This is Invisible Illness Awareness Week.
Some Invisible Illnesses are well-accepted (e.g., you can't see diabetes, and deafness is an invisible disability till you talk to the person), and others like CFS and fibromyalgia are controversial. Not because the patients aren't really sick, but because there is no one test that can diagnose it.
Here's some news for the skeptics: while there is no single definitive test for CFS, there are a number of tests that show something is badly awry. A friend of mine has brain scans showing abnormalities. My insurance wouldn't pay for that, but I have a C-Reactive Protein test that's ten times what it should be; it does not tell us what is the exact cause of the inflammation or infection that sent those numbers skyrocketing, but it does confirm that feeling unwell is not merely a figment of my imagination -- there's something physical going on, probably a virus for which there is not yet a specific test, and it's severe.
My first C-RP test was done as part of a clinical trial for a fibromyalgia drug, and the numbers were so far off the charts that I was kicked out of the trial for being "too sick". Not what my detractors want to hear, since it doesn't support their view that I'm just lazy and there's no hard evidence of CFS or fibromyalgia other than the patients' whining.
When I'm well enough to be out and about, it's an invisible chronic illness; when I'm not well enough to be out where strangers can observe me, there are some very visible signs: you can see the fever, the diarrhea, the fainting. But because I don't leave the house when I'm that ill, people assume that I always look as good as I do when they see me out doing errands.
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