Thorns

Well, it's been eight or so years of undiagnosed chronic fatigue, which doesn't get much sympathy, especially from my Phd supervisor. Not that I'm still bitter :/

But yes, people think they understand what it's like and have no idea. Sometimes feeling bad because you did something extreme /= constantly feeling like complete crap after doing the simplest tasks. (And I'm sure I have no idea what narcolepsy is really like, but assume it doesn't mean having a nice refreshing nap every now and then)

I and Cam had some...misunderstandings on the subject, shall we say, which are largely cleared up now. But that stuff with your mum sounds horrible. I do wonder how sympathetic mine would be if I was still at home, she certainly didn't pay any attention to my food/chemical intolerances. Invisible illnesses suck.

Though on dot_gimp_snark there was someone who got similar crap from their mum for being blind, so I guess being sick sucks in general.

It is definitely good to find people who understand what it's like, I've found cfsids_me quite helpful, and just joined dot_gimp_snark (the title says "disabled" but it's for anyone with a chronic illness) and it turns out quite a few people I know have or had cfs/fibro. Have you thought about joining a narcolepsy comm?