BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

I've heard it. Many of the other invisibly, chronically ill people I know hear it too. That comment: "You look fine" or "you don't LOOK sick." It used to make me mad - now I just feel disrespected. There are still a handful of people in my life who knew me before. Before I was swept out of life's current by something I can't see. Before I put on a lot of weight due to illness, drugs and surgeries -- and despite appropriate exercise and a healthy diet. Before I spent 75% of my time in bed. This thing I am now? I don't even recognize it. The next time someone tells you they are ill when they look fine - before you make that comment - think. Can you SEE a headache? Can you see early stages of cancer? What does a person who is trying to handle pain look like? Are they ' well ' if they don't have a cane? (By the way, I should use one - I just refuse.) And what is God trying to tell us all with these illness? To be less jud...

LIVES DERAILED Excerpted from The Autoimmune Epidemic: Bodies Gone Haywire in a World Out of Balance -- and the Cutting-Edge Science that Promises Hope ~~~~~~~~ Most of us, at some juncture in our lives, have played out in our minds how devastating it would be to have our doctor hand down a cancer diagnosis or to warn us that we are at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Magazine articles, television dramas, and news headlines all bring such images home. But consider an equally devastating health crisis scenario, one that you rarely hear spoken about openly, one that receives almost no media attention. Imagine the slow, creeping escalation of seemingly amorphous symptoms: a tingling in the arms and fingers, the sudden appearance of a speckled rash across the face, the strange muscle weakness in the legs when climbing stairs, the fiery joints that emerge out of nowhere -- any and all of which can signal the onset of a wide range of life-altering and often debilitating autoimmu...

I have some of the same things this woman does. And because I have been diagnosed as physically disabled 18 years (NOT MY "CHOICE"!!! either) some people comment on how well I "adapted" and "cope" because I'm giving them the impression "it's no big deal"... Well IT IS A BIG DEAL... it cut my living a decent productive life off at the knees... in my 30s !!! From the great site: BUT YOU DON'T LOOK SICK! __________________ Lately I’ve been getting the impression from some of my friends that maybe my growing list of chronic illnesses is no big deal. No one is actually coming out and saying these words, but that is definitely the feeling I’m getting. This point could be debatable. Maybe they think that. Maybe I’m projecting. But this is how they are making me feel, so right now this is my reality. And it’s fine really. I know that no matter how much education I do or how much awareness I try to bring, I am neve...

Thanks to FIGHTING FATIGUE.ORG for my mention in the Disability Blog Carnival. Fighting Fatigue and CFIDS Blog Carnival " The Fighting Fatigue Blog Carnival will focus on chronic illnesses such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Interstitial Cystitis and related chronic illnesses and health issues. " To check out this blog and links to all the great blogs aboutliving with a chronic illness - CLICK HERE. Thanks Sandy! PLEASE CLICK HERE TO JBLOG ME