I know how you feel

"I know how you feel" a well meaning lady said to me the other day, nodding her head with an expression of deep concern. Has anyone ever said this to you? Annoying isn't it? I would never say this to someone, unless I had really experienced what they were going through. I know it's often difficult to know what to say in certain circumstances, but please, if you are not chronically ill, don't ever say "I know how you feel" to someone who is suffering from a serious health issue. I think it's this very sentence that gave me the incentive to publish my first book "Parkinson's, shaken, not stirred", as I quickly learnt that no one except a fellow sufferer can really understand what it's like to live each day with an array of strange debilitating symptoms, sometimes battling just managing to hold it together. There are good days when I feel able to cope with simple daily activities, and can enjoy being with the family and close friends. When having a bad day, it's quite a different story, and trying to explain to someone what I am experiencing is very difficult to put into words. There are times that even when I stick rigidly to my medication routine, and I haven't been doing something I shouldn't, Parkinson's kicks in, taking me over with full force. Then my body like a battle field is subjected to a civil war as Gaucher disease and Parkinson's battle between themselves, leaving me as casualty. The two diseases taunt each other, and one exacerbates the other, often leading me to distraction. But tomorrow is another day, and the sun will come out, I will arise early as I usually do, and hopefully it will be a better day.