Chronic illness patients with relatively invisible diseases have to fake being healthy so often, that when we actually want someone to be able to see how sick we are, it feels awkward.
We work so hard to hide our pale or even 'greenish' complexion each day, or hiding the enormous bags under our eyes, the sores and dry skin all over our bodies, that when we don't spend time trying to hide these things, it feels weird. We pretend to have energy that we don't have, we brace our arms to keep our hands from shaking too much, we use trips to the 'powder room' to regroup and add blush that has somehow soaked into our skin and disappeared... we find ways to take a minute alone to puke or to cry and then hide any sign of illness.
So when we purposely do NOT work hard to hide our pain and nausea and exhaustion, sometimes it makes us feel guilty... when really we spend 90% of our time faking HEALTH, and 10% of the time SHOWING our illness. Not to mention how much time we spend downplaying our illness and our experiences -> so when we are unusually honest about exactly what goes on every day, it sounds embellished. It's not.
People who are severely chronically ill never have to fake being sick. Ever. They fake being healthy, however, all the time. ALL the time.
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