Two Major Challenges Of Living With An Invisible Illness

As we know the world is full of emotions and we try to grasp those sentiments within us. But you know there are various people out there who are battling with invisible illness amidst these sentiments?

Yes, invisible illness if this may seem a new term to your vocabulary let me explain a bit. Invisible illnesses are those which are defined in the form of anxiety, depression, and disorders and so on. I agree with the fact, living with such invisible illness can drift you towards an isolating state.

We spoke to a number of communities regarding how they feel and challenges they are facing each passing day.

“I wish people understood that even if everything in life was easy, I’d still have doubts and depression.” — Amber S., living with depression

“I’m still ME. I still like to do things, have company, and be appreciated.” — Jeanie H., living with rheumatoid arthritis

“Because it’s invisible, I sometimes will forget that I’m living with any illness until, WHAM! The chronic pain kicks in and I’m quickly reminded that I have special limitations. It’s truly a mind flip from day to day.” — Tom R., living with Crohn’s disease

I hope now you have understood the term “Invisible Illness” Just because you can’t see the scars, bruises and wounds that don’t mean a person is not having them.

Now, I want to draw your attention on the challenges faced by the people who are living with such invisible illness. Stay tuned!

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Challenge 1: Lack Of Understanding

I personally feel that this challenge is faced by every person, whether they have invisible illness or not. In a compassionate manner, “list of misunderstanding” is never ending in today’s world. Bitter truth, sometimes our family members also couldn’t understand our situations. In addition to it some medical professionals also possess a lack of understanding.

I came across many doctors accounts where they prescribe arduous exercise to get rid of fatigue and other body pains but these exercises are not always a solution. Most of us inherit a habit that whenever we are about to see a doctor when a new symptom appears, we automatically become gun shy.

We must be open with our thoughts and must have a clear mindset that whatever symptoms we have must be conveyed correctly to the team.

Apart, the medical team must diagnose patients correctly. Having body pain doesn’t always indicate that exercise can be a resolution or so.

Challenge 2- Guilt and Embarrassment

Guilt and embarrassment are common challenges when we get ill or when we feel our body is breaking down. In this situation because of lack of understanding we may drown in the pool of guilt. We all know we live in an ecosystem where good wellness is worshiped among everyone.

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Trust me it’s okay to get sick or have body pain, and there is no means  to get embarrassed because of this. Nowadays, many people hit the gym because they feel embarrassed of their body and how to stay in shape.

For instance, I met a girl named Jenny, she was battling with acute pain and after a year of illness, her thoughts transferred into guilt. She sobbed to her husband “I’ve ruined your life”, she was lucky enough to have a supportive partner who consoled her and helped her to overcome this situation. But trust me, not everyone is fortunate to have a supportive spouse and these people end up in isolation. Not even partners, their friends and other loved ones also started to drift away.

In this situation, a person must be compassionate towards a sick person and instead of blaming or isolating them, understand they need care and cure.

I hope this blog reaches the correct audience and has given an insight of what two major challenges of invisible illness are. I understand sometimes these situations are not easy to deal with but with love and compassion,  we can break the chain.

Charity begins from home! So before taking help from anyone, first help yourself. Why? Because only you can change your world, no one else would do it for you.

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