do you or followers have any advice on how to deal with feeling like you're faking your illness? i keep thinking i'm just faking it or exaggerating, then not taking care of myself and getting worse
Oh man. I am in serious fatigue mode today or I would write a rant on this. But I will tell you what I do when I feel that way (which is often). And hopefully our followers will be able to add some of their own experiences and advice.
LOL so like RIGHT THIS MINUTE I’m like, oh come on, you could put forth a little effort and just answer it now. You’re just using your fatigue as an excuse.
So step by step, here’s what I do.
1. I physically assess. Like seriously take a couple of minutes to be mindful of all the things you try to ignore usually to function (pain, fatigue, any symptoms). Like my eyes are burning which is a REALLY bad sign.
2. Tell yourself that you are not imagining this and every little thing you feel sucks a little bit more energy out of you whether you are conscious of it or not.
Your body has to deal with all these symptoms even if you want to ignore it. And not to go into detail but that includes a lot of neurological and physiological responses THAT YOU HAVE ZERO CONTROL OVER. So you are basically hemorrhaging energy.
3. Tell yourself out loud (even if it’s under your breath) that you are doing THE VERY BEST that you can. Say it whether you believe it or not. Studies have shown that you internalize (? is that the right word, this is why I’m worried about responding.) anything you hear out loud. EVEN when YOU are the one saying it. That’s a big part of why “positive self talk” and “fake it till you make it” type things work.
4. Be conscious of your decisions. If you are choosing to do something or not to do something, say you are doing (or not doing) this because YOU are choosing it. It helps you realize that everything you do has to be measured against your illness.
AND THAT is exactly why you aren’t exaggerating. Healthy people don’t have to micromanage everything that they do. They don’t have to think through every little thing. And that fact alone should be enough to help you recognize that you ARE chronically ill and not faking an illness.
5. Try to use that realization to do whatever you need to do to take care of yourself RIGHT NOW. Even if you don’t make a good decision an hour from now, it doesn’t matter. You don’t need to worry about the rest of the day, just do the next right thing.
6. Rinse and Repeat as necessary.
I wish you the best of luck. And if it helps, please know that I believe you are not faking it and I believe you are doing the very best that you can. If you could do better, you would do better. So be gentle with yourself even when you don’t take care of yourself. You’re just trying to survive and that’s ok.
All my best,
Admin J
PS I am really tired, so that was a stream of consciousness basically. I’m not going to go back and edit it, so forgive any errors. And if something I said didn’t make sense, let me know. AND if something I said doesn’t fit for you, please ignore it. You need to find what works for you and my solution is not a one size fits all deal.
