Funny, you don't look ...

[hiddenmuse]

As someone whose chronic conditions are largely internal - except for the rare moments that they like to rear their ugly heads - I do hear that statement a lot.

What is someone with high blood pressure "supposed to" look like?

What is a person living with severe depression "supposed to" look like?

What is an asthmatic "supposed to" look like?

What is an epileptic "supposed to" look like?


Should I be *harrumphing* around town under the burden of the occasionally overwhelming despondency?

Should I be wearing a crash helmet and a padded bodysuit in case I have a seizure?

Should I be weak and vulnerable, like Mikey Walsh in The Goonies because I have asthma?

Should I be 65 years old with blue hair and arthritis before I deal with the bad genetic hand of high blood pressure?




If you haven't guessed - that's me on the right, and Kellie on the left. :-)

Comments

[screwthedaisies.livejournal.com]

Yay! I love seeing pictures of people I've met online.

I can kind of relate to the comments. I have anxiety disorder, and it never fails when I decide to come clean with whoever's around that I'm in the middle of an anxiety attack: "What are you so anxious about?"

[hiddenmuse.livejournal.com]

The comments you'd hear about your anxiety attacks are exactly the sort of thing I'd encounter - and/or was afraid of hearing - when I started coming clean about my depression.

I didn't want to hear people say, "oh cheer up!" or, "why so sad?" when even I couldn't explain why I'd felt so miserable.