Chronic illness is a big concept. It comes in different varieties, different strengths, but in the end, it is a huge struggle that many people deal with. Not a lot of people take chronic illnesses seriously. For example: I suffer from depression, anxiety, and chronic migraines and these take over my daily life. One in four students suffer from depression, and if you look around you and sit in your classroom and look at everyone, you will see that people hide behind a façade. You NEVER know what people are going through. Not many people take time out of their day to smile at a passerby or compliment someone they see, but they do not know that that one smile may just save that one person from ending their life.
Chronic illness plague people’s life. They feel useless; they don’t want to leave their dorm room. They have to force themselves to go to class, and even then, they are just simply breathing and not living because of the demons of the illness they live with every day. The emotional side effects of having chronic illnesses take a toll on everyone: your family, friends, and loved ones. They try to help you through it all, but you know deep down they are all worried about you. You are putting stress on them and you are hurting them by hurting. Living with a chronic illness affects everyone you love and it kills you seeing everyone you love hurting because they can’t help and fix you completely; they can only be there and support you. Sometimes that’s all they can do and sometimes it’s all you need. But you must know and understand that no one blames you and it is NEVER your fault. You are not to blame for your illness. Regardless of all the stress and pain the illness causes your loved ones, they still love you and they do not blame you. You are never at fault for something out of your control.
Living with chronic migraines can be tough. It’s like living with a headache but only ten times worse, feeling like your head is going to explode every day. It is having to sleep with an eye mask even at night so that when you wake up to the sun, it is not the first thing blinding you. Chronic migraines is taking four pills every morning and two at night. It is giving yourself an injection (or having your lovely roommate or dedicated boyfriend or mom give you the shot) when the migraine gets too bad. It is having people tell you “I feel you, I have a headache” when in reality they do not know the level of pain your migraines reach on a day to day basis. Seeing a neurologist and only having him say “let’s just try different dosages of this medicine to see what works for you” and becoming frustrated because you were only 16 or 17 when you started seeing a doctor for migraines; feeling that you were too young to start being on medication for something you didn’t even want to be on in the first place. Chronic migraines is having to deal with a tingly face for most of the day as one of the side effects of the medicine and trying to take Vitamin C to minimalize the side effect. Chronic migraines overall is a struggle I deal with every day. It is an uphill battle that I constantly try to win, but never succeed.
My point is living with chronic illnesses is a battle that many people face that not many people can recognize by just looking at them. Be kind, smile at strangers, help someone in need.
