Im really sick1/12/2024 ![]() ![]() I understood myself better and was able to give myself grace for the reality of my situation, and hope for a better reality soon. No longer did I beat myself up for not having the energy I needed for a well-rounded life. And secondly, finding out what was wrong. ![]() I sought help again, found a doctor that took me seriously, got better and more thorough lab testing done for me, and through that discovered I was deeply iron deficient, which was also unbalancing other parts of my body as well.Īnd I was deeply grateful for two things – being treated with compassion by a doctor that believed me when I said I felt awful and felt something was wrong. Years later, I found myself increasingly dragging, my hair falling out rapidly, and an even greater fatigue that I was no longer able to fight through. But it was livable for the moment, and I had run out of options and ideas. ![]() I had a hard time helping friends around me understand how badly I felt, and how tired I was, when I looked fine on the outside, and functioned fairly well despite the fatigue.īy this time I had learned to trust the distress signals my body was sending me, and I knew all was not well. Hints of being a little hypochondriac were implied. When my blood tests showed that I was well nourished and “healthy”, my continued fatigue, and my signs of a slowed thyroid function were shrugged off. I did get some beautiful help from some excellent naturopaths, but still my energy was low, even if somewhat improved. I started seeking help for myself when I started wondering if the bone-tired feeling I had all the time (and the frequent infections at certain points) were normal. I was taken to several doctors during my high school years and given a clean bill of health each time. It was actually a fairly simple problem, but finding a solution was really hard. We suspect I was low since my high school years, but since I was able to pass with flying colors the most common test for anemia, I was never properly diagnosed despite my many symptoms of low iron. Sometimes this includes things not as serious as Lyme disease. ![]() And so they suffer on with little knowledge of what is really wrong, and little hope. Perhaps a doctor hasn’t been able to fit the confusing individual symptoms to the true cause yet. Perhaps their health condition is undiscovered still, or perhaps they aren’t diagnosed yet – despite attempting to get care. It makes me wonder how many people today are still in that position. If advanced Lyme disease wasn’t an earthly hell enough, surely being untreated and misunderstood and judged makes it even more so. Patients suffering what my friend is now suffering have been told, “You need psychological help, not physical, because it’s all in your head.” No pain medication, no real compassion or understanding, just judgment while you walk through a valley of pain with little hope. What makes my skin crawl is that Lyme disease, with all of the horrible, painful symptoms it can produce, was, and is even still, so under-diagnosed. As her husband, family, and friends have gathered to help with her treatments, take her to the doctors, love her, pray for her, and give her compassion and help whenever she has needed it, it has brought a flower of hope in the middle of great suffering. At this late stage, there has been horrible pain that even the strongest pain medications can only alleviate so much. There is a wide range of severity to the disease, and her case is on the more extreme side, especially considering that she’s probably had it for about ten years without it being treated or diagnosed. I’ve been thinking about this issue a lot as a dear friend of mine is battling Lyme disease. Their doctors, friends, and family can brush off their complaints, doctors can under-diagnosis, or say that it’s all in their head.īut they are suffering deeply, and it only makes their suffering deeper when no one seems to understand. There are kinds that don’t affect your outward appearance and your longevity, and so people assume “It’s not that bad.” Worse yet, there are those given a clean bill of health by their physician, yet they know that something is deeply wrong within themselves. But there are other illnesses that are not well understood, or understood at all. There can be tragedies and health issues that we understand fairly well, and most can certainly be compassionate and merciful towards those suffering under them. What if you were in terrible pain or deep fatigue, and everyone said it was just in your head? What if you were suffering from an illness that was slowly ruining your life, or even shortening your life, and everyone around you told you that you were “just fine”, and that “everyone feels a little off and tired now and then”. ![]()
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