#InvisibleIllnessWeek Is Over -- What Happens Now?

Social media has been taken over by #InvisibleIllnessWeek. Almost everyone has seen a tweet there or a status update here referring to it, and as awesome as it has been in generating interest in a topic that doesn't often surface in everyday media, the conversations it has given rise to deviate into two extremes: either showcasing the horrible aspects of living with a chronic diagnosis or an all-encompassing positivity celebrating invisible illnesses. First of all, what IS an invisible illness? It's a diagnosis that often doesn't show itself on the surface, most of them are autoimmune conditions such as Lyme disease, Crohn's disease, etc. The reason they are so hard to track and represent is because they are so dispersed despite affecting literally millions of people around the world. Also, they highly vary in how they materialize and take effect within each of our bodies. I should know as someone who has three different invisible conditions that I have lived with for a lifetime now: asthma that led to losing one of my lungs, Crohn's disease leaving me with just one small intestine after several surgeries, and sacroillitis as another symptom of IBD. #InvisibleIllnessWeek might almost be over but with it affecting millions around the world, it's just another week for most of us. Amongst all of our voices, why are we still sticking to extreme points of view when it comes to health? A few things to reflect upon if you have one such condition or know someone who does: Comp...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news