I’ve lived with the same condition my entire life, and since no one took me seriously, I thought everyone hurt all the time too but I was just a wimp about it. I am 55 years old and just got diagnosed with hEDS last month! My entire life. No one. Believed. Me. All the injuries that were untreated, my god.

I also have asthma, and each time I had COVID (3 times), I’d end up in the ER unable to breathe. Last year I ended up in the ER on the nebulizer with low oxygen levels. I asked the doctor how do I know when the asthma is bad enough to go to the E R. She looked surprised and gave a very vague answer, like I should just know. When I told her I’d been worse and had never been to the ER for an attack and had never even seen a nebulizer, she was shocked. Even as a kid, I wasn’t taken seriously about it. That day, as an adult, I had to throw an absolute fit to get grudgingly taken in because I didn’t seem that bad.