Unmasking the “and this…and then there’s this…and this…” long symptom list of chronic conditions

If you’re in one of your health troughs, your very worse of days, weeks or months, the times when you’re a fortune hunter out there on all the forums and websites, ever hoping for a breakthrough piece of insight, remember this too will pass and that it’s not always going to be this intense, though it sometimes feels like it is. And importantly, you’re not all alone. There are others like you, with their two hands overspilling with overlapping and often utterly bewildering symptoms that get precious little ear from medical professionals. We may feel isolated in our struggle but there are a lot of us out here.

Who knows your pain

When we are in chronic pain, or even an episode of acute pain that seems to go on and on, who do we share that with, can we even expect to share and does it make it better or worse to convey to loved ones what we are going through? Yet, do we need that outlet of saying it like it is and not feeling so isolated in our experience and, if so, where do we get that from, without stirring up the pot to make ourselves feel all the more defeated from over-talking it. This conundrum is familiar territory to anyone who lives with pain, chronic illness, even the disillusionment of daily chronic fatigue. Sharing some home truths, perhaps some helpful perspectives, from my own experience of this highly emotive topic.