Invisible Illness Meme 2010

Invisible Illness week is coming up. This is an invitation to you to join in the fun and awareness of invisible illnesses by participating in a fun meme. I did this last year, now let's see how this year compares:

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

1. The illness I live with is: Lupus, Graves' Disease, Sjogren's Syndrome, Raynaud's, Dystonia, Migraine, Trigeminal Neuralgia, Malabsorption, LPR, etc...
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: My diagnosis have been ongoing from my late teenage years
3. But I had symptoms since: Childhood
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: Changing my expectations of myself
5. Most people assume:...because I've put makeup on and gotten dressed and am smiling, that I am feeling good.
6. The hardest part about mornings are: Waking up each day in pain, yet having to function anyway.
7. My favorite medical TV show is: I'm not sure actually...
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: My heating pad.
9. The hardest part about nights are: Not being able to sleep because of the pain, and running hubs off because I turn on the TV for distraction.
10. Each day I take __ pills & vitamins. (No comments, please) I'm down to only about 10 now :)
11. Regarding alternative treatments I: embrace them in an integrative setting
12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: Invisible, because I can still pretend to be okay, even when I'm not.
13. Regarding working and career: I do what I can, when I can. My career is over, but I can still help others live better lives by sharing my experiences.
14. People would be surprised to know: that I am happy, even joyful despite the fact I am never without the constant companion of pain.
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: The parts of me I have had to leave behind, and the effect it has had on my family.
16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: Have joy in my life again.
17. The commercials about my illness: There aren't any.
18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: Sitting in the sunshine and riding my beautiful horses.
19. It was really hard to have to give up: my two businesses - our Arabian horse breeding farm, and my stained glass art design, as well as my job as an emergency dispatcher.
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: Health centered social media!
21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: Spend the day riding my mare in the sunshine, and the evening playing in the pool with my family.
22. My illness has taught me: that I'm stronger than I thought I was.
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: The stereotypes perpetuated by the media about pain patients, and the effects that has on physicians.
24. But I love it when people: forgive one another's failures and shortcomings
25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: 2 Corinthians 12;10 I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: Concentrate and find joy in the things you CAN do, not those you can't.
27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: How terribly rude and disrespectful some physicians can be to patients, and that they think this is acceptable behavior.
28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: Take over doing my chores for me every day.
29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: those of us with invisible illnesses need to remember that we are not invisible, and we have voices that should be heard.
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: Grateful that you cared :)