Dealing with Stigma: When Others Treat Your Condition as Contagious

I’ve had this happen when I’d body double or have productive manias—people would be afraid to get too wrapped up in whatever I’m doing to do their own things! I’ve also had my hyperfixations of staying organized (I like those organization TikToks and cleaning TikToks a lot, I like organizing my fridge etcetera too. and bullet journals, itineraries, and more) be accused of being really quote, “OCD” and that said people would make fun of planning out when I’d even eat something for crying out loud! People are just harsh.

Well, someone though I'd turn them gay if I touched them- Someone else thought they'd get depressed if I looked at them too long-

yes 🙄🙄🙄

Just with the depression. It’s actually really sad. People in the past acted like there is a cloud of miasma around me if they suspect I’m depressed.

Luckily no but I do get told to just deal with it or to just stop being this way like I can turn my health anxiety off and on

Yes. I wish ppl were more educated about genital herpes. Everyone acts like they can get it just by my breathing. It's a SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED disease. I wouldn't sleep with 90% of the ppl I meet so why they flatter themselves is questionable. I got it from my ex, not from whoring around, not from someone breathing near me.

Not that I can remember but I do get a lot of strange looks when I'm out in public.

They haven't treated me like it's contagious but they definitely have made fun of how bad my panic attacks are and think that I have them for attention they have made fun of the fact that I have bad anxiety in general and treated me differently do to that even though I'm pretty smart and love talking when I feel welcomed

Yes!! Right now I'm having a flare that has has caused a horrible open wounds that are infected on my feet, legs, and arms. People in the grocery store have looked down and then backed away from my feet. Either they think that they can catch it, or that I am on drugs.

Yes. They think that of Thalassemia and skin conditions.

That’s very true people should accept you who you are I feel the same way God bless you that’s good you stick up for yourself

Yes and needless to say they are no longer in my circle. Don't need negative people like that around. Good riddance. ✋🙌

Yes, I’ve had that a lot with people in medical field where they act like I’m crazy for having mental Illnesses and that if they are close to me they are at risk of danger or something happening. It’s ridiculous because I’m human too and no one deserves to be mistreated like that ever.

I have had loads of people treat my mental health issues as if it's easy to have. So frustrating!

No, but they sure like judging!

My ex bf left me bc I was too much to deal with…

My mother would always say that I'm only trans because I was 'influenced' by people around me :/

Yeahhh people have acted like my DID is contagious somehow??? Like... sorry babe just cause you were around us and we told you we have DID dosent mean that you have it too. What they typically describe is as if their feelings are different alters and then they often tell random stories of things they've done and then day "but that was angry Aaron, not me-Aaron." Buddy stop. First of all you remembered the event. So if you have a dissociative disorder, it's not DID. Maybe osdd. But no matter what, anyone with a system knows you CANNOT do that stuff. You HAVE to take system accountability.

Yes my old therapist Smh

Yes my dad

Yes, well with dermotillomania, which is skin picking, people have treated me like I’m “diseased” because of scars or open sores on my hands and arms

while they didn't think i was contagious, they still treated me like i had the plague. just recently i quit my job because i felt like they were discriminating me for being easily distracted and i don't have the best of hearing, 'selective hearing' i call it. that and i just had so many things wrong with me and they won't put in the appropriate accommodations for it.

I’ve had schools rescind their admission when I shared my condition with them. I was blamed for applying when I knew I had an issue. The school I’m at now was extremely supportive and I hate those other institutions. The craziest part it’s med school so you would think if anyone they would understand. 😟

Yeah, was diagnosed incorrectly age 6 to 18 with ADHD until they realized I actually had PTSD the whole time because my parents used to both beat the crap out of me at home until I had enough.

