chronic illness which means that they can become long term problems. Invisible illnesses can include:

- AutoImmune Disorders such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Rheumatoid arthritis.

- Chronic Pain from injuries.

- Dietary Disorders such as Diabetes, Metabolic syndrome, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

- Neurological Disabilities such as Multiple Sclerosis and Epilepsy.

- Psychiatric Disabilities such as Depression, Bipolar Disorder and Anxiety.

- Multiple Chemical Sensitivity or Food Allergies.

If you know anybody who may have one of these illnesses, or any other invisible illness, you might be aware of the challenges anyone with invisible disability might face.

You can read more about “invisible disability” here, but I can tell you from personal experience that the symptoms of many invisible illnesses can include pain, fatigue, dizziness, headaches, weakness, etc. Every invisible illness can have its own hallmark symptoms as well. Diabetics can experience shakes, cold sweats, nausea, etc. and Diabetes usually contributes to more invisible illness such as Heart Disease and Kidney Failure. Anxiety can lead to palpitations, hyperventilation, and fainting spells; and AutoImmune Disorders could subject you to more colds and the flu because of impaired immune function. Dealing with symptoms like this on a long term basis can lead to depression, yet another invisible illness. And because people don’t realize that you are ill, they might mistake the fact that you don’t feel well for being anti-social, cynical, or negative. Those of us who face invisible illness have a whole range of issues to confront besides the fact that we are ill.

This is why it’s comforting to know that there is support available for anyone with an invisible disability.

When I first realized that I had an invisible health condition there weren’t many resources available for me to learn how to manage my condition. I just knew that I had a bunch of symptoms and I didn’t feel good. On the outside everything looked fine, but on the inside I had pain, nausea, and felt weak. I seemed to catch every cold and flu that came around, plus had headaches and was chronically fatigued. My doctor tried many times over the years to prescribe me medication like birth control pills and anti-depressants. I just felt that I didn’t want to take a pill for my whole life, and I felt like I got sick without a pill I wanted to get better without one. I’ve done my homework to find out how to manage my condition the best that I can so that I can still function and participate in life. I still have my bad days, but there are more good days than bad now that I know how to manage my illness better. Of course I am going to discuss the different options there are for managing your health here on this blog; but I have found that there is a whole community of people with invisible illness that are looking for resources as well.

Here are some of the websites that I have found online that are dedicated to improving the lives of those with an invisible disability:

- The Invisible Disabilities Advocate and the IDA Stuffstore.

- The Invisible Chronic Illness Experience Organization

- The But You Don’t Look Sick Website

- MeetUp.com Chronic Illness MeetUp Groups

- Invisible Illness Week on MySpace

Plus you can visit Helium.com and read articles written by people like me who have an invisible disability.

It’s sure to be an interesting read, because it’s an interesting life! I never know how I am going to feel on any given day, so it’s hard to plan much in advance. I truly live my life day by day. Symptoms arise and I have to deal with them as they come. Over the years being ill has affected my education, my career, and my family life. Fortunately I have had the will to work with what I’ve got to live a good life. Google, WikiPedia, and Amazon have helped in the education department and I moved from working for others to working for myself so that I could control my own schedule. My family life is improving as they are more understanding of my illness and I am more understanding of how difficult it is for them to deal with me. Where there is a will, there is a way someone once said, and I took that to heart.

Having done research on invisible illness online, I know that there are others out there who are facing the same situation.

I want to encourage you to reach out to others with your condition and connect with your family and friends for support. Research your condition as much as possible and learn what you can do to alleviate symptoms with the least amount of medication as possible. There are many methods available to you to help you relieve your pain or ailment. I hope that you are able to find the resources that you need here on this blog, and I encourage you to read my post on emotional inputs and outlets. I’ve also put together a list of books from Amazon on invisible illness that you can find below.

I hope that you were able to appreciate the information presented in this post, and I want to truly thank you for visiting this blog. I also want to take the time to encourage you to manage your expectations more when dealing with other people… you never know who might be facing an invisible illness. Thank you and stay well.