Health & Fitness: Living with an invisible illness

This is something I see coming up a lot these days – bloggers raising awareness of what it is like to have to live with an invisible illness in a world that takes you at face value. It’s a cultural norm that illness and disability is visual – you always seem to get “You don’t look ill” or “Why are you using a Blue Badge, you can walk!” and what not. People can be totally ignorant or worse – cruel – just because they can’t immediately ‘see’ a problem. 

So I wanted to collect some of the posts from fellow bloggers on what it is actually like to live with an invisible illness – or to have their child live and cope with one. 

This post from Snapshots & Adventures is one that resonates with me because it is also MY story – my exact story, and I know it’s something that has happened or will happen to lots of other mothers too. So, read on, and if it resonates with you then you know what to do! 

One of the most difficult things I’ve read about struggling with invisible or rare illness is the fight to get diagnosed when you know that something is very wrong. Imagine trying to explain how you feel. Now imagine you are doing it on behalf of your tiny newborn baby, which is what happened to Katy Kicker whose beautiful baby Daisy has now been diagnosed with a rare allergy syndrome called FPIES. 

This post needs to come with a disclaimer because it’s a) very deservedly sweary and b) more than a bit heart breaking. A brave and brutally honest post about the reality of living with Crohn’s disease. 

Sometimes illness can strike unexpectedly – ultimate invisible skills – and this post is a reminder about being prepared, and making sure those you love are prepared too. Frightening but ultimately hopeful reading from Truly Madly Kids. 

Multiple Sclerosis is one that most people have heard of, but that very few understand the reality of. The aptly named blog Surviving Life’s Hurdles talks candidly about the emotional as well as physical impact of living with a recurring, disabling medical condition. 

I’d imagine that most people associate heart defects with something little babies and children have. But what about the realities of living with a CHD as an adult? 

Blogger Emma Reed‘s sister suffers from Endometriosis – with suffering being the operative word when it comes to this often misdiagnosed and misunderstood condition. Emma has written this great post ’10 Endometriosis facts that sufferers want you to know about’

Blogger Laura from the lovely blog Five Little Doves is opening up on a horrific year of tests, medications and pain spent desperately trying to keep herself together for her family. Still without a diagnosis, but never without hope.