'OutDaughtered' Star Danielle Busby Shared Why Her Undiagnosed Is Like a 'Roller Coaster'
Danielle Busby, star of the TLC reality series “OutDaughtered,” has opened up about just how stressful and scary living with an undiagnosed chronic illness can be — and how it can impact your ability to show up as parent.
In an interview with People, the 37-year-old reality star shared she has been struggling to get a diagnosis for a health condition that sent her to the emergency room in November and again in January for what her husband Adam called an “invasive test.”
Busby told People her symptoms wax and wane and her doctors believe she’s dealing with some type of autoimmune condition. Like many people who go through the process of getting a diagnosis, she’s seen multiple doctors and had multiple tests, all of which lead to more questions rather than answers.
“At this point, we’ve outweighed a lot of things and have had struggles with some things, but still no answers,” Busby said. “We’ve had scary moments for sure, some that have scared the crap out of me, honestly.”
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For parents, trying to find a diagnosis for yourself can be especially difficult as you try to balance your personal health with the needs of your family. When you’re having a flare or bad symptom day, you might not be able to do as much, which Busby said makes her feel guilty at times.
“I really need … to try to put my health as a priority,” Busby said. “Because when I’m down, I feel like I’m letting the family down and that’s kind of a hard thing — I am a mom of six and a wife and I love all that.”
Other parents who live with chronic illness have shared they felt similarly about their health journey as a parent. Mighty contributor Shannon Adams, however, wrote that chronically ill parents “make some of the best parents.”
“If you feel yourself questioning whether or not you’ve been a good parent lately, remind yourself that you are enough,” Adams wrote. “We are not perfect parents, but neither is anyone else.”
While Busby and her family still don’t have answers, she said she’s working to find new ways to prioritize her health and accept it’s “a roller coaster right now.” She will share more about her journey on the new season of “OutDaughtered,” which will air Tuesday on TLC.
“It’s just an unforeseen future of what is next,” Busby said. “How do we get to the answer? So just trying to have patience, I guess, through all that.”
Header image via Danielle Busby/Instagram
Renée Fabian was the features editor at The Mighty. She has also written for The Washington Post, VICE, Healthline, Talkspace, The Fix, The Establishment, The Culture Trip, and GRAMMY.com, among others. Renée was named a 2019 AHCJ Comparative Effectiveness Research fellow, a 2020 USC Center for Health Journalism California fellow, and holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of Southern California and a master's degree in psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles. You can follow her on Twitter @ryfabian.
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