First of all before I write anything I am in no way demeaning anyone's illness what so ever!! Just to get that straight.
If you keep up on any news you must know by now that Nick Cannon has been diagnosed with a rare form of Lupus. My heart sank for him and his family when I heard the news. If you are not aware Lupus is an autoimmune disease which attacks organs in your body. It chooses which ever one it likes. Kidneys, lungs, heart, skin, etc. It is a hater disease in a weird sort of way. As with all autoimmune diseases, for some reason, the body detects the organs as an invader. Say like when you get a virus, your immune system fights the virus so you don't get sick, except with autoimmune your body attacks itself in many forms. With Rheumatoid arthritis it attacks the joints, muscles, lungs, and other parts of your body. With Myasthenia Gravis it attacks the receptors which send messages to your muscles which tell them to move. If they are blocked, presto weak muscles. Each autoimmune disease has its specific area it attacks only it is not an outside virus' coming in but the body attacking itself. There are over 100 different types. Yes, 100. Think about that. Line up 100 pennies and look at them, that many, yikes!
With the first signs of autoimmune disease you blow off the symptoms of fatigue or pain to getting older. Maybe your eyes get all screwy but everyone's eyes get worse the older you get, so you think. You get new glasses and for some reason they do not seem right so you go back and back again with no help. Slowly the autoimmune response in your body does more damage. Your fatigue is undescribable. You may begin to run low grade fevers everyday. What is that all about? You may become very short of breath doing the simplest of tasks. You think oh well I have to lose a few pounds, after all that is the answer to everything nowadays. You begin to notice you are different, much different than other people your age. You can no longer keep up to them anyone. You wonder what is wrong and why your own mother who is 25 years older than you can do much more than you can. You begin to sleep. A lot. Your typical 7-8 hours of sleep may turn into 10-12 and you wonder why you are still so physically tired. It is a roller coaster of symptoms and the list is way to long to explain but hopefully you get the picture.
This week when I saw Nick Cannon on GMA I was distraught to some degree. I thought about the pros and cons of a star becoming ill. The pros for the potential of awareness and money that will be raised for research of that specific disease. This is a wonderful thing for the Lupus Foundation and I am beyond happy for them and everyone who suffer from this life changing disease. I hope and pray they can discover a cure!
Then I began to think as I always do when a star comes out with a chronic illness. The cons of it all. As I watched Nick on GMA trying to convience everyone he is doing just "great" I thought to myself. Really? Really Nick you are doing great? Why do they have to portray autoimmune disease as the greatest thing to get if you are going to get something. Yup, this is the one to get? WHAT? I can hardly believe if anyone with autoimmune disease would choose to have a disease that requires harsh drugs, life changes decisions, and a disease which controls your life instead of vice versa, that anyone would. I doubt anyone would ever say great to the fact that everyday, and I mean everyday for the rest of your life, that you wake up you will never know what you are going to get. Yes, you could wake up just fine and by noon your day is done. Or you could wake up awful and by 5 o'clock you feel better. Only by then most of the people you are with are tired from a long day of work. Oh ya work, another issue. Many of us are unable to hold a job because no employer is going to put up with an employee who is unreliable. The real world does not understand what you live on a day to day basis with autoimmunes. Fortunately for Nick he can hire people to do all his excess work and only has to worry about himself. The real people of the world do not have that luxury. I really do wish Nick the best and I am in no way making his illness any easier than mine or anyone elses but I just want the world to know what you see on TV is not always the pretty picture that is portrayed when living with autoimmune disease.
While I am on the subject of TV. I always wonder to myself, why? Why with all the doctor shows there are on TV now, how come one of them devote takes anytime to devote to autoimmune diseases? I am talking a whole hour on autoimmune disease? We do a terrible job educating people about autoimmune diseases. It is like these diseases are swept under the rug, unless a drug company is trying to sell a drug for one of them. I think I pretty much know why. Because there is not a whole lot understood about them. We cannot "cure" them like we can cure cancer or heart disease so why talk about them? Plus, doctors don't want to look like idiots they want to be healers, that is what they are taught. In the meantime the people who have these diseases suffer. Suffer in silence. Suffer in the looks from people who wonder how we can look good and be sick. It outrages me when I have to feel like an outsider when I am out in the "real" world. I have no idea what the "real" world is anymore. Every time I am out there I feel like an alien. The real world for me consist of many drugs a day, shots once a week and full time awareness of what is going on with my body. I am someone who lives a life that looks much different than the "real" world could ever understand. It outrages and saddens me at the same time we are not talking about autoimmune disease more.
My hope for the future is someone whether it be a celebrity, Dr. Oz, a talk show host, anyone, just come out and educate the world so we do not have to feel so alone in our diseases and paint them as such a pretty picture which makes people believe that if you are going to get something be thankful it is an autoimmune disease. That's all.
God Bless!
Dianne
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