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....or, not so silently.
Within the past couple of years I've witnessed a few of my lady friends who have come down with "terrible illness that people need to be more aware of."
The two most prominent disorders being Chiari and Ehler Danlos Syndrome.
There are so many symptoms associated with both that it almost looks like you're reading a list of "Symptoms that come with living life."
Now those are just two of the diseases (there are others who complain about different ones). But it's usually the same issue: chronic pain.
I'm not saying they're completely making it all up. Almost all of these women (I'm sure there are men too... but I just haven't seen that) run the same narrative: I'm silently suffering from a relatively unknown disease, I'm told it could be psychosomatic and that's the worst thing to say to someone like me, doctors (for the most part) are too dumb to properly diagnose my illness, and people in my life don't care enough... I must raise awareness.
If there's one trait that I kind of glean from most of these people (the ones I know... and those I don't but whose comments I can read) is that they're very emotional and expressive. And they handle stress pretty poorly.
Their posts on the topic are so dramatic.
It's like when you read some classic novel set in the late 19th century where the women are swooning because of pain (real or imaginary).
Now this isn't to come down on all women. I know many tough ol' German, Polish, and Irish birds in nursing homes who are bent over with crippling joint pain, missing fingers-toes-and limbs, abandoned by their families who still smile and ask "how are you doing today?" and you can tell they actually fucking care. Those women (and men) are amazing. It's humbling to think of the shit they've been through, the pain they carry, and how gracious they still are to be breathing.
While the ones I'm talking about actually get pissed that you don't care enough for their burden and how lucky you are you'll never experience pain like they do.
Within the past couple of years I've witnessed a few of my lady friends who have come down with "terrible illness that people need to be more aware of."
The two most prominent disorders being Chiari and Ehler Danlos Syndrome.
There are so many symptoms associated with both that it almost looks like you're reading a list of "Symptoms that come with living life."
Now those are just two of the diseases (there are others who complain about different ones). But it's usually the same issue: chronic pain.
I'm not saying they're completely making it all up. Almost all of these women (I'm sure there are men too... but I just haven't seen that) run the same narrative: I'm silently suffering from a relatively unknown disease, I'm told it could be psychosomatic and that's the worst thing to say to someone like me, doctors (for the most part) are too dumb to properly diagnose my illness, and people in my life don't care enough... I must raise awareness.
If there's one trait that I kind of glean from most of these people (the ones I know... and those I don't but whose comments I can read) is that they're very emotional and expressive. And they handle stress pretty poorly.
Their posts on the topic are so dramatic.
It's like when you read some classic novel set in the late 19th century where the women are swooning because of pain (real or imaginary).
Now this isn't to come down on all women. I know many tough ol' German, Polish, and Irish birds in nursing homes who are bent over with crippling joint pain, missing fingers-toes-and limbs, abandoned by their families who still smile and ask "how are you doing today?" and you can tell they actually fucking care. Those women (and men) are amazing. It's humbling to think of the shit they've been through, the pain they carry, and how gracious they still are to be breathing.
While the ones I'm talking about actually get pissed that you don't care enough for their burden and how lucky you are you'll never experience pain like they do.
