When one visits a medical facility, he or might expect to see patients with traditional ailments such as malaria. In many cases, the urgency of a doctor or a medical attendant is based on the observable features such as sweating, external injuries or exhibiting unusual behavior. What many people and medical practitioners alike do not understand is that the person who might be seated calmly or not displaying any strange characters might be deep pain or need more urgent medical attention than any other patient. More often than always such people who suffer invisible illness usually go unnoticed and suffer severely due to ignorance of people around them (Armentor 463). For this reason, it is imperative for people with invisible diseases to be accorded special treatment because they suffer from different ailments that require particular attention. This paper explores invisible illness with a specific focus on Gastroparesis & Fibromyalgia.
Invisible Illness
Invisible illness is a condition that lasts a year or more, and normally limits one’s level of activity. Beside, might require an ongoing care (Armentor 463) Such illnesses’ symptoms could vary from anything, from chronic pain, too much more lifelong severe conditions such as lupus. Invisible diseases in most cases include ailments one has heard somebody is suffering from but when you look at someone who suffers from one of them, nothing is evident to showcase any disease. People suffering from invisible illnesses are often termed as lazy, or not having any interest to do any activity. The hope of writing this essay is to illuminate the hardship people suffering from this kind of ailment undergo.
Even in college, students suffering from invisible illness often feel different from their peers. At first, such students are always super active taking party in college binge or lectures. However, as the pain continues to manifest, they would trot off to the medical center expect a course of antibiotics and a long rest in bed (Brennan, Kirby, and Ann-Marie 1230). However, the results would always come back negative. Many of them would sit impatiently in the offices of various doctors multiple times a week, as healthcare workers try to figure out what condition they are suffering to no avail.
Over the following months the symptoms of the invisible my condition – which at times is diagnosed as an over-active bladder – worsens, and soon individuals find out that he or she is not only battling the physical side of their illnesses, but also crippling anxiety. At times in case, it is a student, their parents decide they consult a urologist, and visits do not only mean they miss their classes or social life, but they are also tiresome (George et al. 650). When dealing with a bladder problem, one is usually advised to stay away from alcohol because it would worsen the problem. Therefore, such an individual is forced to abstain from nights out with his fellow housemates, or pretend to drink in front of people even when they are not feeling comfortable. Some friends began to grow hostile about the sudden change of behavior. Many patients in a desperate attempt to seek answers for their predicaments turn to online forums, for anyone who might understand the pain and anxiety they are undergoing.
Gastroparesis is a condition that affects the muscles of the stomach and consequently preventing proper emptying in the stomach. The digestive disorder occurs in such a way that the stomach motility is either absent or abnormal. In the belly of a healthy person, and the stomach functions properly, its contractions help in crushing ingested food and after that propel the broken down food to the small intestines where they further undergo digestion and ultimately absorption as nutrients. In the presence of gastroparesis condition, the stomach is not able to contract normally, and thus the food cannot undergo proper nor can they be propelled suitably into the small intestine. Hence, normal digestion fails to occur.
The symptoms of gastroparesis are not physically visible. However, the affected person experiences typically a variety of changes in regards to what they feel internally in their stomachs. In some occasions, the patient realizes that his or her stomach begins to respond to certain kinds of food that did not previously react with his stomach. Fat, for instance, Fat makes such individuals feel awful. In the past, a healthy meal might have consisted perhaps of two McDoubles and two McChickens, totaling roughly 1500 calories, including 70g of fat. While they might not feel great after eating this kind of meal, they would not also feel actively weird. The most severe they would feel somewhat a bloated and a bit sluggish but otherwise functional. After the development of gastroparesis, even 15–20g of fat will have them feeling nauseous for long hours (George et al. 650).
