2020 - 30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know
* The following has changed since the 2015 edition"

October 18-24! #InvisibleDisabilitiesWeek

1. The illness I live with is: Anemia, Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Pain, MVP and Sleep Apnea (that I know of)

2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 2012 - Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue

2013 - Chronic Pain 2015 - Joint pain & MVP 2020 - Sleep Apnea

3. But I had symptoms since: 2010

4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: Sleep schedule, knowing when to stop instead of pushing past my limits - As of today still an issue. Also, a problem, knowing when I’ve done too much.

5. Most people assume: It's normal aches or old age pains :) or I simply overslept or being lazy

6. The hardest part about mornings are: Getting out of bed. Stiffness and fatigue. I just wanna stay under the covers and sleep.

7. My favorite medical TV show is: Right now I don’t have one that I watch consistently. Used to be Grey's Anatomy, but I’ve fallen off in recent seasons.

8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: Voice Recorder, when my husband starts peppering me with questions about my doc appointment this helps me keep the wording straight and remember

9. The hardest part about nights are: falling asleep or keeping my RLS at bay

10. Each day I take _ 2_ pills & vitamins. (No comments, please. That is including taking 1 pill twice out the day) Not including Tylenol or Ibuprophin 

11. Regarding alternative treatments I:  Am still looking.

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: Actually, I probably would prefer an invisible one. Even with all the trouble of trying to convince someone that you do have a problem. I would prefer that over them seeing my pain every day and either feeling sorry for me or it hurting them from seeing my problems. At least this way I can hide it when I need to (which also causes its own problems).

13. Regarding working and career: I've been doing well within recent years as far as keeping up with the work, but I do have days where it's an uphill battle.

14. People would be surprised to know: The extent of my issues some days.

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: Unpredictability. I love to plan, but I can't always count on my plans.

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: Running. Still going with this.

 17. The commercials about my illness: Are vague. I'm glad they are there because then when I say Fibromyalgia or chronic pain people are like "Oh yeah" I heard about that. But they don't do it justice.

 18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: Being outside, even in the heat. Now if I'm out in the heat too long you would think I was drunk. #drunkwalk

19. It was really hard to have to give up: To much caffeine (mainly soft drinks)

 20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: Knitting and I've picked back up reading.

 21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: Take the kids somewhere like Disney where we would walk around all day, ride rides, eat whatever, and do it again the next day. As it stands if I did that I wouldn't be able to walk either the next day or a few hours into that day.

 22. My illness has taught me: Spread out events I attend

 23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: Just get up and move around you'll feel better. #DoYoga

 24. But I love it when people: Want to know more and don't blame everything on my ailment

 25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: Of course, God doesn't give you anything you can't handle.

 26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: You are still you, not your disease. Don't think about what you can't do, remember all you can and do what you can until you can't.

 27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: How little people know about other illnesses, that are not cancer. When I tell people

 28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: My hubs bought me a slice of red velvet cake and pint of ice cream.

 29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: There are a lot of those who suffer in silence and I was one of them. I'm not trying to put a sign on my back and say look at me, but look at the illnesses support those with them.

 30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: Happy that maybe you will take interest or show us chronically ill some support.

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Blank Questions below

1. The illness I live with is: 

2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 

3. But I had symptoms since: 

4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: 

5. Most people assume: 

6. The hardest part about mornings are: 

7. My favorite medical TV show is: 

8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: 

9. The hardest part about nights are: 

10. Each day I take __ pills & vitamins. (No comments, please. That is including taking 1 pill twice out the day)

11. Regarding alternative treatments I:  

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: 

13. Regarding working and career: 

14. People would be surprised to know: 

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: 

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: 

17. The commercials about my illness: 

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: 

19. It was really hard to have to give up: 

20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: 

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: 

22. My illness has taught me: 

23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: 

24. But I love it when people: 

25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: 

26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: 

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: 

28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: 

29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: 

30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: