Get Over Yourselves!!!

I've talked about how many Dr. appointments I have a month. Guess what I have one tomorrow - my Psychiatrist - yep I see a Psychiatrist. It kind of goes along with chronic illness - the dreaded D word - Depression - we dread the diagnosis because it comes with so many negative labels. In my case I have had issues of mild chronic depression for years but since my parents died (Dad 2007 & Mom 2008) it has worsened. I think a lot of it was the thought of being alone in the world - no longer having parents but also in my case no other family members. I do have 1 cousin left that lives in Missouri & he is in his late 80's - his wife and I have never met but we do talk a few times a year. So depression has been a battle for some time although very mild. Since March 2010 I have been unable to work and have suffered from sometimes severe debilitating pain, horrible fatigue, have become more and more physically limited and at times been unable to put full thoughts together - compounded with being unable to drive & financial challenges - Anxiety and Depression have become a much larger component in my life than I ever dreamed they would be. What insurance companies and people generally don't understand is that the disease state brings on and/or extremely increases the anxiety and depression - NOT the other way around. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard one of two things - "just snap out of it and start exercising again" or "it's all in your mind - get over it"! You know what - Get Over Your UNINFORMED SELVES! So please folks without chronic illness watch how you make judgements about people that have no apparent physical reason for being disabled - you DO NOT walk in my/their shoes. To those of you suffering from a chronic illness - Don't feel like you are less of a person because others make snap judgements about your condition!