It's really hard to explain being chronically ill and in pain to someone who has never been seriously ill before. They literally don't have any frame of reference.

Even my mom, who was there through all my hospital visits, me screaming and crying in pain, me struggling to make it a full week in school, told me she never truly understood. Then she got Lyme Disease and she asked me, "Is this what you've lived with for 35+ years?" and I was like, "Yeah. Pretty close." and she said "I am so sorry! This is awful! How are you functioning?"

I don't have any other choice.