Apparently they believe me now that my pain is visible

I’ve been dealing with chronic pain since 2017, and it got significantly worse in 2022 to the point that I became bedbound. Over the years, I’ve seen more doctors and specialists than I can count. I’ve had endless imaging, nerve conduction tests, bloodwork—you name it. Yet, everything always came back “normal,” aside from the occasional minor abnormality that didn’t seem to explain my pain.

Fast forward to the past few months: I’ve started breaking out in rashes, and my ankle has been swelling. Suddenly, I’m validated. My pain is now taken seriously, even though my tests still don’t show most autoimmune markers or anything definitive for a new diagnosis. But because there’s something they can physically see, my pain is now “real” to them.

It’s infuriating that my word wasn’t enough for years, and only now that my symptoms are visible do they take me seriously. It makes me wonder how many others are stuck in this same cycle of dismissal.