Yeah its annoying af

Yeah... but I have a rare autoimmune dysfunction so I get a "fever" frequently and in this world of covid fear I kinda get why people avoid me when I do have one. I mean, I have tried to explain why I have frequent fevers but really it's gets me nowhere with most people because they're so sure I have to be contagious.

yeah, sometimes when i get a fatigue flare up people treat me like i'm sick and don't want me anywhere near them. i can always tell if i'm actually sick or not cause i never have a fever with fatigue, but people don't believe that

I used to get bullied for being in special education and having ADHD they told me to get away that they didn't want to catch my stupid and or ADHD

Yeah since my surgery I make a lot of noises I guess just moving around I've put weight on and my body is so torqued it strains me I'm still somewhat still active as much as I can thank God my closer friends know me and suppose ignore the sounds but then there's those other ones

I had multiple friends who didn't know they had DID who accused me of giving them DID as if contagious

My “friends” decided to go against me and bully and harass me because they thought I was a terrible person. Turns out I was suffering and just wanted helped and people thought I was crazy :( I never felt so alone. PMDD sucks

No one ever said it’s contagious… but apparently as a woman who constantly vomits, my DOCTORS told me for TWO YEARS I was bulimic or anorexic!!! I was 36 when I started getting sick with my hEDS. Two years of them thinking I was not happy with my body. Two years I had to fight to get diagnosed. Two years and 35 pounds later they finally believed me. 😕

Yes!!!! I was in the hospital. I was swollen all over. Then, I was diagnosed with RA in all joints. I had pain all over. I couldn’t ever move not even enough to push the call button for help. When the nurse did her rounds I asked her to help me out of the bed. I was still prideful and didn’t really want help. I felt so embarrassed just to ask for that. She acted as if I had a highly contagious disease on my very swollen legs. They had no open wounds no bruises, not even a scratch. She gloved up. (That didn’t bother me). The way she touched my legs you would have thought I had sh*t on them. She didn’t lower the bed and after moving my legs to the floor I almost fell because she failed to support me. She did not assist me to the bathroom or anything. I could barely walk. I nearly had an accident. She walked away from me as if I was not a fall risk. Then she had on a mask. This was in 2012. She made me feel like scum. She was like that for the whole 12 hours. I required blood pressure checks, temperature checks, frequent adjustments in the bed, warm blanket switches due to my low body temperature. The other nurses Never treated me that way. I urinated all over the floor and myself and two nurses cleaned me and the floor. One was a male nurse at that. It’s horrible to get treated that way. I had nothing she could catch. I ended up with tachycardia, fibromyalgia, lupus and other arthritis related illnesses.

Cancer

My friends support me on this I got kicked out of my sister's because it made her feel like I was making hers act up

Yeah, my family didn't touch me at all to comfort me in all my pain when I used to have migraines all the time as a teenager.

More like family history. Prospective partners are afraid of my genetics. I think it’s better to know what someone is predisposed to. Because you’ll find someone that has a clean bill of health and their family does too- then they are probably lying, or are not aware YET and will only know once a condition expresses itself unless they test for it. EVERYONE has something. I am so tired of the stigma around physical and mental health conditions.

Yep!!!! I call it ignorance (mean unlearned), as I've told "them", if you loved me as you said, you would of (by choice) took the time to search, research and ask me about my illnesses oppose to acting, which showed me their true heart.

Yes I’ve been treated like that before.

Sadly yes. I told someone, who asked what was wrong, that I was having an anxiety attack and they backed up as though I told them I was about to puke. Another time I was limping and I was asked why and I said it was because the bursitis in my knee was acting up again. The person actually said "ew, is that contagious?" She was a coworker who irritated me and quite often made me mad at her so I said "yes and it is spread by anger so don't press your luck today." She told the manager I hand a terrible disease in my knee. I told the manager what I had going on and that I was just messing with her. I told the manager what was asked to me than said "ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer" and went back to work.

Everytime I'm anywhere in public and people know about them, sadly yeah.

Yes and I had to explain that PolycysticcKidney Disease is only contagipus if I was pregnant and I passed it on to my child.

