Frustrated with Lack of Empathy for Chronic Illness

But no you're totally right to me annoyed sometimes. When you're so used to dealing with so much pain on a daily basis and still being forced to carry on with your daily life, it's annoying when someone who's fully functioning starts venting about the really small amount of pain that they're in temporarily

I understand what you mean. My situations like this are slightly different but still along the same vein. This one coworker I have talks to me about more personal things which I enjoy because not a lot of people open up to me in that way. My personality is kind of abrasive if you don't know how to handle someone like me so it was a pleasant surprise. But I feel like she doesn't really understand that things like bipolar disorder and fibromyalgia are really debilitating in their own ways and sometimes she acts like she doesn't understand what I mean when I say I'm disabled. I look completely fine on the outside most of the time, but I've told her before that my fibromyalgia fucks me up and I can't work as much as everyone else can. She seems like she tries to understand but she still seems a little questioning of why I say I'm disabled because of those things. Then there's the people who don't think mental illnesses are disabilities at all which is a whole other story

Talking to them might not feel great in the moment but voicing concerns is how you become closer. Also finding friends with chronic conditions can really help. I have a lot of friends who don’t care what mobility aid I am using right now or if we have to do things differently. They include me as part of the group and when go places we all squish into the elevator and get creative with choreography for dance club.