For the millions of Americans living with an “invisible illness” the absence of any visible signs of illness frequently results in a lack of understanding from others. For many years, despite insufferable symptoms, I appeared to be completely healthy.
I remember a day some years ago where a stranger expected me to help her carry a heavy couch. She saw a young, healthy man and had no clue that I had fibromyalgia and felt drained to the last drop. Just standing on my own feet for 5-10 minutes required intense effort! Other scenarios occurred when I stood in lines or on crowded trains, often losing my internal struggle to ask a stranger for their seat to alleviate my agonizing pain. I eventually had the wise idea to adopt a walking cane; overnight my illness became visible and people’s behavior towards me changed dramatically!

Why this photo?
Throughout my health ordeal I’ve taken shirtless selfies, documenting how my body has changed throughout. I was recently sharing with one of my oldest friends about my hard-earned health improvements and showed him this photo of how my body had changed over the last year. Upon seeing it he immediately became emotional and teared up. He wanted to apologize, sharing that despite me telling him for years about my struggle with illness, it had all seemed to him like a dramatic case of psychosomaticism.
Something about seeing these two photos side-by-side finally helped my friend “get” that I had not been making all of this up. It became clear to him I had truly been suffering from a serious illness, and as my friend he wished he had understood that earlier. Sometimes a picture is more effective in helping people “get it” than words alone.