Racheal, the middle child, misogynist, anti-intellectual, and incredibly racist

[Red Jumper]

28 minutes ago, Rachel333 said:

as admitting to depression would be like admitting failure (I've heard a lot that it's even a sin to be depressed)

you are welcome to read this woman: "Being happy is a choice" ... says the one without feelings and the one that talks absolute BS about everything related to medicine. But beware she is also super vile, contracts herself sometimes daily, hates women, writes way to much about sex plus the "usual stuff" like beating children, abuse-denial, twisting the bible you'd think it is a different religion .

Sometimes even thick-skinned people get past the head-shaking and need a break form this horror

 

[Grimalkin]

On 5/26/2017 at 10:02 PM, Anonymousguest said:

I looked a bit online and it does look like the only way to contract it is through a tick bite. It just is so very unlikely that an entire family would be infected. 

         I have not finished the thread so sorry if it was mentioned, I know a family infected while camping. I think if you spend lots of time doing outdoorsy stuff, it's possible. I pulled seven ticks off me yesterday after we went walking in a forest preserve. They weren't deer ticks so not worried about Lymes

[Howl]

8 hours ago, Grimalkin said:

have not finished the thread so sorry if it was mentioned, I know a family infected while camping. I think if you spend lots of time doing outdoorsy stuff, it's possible. I pulled seven ticks off me yesterday after we went walking in a forest preserve. They weren't deer ticks so not worried about Lymes

I recall reading about a previously very healthy family in my area who all developed chemical sensitivity from moving into a toxic house -- out-gassing from carpet was the likely cause. 

They had sufficient means to build a house free of environmental toxins in the country, but it was still devastating to their family. 

I would also not be surprised to see a family where all members were affected by Lyme disease if they were outdoors a lot in tick-infested areas. 

A sibling has had a life time of struggles with chronic fatigue syndrome.  These types of debilitating illnesses are pretty awful. 

Not that this excuses this little twit's beliefs, just that it's a challenging life to live. 

[dairyfreelife]

But to have "chronic" lyme, toxic mold, CFS and whatever else all at once, that I don't believe. Also, adrenal fatigue isn't considered a real condition. Adrenal insufficiency IS a real condition and can be dangerous without proper medication (not some vitamin supplements a website is selling). 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4997656/  

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-08-21/health/ct-met-adrenal-fatigue-20100821_1_adrenal-failure-adrenal-glands-unexplained-fatigue/2

According to this one site-fatigue, hard to get in the morning, lots of stress, wanting salty foods, having too much caffeine, more energy in the evenings and maybe a weakened immune system means you likely have adrenal fatigue. Well, guess I should buy their supplements and books then *sarcasm*. 

Here's information on: 

Lyme Disease-https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/

Hypothyroidism-https://medlineplus.gov/hypothyroidism.html and hyperthyroidism-https://medlineplus.gov/hyperthyroidism.html

Real Mold Toxicity-https://www.cdc.gov/mold/basics.htm

CFS-https://www.cdc.gov/cfs/symptoms/index.html 

Adrenal insufficiency-https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/endocrine-diseases/adrenal-insufficiency-addisons-disease

Again, nothing against anyone here, but I don't promote things that lack evidence and I think it's important to not be taken by joke doctors and their quack "medicine" and "diagnoses". Honestly, we all, myself included, need to try and eat better, exercise more, and try to reduce our stress and anxiety as much as we can (easier said than done, but it's a real problem in modern and wealthy societies with an abundance of crappy food, convenience, and high stress work and life environments). 

[EowynW]

I think everyone's mileage can vary but after many discussions with my (non joke) endo, current (non joke) drs and years in a support group I think AF is a pretty valid issue with many people. Of course I think there are many bogus quack supplements out there for sure but there are many that are useful & valid so I wouldn't diss all. 

