Anyone else who's under 25 with chronic illnesses?

I'm 22 right now.

I've had physical health issues, chronic pain and an invisible disability (I don't wanna make a long list of illnesses and symptoms) since I was 11 and have been too sick to do much since I was 17. I had to quit everything, and give up all my dreams and many things because of it.

I get often discriminated by people because I'm sick and young.

Only very few doctors believe I'm sick, and even fewer don't underestimate my problems, and even fewer actually try to help.

My family often mistreats me and doubts me, as I have no way to prove I'm in pain or anything, and my relatives think I'm a liar and good for nothing.

People in general don't understand how hard it can be, and talk without thinking, even when they're not trying to be mean.

When I was younger, kids my age often made fun of me, bullied me, avoided me or didn't understand what I was going through.

I'm sure things would have been different if I was older when I got sick.

So yes, sadly age does affect the way people treat you... It does way too much.

I just turned 25 this month but have had physical and mental disorders since I was a very young child.

By 5 I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder; to this day anxiety is one of my most impactful diagnoses.

By 8 I had developed bulmia with anorexic tendencies, which then caused a mutlitude of gastric issues like GERD and IBS; I am mostly in control now, but i still have bad days.

By 10 I was on a daily inhaler for asthma, I was hospitalized multiple times throughout my life for it.

By 13 I was diagnosed with transverse L5 spondylolysis/spondylolythesis, which means my last lumbar vertebrae is deformed and can put pressure on my nerves, causing severe pain. I was a compettive gymnast and had to stop all phyiscal activity immeadiately. I still cannot preform a lot of physical activities consistently, sometimes even just sitting or laying down is extremely painful. I was also diagnosed with depression and began taking prescriptions for it, althought the scripts never helped and I no longer take them. I force myself to find at least one thing that makes me happy everyday, usually it is my pets.

By 16 I was having yearly colonoscopies to have colon and rectal polyps removed; while its not a diagnosis, if the polyps are not routinely removed they can become malignant and cause a lot of issues with using the bathroom.

I didnt have health insurance for awhile, I got coverage again when I was in college.

At 22 I received most of my diagnoses. I have fibromyalgia and dysautonomia. the fibromyalgia causes debilitatitng pain, some days i cant walk because of the pain in my feet and my toes, some days i cant grasp things because of the pain in my hands, and pretty much all of my free time is spent resting because I am completely exhausted all of the time. dysautonomia is a nuerological disorder that affects the involuntary neural signals my brain sends to the rest of my body. it casues heart issues, lung issues, kidney issues, gastric issues, and many nuerological issues. I get terrible migraines and have a lot of trouble sleeping; I currently cannot drive because I have had seizures consistently within 6 months of each other. I have POTS and arrythmias, I pass out weekly because I do not have enough blood volume circulating to oxygenate my brain effiecently. I get kidney stones and UTI's constantly, they get to the point of incontinence. I have cyclic vomiting snydrome, I can have cycles that last months at a time, where I cannot even keep water down, I will throw up for literally 20 hours a day. I lost over 30% of my body weight which was a lot of muscle and most of my hair. My teeth are ruined, the last time I was at the dentist, which was years ago, they said I would need reconstructive work before 30. And I was also diagnosed with PTSD from an abusive childhood; this may have been the hardest diagnosis for me.

I look completely normal, I have always been an overachiever and a perfectionist, so its really hard for me when I'm having a bad day or month and people don't have empathy or understand why I'm not operating at the level I've shown in the past. I live independently so if I am having a bad day I usually have to muscle through anyway, and just get sick the whole time I'm at work. I don't want people to know and judge me but I don't want people to not know and be critical.

I read an NPR article a few years back that was a survey on which physical ailments people were willing to live with and which were "worse than death ", that's verbatim the phrasing they used. The majority of my symptoms most people said they would rather be dead than dealing with, at the time I was incontinent to the point I would be on the toilet for 2-4 hours at a time, I lost my job because of it, and something like 80+% of the people surveryed said being dead would be better than living with pissing on yourself. It made my depression a lot worse, and the huge amount of physical pain I was in made it seem like they were right. It felt so isolating to be so sick at such a young age and have no one give me any credit for it cause I looked fine, it couldn't be that bad, I was probably overreacting or it was all in my head cause there was no way someone as young and capable as me had disabilities.

My diagnoses have taken so many opportunities away from me, opportunities I would have been able to really suceed at if not for my physical incapabilities. It feels like my intelligence, artistic talents, and sports talents are wasted on a "worse than dead" body. I really try and force myself to be happy at least once everyday, I'm not suicidal but sometimes it feels like I'm biding time until my body finally gives out, I'm almost looking forward to it to just not be in pain anymore.

Sorry for the long post, I just joined a few days ago and have never had an outlet or community of people who can understand what I'm going through.

