Being Sick Is Not a Competition | oneedsvoice

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Being Sick Is Not a Competition

key information

source: The Mighty

year: 2016

authors: Alexandra Kaye

summary/abstract:

Everything in life is a competition now it seems. In the world of people living with illnesses (acute or chronic), well-meaning people make being sick into a competition too. Most of the time, it’s an attempt to make somebody feel better by saying, “at least it’s not X” or “it could be worse.” And they’re right, I guess. At least I have Ehlers-Danlos (EDS) and not cancer, and at least my EDS is type 3 (hypermobility) and not type 4 (vascular). Those are things to be grateful for, right? I tend to disagree, not because I think my situation is worse than somebody else’s but because it’s different, and because we’re not in a competition to see who can be the most sick, or the most in pain, or lose the most to their illness.

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