"Love yourself." It's what we're taught in school, what we're taught at home, what we're told (hopefully) by our parents. But how are you supposed to love yourself when your own body is attacking you? It turns the millions of people suffering from autoimmune disorders into moving, breathing paradoxes. We try every day to love ourselves the way we are; meanwhile on the inside our bodies have wreaked havoc on our healthy, helpful cells that were just trying to do their job. How rude.
Let's start with diabetes. There I was, a little chunky happy baby with parents who cared for me and a big brother to look after me. And then my insulin-producing beta cells started to get picked on by my other cells. My other cells, who are supposed to be keeping me happy and healthy, were killing my happy healthy beta cells until none were left to make any insulin. If you ask me, these cells sound like big fat bullies.
As if these cells hadn't had enough, more of them kept bullying my healthy cells--this time in my thyroid. Until, you guessed it, my poor thyroid cells couldn't produce enough hormones either. I am not even two years old yet and my body has already decided that for some reason it does not like itself.
But, what can we do? As much as our cells might be hating on us and our bodily systems inflecting little insults here and there (an overactive HPA axis, an underactive production of growth hormone) we can still dwell on who we are as people. We can try to "love ourselves." Even though our innards are rude and self-deprecating.
**Disclaimer: If you could not tell from this post, I am not a medical doctor and my allusions and references should not be taken as scientific evidence**
