Suffering in silence
Next week is Invisible Illness Awareness Week, Sept, 8-14, an entire week dedicated to educating and spreading the word about illnesses or diseases that affect people without the rest of the world ever knowing.
You cannot see the physical harm from the outside. They are not obvious to the person looking on, but they can greatly limit a person’s quality of life and daily activities.
Some well-known invisible illnesses include diabetes, mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety, Crohn’s disease and Lupus.
The reason I take this week so seriously is because I have been living with an invisible illness since my sophomore year of high school.
Back in February 2009, I was diagnosed with linear morphea. Linear morphea is a type of scleroderma. Scleroderma is a build up of scar tissue that hardens and can burn through your muscle and go straight to your bones, damaging everything in-between. My case of linear morphea runs in a linear pattern from my left side of my stomach down to my left ankle. Having this disease changed my entire life, even if no one could see me suffering.
When I was diagnosed, the dermatologists told me it was just a patch of scleroderma, and with some steroid cream it should disappear just fine. Six months later, I noticed this brown and purple colored patch had run all the way down my leg.
The doctors put me in as a rush patient to the Rheumatology department at the Univiersity of Michigan because the growth was so fast that the hardening of the scar tissue could affect the functioning of my joints. That was when the diagnosis changed from localized scleroderma to linear morphea.
The rheumatologist put me on weekly injections of methotrexate, which is commonly used as a cancer treatment. There is no cure for this, only treatment to stop the growth. The longer I was on this terrible medicine, the sicker I became.
I lost weight, my hair thinned out and I couldn’t participate in a lot of school activities. That wasn’t even the worst part.
As time went on, the disease started to take over the nerves in my left leg. I would get cramps that were like ‘Charley horses,’ but much worse. I would be in immense pain for more than an hour and unable to walk.
I am one in 25 million people in the world that have linear morphea. I am still uncertain if this is a blessing or a curse, but the awarness of my illness helped me grow into a healthier person.
This upcoming week, Central Michigan Life will be highlighting stories about Invisible Awareness Week. My hope is that these stories will help you if you are feeling frigtened and uncertain like I did, and to give hope to those who are suffering silently – might I say, invisibly.
Everyone is fighting his or her own battle, so always be kind and know you are not alone.
