To Every Person Who Has Ever Doubted Someone with Invisible Pain

Invisible pain patients look just like the rest of us.

It is easy to judge.  Everyone knows this, but people with invisible pain know it well. We are judged all the time.  Judged by "friends", co-workers or family members that say "but you don't look sick" or "you seem fine to me".  We are questioned by doctors who think we are "making it up" or that "it is all in our heads".  Judged by people who think we are exaggerating the pain.  Mocked by people who say, that it's not a big deal.  People who think that if they had our conditions that "they could still do this" or they "could still do that".  Judged by people who just don't get it.

To all the people out there that have ever judged or questioned a person with invisible pain, I have a few questions for you:

Have you ever felt like there was battery acid being poured over your bladder?

Have you ever experienced a feeling like someone was jabbing a sharp knife into your genitals?

Have you ever been to a doctor that made fun of you?

Have you ever been accused of making up an illness?

Have you ever not been able to sit because a part of your body feels like it is on fire?

If you don't suffer from invisible pain, you can probably answer "no" to all of these questions.  Lucky you. But some of these questions probably disturbed you a little.  Do people actually live with the feeling that their body is on fire?  Do people actually function with knife like pain shooting through their private parts?  The answer is yes. These people are all around you and they look just like you.  When you see them at a grocery store or a restaurant, they may even be smiling.  Smiling to fit in. Smiling to hide the pain. Smiling because they deserve to smile even though they have a chronic condition.  Just because they are smiling doesn't mean they do not suffer.  The next time you decide to mock someone with invisible pain, ask yourself, how would you feel if you looked perfectly healthy on the outside, but your insides were literally burning?  

Invisible pain patients are brave and if you know someone suffering from invisible pain there is one thing that you can do for them: believe them.  Trust me, we don't want you to experience the shooting and knife like pain that we do.  We wouldn't wish it on anyone in the world, not even for a moment.  We just want to be respected, we just want a voice.  We just want the people in our lives to say "I'm here for you and I believe you."

Never judge a book by it's cover.  The outside may look perfect while the inside is struggling to keep the pages turning.