The Honest Photo I Posted on Facebook Depicting Life With Chronic Illness

An underactive thyroid. Autoimmune disease. Adrenal dysfunction.

I posted this photo on my Facebook page and was astounded by the responses. Clearly I am not alone.

I posted:

“When your chronic health conditions not only make you go from full-time to part-time working hours, but even make you crash once home after your first working day of a part-time week. When other people in their early 20s are able to go out in the evenings, see friends and family, partake in a hobby at home or even just watch Netflix, and I can’t even keep my eyes open to do that at 6 p.m. On part-time working hours in a sedentary office job. I’ve spent all day in a haze of brain fog, carrying around a dead weight of a body, feet that don’t want to move and an aching body that I can only compare to the swine flu I had.

My health will always be up and down, it’s the nature of the conditions, but I’ve been living in a chronically ill body for a good few years now and it never gets easier accepting that your mind and body work at different paces and that most people just think my health conditions mean I have an excuse to be “overweight” or “lazy.” They don’t see how much it really can alter your life. Those with these kinds of conditions live in bodies much older than they “should.” Days ruled by limited energy levels, body pain and so much more. 

Social media often shows just the best selection of our lives, which obviously isn’t accurate.”

This photo shows just a glimpse into the truth of living with chronic illness, beyond what onlookers see.