Can anyone relate to the title of this post?
By all accounts, COVID can be potentially serious and devastating. It's not a hoax. We all have a responsibility to keep each other safe and to try to stop the spread of it. Further, I tremendously appreciate the concern shown to those suffering from COVID. But living with a chronic illness is also serious and devastating.
Yesterday, I tested positive for COVID. The response and concern has been overwhelming. Many are greatly concerned for me, asking if I'm okay and to let them know if I need anything. I'm doing fine, at least from COVID . In my situation, I already received the Moderna booster shot and, therefore, I believe I am protected from the worst. Although there has been a rise in hospitalizations of fully vaccinated people of late, this does not include people who have had booster shots; the booster shots still seem to keep people out of the hospital. Plus, my symptoms are mild so far - slight chills yesterday and a loss of taste and smell, the latter of which may be due in part to my infection. I did an at-home COVID test which was negative before the PCR test at an urgent care that was positive. The at-home antigen test needs a larger viral load to detect COVID whereas the PCR test can detect smaller amounts of COVID. Conclusion=my COVID viral load is likely small.
What I have been really dealing with for the past month, on a daily basis, has been an unrelenting sinopulmonary infection - which few people have asked or inquired about. In fact, I believe the reason I was susceptible to catching COVID in the first place was because my infection had gotten a bit out of hand after moving to a weaker antibiotic (zithromax) that couldn't control the infection. I started on a stronger antibiotic yesterday and my symptoms are already much improving.
If only everyone cared about our chronic illness as much as they do about COVID! Perhaps then, us chronic illness sufferers would receive much more compassion, care, and attention to our needs.
What do you think?
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So true.
I find that people discriminate against those of
us who have an INVISIBLE chronic illness. It seems to be that of you can't see the illness, then it must not be real.
They act like people with invisible chronic diseases are fakers and malingerers. This is absolutely ridiculous and needs to change.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
It is ironic that half of American adults (for instance) have a chronic illness and 96% of them are invisible...which would lead one to believe our needs would be better addressed. Yet it has taken many years for the medical community to recognize certain illnesses exist such as chronic fatigue syndrome, and even longer for many of these sufferers to be properly diagnosed. Change and recognition in the health care field is slow.
On a personal level, I think it boils down to the simple fact that people can't relate to each other unless they have walked in the other person's shoes. This was a big part of the motivation for me to write a book on invisible illnesses - to present our daily challenges and advocate for our needs.
I can still hear my partner at the time when she said to me "I am sick of hearing about your nose problem". There was no chance of continuing after that.
Also When doctors basically say "its all in your mind or you are over-reacting". You can't separate mental and physical stress.
Thank you for your words.
The mental and physical aspects can be a double whammy. For optimal health, we really need good physical AND mental health.