Oh for sure yeah, I have chronic hives that know one knows the reason for but they will come and go my entire life and for a really long period of time I had them and people would look at me so weird and try and get away from me as fast as possible. This one girl I'm friends with asked me if it was contagious and luckily treated me alright after I said no but I was worried for a bit.

People for some reason when around me seem to be afraid that they'll catch my deafness if they attempt to talk to me or something. Most people run away and don't even attempt to talk to me.

im so sick of ignorance being more common than love and understanding and god forbid someone might learn something...damn why do ppl gotta suck so bad?!

Yea. In third or fourth grade, someone from my class acted as though my DiGeorge Syndrome would affect him. He started being mean to me, but I had my other classmates who stood up to me.

Yes.

I was falsely diagnosed with focal seizures... I'm seizure free with the correct prognosis from the Cleveland Clinic.

i made my friends drained from talking about my mental illnesses so often with them and they left me. so i think my being mentally ill hurts them mentally too

I've learned to handle explaining my health problems. It helps that my bf is always by my side. Elementary school was difficult and very lonely. I was home schooled in middle school and then reintroduce to school system by highschool. But it never got better explaining my health problems. And my family did the same except when other family got ill some of them realized I was nothing to be afraid of. Although this also meant being compared with family members with similar illnesses and wondering why I can't be like them.

Yes. Especially my acne.

When people learn you’re on antipsychotics they think you’re dangerous and I’m like “bro I’m on ANTI like that means not psychotic.” I’m dangerous because of my ADHD anger not my fear of cars lol.

When I was first diagnosed with T1D, my siblings would 'jokingly' say that they don't want to catch "the diabetes"... one of them is now borderline T2D My aunt and her children would also 'joke' about how I went and caught the "betes." My aunt was the main one who did...she was diagnosed with T2D before I left the state

Yes, when I was diagnosed with Trichotillamania, I lost several friends, and eventually had to tell people I had lice when my head was shaved since lice was going around really bad back then.

Woow some ppl are small minded..its not contagious ...

I have a skin disorder and if people see my lesions, they thinks it's like herpes or something when it is not contagious at all, it's just in some uncomfortable places.

Yes. They aren't like that until I tell them that I'm autistic.

I have psoriasis, btw

Yes. It happens all the time at work with coworkers and customers. To the point I had to get a pin saying "my skin condition is NOT contagious". It's so annoying with people treating me as if I'm a disease

My friends are sick and tired of me splitting on them and self destructing I think. Pretty sure they're giving up on me too lol

Idk, my father thinks that being trans is contagious and a disease 💀 I can't stand him.

All of my friends are scared of me because of my condition and they all almost gave up on me 😥

Ohhhh boy. I have a chronic cough and will get random coughing attacks that sound Very Bad. You can imagine with Covid that whenever this would happen in public people in the area would look at me like 👀😨😬 Whenever it would happen at work I'd have to be like "I promise I'm not contagious it's okay--"

Sort of. I have oral herpes which technically is contagious, but people think its so much more contagious than it really is. It's also far more common than most people seem to think.

I've never been treated like I was contagious but I've had people use my mental illness to get away with verbally abusing me. Because this is hard to explain I'll just give an example of what I mean instead. Say a man/woman does something legitimately messed up or exhibits cruel and insensitive behavior. If I reacted to the outright disregard of my personal boundaries and self-respect they would immediately turn my mental illness into a weapon to cut me down with. They did this by instantly discrediting anything I had to say and dismissing it as me "acting crazy" or "tripping" when in fact the reaction was legitimate. I won't even give you a specific reference because it's happened to me all my life. There is nothing more cruel than using someone's illness against them as a defense.

Not exactly, but I have lost friends that have told me that I'm just "too much" and that im causing drama when in reality, I was speaking to them privately about something I was really struggling with.