 

 

[Jellybean]

I think that there has been a long-standing belief about the medical profession that almost all conditions are known and understood, and this seems to have rubbed off on an awful lot of doctors and allied professionals. It's much nicer to deal with absolutes (yes, there is a definite test for this condition that has no false negatives or false positive diagnoses, and there is a definite treatment that we know is the right thing at the right dose that will cure everyone) than with uncertainties and possibilities, and the truth that there is an awful lot that is still unknown in medicine. (How Doctors Think, by Dr Jerome Groopman is a really excellent book on this topic).

With regard to conditions like fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, I believe that there was an opportunity to research and serve these patients, and that opportunity was largely missed, at least in part because of the lingering belief that women suffer from hysteria and hypochondria, and that was enough to explain both of those conditions. Both can and do destroy lives and I think it's vital that more research is done to produce accurate diagnostics and treatment options.

I think that many people do self-diagnose and then don't follow up with a doctor to get confirmation (or not) and treatment recommendations. I find that really problematic because it doesn't help the ill person (other than give them a possibly inaccurate name for what they think is wrong with them) and it also perpetuates the notion that the condition itself either isn't real or isn't serious. 

I have a genetic disorder that was brushed off for decades as a 'party trick' diagnosis and nothing more (it makes people hypermobile/double jointed). Only in the last 15 years (or less) has it been recognised that this syndrome has very serious effects on virtually every organ/body system. It is desperately under-recognised, undertreated and under-researched.

As @EowynW said above, it can be a huge relief to get a diagnosis after years of being brushed off because of a list of too many apparently-unrelated symptoms. Many of the people in my support group have found information on the internet that we have shared with our doctors leading to more testing and formal diagnosis of some of the related conditions. It's not fair to criticise people for turning to the internet for help, especially with rare conditions. What should be criticised, in my view, are those people who don't take that internet information any further - it's not a good idea to rely only on a self diagnosis.

It's very frustrating to see these people in the support group: the ones that use the diagnosis liberally (let's use gastroparesis- stomach paralysis- as an example) but haven't had any testing and aren't on any treatment for it. Seeking support while waiting for testing/results/diagnosis is fine, but these people don't need any of that - they just •know• that this is the right diagnosis. They are almost always the ones who complain most about their awful suffering; the nausea and bloating and how they can hardly eat at all. They don't seem to realise that they're complaining to a group of people, most of whom are on lots of medications, with feeding tubes, or other forms of artificial nutrition, who literally can't eat, who have needed surgery after surgery, and who are desperately trying to raise awareness and money for research.

Oops, that went off at a bit of a tangent - sorry. My point is that some conditions that are frequently dismissed may be very real, but some people latch onto these diagnoses without good cause. I don't think we can know from Racheal's blog what's really going on with her body.

[Rachel333]

@Jellybean If you're talking about Ehlers Danlos, that seems to have become a popular one to self-diagnose with lately as well. I've read posts from doctors who treat patients with it where they say that it has been frustrating lately because they have patients who definitely have it and suffer quite a bit from it and then they have people who come in expecting to have a doctor validate their self-diagnosis and get upset when the doctor disagrees.

Some conditions can be over-diagnosed and under-diagnosed at the same time. ADHD is often considered to be one of those, where a lot of people who don't really have it are diagnosed with it, while a lot of people who do suffer from it are overlooked. Then people unfairly assume that everyone who says they have it belong to the former category.

I have health problems of my own and have looked online at the chronic illness community, but quickly got tired of that atmosphere. Fibromyalgia, CFS, and EDS are all way over-represented and there are a lot of people who almost seem proud of their identity as a sick person. I used to read themighty, for example, but it seemed full of that type of person.

Especially with issues like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome which are diagnoses of exclusion I suspect there are a variety of causes for those problems and that you have people with very different issues lumped into the same category because their symptoms are similar.

