Pretending to be well so we don’t look like we’re faking being sick
I've even coined a new word for people who try to conceal their illness
Halloween is five days away, and if you have kids, you’re running out of time to have your costumes ready. My wife and our three boys have everything figured out, minus some finishing touches — unless I want to dress up, of course.
Fortunately, I wasn’t planning on it because wheelchair costumes tend to take a bit more creativity. When I began using mine, I was warned about curbs, steps, thresholds, uneven terrain, and more, but no one mentioned it’d make it challenging to come up with a good costume.
Wheelchair costumes exist, of course — I was a race car last year — I just don’t feel the need to disguise my visible disability the way I did when it wasn’t apparent.
When my multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms were invisible, or less visible, I tried hard to wear the disguise of a nondisabled person. Not just on Halloween, but on every day of the year. I didn’t fake being ill; I faked being well. I still catch myself doing it sometimes.
I think everyone with a chronic disease probably does it at one time or another. It could be as subconscious as saying “I’m fine” when I’m clearly not. It might be as blatant as wanting so much to appear capable that I trade three days worth of energy spoons for three hours with friends. Sometimes it’s worth it, but I often have to ask myself who I’m trying to impress.
Putting on a ‘well’ costume, concealing disability
There’s another, darker reason we put on our “well” costumes. People with a disease that’s hard to describe, like multiple sclerosis, are used to others, even medical providers, assuming they’re faking their symptoms. Rather than risk feeling like we won’t be believed, we’ll downplay symptoms or just outright pretend to be fine.
I’ve been fortunate in this regard, but many others haven’t. I may have gotten some skeptical looks or questions, especially during my diagnosis, but no one has flat-out suggested that my MS is all in my head.
Well, come to think of it, it is all in my head, and I have the MRIs to prove it. At my level of disability, I’d actually be a little flattered at anyone thinking I have the dedication required to fake this. I’d also be a little offended, since that sort of implies that I couldn’t think of anything better, or easier.
A hypochondriac is a person who worries about their own health constantly. If we fit that definition, it’s unwillingly. On the other hand, a person who falsifies, exaggerates, or even induces an illness for sympathy and attention is said to have Munchausen syndrome.
I couldn’t find a word for someone who falsifies being well, so I decided to come up with one. I wanted our new word to sound authentic, so I dug around in an online Latin dictionary and found dissimulo, which means to pretend, disguise, or conceal, and sanus, which is to be healthy, well, or sound.
I submit to you: “dissimusan (noun) — one who conceals, or attempts to disguise the symptoms of, an illness.”
It probably won’t catch on. Not even in common usage. And even if it does, much like its inspiration, multiple sclerosis, it’ll be anything but common.
https://multiplesclerosisnewstoday.c...ng-being-sick/
I've even coined a new word for people who try to conceal their illness
Halloween is five days away, and if you have kids, you’re running out of time to have your costumes ready. My wife and our three boys have everything figured out, minus some finishing touches — unless I want to dress up, of course.
Fortunately, I wasn’t planning on it because wheelchair costumes tend to take a bit more creativity. When I began using mine, I was warned about curbs, steps, thresholds, uneven terrain, and more, but no one mentioned it’d make it challenging to come up with a good costume.
Wheelchair costumes exist, of course — I was a race car last year — I just don’t feel the need to disguise my visible disability the way I did when it wasn’t apparent.
When my multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms were invisible, or less visible, I tried hard to wear the disguise of a nondisabled person. Not just on Halloween, but on every day of the year. I didn’t fake being ill; I faked being well. I still catch myself doing it sometimes.
I think everyone with a chronic disease probably does it at one time or another. It could be as subconscious as saying “I’m fine” when I’m clearly not. It might be as blatant as wanting so much to appear capable that I trade three days worth of energy spoons for three hours with friends. Sometimes it’s worth it, but I often have to ask myself who I’m trying to impress.
Putting on a ‘well’ costume, concealing disability
There’s another, darker reason we put on our “well” costumes. People with a disease that’s hard to describe, like multiple sclerosis, are used to others, even medical providers, assuming they’re faking their symptoms. Rather than risk feeling like we won’t be believed, we’ll downplay symptoms or just outright pretend to be fine.
I’ve been fortunate in this regard, but many others haven’t. I may have gotten some skeptical looks or questions, especially during my diagnosis, but no one has flat-out suggested that my MS is all in my head.
Well, come to think of it, it is all in my head, and I have the MRIs to prove it. At my level of disability, I’d actually be a little flattered at anyone thinking I have the dedication required to fake this. I’d also be a little offended, since that sort of implies that I couldn’t think of anything better, or easier.
A hypochondriac is a person who worries about their own health constantly. If we fit that definition, it’s unwillingly. On the other hand, a person who falsifies, exaggerates, or even induces an illness for sympathy and attention is said to have Munchausen syndrome.
I couldn’t find a word for someone who falsifies being well, so I decided to come up with one. I wanted our new word to sound authentic, so I dug around in an online Latin dictionary and found dissimulo, which means to pretend, disguise, or conceal, and sanus, which is to be healthy, well, or sound.
I submit to you: “dissimusan (noun) — one who conceals, or attempts to disguise the symptoms of, an illness.”
It probably won’t catch on. Not even in common usage. And even if it does, much like its inspiration, multiple sclerosis, it’ll be anything but common.
https://multiplesclerosisnewstoday.c...ng-being-sick/
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