What are some of the common misconceptions you hear about your condition?

Where do I start.

Type 1 diabetic people saying you are not allowed to eat things like sweets and biscuits. Yes we can aslong as we count our carbs and adjust insulin accordingly or like myself feed it into my insulin pump meter.

Mental health: You brought it on yourself. Is that what they call it now as noone had it years ago. Now you know what it is you can control it. Eh no that's what medication is for along with therapy. Ptsd is only soldiers that can get it. I've handed family leaflets to explain my conditions but they are not interested. True saying ignorance is bliss. Makes me so angry.

Hello all,

How are you today? Have you had a chance to see some of our general discussions like this one? 😊

Chronic health conditions are unfortunately frequent victims of misconceptions, false beliefs, or even criticisms. It can be hard for those who are unaffected to understand the impact that chronic illnesses have on physical health, mental health, and even on everyday life.

These hurtful beliefs can include statements like, for example, "people with lung cancer have brought it upon themselves by smoking", or "people with depression just need to get a grip", etc.

What about you? Have you ever heard misconceptions, false beliefs, or criticisms about your condition?

How do you react when you hear such things?

@Ombliss22 @lisa.staley @Jonvee @Beesnees @LiudmilaTerekhova @dave125norco @kazdav @Rachel1964 @Bumble88

Feel free to share with us here!

Take care,

Courtney

@lesmal I have primary lymphodoema [that is how we spell it in Europe] anyway , I was seemingly born with it. Both legs. I had very good legs and they were used in Advertising because it seems, they were just perfect. so Shoe adverts etc.,

Now, coming up to 46 I noticed swelling, tiredness in legs. Fast forward for many many years my GP told me that I needed to lose weight. I lost 2 stone and my legs were still swollen. I have no health insurance due to financial status. I went to see 5 Vascular surgeons privately, They all told me I had either Arthritis, and one even said ''you were just born with bad legs and I paid 250euro for that !!

I decided to research. I requested a Radionuclide Scan which cost alot of money and it involves ingesting some nuclear matter via water over a period of 5 hours and having parts of body scanned. It confirmed what I KNEW.

I have Lymphodeoma in both legs, due to a DNA issue which I was born with. It waited all that time to show itself but for years my lymphatic system was not working, which leaves you open to getting auto immune and I have Asthma, Psoriasis, Alopecia, Inflammatory arthritis though to be Psoriatic but they are not sure !! my hands are so knarled I can't write anymore or paint. Also meta tarsal bones in my feet and also my toes are all mishapen.

So, Have gone from being a 2hour a day walker to a person who falls easily. I wear the stockings and Welfare payments do not cover Lymphod. in this country [Ireland ] so I pay 80euro a fortnight to a massage therapist and have to get these awful stockings. I don't socialse much and people actually have laughed at my stockings as they are toeless due to my arthritis. They are thick and quite ugly. I suffer Depression clinical too.

I wish people would educate themselves before saying things that have no sense!

When I was diagnosed, I was 32, and everybody was so surprised to hear that I had MS because they were sure it was an old person's disease. Like "you can't have MS, you are only 32, not 62!", so I had to explain over and over again. Don't know where people get these misconceptions from, really don't.

Another one was when I got pregnant and everyone was telling me i was crazy, that it's dangerous and that my child will also have the disease, that I am irresponsible etc etc etc... It was a very difficult time for me.

For me, it's when even doctors, are surprised when they see I can walk. Yes, I often use an electric scooter, but sometimes I use elbow crutches. I have Polio.

I very much empathise with @flowergirl and everyone's comments about the rampant myths & misconceptions re: surrounding our many health conditions - my most problematic medical condition is MS. Personally, have heard/experienced numerous 'erroneous presumptions' of how MS affects +/or not affects people, from strangers, family/friends and even doctors! Regardless of what medical conditions people have, everyone is different and sure the world would be such a nicer, more understanding place if everyone listened and actually "took on board", what we are actually saying & experiencing? "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", so hopefully through sharing and supporting one another, here, whenever we're able to, we can make a start in dispelling these myths & misconceptions?

It is just asthma it can't kill you, it is stress, you are putting it on, you are faking it are all things that have been said to me. Also referring to the comment about COPD I was once told by a Drs that I couldn't have COPD as I have never smoked. 4 days later I was in HDU!. I have also have people tell me that asthma and COPD are basically the same thing which they definitely aren't.

I have asthma and the looks I've seen people give me when I'm using my inhaler outside makes me feel like I'm not allowed to use it outside, but I know that If I don't use my inhaler whenever I need to then my asthma can get worse.

I also suffer from depression which started as postnatal depression, which I was diagnosed with when my daughter was about 2 months old (she's 19 years old now). After I lost my battle with SS to keep her, my depression worsened and a few months after I lost my fight to keep my daughter, I was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety.

I've had people look at me when I've told them about my depression and they look as though they're thinking "but there's nothing wrong with you" and horrible looks like that.

My depression did worse again when I lost my beloved daddy after his short but very brave battle with terminal lung cancer due to smoking, but since I have been on my new medication, I've started to feel like the old me again.

I even feel ready to start work and I haven't felt like that since I was in college, which was over 20 years ago.

I also hate it when myself and my fiance take my 2 youngest nieces into town in their buggies as myself and my fiance and even my youngest sister and sister-in-law have had total strangers giving us weird looks when they see my middle niece in her special disability buggy as she's 9 years old but she's disabled as she was diagnosed with global development delay when she was 2 years old.

She's a clever girl and loves to chat. She refuses to let her disability control her.

She loves playing with her little sissy (that's how my middle niece says sister as she can't say it properly yet as I think that my youngest sister said that my middle niece has the mental age of a toddler.

She loves school and hates it when she cannot go as she goes to a special school.

Myself, my fiance, my youngest sister and sister-in-law all wish that instead of people staring at and whispering about my middle niece, would come over and ask us what's wrong with my niece instead of whispering about her with whoever they are with.

We have had the odd few people who have had the decency to actually ask what's wrong with my niece and we have quite happily explained to them the reason why my middle niece is in her buggy or wheelchair.

My fiance's twin sister, his brother-in-law and their eldest and youngest children (I'm not sure if their eldest daughter has the condition or not) have a condition called EDS.

They're youngest daughter now has to use a wheelchair to get about because either one or both of her ankles keeps dislocating if she walks too far or too much. She's a lovely chatty little girl who loves school now that she's in a better school that can keep her interested in what they are teaching and also they can keep challenging her.

I still take my medication for my depression, but I'm in a better frame of mind now and wanting to work, but I've got to wait until my limited capability for work has ended before I can start looking for work.

Actually, I totally agree with you. I had fatigue following my stroke (haemorrhage) back in 1970. I was only 16 when that happened, and 18 when I finally got out of hospital following rehab, and people who didn't know me felt they were qualified to comment about it saying things like 'you're young. You should be doing more by now' etc... until my Mum, Bless her, put them right. That was bad enough. But now I've developed fibromyalgia (although in all honesty, I think it was a combination of fibro and post-stroke fatigue in 1970), the fatigue is at a whole other level. And yes, it isn't tiredness...that's a whole other thing. It is irritating when people say I'm tired too...I have to agree!

@Courtney_J i get sick of medical staff telling me that my prostate condition is stable and wont kill me. why don't they simply tell me that there's a chance that it could change without warning, i simply dont believe anyone who mentions my prostate cancer condition