Anyone lose friends from being sick all the time?

I too have limited those who I am willing to spend time around to only those that have at least a little understanding of how ill I am - I'm tired of trying to explain the why I can't participate "like everyone else".

We really do need to protect ourselves, not only from those docs who don't know a thing, but believe they know it all, but from a lot of emotional upheavals as well - these things only serve to put more stress & strain on our bodies (esp. the adrenals) and will make us even more ill!

I realize I sound quite harsh here - sorry.

Thanks for that Cajungrl!!!

HI Concordefan!!
Welcome to our forum!!! I am soo sorry that you have a need to be here, but I am sure glad you found us!! Have you read through the thread at the top of the forum

titled "New to Lyme?...Start here!" yet? It's packed full of some really great info put together by some of our members here! It also has some very informative links as well!

How long have you had Lyme? Have you started treatment? Are you following any specific protocol?

The best thing you can do to help your treatment go as well as possible is to read as much about your disease as possible! We have great members here who will try to help answer any questions you may have and we have a search function here that you can use to search the archives as well!!

Enjoy your stay here! and once again, welcome!!!

I am going through THE EXACT same thing right now! I feel like I've lost pretty much all of my friends because they have no concept on what this disease is like. And unless I'm having a good day then my friends aren't going to be around. It's lonely sometimes, and sad to feel like you would do anything for these people who have no interest in truly being there for you. MY very best friend apologized to me about 2 months ago for not being here how she should be, and the sad thing is not one time have I ever asked any of them to help me when I've been sick. And the one time I was going to ask her she text me saying I'll call you in a min., and never did so I was left in my house for 10 hours without even being able to walk. I've come to realize though unfortunately our disease is very overwhelming for others which puts a huge strain on any friendship!
The truth is people are naturally selfish, and truly I don't believe you have sincere compassion and understanding for it unless you have gone through it or something similar or devastating.
All you can do is just be yourself, and pray A LOT... And your true friends will be there, and pray for friends if you don't have much of a support system.
I know it's never easy, but all we can do is be optimistic or our disease wont be the only thing defeating us!

Man, that friend of concordefan saying that perhaps c-fan would lose weight is a classic. It will be hard not to throw that back in their face!

As much as I think my friends and family (except for my husband and eldest sister and daughters) have been pretty lame in supporting me through this, I do try to see it from their point of view. If I take a good hard look at it, I might be part of the problem. I know, I've been told that I am always making excuses for other people, but my world is a much better place when I only see the best in people.

The truth is, the people who have been the most supportive are the ones that have the most information; I have been honest with them. Yes, they were willing to listen and were able to remember and take in new information as my situation changed. But I confided in the details of my symptoms and treatment, and even my fears. The rest of the world gets me trying to put on a facade of being well. It must look pretty false.

Also, I know I haven't always reached out to sick friends. I didn't want to pry or disturb or put them in a position of having to exhaust themselves in order to be sociable. To be honest, that is exactly what I wanted when I wasn't feeling well. As I have been coming out of my shell, making some efforts to reach out to my friends, they have responded very well and have been eager to see me. Good thing about instigating the contact myself is that it is on my own terms and is what I am able to do.

The other thing is that I know I haven't been the best friend. I simply haven't been able to track what is going on in other people's lives as I have been holding on to my life by my finger nails! Also, in my darkest moments, I know I have over-reacted to people's actions, blamed everybody for things going wrong, and generally had very bad thoughts. Actually, I've noticed that when I start getting hyper-critical and bloody-minded towards people, and having negative conversations with them in my mind, it usually means I am off-balance in my nutrition or falling behind in my treatment. B12 has several times improved my opinion of everybody!

Hoping for better health and better relationships.

Concord, that comment that was made to you was horrible.  I cant even imagine someone being so insensitive!

Oh Cleo, so sorry you werent able to celebrate your anniversary last week.  My 1 year was on the 27th and we had made plans to go out and do something.  Needless to say I woke up to severe vomiting and nausea all day long, so that cancelled that.  We still havent celebrated it.  I am so tired of making plans only to have to cancel them.

I would be glad if my "best friend" called me to ask me if I was mad at her, at least she would be calling me....lol.  I have been out of work for over 7 weeks now and she has called me a total of 3 times, only to talk about herself and how she is being done wrong at the job.( we work together)  I have gotten to the point where I don't even care anymore.  Her best friend status is gone in my opinion. 

My best and oldest friend from back home is coming down to visit me next week.  She hasn't been down for a visit for 14 years and because I am out of work and sick, she wanted to be with me.  She has Cushings Disease so she knows how it feels to be sick.  I am so excited but I know that going anywhere or doing anything is going to be limited. 

Well.....I am going off on a tangent, so I think I am going to end here.  I could go on and on...lol!

Hope everyone has a good day!

L

Luvbugs (I love your name), I hope you get to go celebrate your anniversary. And it's nice that your friend is coming to be with you and show support. THAT is a true friend!
Concordefan, I couldn't help but snicker when thinking about your 'friend's comment "maybe now you'll lose some weight". My (secret) reply would have been "yeah, I think I'll drop at least 150 lbs" (some estimate of how much she weighs).
Traveler, you are SO right when you reminded us that stress is so bad for us. It truly acts like a poison to our bodies. Sometimes it's hard to remain positive, but I feel so much better after visiting here last night. There are some incredible folks on this forum!

As much as I love my hubby & kids, I have to agree with you Rita!!
Critters are great!! They don't get tired of hearing or just knowing that we don't feel good - again! For those of us who enjoy having them around, they just can't be beat!!

oh and lyme mompi I too believe that u will be healed .. i also believe that i will be healed. Continue to believe my friend.. continue to believe :)

One of my best friends....my BFF friend, still doesn't 'get' what I'm going through and that it's REAL.

She constantly tries to educate me along the lines that I don't have Lyme....

.....that it's 'something else' and that I should go to specialists and blah, blah, blah....

.....and that I must me lactose, gluten, glucose, fructose, schmooktose intollerant and need more vitamins or less vitamins or different vitamins and this and that and the other thing. And what's an LLMD? That can't possibly be a real doctor! Sounds quackish!

Drives me crazy.

I think another problem is that some symptoms have really ridiculous names.

Case in point--a lot of people know that Lyme disease is associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I'm sorry, but that's a really bad name. To someone who doesn't know better, that just means "extra tired". As in "Yeah, I'm tired all the time too, but I still get stuff done".

I'm really not being flippant here, but if it had a more ominous sounding name, people might take it more seriously.