I think it is important to be skeptical of some of these things, and while of course doctors can be wrong, I do tend to trust a general medical consensus. There are a lot of "holistic doctors" out there who I do believe peddle pseudoscience to vulnerable people. It's also important to remember that even though a particular diagnosis might be questionable, that doesn't mean that the symptoms of people who believe they have it aren't real and genuinely distressing.

[dairyfreelife]

1 hour ago, Rachel333 said:

I think it is important to be skeptical of some of these things, and while of course doctors can be wrong, I do tend to trust a general medical consensus. There are a lot of "holistic doctors" out there who I do believe peddle pseudoscience to vulnerable people. It's also important to remember that even though a particular diagnosis might be questionable, that doesn't mean that the symptoms of people who believe they have it aren't real and genuinely distressing.

Totally. I don't doubt people aren't feeling right or feel unwell. What I doubt is the diagnosis of conditions that are not known to exist. People may be sick, but my issue if the quack sickness doctors peddle to get their books and supplements sold or just to get the $1000s it will cost. Let's remember, not all quack doctors are "fake" doctors. Think  "Dr" Mehmet Oz, an actual surgeon, and all the bs he peddles on his show like magic weight loss pills. Many are doctors using their MD/DO, etc status to lure people in. They prey on the sick like other scam charities prey on people's kindness. It can be relieving to hear they have a diagnosis or that they have something less serious than their doctor said. In one of the medical articles I linked above a woman got a diagnosis of MS and didn't like it or believe it so instead of a second opinion from a true doctor she went to a "naturopath" and he stated she didn't have MS, she had Chronic Lyme and just needed to keep on antibiotics. She was still sick, but believed Chronic Lyme was the cause, not MS. 

My father has a chronic and progressive disease and he didn't want to accept it and kept believing the first doctor was wrong and he didn't have it. So I can get why the woman might not have believed it. Who would want to believe they have something terminal or severely debilitating? No one wants to believe it will be them who gets serious ill with something that cannot be cured or has a great risk of killing you or coming back even worse and killing you even when you thought you beat it like cancer. That prospect is terrifying.

I believe we all want a diagnosis to our health problems. With all these advances in society, we think there must be an answer for everything and we are still not able to do so. We also want answers that come with help or a cure and sadly, a number of conditions or diseases still don't have them. I believe this is what fuels the increase of diagnoses both real and nonexistent with "easy fixes" like supplements or machines. 

I 100% agree that many conditions are both under and over-diagnosed at the same time. As I said before, I think many people claiming to have all these conditions, especially multiple ones, don't actually have them and those who do aren't being pushed to the side or not getting diagnosed. All the fake claims to an illness are dismissing the fact that the condition is real and is going to make doctors less likely to believe them because it's getting over-diagnosed thanks to quack doctors. Some people will be afraid to speak up if they think they have the illness for fear of being dismissed thanks to too many people crying wolf on real illnesses. 

My personal wish is for people to stop saying they have an illness if they have not been properly diagnosed by a real doctor. This goes for CFS, mold toxicity, adrenal problems, thyroid problems, lyme disease, OCD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, schizo disorders (typal, affective and phrenia), and whatever else quack doctors are claiming to have. All are real issues and not illnesses to claim to have or joke that you (general you) have. Though I need to truly do more myself, I do think a lot of us, yes myself included, would benefit most from eating better and more fresh also, exercising more (how many of us have jobs that have sitting much of the day-too many), and trying to reduce stress and anxiety in our lives. I know I need to do this. I think modern society has created much needless and more constant stress and anxiety and both can cause health problems, especially long term. Fears of heights and bridges and airplanes-all modern things really as people didn't have them or weren't in positions to be fearful of many things we often are. There's always been fears, but modern society has caused many new ones. As great as technology is, I think most of us can say we spend far too much time in front of screens-computer, TV, phones, tablets, games, in our cars, at the stores, we are constantly in front of screens and we can get some health issues from this like neck problems, headaches, sleep problems, lack of exercise, etc. 