@MythologicalMayhem

I'm 22 and have had M.E/CFS for 9 years which has left me mainly housebound. I feel like 'friends' didn't understand and kind of just forgot about me so I'm quite on my own with it all. I use a wheelchair when out but all I seem to notice is people stare at you so much which makes you feel even more isolated! The isolation is staggering and is really affecting my mental health :(

I'm 23, turning 24 soon and I've struggled for years now with a still undiagnosed illness that affects almost every aspect of my life. It's tough. It's tough not knowing why you're ill, it's tough not having a name for your illness and it's tough when your body forces you to sit on the bench when all you want to do is be in the middle of the action.
It's tough on the economy, especially since I've been too sick to work since the end of 2017. Hospital bills and medicine bills are a struggle to pay, and it's frustrating to be forced to sit at home instead of doing stuff and being active.
In my mind, there are a million things I want to do. I want to party with my friends again, I want to eat whatever I want without having to suffer consequences from my intestines (a pizza or a hamburger would honestly be heaven). I want to travel, work out, go to school and most of all I want to work. It's tough when you want to do so much but know you can't do any of it. I just feel like life's passing me by and I hate not being in control of my own body, I hate how my body dictates every single move I make. It's isolating.

21 years old and living with Ehlers Danlos and chronic pain. Currently sitting down with a heating pad wrapped around my neck, struggling not to throw up due to the pain. I experience a lot of discrimination and general lack of understanding from everybody, even my own family. They dont believe that I could be in so much pain and be so disabled at my age. Its really frusterating being asked to do things around the house that I have been specificaly told by my doctor not to do.

Hey, I am 24 and have migraines. I've always had them, but they have got worse as I have gotten older. Its so frustrating because for instance right now I am meant to be at work, however I am just barely managing to work from home. Its taking over my life and I feel like such a fraud sometimes because one day I am fine, the next I can't leave bed. Its so frustrating.

I feel like being so young with a chronic illness is hard because people expect young people to be healthy. The fact I am so young and have to take so much time off for medical reasons does not look good and its really affecting my work life, as well as how other people percieve me. Its also hard to meet up with friends when I can't be predictable, I can't drink because of meds, and also a trigger, and I have to always be able to get home because I don't want to be stuck anywhere with one. Just to leave the hoomee it feels like I need a billion contingency plans, and its embarrising to have to tell friends, family and coworkers that I have to leave because I am in intense pain.

I‘m 16 and I have rheumatoid polyathrites, whitch means that my joins and the surrounding tissues get chronically inflamed.

It always was hard to deal with the symptoms but I menaged. A long time only my hands where infected and the pain would go away after a week or two.

It wasnt till last year it got really bad. I cant walk for 4 month now, even sitting or lieing hurts. I couldnt attend the school for most of the year and they talke about downgrade me. I was the classbest bevor my illness got so bad. And I was a pianist, I was really good but I had to stopp, same goes for my drawings and judo. I had to quite nearly all of my hobbys, its still very hard.

I feal like my parents and friends dont understand how upsetting all of this is. Its like Im not able anymore to make dreams come true. Im not able anymore to do the things I used to love!

Sometimes they make fun of me because of this or call me cripple, I dont know if they know how much this actually hurts me.

I was so ambitious, wanted to achieve so much and now I break down crying while walking downstairs because I just cant do this little task. I dont even remember how it feels to walke without being in pain. I just want the pain to stop so much! I swear I would cut off my right arm if it would stop the pain!

I'm 17 and I have Elhers Danlos Syndrome hypermobile type.

Its really frustrating to be someone so young not be able to do what my friends are doing. I wish couId be normal but I guess I got to win the genetic lottery for HEDS

I dont know if anyone is still using this thread?

I have just turned 24 and suffer from Functional neurological disorder (FND cause its a mouthful!) and an undiagnosed condition affecting my hands and wrists. I have had this since I was 2013 but was only properly diagnosed in January 2014. I have managed University and got s job but still struggle a lot. Its been a long frustrating road for me. Currently trying to do apply to do an MA in Archiving for next September (2020) but need loads of experience which means needing to ask my current employer to keep me on for a year and also ask about cutting down my hours if they would let me to get the work experience in! Ive found that living with chronic illnesses you find out who your true friends are. Life can seem like a very dark place but there is light at the end of the tunnel .... however distant! You just have to try and never give up and go round obstacles that get in your way :) very happy to chat to others on here!

I'm 18, I've had Fibromyalgia and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis since I was 11 years old. Throw those on top of chronic migraine disorder, mobility issues due to inflammatory joints, IBS, POTS, interstitial cystitis, and a few other things and you get me. I get a lot of people telling me "You're too young for back pain", or "You can't really have arthritis, you're a child", etc etc. People don't understand that disability impacts literally every walk of life, no matter how young or old. Pain doesn't discriminate.

I wish that people would understand that I'm actually hurting and it's actually never going to go away.