We asked from our community “Living with Fibromyalgia and Chronic illness” a question what movies or TV shows have you seen that portrayed your illness the RIGHT way. They shares with us their experiences and we compiled this article with their feedback
So this is what community share it with us:
1. The Golden Girls. I recently showed my companion & said “See Dorothy’s situation? That was my life from age 7 to my CFS diagnosis @ 31 & fibro diagnosis @ 42. And see how Sophia is telling off the doctor? THAT was my mom championing me. She always knew there was something wrong!”
2.Miracles from Heaven……
The years of being misdiagnosed. What it’s like living with a invisible disease. Judgement from others. Family & friends not showing up.
Those of us are still waiting on our miracle but, thankful they showed a disease that is not in the spotlight, they shared a life with Motility Disease
3. A movie called ‘Cake’ where Jennifer Anniston plays a women with chronic pain- we were doing to watch it but my husband didn’t want me more depressed.
4. Cake had moments in it that were close and I saw a movie about a woman living with Alzheimer’s where the woman went through some similar feelings, but’s that’s all.
5. Seven little Johnston’s last Tuesday the mom had herniated discs in lower back and was in acute pain
6. Haven’t seen any. We should make one. I’ll call Spielberg
7. Hand maids tale is about post war America fascism and enslavement of fertile women .
8. Under our Skin, the Untold Stories of Lyme Disease, is a documentary from 2007 showing some of the top Lyme literate doctors in the world, and shows multiple patients who struggled to receive a diagnosis, being told they had everything but Lyme, or it was all in their head. Everyone who has chronic Lyme disease can relate to the people in this documentary and since it’s about their experiences it very accurately portrays how serious tick borne diseases are and how little awareness there is about them. The movie changed my life and led to me being properly diagnosed! I have also met multiple doctors who were in the film.
9. The Fault in Our Stars, for how others treat you as a sick person and for the guilt you feel hurting others, especially when you are/may be terminal.
10. Sailor Moon Crystal season 3. One of the characters should have been killed in a house fire, but her father sold his soul to a devil who give him the ability to keep her alive. He turned her into a cyborg and planted a seed of an alien to grow inside of her, turning her into a cacoon for a parasite. She needed constant medical artention. Regular fainting spells, gasping for breath, kept her arms and legs covered to hide her scars, had serious PTSD and depression, and fought hard to avoid letting the parasite inside her grow. It’s very symbolic to me.
11. “Sick and Tired” part 1 and 2 Dorothy’s struggle with getting diagnosed reflects mine so well.
12. Monsters inside me. Every episode are intense and show the tons of doctors and misdiagnoses people go through before getting diagnosed correctly with chronic Lyme disease, and they even say correct facts about the controversial disease, talk about myths, and inform about the importance of tick checks and prevention.
13. Dr. Phil had an episode where a once-to -be model had to stop modeling due to chronic Lyme disease. They interviewed her and she showered videos of what her life was like as well as talking to Dr Phil. The controversy of the disease was brought up and there was a debate between two doctors, one from ILADS that believes in chronic Lyme and one who doesn’t believe in chronic Lyme like the CDC. The young adult reminded me a lot about myself and I was so glad the audience got to see such an important topic and how serious and real chronic Lyme is.
14. Greys anatomy : superior semi circular canal dehiscence syndrome a rare condition ( sscd ) where you hear your eyeballs move and a lot more body noises that you shouldn’t ,they portrayed this well
15.Life in Pieces. They had a brief scene showing a man with vertigo, and one of the characters is an ENT who fixed him right away. They didn’t make fun of dizzy people, and they did not make a big deal out of it.
If you want to add into list, let us know in the comments below. For Discussions and support join the Facebook Group “Living with Fibromyalgia and chronic illness”
Read Also: Hardest Part of living with fibromyalgia and Chronic illness
The movie Safe from 1995 was the movie that showed the way people treat the unknown diagnosis. Was sort of comforting and sad at the same time. It is a movie that is hard for other people to watch, but should be required as more and more people fall victim to these diseases.