Second, the stomach capacity decreases significantly by a factor of 3 to 4. In the past, depending on what an individual eats, or she would be able to eat around 1000–1500 calories comfortably in a single sitting. However, gastroparesis makes it hard for the victims to eat 400 calories in one go (Stanghellini, Vincenzo, and Jan 1231). Besides, for the drinker, the condition makes it difficult for them to take drink alcohol. Everything a victim eats takes long to move out of their stomach. Therefore, alcohol is more of an irritant when experiencing such a condition. Next, as mentioned earlier, gastroparesis might be relatively mild in some people, and for other, it can be severe inhibiting their ability to eat at all. Such individuals will have trouble eating anything at all on bad days, and might even react poorly to drinking water. For those experiencing mild forms of gastroparesis, they can consume a total of around 1700–1800 calories on a typical day, but they cannot remember a single day where could not force at least 1000 calories into their bodies in a long time. Given the difficulties around eating, weight loss is common for gastroparesis patients. Some of the victims record losing about 25 pounds within one year, but other patients the situation could be dire.
Fibromyalgia, on the other hand, is a disorder refers to a condition characterized by general musculoskeletal pain followed by sleep, fatigue, mood and memory issue. Besides, studies reveal that the disease affects the way the brain perceives pain thus amplifying painful feelings. In some cases, symptoms follow a physical trauma, infection or surgery. However, in other scenarios signs accumulate gradually over time with no obvious triggering event. Women are most likes to develop fibromyalgia compared with their male counterparts. Since this condition might develop without any trigger, victims may at the time labeled as lazy. Further, its manifestations are somewhat psychologically and might be seen as an excuse for not performing.
Symptoms of fibromyalgia may manifest severely; it is like having the nervous system turned up to the highest possible mark every time with no end in sight and only minor times where it is lessened. One can feel everything that is touching them even the clothes and light breezes every time (Stanghellini et al. 1973). The feeling can range from anywhere from fairly irritating to severe. Majorly, people tend to see Fibromyalgia patients as completely healthy, maybe even wonder why they do not take better care of themselves. Some people also go to the extent of wondering why the patients cannot just make something minor to kill the pain rather than going the extra mile of seeking medicines. Moreover, medical professionals have a hard time believing the condition exists, and those that do think can have a hard time figuring out what to do about the ailment. This situation can make it especially challenging to get help from other agencies that work for people with disabilities.
For other people, the condition even makes it harder to experience human touch. One can flinch when touched by someone else because it hurts, so it makes people suffering from this condition not to want to give simple touches, like a hug or a caress, since it causes them pain. Therefore, one has to decide for everything from what they wear or do and about how much pain it is worth. Considering the effects of this ailment, it becomes apparent that no one can make any decision regarding what a patient does or wears for it is them who know the extent of what they undergo( Chaves et. 164). Going to work, playing with kids, wearing something tight or rougher than silk, having sex, having someone just put their hand on your shoulder; all of these depend on how much pain they think they can take, balanced against doing nothing at all, which has its level of pain.
Conclusion
In summary, though various scholars and studies have not shed much light on the topic of invisible illness, it is evident that the ailment requires particular attention. The effects of invisible illness stretch beyond the physical symptoms the patients feel. The condition has the potential of destroying the very fabrics that hold our societies together, which are communication, trust, and embracement. Inability to understand what is happening with our friends' lives makes it difficult for them to hold high esteem resulting in loneliness and subsequent stress to the victims.
Works Cited
Armentor, Janet L. "Living with a contested, stigmatized illness: experiences of managing relationships among women with fibromyalgia." Qualitative health research 27.4 (2017): 462-473.
Brennan, Kirby AM, and Ann-Marie Creaven. "Living with invisible illness: social support experiences of individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus." Quality of Life Research 25.5 (2016): 1227-1235.
Chaves, Dalton M., et al. "Endoscopic pyloromyotomy via a gastric submucosal tunnel dissection for the treatment of gastroparesis after surgical vagal lesion." Gastrointestinal endoscopy 80.1 (2014): 164.
George, Nina S., Abhinav Sankineni, and Henry P. Parkman. "Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in gastroparesis." Digestive diseases and sciences 59.3 (2014): 645-652.
Khashab, Mouen A., et al. "Gastric per-oral endoscopic myotomy for refractory gastroparesis: results from the first multicenter study on endoscopic pyloromyotomy (with video)." Gastrointestinal endoscopy 85.1 (2017): 123-128.
Stanghellini, Vincenzo, and Jan Tack. "Gastroparesis: separate entity or just a part of dyspepsia?." Gut 63.12 (2014): 1972-1978.
