I'm Not Lazy, I'm Not Fat - I'm ILL!
Repost by permission from the Author
by Connie
Did you ever catch yourself looking at an overweight person riding on a scooter and think to yourself, “Gesh, if she’d get off that scooter and walk she wouldn’t be so fat!” Of if you see a man who’s overweight using the elevator think to yourself, “Goodness, someone should be using the stairs!” Most people do. The thing is, you’re assuming that overweight person is that way because he/she is LAZY, when in fact he/she may have a chronic but invisible illness.
How do I know? Because I’m one of those people who’s been labeled many times as fat and lazy and I’m far from it.
My family is overweight, so I know that genetically I’m predisposed to it. Put my family and my husband’s family in a room, all with their backs facing you, and you can sort them by family. The only exception is our youngest son. He fits my husband’s family’s body type – short and thin. My oldest looks like my family – overweight.
I’ve always fought my weight because of this genetic predisposition, so am I hyper-aware of it? Sure. I also am very aware that I am now obese. I hate to write that or even see it in print. How did I get this way if I was hyper-vigilant against my crappy genes? And a vegetarian? A chronic, invisible, illness.
It started shortly after my youngest son was born – almost 21 years ago. I worked full time, had to go back when the baby was 5 weeks, and had a two year old. I was tired, so very tired. The doctor said it was just from being a new mom and working full-time. Then strange symptoms joined the fatigue. Tingling in my arms and legs – written off as repetitive stress syndrome in my hands because I designed websites for a living and therefore spent hours a day on the keyboard.
I knew this wasn’t the right diagnosis because the pain never went away even when I changed jobs or took the 5 weeks off with my son.
Then the year we had our youngest we bought our first (and only) house, changed jobs, found out my father had terminal cancer, moved, and then buried my father, my symptoms got much worse and now I was having eye sight problems, pain in my joints, and lots of stomach disorders. They put me on anti-depressants and stomach medicine and told me to take 3 months off of work for a stress-related illness. Even with everything going on in my life I knew it was physical and not mental, but they just wouldn’t listen to me.
When my symptoms didn’t get better, even with the anti-depressant, they sent me to a psychiatrist.
So the years went on with my Dr. finally throwing out the Chronic Fatigue [Syndrome] diagnosis almost as if he was throwing me a bone. However, this diagnosis didn’t come with new meds or anything that fixed my problems. All through this I was still working full time and caring for two children plus husband. My husband was great at first, but as the weeks turned to months, and months to years, he got frustrated. Not so much at me, but at the doctors. He too knew it wasn’t “all in my head.”
My condition continued to go downhill until finally in 2000 I was bedridden for 3 months and as a result lost a job I loved. During that time I started having horrible migraines. Again, nothing could be found and I was treated for nothing. I started feeling better after three months and could work part-time, but I never felt completely well or rested. During the next 7 years I was bedridden off and on with more troubles walking, talking and thinking. My grandmother was dying from Alzheimer’s, so again it was all attributed to stress.
In 2007 I started having multiple, reoccurring migraines. So many that they ordered a MRI to check for a brain tumor. They didn’t find one, but they did find multiple brain lesions which after many more tests resulted in a diagnosis, finally! I have Multiple Sclerosis. When the neurologist told me I was so happy that she asked if I really understood that MS in incurable and will probably eventually kill me. I said, “Yes, but you also told me I don’t have brain cancer!” I also found out that I’m severely anemic with a kind that makes it hard for nutrients to be absorbed in the stomach, as well as a severe vitamin B12 deficiency. No wonder I’m so dang tired!
So, after nearly 20 years of misdiagnosis, I finally had PROOF there WAS something wrong with me and that’s PRICELESS. To be told continuously that you’re nuts is no fun, especially when you know you’re not!
I’m not currently being treated although there are a few meds that can help with the MS symptoms because I need to find a new neurologist. I don’t care for the one I have and I want one that specializes in MS. I have to wait until the busy season for my website is over though.
During these 20-years I’ve become inactive because of MS. For every year I had it, I gained an average of 5 pounds so that’s how I got to where I am now.
Am I lazy? Nope, but exhausted, yes.
Do I eat too much? Nope, but everything I eat goes to my bum because I can’t exercise. Exercise leads me to exhaustion quicker. I have to think that had they diagnosed me years ago the ending result *MAY* have been different, but maybe not.
My mother has had both her knees replaced and gained weight because of it. She’s still in pain after a year on one of her knees so she’s gain about 40 pounds. My father in law had a hip replaced and gained 15 pounds. He’s not overweight, but he suffers from the same prejudice as we do when people assume he’s able bodied but uses a handicap placard to park. He can’t walk very far on the new hip before it starts to hurt. His placard is temporary.
Anyway, to make a short story long, my specialty :) Please take a moment next time you hear your inner voice berating a “fat” person. You’re one illness, accident, or surgery from being the person you’re mocking.
