Why People Don’t Believe You Have a Chronic Disease?
It could be more than just plain ignorance
Have you ever felt like nobody believes you?
That is something people with chronic diseases often experience, and not only those who have invisible illnesses but all of us.
Chronic diseases are more common than you may think, but still is common for those of us who have it to be dismissed as hypochondriacs or attention seekers.
I have hEDS, a genetic condition that causes a lot of chronic issues because the collagen in the body is poor quality. I have had it all my life but was officially diagnosed with this in 2018 and to this day, some members of my family don’t believe I have anything and think I am dramatic and seek attention, even when last year I was declared disabled.
I am also a late diagnoses autist, and I have suffered from ableism for all of this.
That’s why I immerse myself in the chronic diseases databases and I want to share some of my discover with you.
Some relevant data
Globally: according to the World Health Organization (WHO) about 74% of all deaths can be attributed to chronic diseases.
European Union: In 2022 about 36% of people over 16 years old reported having a chronic health issue (Source).
Canada: 40% of adults over 20 years old have at least one of the most common chronic diseases (Source).
USA: In 2022 approximately 60% of adults have at least one chronic disease and about 40% have multiple chronic conditions (Source).
- New York, USA: 40% of adults have a chronic disease and 6 out of 10 deaths are related to a chronic disease (Source).
Australia: In 2022 one in two people have at least one chronic disease (Source).
In my Country, Chile, 9 million out of 700 thousand people suffer from two or more chronic health conditions (Source), being responsible for more than half of deaths in the country (Source).
All this data may look outdated, but that is not the case, since the health statistics of a country normally are taken between periods, and I looked for the latest releases, if you find new data please share it with me.
Looking just at these numbers makes me shiver, Do I need to be carrying this and show it to people to believe us? or do I need to be dead and be one more statistic?
Now lest see what the data says about hypochondriac people, shall we?
According to the DSM-5 the prevalence of people with hypochondria that show up to a general medicine consultation is 4–6%, but could be up to 15%. Mmm… I am not an expert, but that could also mean that at least 85% of someone who goes to the doctor could have something else, like a chronic disease?
I vehemently think that people need to inform themselves, there is more to know than what is in front of you.
Final thoughts
What I am trying to say is that the medical staff should not jump to the immediate conclusion that we do not feel what we feel and that we may have, in fact, a chronic disease.
Hypochondriasis is a psychological issue that needs a psychological diagnosis, you can´t diagnose me with it by just one look! To all the people who don´t believe us, we may not be experts in diseases, but we are experts in how is expressed in our bodies.
I hope this helps you to know a little more about chronic diseases and also to not feel alone.
I would love to know what you think about this.
Disclaimer: this is in no way an attack on people who suffer from Hypochondriasis, the point of touching the topic is to differentiate this health issue for those of us who suffer from chronic diseases.
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