Chronic Illness, Invisible and Otherwise

[Key-Glyph]

I was diagnosed with migraine headaches around my fourteenth birthday, but I know now that I had been getting them for at least a year prior. They got steadily worse over time, in both severity and frequency, and I eventually needed to adopt a daily preventative medication in addition to my maxed-out rescue medication dose. My senior year of college was a frantic search for a preventative that would be effective enough to allow me to hold down a regular job when I graduated.

I predicted right that the hardest thing wold not be managing my condition on a personal level, but fitting my life around it as a working person.

@Zing: Having an "invisible" illness means you suffer from something that doesn't manifest in a noticeable way to observers. Sufferers are often misunderstood by others since they look okay on the outside. Worst case scenario, the lack of outward evidence will be used to deny that the afflicted party is suffering from anything "serious," or even suffering at all.

@KillerJuan77, I'm sorry that your CFS has been so bad that you had to leave school for a time. I'm glad you're getting back on track, though.

@cookie monster, I know next to nothing about fibermyalga. What's that like on a daily basis, if you don't mind sharing?

@everyone else: thanks for sharing!

[cookie monster]

Fibromyalgia makes you feel tired and causes muscle pain and " Tender points are places on the neck, shoulders, back, hips, arms or legs that hurt when touched. People with fibromyalgia may have other symptoms, such as trouble sleeping, morning stiffness, headaches, and problems with thinking and memory, sometimes called "fibro fog." I was told in laymans terms it has to do with over active nerve endings.