Borrowed from Angel the Alien
30 Things About My Invisible Illnesses You May Not Know
1. The illnesses I live with is: Depression, Bipolar II, PTSD, a touch of OCD, Sleep Disorder
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 1996
3. But I had symptoms since: I was born.
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: Learning to keep away from un-needed stress and stressful people.
5. Most people assume: That bipolar disorder means you go from happy to sad to happy to sad all the time. That’s not the way it works.
6. The hardest part about mornings are: Getting out of bed.
7. My favorite medical TV show is: I don’t have one, but I do like the Investigation Discovery Channel a little too much.
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: my Kindle
9. The hardest part about nights are: Insomnia, over-thinking every little thing and night terrors. Not fun.
10. Each day I take 5 pills (3 are happy meds).
11. Regarding alternative treatments I: use counseling, but cannot go off my meds. I’ve tried and it is bad news bears.
12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: I don’t know. Maybe a physical one, because then people would see that it’s real.
13. Regarding working and career: My PTSD has been a problem with quite a few jobs, but I’ve managed to work consistently since graduating college. I’m not able to do the career I wanted to do, though, for many reasons.
14. People would be surprised to know: I’ve been through a lot more than they realize. Some people know the bare facts, but no one knows the details – not even my counselor. People who don’t know me don’t know how empathetic I am. Sometimes being an empath does more harm to me than good to others.
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: This has been my reality most of my life, so it isn’t new. The hard part was when one of my best friends (who was recently diagnosed as Bipolar, the same as me), described me as “ill” to another friend. She said it in a negative, pitying way, like, “She can’t help the way she acts. She’s just ill.” That really hurt my feelings and frustrated me. Yes, I have mental illness, but I never expect a best friend to speak down about me regarding it, especially when they have the same brand as me.
16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: Re-wire my brain through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. You truly can re-train your brain to be more positive and perform positive coping techniques.
17. The commercials about my illness: claim that I’ll be able to run around in my yard playing fetch with my dog if I take them. Um, no.
18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: Since being dx with PTSD, I really miss the days when I would perform with my whole heart and soul onstage.
19. It was really hard to have to give up: This doesn’t really apply to me since I have always had it.
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: That still doesn’t really apply, but I guess it led to my blogging!
21. If I could have one day of feeling normal I would: I honestly don’t know . . .
22. My illness has taught me: that I’m not alone out there. There are many of us out there. We just need to support one another.
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: “Smile!” Don’t say that. Don’t do it.
24. But I love it when people: listen without judging and really want to understand me.
25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: “When people tell you who they are, believe them.” ~Maya Angelou
26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: Give your meds a chance to work before discarding them and that things will get better.
27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: I find there is truly a fine line between creativity and madness. I’m a more creative person because of my illnesses.
28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: I said, “I’m crazy!” She said,”You’re not crazy, because you realize you’re acting crazy. Real crazy people don’t know that they are.” Quite true.
29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: I like to help people understand.
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: good.
