Invisible Illnesses
This body of work explores the complex feelings around invisible illness and disability, the non-stop sense of being in survival mode while striving with every fiber of your being to find healing....
Invisible illnesses are the hundreds of diseases a person might have - while looking absolutely normal and healthy to everyone around them, things like autoimmune diseases of which there are over 100, Lyme disease, chronic fatigue and countless others.
People with invisible illnesses are often gaslighted, even by the medical system. The time from onset to diagnosis, for many of these diseases, is years, and an incorrect diagnosis - including "it's all in your head" - is quite frequent.
Mental health issues and even suicide often follow for people with invisible illnesses.
I personally have struggled with Lyme and Crohn's disease, wasting away to 105 lbs of weakness, my legs collapsing out from under me on occasion, dealing with almost two years of uncontrolled internal bleeding at one point, and in non-stop chronic pain.... Yet still going... Still parenting, still working, still growing a business, still keeping up with the physical labor of life and work and a home and yard...
Not everyone has the choice or luxury to stop and rest and heal, as important as that is. Not everyone's job has disability or a disability amount that will allow them to keep paying their bills. Not everyone has family to step in and caretake.
It's very literally do or die.
And yet, to the person near you, everything appears perfectly normal unless they happen to witness one of your bad moments. We get pretty good at hiding those!
To learn more about Invisible Illnesses, what they are, and how to support people with them, check out this article in Very Well Mind and this one by Harvard Health.
