{"id":411,"date":"2016-04-09T04:51:11","date_gmt":"2016-04-09T04:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livinginsidethetestimony.com\/blog\/?p=411"},"modified":"2020-05-24T05:39:51","modified_gmt":"2020-05-24T05:39:51","slug":"bringing-awareness-to-that-which-is-invisible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.livinginsidethetestimony.com\/blog\/bringing-awareness-to-that-which-is-invisible\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing Awareness to That Which Is Invisible"},"content":{"rendered":"

What happens when others can’t see your pain? Does it make it any less painful?\u00a0Ask most people with a chronic illness which causes physical pain that isn’t visible from the outside, and they will tell you they hear this all the time:<\/p>\n

“But you look so good. You can’t possibly be sick.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If only you could see what’s going on inside. Flip my body inside-out, and perhaps you will see a totally different person. That’s what happened when the Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s Syndrome Foundation (SSF) changed their picture of a lady exhibiting the hallmark signs of Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"Ways<\/a>

Ways Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s Can Affect the Body<\/p><\/div>\n

If you could see all of those physical symptoms listed above from the outside, it would certainly appear that this poor lady is sick. Now take a look at the new picture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>

This is Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s<\/p><\/div>\n

That’s why Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s\u00a0is considered an invisible illness. Doesn’t she look too good to be sick? She looks very healthy from the outside, right? But just read the small print, and you’ll\u00a0see a totally different person.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s (pronounced “SHOW-grins”) is a systemic autoimmune disease that affects the entire body. Along with symptoms of extensive dryness, other serious complications include profound fatigue, chronic pain, major organ involvement, neuropathies, and lymphomas.<\/p>\n

April is Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s Awareness Month, and my goal is to help raise awareness of this debilitating and complex disease. I’ve written about it before. It’s actually the title of my third\u00a0book, SHOWgrins.<\/a>\u00a0\"SHOWgrins\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a year ago that I blogged about losing one of the five fabulous women in the book, Judy Kang. “What Do You Do When You Lose One<\/a>?”\u00a0Judy was a woman of great faith and fortitude, and she lived her life to the fullest amidst the uncertainty of not knowing from day-to-day what health challenges she would face, as there were countless of them for many years. Some days she never even knew where her next breath would come from. She summarized her battle with Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s like this:\u00a0\u201cIn 1996 I was diagnosed with a lung illness which they realized was caused from primary Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s syndrome. I was on oxygen for 9 years and in 2010 managed to get a double lung transplant. I still have symptoms of Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s but luckily have a renewed life.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>In April, 2014, she began her eternal life.<\/p>\n

As sad as it makes me to think about my dear friend Judy Kang and her battle with\u00a0Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s, I am filled with excitement and gratitude knowing I have an opportunity to help the SSF<\/a> increase awareness of this very common yet silent and often invisible illness.<\/p>\n

If I have sparked your curiosity about the invisibleness of Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s, please don’t stop with this blog. A good place to look for additional information is right here<\/a>\u00a0on the SSF website<\/a>. You can also find interesting facts that will help you see inside the body of a Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s patient during\u00a0Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s Awareness Month on Facebook<\/a>. Just consider some of these\u00a0statements made by Sj\u00f6gren\u2019s patients. You will find a new post each day on the SSF Facebook page during awareness month.<\/p>\n