Yes, the dreaded C word was bound to come up sooner rather than later. There’s not just one out there; you can’t always see them. Some are more painful than others, and some have more dangerous outcomes. Mine isn’t as dangerous, but I have acquired some things that can be. Fibromyalgia is what I was diagnosed with 17 years ago, and it was tough to get diagnosed with.

It comes with so many strange symptoms and co-conditions. Then you have widespread pain that you can’t explain and is challenging to treat. I think I have spent so many years thinking I must be crazy. I have even asked my doctor when I started having problems with my heart. What they don’t prepare you for is the isolation of chronic illness.

Because if you have one, a lot of people don’t want to be friends with a sick person. For one, people tend to think you are faking it for attention, you are lazy, or a hypochondriac. Personally, I am none of the above, but I have been told some interesting things to my face. And chances are, if you are reading this, you have to. And I am sure there are people like that in the world, but we are not like them, right?!

So, it does get rather exhausting dealing with toxic behavior from people. But I have learned that I don’t need them, and I would rather have one or two really wonderful friends than 10 crummy ones. If you are at the beginning of your journey with chronic illness you are most definitely not alone. There’s so many of us in the community to reach out to. All you need to do is just comment or contact me privately.