Many’s the time I’ve tried to explain how I feel to friends or family only to be met with “I felt the same way” and maybe they did one day, yesterday or last week.  What they often miss is the extent to which I feel this way or the length of time I have felt this way.  I’m not just tired because I didn’t sleep well last night or I did a lot of running around today. I’m exhausted…most of the time…often brought on by walking around for an hour at the grocery store.   I’m not sore today.  I’m in pain EVERY day.

So I thought I’d put together a short chronic illness dictionary. I find that not having people understand how I feel is worse than feeling awful every day.  Please share this with loved ones who may not “get it.” 

Chronic Illness Dictionary:

Tired: how a normal person feels at the end of a long day-made better by a good night’s sleep or resting for an hour or so.

Chronic fatigue: (complete mental and/or physical exhaustion) how someone with chronic illness feels upon waking up in the morning, after taking a shower, after a stressful situation, while performing even slightly physical activities or just because-made better by a day or two of total rest or not at all.

Pain: how a normal person feels when they pull a muscle, get a bruise, excercise too much, or break a bone-made better in time after healing the injury.

Chronic Pain: wide spread and sometimes traveling pain that isn’t abaited by meds and NEVER ends.

Sad: how a normal person feels or responds to a bad event in their lives.

Sorrow: profound feeling of sadness that doesn’t go away after the event is over because the event is never over.

Guilt: what a normal person feels when they do something that offends someone.

Profoundly Guilt Ridden: what a chronic illness sufferer feels because they cannot do the things they feel they should do for others or because they need constant help or because they often have to ask for forgiveness for missing life events important for others.

Have any you’d like to add?  Post them as a comment here below.