When I first got diagnosed with PTSD (not war related) I had a best friend who became extremely distant and blocked me for no reason. I also got yelled at by my then husband saying "you dont have ptsd, you have schizophrenia, I dont believe you." Jokes on him! Now I have both but he has a**holeism😂

I've had people back away from me because I would tell them of my eczema, they thought it was as contagious as getting the chicken pox.

I'm 1 of 3 daughters and my older sister was diagnosed as bipolar too. So far, she's the only one of us that has received that diagnosis, and since we're in our 30's & 40's I don't think it'll change. Maybe this will bring her or you some comfort.

My 8 year old niece was afraid to hug me when she first found out I got cancer because she thought she would catch it lol.

Not myself but my husband has cystic fibrosis and when his mom would tell his friends in school that he was sick they'd stop hanging around him because they didn't understand what his disease meant they just assumed it was contagious by the way his mom would tell them he's terminally ill... knowing this makes me ill about how she's done my husband and also my husband is really healthy for him having delta-508 which is the worst type of CF and he don't like talking about it and don't like people to know he's sick he says out of sight out of mind if he don't think about it its not as bad for him which has proved effective....

Funny enough I did. I thought talking about my depression might just make my friends be more depressed or relapse an old depressive episode. Turns out I was wrong.

Yes, unfortunately. I had a good friend in high school and we were very close. We talked every day, it was the best. Nothing was kept from either of us. All of a sudden she stopped reaching out and we became distanced. Including my friendship with her brother. Years later the brother reached back out to me and I found out they were told to stay away from me by their mother because they didn't want my depression and anxiety to "wear off on them." Some people are cruel.

Yes, those friends in my life are gone and the ones I actually need and truly care about me are there for me now. Good riddance to the others.

I have lost most of my friends if not all. Some family members have become very distant. It is so difficult and hurts more than I can say.

With tic disorder people always go away or ask me if it contagious, it's stupid.

Absolutely. It's bogus but I try and spin it to just show that I've made it through and am a fighter and survivor and they can suck it. Makes me feel better about it.

People also treat me as if I'm copying them, which I may do, but I don't understand why as it is unintentional and I often get accused of making fun of ppl by doing so, of which I do not. I just don't comprehend I guess.

Yes people treat me that way as well. Also like I'm behaving in odd ways and lying and like I'm doing something wrong. I get ghosted, gas lighted, abused often and is very difficult to deal with.

Well kinda, I know someone whom I was acquainted with and I told them that I have ADHD and they said oh cool me to and at first I thought that I had someone to relate to but after awhile I realized that they did not seem to actually have ADHD they would look away and they when I would say there name they would snap there head back at me and say something like sorry the ADHD and then laugh or like copy what I was doing

No. But I expect it constantly tbh.

ppl used to avoid me because they thought my eczema was a transmittable disease. i wasn’t allowed near their little siblings or around small children when it was bad because they doubted me when i said they can’t catch eczema

Yeah by strangers who don't know my story, it's just sucks

Nah lol only when I was a kid and had head lice at school- but they really could catch that haha

I was having a flare up and one of my (fake) friends was on the phone with me and said, "good thing I'm not there or else I would have had it too," and I'm like, that's not how it works....

Not me but my mom is blind and people have treated her that way

Not to my face but I am sure behind my back.

No, but they tell me I don't "look" like someone who would have anxiety. Wth does anxiety look like?

Yes all the time. My family and so called friends do it all the time

I tell friends that I have alopecia and they look at me like I have lost my mind because I still have hair. Then I explain to them that there are two types.

Those people were not your friends, plus that's common sense (HELLO) good riddance to those people.

When I was a kid, no one would share a drink with me because they thought diabetes was contagious. 😥 and then when i was In 7th grade my first boyfriend ever found out and dumped me because of it.

