Living with an invisible disease is strange. It's like you have one foot in everyone else's world and one in your own. When you look just fine on the outside, it's hard to explain why you need to sit down because your body is so weak and exhausted. When everyone is scoping out their menu at a restaurant, you are scoping out the nearest bathroom and stressing on what you can eat with out looking, well, odd for not ordering anything. I have Crohn's disease. My body literally fights itself within my intestinal lining and the symptoms are just not fun enough to talk about. And sometimes the hardest part is the fact that there is no cure. I take very expensive medicine...I mean EXPENSIVE, even with insurance, just to try and make the time between flare-ups as long as possible. So when people hear I have a flare-up, they often say "Aren't you taking your medicine?" Well, yes, but like I said, there is no cure, just pills that hopefully keep me healthy for longer periods of time. When I am sick, I always tell myself "this too shall pass." But the scary thing is when I am healthy, I know that "this too shall pass" as well. Either way, sometimes I feel like I just can't win.
Visit www.ccfa.org for more information about Crohn's and colitis.
Visit www.ccfa.org for more information about Crohn's and colitis.