SOURCE
by Connie
Did you ever catch yourself looking at an overweight person riding on a scooter and think to yourself, “Gesh, if she’d get off that scooter and walk she wouldn’t be so fat!” Of if you see a man who’s overweight using the elevator think to yourself, “Goodness, someone should be using the stairs!” Most people do. The thing is, you’re assuming that overweight person is that way because he/she is LAZY, when in fact he/she may have a chronic but invisible illness.
How do I know? Because I’m one of those people who’s been labeled many times as fat and lazy and I’m far from it.
My family is overweight, so I know that genetically I’m predisposed to it. Put my family and my husband’s family in a room, all with their backs facing you, and you can sort them by family. The only exception is our youngest son. He fits my husband’s family’s body type – short and thin. My oldest looks like my family – overweight.
I’ve always fought my weight because of this genetic predisposition, so am I hyper-aware of it? Sure. I also am very aware that I am now obese. I hate to write that or even see it in print. How did I get this way if I was hyper-vigilant against my crappy genes? And a vegetarian? A chronic, invisible, illness.
It started shortly after my youngest son was born – almost 21 years ago. I worked full time, had to go back when the baby was 5 weeks, and had a two year old. I was tired, so very tired. The doctor said it was just from being a new mom and working full-time. Then strange symptoms joined the fatigue. Tingling in my arms and legs – written off as repetitive stress syndrome in my hands because I designed websites for a living and therefore spent hours a day on the keyboard.
I knew this wasn’t the right diagnosis because the pain never went away even when I changed jobs or took the 5 weeks off with my son.
Then the year we had our youngest we bought our first (and only) house, changed jobs, found out my father had terminal cancer, moved, and then buried my father, my symptoms got much worse and now I was having eye sight problems, pain in my joints, and lots of stomach disorders. They put me on anti-depressants and stomach medicine and told me to take 3 months off of work for a stress-related illness. Even with everything going on in my life I knew it was physical and not mental, but they just wouldn’t listen to me.
When my symptoms didn’t get better, even with the anti-depressant, they sent me to a psychiatrist.
So the years went on with my Dr. finally throwing out the Chronic Fatigue [Syndrome] diagnosis almost as if he was throwing me a bone. However, this diagnosis didn’t come with new meds or anything that fixed my problems. All through this I was still working full time and caring for two children plus husband. My husband was great at first, but as the weeks turned to months, and months to years, he got frustrated. Not so much at me, but at the doctors. He too knew it wasn’t “all in my head.”
My condition continued to go downhill until finally in 2000 I was bedridden for 3 months and as a result lost a job I loved. During that time I started having horrible migraines. Again, nothing could be found and I was treated for nothing. I started feeling better after three months and could work part-time, but I never felt completely well or rested. During the next 7 years I was bedridden off and on with more troubles walking, talking and thinking. My grandmother was dying from Alzheimer’s, so again it was all attributed to stress.
In 2007 I started having multiple, reoccurring migraines. So many that they ordered a MRI to check for a brain tumor. They didn’t find one, but they did find multiple brain lesions which after many more tests resulted in a diagnosis, finally! I have Multiple Sclerosis. When the neurologist told me I was so happy that she asked if I really understood that MS in incurable and will probably eventually kill me. I said, “Yes, but you also told me I don’t have brain cancer!” I also found out that I’m severely anemic with a kind that makes it hard for nutrients to be absorbed in the stomach, as well as a severe vitamin B12 deficiency. No wonder I’m so dang tired!
So, after nearly 20 years of misdiagnosis, I finally had PROOF there WAS something wrong with me and that’s PRICELESS. To be told continuously that you’re nuts is no fun, especially when you know you’re not!
I’m not currently being treated although there are a few meds that can help with the MS symptoms because I need to find a new neurologist. I don’t care for the one I have and I want one that specializes in MS. I have to wait until the busy season for my website is over though.
During these 20-years I’ve become inactive because of MS. For every year I had it, I gained an average of 5 pounds so that’s how I got to where I am now.
Am I lazy? Nope, but exhausted, yes.
Do I eat too much? Nope, but everything I eat goes to my bum because I can’t exercise. Exercise leads me to exhaustion quicker. I have to think that had they diagnosed me years ago the ending result *MAY* have been different, but maybe not.
My mother has had both her knees replaced and gained weight because of it. She’s still in pain after a year on one of her knees so she’s gain about 40 pounds. My father in law had a hip replaced and gained 15 pounds. He’s not overweight, but he suffers from the same prejudice as we do when people assume he’s able bodied but uses a handicap placard to park. He can’t walk very far on the new hip before it starts to hurt. His placard is temporary.
Anyway, to make a short story long, my specialty :) Please take a moment next time you hear your inner voice berating a “fat” person. You’re one illness, accident, or surgery from being the person you’re mocking.
SOURCE
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