This week is invisible illness week. I have a chronic but invisible illness. People that don’t know me tend to think I am just lazy or a bitch. I wish that people would take the time to get to know me before they judge me. If you don’t have an invisible illness you don’t know what it feels like for people to not understand that there is a reason I am like I am. Here are some stats that will shock you. I know they did me!
- Nearly 1 in 2 Americans (133 million) has a chronic condition
- 96% of them live with an illness that is invisible. These people do no use a cane or any assistive device and may look perfectly healthy.
- That number is projected to increase by more than one percent per year by 2030, resulting in an estimated chronically ill population of 171 million. Chronic Care in America
- Sixty percent of the chronically ill are between the ages of 18 and 64.
- The divorce rate among the chronically ill is over 75 percent
I got these stats from:http://invisibleillnessweek.com/2009/05/06/statistics_chronic_illness/.
There are so many different types of invisible illness. This week I am having some great guest posters post about their invisible illnesses. I will post my story on Tuesday and then the other days I will have some amazing women post about their struggles with their invisible but chronic illnesses. I hope everyone can learn from these lady’s and be a little more excepting of others!
5 Comments on Invisible Illness Week
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As a sufferer of fibromyalgia I know all too well the issues one has when we say we hurt. We get the snide comments and looks because we LOOK healthy. What they cannot see is the internal flares and continual pain that mocks our every movement..
Keep talking, keep educating & keep fighting it back. Hugs. Tammy
It's great what you're doing here. People need to be educated on things like this.
I have found that people tend not to believe younger people when they say they are in pain yet look healthy over older ones. I don't know how many doctors I've been to because of my joint pain and they just ignore it and say I'm too young for all that. Ridiculous.
I'm glad to see this post. My husband suffers from fibromyalgia.
New follower from Meet Me Monday. Hope you can stop by sometime!
http://caringforourblessings.blogspot.com/
I love that you are doing this and featuring other people with invisible illness so much awareness needs to be spread and what a wonderful way to do it!