That's so horrible

Yes I get treated differently as soon as they find out I have a hand full of mental illnesses they fear me and see me as dangerous like a ticking time bomb even tho I'm not. I get talked to like a child and people over explain things to me now because they found out abiut my mental illnesses I get offended everytime

when i was in school, this one girl hated that i wouldnt smile and at the time i didnt feel like smiling, i was in a bad spot and she one day sat next time me, told me to smile and that my negative energy is going to spread. when i didnt say anything she got up and said now my negativity spread to her and did a gross snerk, sat somewhere else. made me feel bad for a long time

Absolutely. Any visible skin condition will have you treated as an outcast, despite 99% of visible skin conditions not being contagious, or even infectious. I have eosinophilic eczema and the occasional bout of hives and boy oh boy you'd think I had the black plague! don't worry, touching my skin won't give you my autoimmune disease, it'll just be VERY itchy for me

Yes, every time that I clear my throat because my thyroid is swollen or when I scratch an itch due to sun sensitivity, a side effect of meditation taken for various things, or saying to someone that I have ...and watching them back up a few feet like I might give it to them. I work at a hospital and get this from my co-workers...rns and lpns who should know better.

All the time

Oh yeah

Yes for sure! And not all chronic too. Relationships (sexual or friends) have been ruined and I would unintentionally push them away and rarely anyone stayed through it. My current boyfriend absolutely hates my mood swings but stays😊. I've had people push their kids away from me and just generally avoid me because of my arms. I pick at my arms and so it looks like I do an insane amount of heroine or crack or something when the only other "drug" I do is smoke. It feels lonely at times but I've learned to brush it off my shoulders because no stranger knows the whole story

I've lost some friends, and it of course hurt at first, but I'm seeing that as the most positive thing. I am glad I'm not spending time with misinformed and rude people who misunderstand me - and I don't even have to tell them I don't wanna hang out! I'm glad I watched them grow from far away because now they seem like they are surrounded with more kind people. I don't need more people in my life for me to feel like I need to socialize with them.

Yes. I’ve had psoriasis since I was little. It was much worse when I was younger and some thought I was contagious and wouldn’t come near me. I used to teach kids martial arts and kids are very curious and can be ruthless about “flaws” so I also got more comments then as well. I did my best to not take it personally and try to educate them. It’s better now but I still have people point it out and freak out they think it’s ringworm or than I’m “unclean” especially in a gym environment. At least as an adult I can better explain that it’s not contagious and how it works. One of those things that I try not to take personal and if educating people and talking about it doesn’t help I don’t want to be around people like that.

Yes, I was denied a rental home because the realtor assumed she would need to sanitize the home when myself and my family moved out because she assumed Multiple Sclerosis was contagious.

The second someone knows you’re on antipsychotic meds even though they are for seizures people lose themselves. Like they don’t understand what the word ANTI means. I’d be much more scary without them lol.

I lost a relationship because they said I was "too much" and didn't want to deal with my "issues" around their family. She said I needed professional help everytime I asked her for her support and help through rough times. We had just moved all the way across the country so I didn't have insurance or a job yet. I continued to tell her I just wanted her support until I could find a doctor that helped low income people or until my new insurance kicked in. It was never enough and she constantly talked about me behind my back and told me how much her family doesn't like me. I moved all the way across the country, leaving my friends and family behind, only so she could be closer to hers. This experience has definitely helped me understand what kind of people I want in my life versus what I had. If people treat you like shit or if you're contagious, drop them asap. They will not help you grow.

Yes, I have an autoimmune thyroid condition which affects my energy and that I now treat with a gluten-free/ dairy-free diet and meds. I had a close friend that became a barely fair-weather friend after my diagnosis. She finally admitted to me that she didn't know how to be my friend anymore with my illness. I had all the same symptoms before my diagnosis so the only thing that really changed at that point was my diet and having an answer for fatigue and joint pain. No one deserves to be made to feel like a burden to a friend for an illness they have. For someone else to treat it as an imposed burden on themselves is not ok. I allowed myself to let go of that friendship. Now, I know that she's an antivaxer and has many troublesome and dangerous views for the health of those around her. ✨ There's a reason for everything ✨

How are oriole so uneducated that they think it's contagious?!?! Good prone are dumb these days

Well I have herpes lol so I don’t tell anyone I don’t very much trust (I’m not intimate), but nearly everyday there’s a joke made about the condition(either on tv or in person), making the stigma even worse, making me feel worse, etc. The stigma/mental toll of this illness is the worst part, I’ve attempted taking my life a few times since my diagnosis, and it’s really upsetting and triggering to constantly be reminded that it’s always some gross joke.