We honestly have to do less and less. We have machines that clean our floors for us, we have machines that can answer our questions and even be programmed to turn on and off lights in our house, set our thermometers, turn on or off various alarms, even feed our pets or clean the litterbox for us. Convenience is nice, but evolution is certainly not so quick and humans require more exercise than we are often getting. It is so easy to be lazy nowadays and technology is making us more so all the time. Turning off our all our screens, cooking a meal from scratch (no packaged stuff), and taking a long walk or run outside or going swimming or playing a sport outside more often would truly benefit us all. My 84yo grandmother lives on her own and has taken a long daily walk outside for years. My great-grandmother died at the age of 94, would walk everywhere. Never had any serious illness, never had cancer. Most likely just "luck", but daily walks never hurt anyone either.  

[Rachel333]

@dairyfreelife I totally agree with everything you've been saying on this thread!

[Lurky]

See, now it's the second condition I've had - and been diagnosed by a respected hospital consultant - being talked about as if it's not a real thing here.  I had fibromyalgia as a side effect of my Hashimoto's Disease (hypothyroidism) and was not only properly diagnosed but put onto a trial treatment programme at a major UK hospital that was a combination of medical interventions and physiotherapy.  It is a very real thing, and it caused me to physically not be able to walk etc for a while, and luckily a combination of the treatment and being sent back to the endocrinologist made it better.

Of course, I blame the self-diagnosing types for making people cast side-eyes at my thyroid/Fibromyalgia issues, because it's a bit like people used to self-diagnose with Aspergers Syndrome, or dyslexia but not get an actual diagnosis, so not get any treatment for it (my mum, for example, will claim to anyone that she's dyslexic and that's why she doesn't read much, and has said my brother is dyslexic from when he was a young teen, but again, never got him diagnosed, which I am still furious about).  Or the people who claim food intolerances when it suits them, but can magically eat icecream or cake - they really fuck it up for the people with actual food allergies.

I guess what I'm saying is, if someone says they have something like fibromyalgia/CFS/thyroid issues/Lymes Disease etc etc etc, please do reserve judgement on them until you know they've been diagnosed by an actual specialist.  Of course, in cases like Racheal's, where her whole family just knows they have multiple syndromes, that's a different matter - but we're not all doing that, I promise.

[GeoBQn]

Racheal went to a Civil War reenactment over Memorial Day weekend.  The first day was the day just for school groups to visit.  Note the part where she calls a group of 8th graders "brainwashed" for being Unionists, only to later wish that she had the power to "force" people into thinking a certain way.  I'm creeped out by the idea that the kids probably thought Racheal's group was playacting at being staunch Confederates from the past.  They had no fucking clue that this group really believes that way.

http://adventuresmidkid.weebly.com/blog/branch-county-civil-war-days-2017

[Rachel333]

1 hour ago, Lurky said:

See, now it's the second condition I've had - and been diagnosed by a respected hospital consultant - being talked about as if it's not a real thing here.

I don't think that fibromyalgia isn't real (though my spell-checker apparently does ), and I don't believe anyone else said so either. I did say that because it's fairly vague and ill-defined and there's no real test for it that it's a popular one for self-diagnosis, but I certainly don't think that means that everyone who has it is making it up, and I've tried not to imply that. Even in the self-diagnosis crowd I don't think many people are intentionally faking.

Quote

I guess what I'm saying is, if someone says they have something like fibromyalgia/CFS/thyroid issues/Lymes Disease etc etc etc, please do reserve judgement on them until you know they've been diagnosed by an actual specialist.  Of course, in cases like Racheal's, where her whole family just knows they have multiple syndromes, that's a different matter - but we're not all doing that, I promise.

