There are a lot of people on Twitter who are vocal about not believing in #LongCovid
It got me thinking about what other “invisible illnesses” exist out there so here’s a thread 🧵
It got me thinking about what other “invisible illnesses” exist out there so here’s a thread 🧵
1 - Allergies (especially food allergies). “Are you really allergic or do you just not like carrots/nuts etc”
2 - Arthritis (particularly rheumatoid). “Do you really have arthritis or are you just lazy”
3 - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). “It must be so nice to just stay in bed all day”
4 - Depression. “The world is a tough place; you just need to toughen up”
5 - Migraines. “Don’t be so dramatic - it’s just a headache”
6 - POTS. “You just don’t like standing up or walking around”
7 - Fibromyalgia. “Those are a lot of ‘symptoms’, sounds psychological to me”
8 - Irritable Bowel Syndrome. “Maybe if you are better, you wouldn’t have these problems”
9 - Anxiety. “You just worry too much and have an overactive imagination”
10 - Chronic Pain. “Ugh, take some ibuprofen and stop whinging”
INTERLUDE - I’m still working on this thread and will come back to it later. Once I’ve finished it, I’ll turn comments on. Thank you 🙏
11 - Endometriosis. “Why do women complain so much; it’s just bloating not pain”
12 - Lyme Disease. “I’ve only ever seen people get that on TV; it’s a made-up illness”
13 - Repetitive Stress Injuries. “You are clearly weak; go to the gym and lift some weights”
14 - Asthma. “Any excuse not to exercise I guess”
15 - Lupus. “Oh but that’s not really that big a deal eh”
Ok. So that’s 15 Invisible Illnesses. Many more exist. I’ve put 1 example of a gaslighting comment for each illness. Just to show how people who do not understand the illness will try to talk it down.
Now we have #LongCovid. I’m just one of many who have it.
As a health worker myself, I never THOUGHT I would become a patient.
As a human being, I never IMAGINED that I would get an illness that many people do not believe is genuine.
As a health worker myself, I never THOUGHT I would become a patient.
As a human being, I never IMAGINED that I would get an illness that many people do not believe is genuine.
If you have read this thread - thank you 🙏. I’m happy for respectful debate & differences of opinion but I’m not going to engage in vax vs anti-vax OR any debate that LC is not real. Many of us are living it. If you are choosing to not believe us, I just hope you don’t get it.
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