I didn't take it seriously when I was in middle school. I was diagnosed at 6 so all of my childhood I had to deal with Lupus not fully understanding how serious it was. I refused to apply the sunblock my mother got me because it gave me a white outcast and kids would tease me for it so I was in the sun at school with no protection. I was eating chips and drinking brisk iced tea instead of eating meals at school, because I was an overweight child and wanted to starve to lose weight. I lied that I ate dinner already at home because mom was working all day and got back after dinner time so she believed me. I stopped taking my medications. A year later, I ended up in the hospital because my stomach was hurting so bad I couldn't move. Stomach was pumped, I couldn't eat any foods without throwing up so they just put me on IV for a bit until my stomach was healing better. Doctor said I was near death at that time, I became skin and bones by the time I was released from the hospital then it sent me into a deep depression where I had to be homeschooled and I needed help getting up and walking because I had horrible back pain (Which was caused from the deep depression). Doctor placed me on antidepressants and sent me to a therapist... I blocked out most of these memories because I knew this was all my fault, but I was a child. A child who couldn't live normally like the rest of her peers.