Once I got diagnosed they did

Yeah. When I was a kid, my best friend's dad didn't like her being around me because he thought my mental illnesses would be 'contagious' in a sense. It made me feel like I was dirty or bad. Granted I was a kid, but it was strange to me.

Yes sadly, my guttate psoriasis flares up on and off during the summer and there is times where people including their kids will approach me and ask me as they say “the red dots on your body contagious?” And it use to hurt when they asked and I would tell them it’s not contagious I have guttate psoriasis and I would explain to them what it is but they would still believe it is, but instead of being hurt from it I have made stories about it telling them if they touch me they’ll turn into a zombie etc.

I’ve had parents of my friends not wanting to have sleepovers with me because they think it’s contagious

yes. when i was in the army i had eczema all around my eyes and most of my face. i walked into a room full of my superiors and they all looked at me said i looked like i was on drugs. not one was concerned for my health. just assumed i was on some bad stuff.

Yes, during the process of being diagnosed with non hodkins lymphoma, an oncologist asked me of I was sure that I didn't get the rash it was causing from being a vet assistant. Even though the biopsies showed lymphoma like properties.

Honestly as I Child I felt like it was. My dad was a type 2 diabetic and I didn’t really understand it.

😥Sadly people always assume that I have some contagious skin problem even tho its just Eczema

I don’t have this issue exactly, but they’ve certainly distanced themselves because it’s depressing or they don’t believe me or they just don’t care and weren’t really my friends to begin with.

Storytime: when I was younger, I was diagnosed with chiari but before that I was going to many hospitals and doctors but none would listen... the doctors refused to give me MRI, and one said I was "faking it". Some doctors shouldn't be doctors. One day I went to a doctor and she really listened and got me an MRI, and 2 weeks later I was diagnosed. If you ever feel like there is something wrong, keep trying until a doctor listens.

Personally since my condition is very stigmatized through TikTok, everyone thinks that I’m either 1. Faking it for attention or 2. They wouldn’t want to touch me if I have a seizure because they think that they’ll get possessed because of all the exorcist movies

🤗

Had odd Dr once. He wouldn't touch my leg to check my swelling in feet. Was routine since have venous insufficient. Was HMO Dr, gad to get to next$$$$$

I dignosed with depression really young age gone with so many therapists counselors for so long but for the majority they don't help me at all. As soon they see my medical history they don't really want help me no more I was diagnosed also with Neurofibromatosis 1 which generics that causes different types pain in the nerve they painful some are just brown spots others tumors under the nerve that developed in between the nerve that causes pain . A neurologist can have them removed but it's not easy cause depending where is it . I been dealing with since I was 5 many surgeries tumors removed people in public look at me ugly . I have tumors all over my body arms legs back chest stomach face tumors have cause a lot health problem hearing lost blury vision stiffness both hands difficult walking lifting sitting speach problems memory lost much more I lost friends n family ..a lot health care clinic have turn me away . It's not contagious at all . I was just different . Those they have same as I can be much worse than more cause some tumor can grow huge it rare if turn cancerous ..My 3 children have it but not as me . They just learning disability .. I have no friends so I feel depress

It’s been difficult to find true friends that support and understand my condition,especially when it comes to dating.

Yeah, I wasn't accepted at times. Guys rejected me too

No not that i am contagious .. out of a good heart people try an tell me its demons bothering me ... more on that later maybe .. those comments alone have caused myself an alters both a huge amount of pain over the course of five years ... especially what i have walked out of 7 years ago ..

