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If You're Searching for a Diagnosis, These 15 Memes Might Make You LOL

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There are few things more frustrating and stressful than being stuck in diagnosis limbo. Even though the symptoms you’re experiencing are very real, it can be discouraging and invalidating to see test after test come back negative, and have doctor after doctor tell you they can’t find a reason for any of your issues. For those with mostly invisible illnesses, it can be especially difficult to get others to believe in the severity of your symptoms when you may look like the picture of health.

Though the process of searching for a diagnosis can be incredibly long and tedious, having an undiagnosed chronic illness can give rise to some pretty ridiculous and amusing scenarios. (After 22 years of being sick yet undiagnosed, when people ask about my health, I just laugh – because where and how do I even begin to explain that mess?!)

If humor helps you cope with the stresses of diagnosis-hunting, you may enjoy the following memes.

1. When you’re not sure if you really want a diagnosis:

that conflict between not wanting a new diagnosis but desperate for symptoms to be explained by something
via Pinterest

2. When you’re “perfectly healthy!” according to your lab results:

the joker saying, are we really going to use the 'your labs look normal' speech again? do I look normal to you?
via @supportforspoonies Instagram

3. When you start consulting Dr. Google:

checking your symptoms on google: man lying in bed saying 'I'm dying'
via @PhysioCBDSydney Twitter

4. When people don’t understand the struggles of being undiagnosed:

what able bodied people think being undiagnosed is like: faking your health issue, not wanting to see a doctor because they'll tell you what you don't want to hear/that you don't have that illness what it's actually like: after seeing nine specialists between 1997 and now the best answer you've gotten was "clearly there's something wrong here but idfk what lmao"
via alicesoissons Tumblr

5. When the doctors can’t find a diagnosis, so maybe you get to create one…?

it's just a matter of time before they add the word "syndrome" after my last name
via @undiagnosedwarrior Instagram

6. When people don’t take you seriously without a diagnosis:

how it feels when you're undiagnosed. with a photo from the lion king of a lion saying 'will somebody please just listen to me?"
via lifeofacrohnie Tumblr

7. When your family doesn’t understand why you’re excited about your diagnosis:

When you tell your family you've finally been diagnosed with a disease and they take it as bad news and they're just like *photo of a woman crying and saying I'm sorry* but you're just like *image of emma stone smiling and shouting 'this is the best!!*
via ironicchronicpain Tumblr

8. When you’re in diagnosis limbo:

me waiting for a diagnosis: with stitch crying outside alone at night and saying 'I'm lost'
via thedisabledlife Tumblr

9. When the doctor can’t find a diagnosis so you must be making it all up:

"it's all in your head!" with a photo of taylor swift giving a death glare
via @supportforspoonies Instagram

10. When your body is truly a mystery:

my body is more like stone henge. still there but missing pieces and a bit of a mystery
via @undiagnosedwarrior Instagram

11. When you explain your symptoms but your doctor is at a loss:

whenever I go see a new doctor and they look at me like... photo of a bird with its head turned completely upside down
via lifeofacrohnie Tumblr

12. When the tests start getting really complicated:

when doctors mention even more possible illnesses they want to test me for: jesse pinkman from breaking bad saying 'I can't even pronounce half this shit'
via disabilityhealth Tumblr

13. When you’re actually disappointed by negative test results:

chris traegar: the tests and blood work came back
chris traegar: and the news is terrible

chris traegar: they found nothing
via yikesabbee Tumblr

14. When it feels like everyone has ideas except your doctor:

everyone wants to diagnose me except my doctor
via @undiagnosedwarrior Instagram

15. When people ask what’s going on with your health:

shakespeare sitting at a desk with a computer and shrugging in confusion at technology
via shutterstock
Originally published: March 22, 2018
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