I may look fine, but it doesn’t mean I feel fine.

The summer before senior year of high school is always one to look forward to. You’re graduating soon, you’ve decided which college you’ll attend, and you’re ready to make it the best year. But while my friends attended pool parties and concerts, I spent most of my summer in the emergency room with an IV stuck in my arm. 

When I was seventeen, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease. In simpler terms, I have ulcers in my colon for the rest of my life. This chronic illness of mine is invisible. Invisible illnesses are characterized by an ill person looking healthy but dealing with a condition that affects their daily life. In the span of two weeks, I had lost over fifteen pounds. To others it must’ve looked like I simply lost weight because of a new diet but I was severely malnourished due to my condition. 

All throughout my senior year of high school I was switching between medications that either made my cheeks puff up, my body fatigued or left me hungry all the time—sometimes all three and much more. I was once asked why my cheeks were swelled like a chipmunk, and the reason for that was that I was taking strong steroids. But they didn’t expect that, and I was met with an incredulous look. They probably thought I didn’t “look sick”. While I may look fine, there were so many times that I was fatigued to the point of not being able to get out of bed. It made it difficult to transition into college with an illness, the limitations were endless when I was newly diagnosed. Yet to others I was completely healthy. My pain was invisible.

When someone thinks of a chronically ill person, there’s a particular image that pops up in everyone’s head. They’re either physically impaired or have some specific marker that can label them sick. But there’s more to illnesses than looking sick. So many chronic illnesses are invisible, but they impair daily activities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines chronic illnesses as “conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both” (About Chronic Diseases).

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 157 million Americans will be affected by chronic illnesses by 2020 and “96% of people with chronic medical conditions live with an illness that is invisible” (Disabled World). 

With learning about chronic illnesses and disabilities in this course, the main premise of this post is that everyone is going through something—whether it’s visible to you or not. Just as you’d be sensitive about asking someone about a visible impairment, it’s equally important to remember the invisible ones. 

Citations

“About Chronic Diseases.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 28 Apr. 2021, www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/index.htm.

Disabled World. “Invisible Disabilities: List and General Information.” Disabled World, Disabled World, 15 Aug. 2021, http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/types/invisible/. 

“Invisible Disabilities List & Information .” UMass Amherst, http://www.umass.edu/studentlife/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/Invisible%20Disabilities%20List%20%26%20Information.pdf.