Chronic pain that is associated with some illnesses can be more debilitating than the illnesses that are quite visible. Her comments that she makes are the equivalent of a person screaming and yelling at you when you park in a handicapped slot just because you happen to look “normal” that day and don’t need a cane or wheelchair. They don’t see that under your clothing, you have the scars from two open heart surgeries, the scars from breast reconstruction and the many other scars from numerous surgeries just to stay alive.

I pray that she never has to experience this type of pain as there is NO ONE, no matter what they have done, that deserves to suffer this way. Diseases, like Lyme Disease, fibromyalgia and so many more, cause pain that can be almost unbearable at times. Just because you don’t understand these illnesses and the pain associated with them, doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.

Those of us that know this pain, try desperately to cram as much as we can into the moments where we feel even remotely close to “normal”. We run out of gas and have no choice but to put on the brakes and do what it takes to start the journey all over again. Often that means that we don’t go to scheduled outings, events and appointments or we cut them short and head straight to bed so that we can live to fight another day and hope that the next time, we last longer than we did this time.

We gravitate toward people who show true support and empathize with our situation and tend to stay away from people who doubt or question our circumstances as the energy that they give off can make our physical pain even worse.

Finally, if you are not sure that what you are going to comment on is true or accurate, keep your mouth shut until you are more informed and be mindful of the impact that YOUR words have on others.