Yes. There are people who used to say that they didn't want to be around me because my sadness was contagious. There was also someone who after leading me on and making me think we were going to be in a relationship, told me that he was scared I would hurt or kill myself and it would make him sad.

Ohhh yea. All the time. Ever since I was kid, I was bullied for my weight. As soon as I got diagnosed with all of the things I have, they all acted as if it was contagious to the point where I had no friends.

People are actually afraid of me bc of my mental health..i understand

Yes all the time

Yes almost everyone in my family

Yes

Yes actually just the other day it happened. I have anxiety and depression and people always call me "emo" for wearing dark clothes (I don't wear them to look depressed or anything I wear them because it matches with everything and like everything I own that's actually comfy is black so -_-) but this girl in my Spanish class didn't want to sit by my friend and I (she also has depression) because she "didn't want to get depression" so I just flipped her off then she hissed at me... What does hissing do because I mean she is a snake but what does it mean? Do people actually hiss at other people like man oh man am I confused 😭

my ex after I told him what was triggering me asked if I was trying to give him my depression 😒

That first post was very funny but so true. It’s like people are scared of me if I talk about a personal issue.

yes i wasnt always allowed to hangout with my cousin when we were close because her parents thought id give her depression and other stuff ):

People are a little more sympathetic when you have brain cancer

Nobody thinks they can catch my migraines lol

Yes, and my old friends would copy my coping mechanisms obnoxiously. I stopped doing what makes me comfortable to be in public because of them, but now that I'm older, I just do what I have to do to be happy

YES! I’ve struggled with depression for years and didn’t get diagnosed till I was 13. I lost a whole group of friends because they though since I wasn’t feeling the best at the time that I would pass it onto them. I would’ve rather preferred a ear or some help, but they just straight up left. Only advice, remember that you are worth time and love.

Yeah, where to even start! I’ve had people look at me like I was a freak, like it was because I wasn’t doing something right in my life, guys completely stop talking to me once I really explained my condition. I’ve had people weirded out, tell me to just get surgery to remove it, to just eat better. Name it I’ve heard it 😂 but it’s ok I’m confident in who I am and I’m becoming more confident!! God is good all the time.

Not me specifically, but my younger brother (he has autism and adhd). He has a hard time making friends and socializing. And it's a shame, because once you find a topic he can relate to, you can't get him to shut up 😂

And I don’t like food that has texture

Generalized anxiety disorder

I’m bipolar ADHD and ADD

When I was diagnosed I stopped going to school because I was going to dialysis 3 times a week when I went one day to get my work from my teachers she said it might help my classmates cope better if I answered questions so I did and a girl raised her hand and asked what the thing on my chest was it was my dialysis catheter well she heard catheter laughed at me and asked if I peed out of my heart still is the stupidest thing I've ever heard we was all 13-14 so she was old enough to know that isn't what it's used for

Once I got diagnosed with my (potentially fatal) heart condition, my mom started worrying about if she had it (granted she was the genetic carrier). It was kind of ridiculous though because the condition I have would have presented through her ECGs. She even got a cardiac monitor implanted and has a cardiologist she sees. And she used to compare our “conditions” as though they were the same. I understand her anxiety about it but at the same time it felt minimizing to mine, especially because I nearly died and was only 15.

Definitely. Was bullied heavily in middle school for my Tourette’s. A classmate rolled up to me with her clique demanding I stay away from her in class because she “didn’t want to catch whatever it was I had.” (Which was out of my control because assigned seating and, well, neurological conditions aren’t contagious lol.)

Have had problems keeping relationships

My sisters are afraid to become me or develop the disorder. they make it very well know too.

Yes, I have a movement disorder and people around me and close to me at different times would be afraid of me thinking I was contagious. Even my fiance at the time thought I was when he began having seizures. Turns out he had brain damage.

Not that I could remember!

So far no, but when I have a flare I do find it easier to tell people "I'm sick today" than to try to explain.