Long post - sorry! But saw this on FB and it describes how I feel absolutely perfectly.
Hello, my name is neuropathy, I'm an invisible disease that attacks the nerves anywhere and everywhere in your body damaging them and causing you excruciating pain and loss of mobility.
I don't show up in your blood work, in x-rays, MRI’s can’t detect me, basically there is no test to prove you have me. There are only test to rule out other things.
Others around you can't see me or hear me, but YOUR body feels me.
I can attack you anywhere and anyway I please. And I will. Constantly.
I can cause severe pain that makes you want to die.
I can take good sleep from you and in its place, give you brain fog and lack of concentration.
I can make you want to sleep 24/7, and I can also cause insomnia. I can cause you so much pain all night long that nothing can take it away.
I can make you tremble internally or make you feel cold or hot when everyone else feels normal.
Even if I started off in one part of your body, don’t think I can’t travel and effect other limbs or any other part of your body I so choose to torment. I can, and likely I will.
I can make you feel very anxious with panic attacks or very depressed. I can also cause other mental health problems. You know crazy mood swings? That's me. Crying for no reason? Angry for no reason? That's probably me too. It is hard to not feel hopeless when you have me beating your body up constantly.
I can make you scream out loud, anytime of day or night, anywhere you are because I can create pain that makes you sure someone just stabbed you with a knife, electrocuted you, constant electric jolts, stinging you, sawing at you, throbbing, cutting, aching, burning. I can make you believe you have had gasoline poured on you and lit with a match. I can make you feel as though you have a very bad sunburn when you haven't been in the sun. Making you look crazy is fun for me.
Some of my other inflammatory disease friends often join me, giving you even more to deal with. Such as fibromyalgia and diabetes.
If you have something planned, or are looking forward to a great day, I can take that away from you. You didn't ask for me. I chose you for various reasons. Whatever the cause, I'm here to stay.
I hear you're going to see a doctor to try and get rid of me. That makes me laugh. Just try. You will have to go to many, many doctors until you find one who can even try to help you effectively. Most of them will make you feel like you are to blame, or worse, it is all in your head. I’ll convince them that you are crazy because normal people know that you can’t have all those symptoms all over your body and still walk around looking normal.
There are so many other ways I can make you sick and miserable, the list is endless - If your body is all of a sudden dealing with things that were never issues before...yep…. that's probably me.
You'll be told to think positively, you'll be poked, prodded, and MOST OF ALL, not taken seriously when you try to explain to the endless number of doctors you've seen, just how debilitating and how much I am hurting you and causing you to suffer and how ill and exhausted you really feel.
I will make you question your own sanity at times. I will make you contemplate unthinkable scenarios.
Your family, friends and co-workers will all listen to you until they just get tired of hearing about how I make you feel, and just how debilitating I can be.
Even after explaining to those you interact with regularly that I’m the most painful thing you've ever felt and there is no cure, they will say things like “I hope you have a speedy recovery”. Those who don’t know me well have no idea how cruel and unusual my punishment can be.
The only ones who could even begin to understand the torture I put you through are others who suffer from the same thing. Be glad that you have them to commiserate with, at least your not alone.
Author Unknown.