Unfortunately, even a diagnosis doesn't necessarily mean that the problem is legitimate. I've seen a lot of doctor shopping  in the chronic illness community and people will go to extreme lengths to get their self-diagnosis validated by an actual doctor, and unfortunately there are some sketchy doctors out there. I've read about opiate mills, for example, that diagnose a lot of people with things like fibromyalgia or Ehlers Danlos because those look like a legitimate reason to prescribe narcotics. 

That tangent aside, I do agree with your point. Even if there are a lot of malingerers using a particular diagnosis illegitimately, it is unfair to assume that everyone with that diagnosis is faking or a hypochondriac. I really feel for people like you who legitimately suffer from those conditions and are unfairly tainted by association.

Edit: To get personal, I have a diagnosis of inattentive ADD and the symptoms that led to that diagnosis have been pretty devastating for me. I'm embarrassed to admit that I have that diagnosis and take medication for it though because so many people believe it's not a real illness and associate it with people who abuse Adderall. And the truth is that absolutely is a problem. I've seen the Adderall abuse for myself among my peers. That doesn't mean that some people don't legitimately have the disorder and need medication, though. It's a hard situation.

18 minutes ago, GeoBQn said:

Note the part where she calls a group of 8th graders "brainwashed" for being Unionists, only to later wish that she had the power to "force" people into thinking a certain way.  

Ugh, this is so common among bigots. They think that they're the clear thinkers and that everyone else is brainwashed. It couldn't possibly be that people who disagree with them have legitimate reasons for their beliefs.

[Lurky]

@Rachel333 I guess that's one of the many differences between USA and UK healthcare - we don't have the same level of doctor shopping because of how our healthcare system is set up (if you get referred to a hospital, you see the doctor the hospital decides is appropriate, not one you choose).

And opioids are much, much more restricted here in the UK than they are in the USA, so we don't have anywhere near the painkiller addictions the USA has.  The idea that I could just pretend to have a condition, find a sketchy doctor and get an opioid prescription just on the basis of reading up on symptoms is pretty much unthinkable.  I don't want to start another UK v USA healthcare debate, but I feel like the USA is an outlier in comparison to other Western, more economically developed countries, in issues like this.

[Rachel333]

Just now, Lurky said:

I don't want to start another UK v USA healthcare debate, but I feel like the USA is an outlier in comparison to other Western, more economically developed countries, in issues like this.

Oh goodness, no debate from me. The US healthcare system sucks. The actual healthcare can be very good, but accessing it and paying for it is a huge problem.

[CyborgKin]

Imagine someone like Racheal watching a show like Agent Carter.  I don't think she'd survive the experience

 

[Jellybean]

It makes me so frustrated to hear that conditions like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (yes, @Rachel333, that's my overall diagnosis) and fibromyalgia are seen as good excuses to receive strong painkillers. 

Yes, I'm on opiate painkillers myself, but that doesn't make it much less awful to live with this condition. This syndrome has caused me to have bladder failure, intestinal failure, severe autonomic dysfunction, mast cell activation disorder, hearing loss, aneurysms and hernias, immune suppression, easy bruising and impaired healing, and frequent dislocations/partial dislocations (multiple times every day) of the majority of the joints in my body.  

EDS is not fun. It isn't a joke diagnosis. I wish the people who think it is, and that they can fake it, or that it is nothing more than a few minor aches and pains could experience living with it. I wish they could see the damage they're doing and the harm they're causing to those of us who are really sick, and yet are frequently brushed off by medical professionals because of this belief that EDS is nothing much to worry about. Pfff.

@Lurky I'm really sorry to hear that you live with fibromyalgia and Hashimoto's. Life can be so hard sometimes, can't it? I'm glad you're here though - you contribute so much to the discussions here, and I always really appreciate your comments.

[ViolaSebastian]

Ugh, she adds the completely unnecessary detail that one of these groups consisted of HIspanic boys. And yes, it had zero to do with anything in the story she told. 

She also dissed other reenactors pretending to be nurses because they "didn't know how to deal with wounded men."  Bitch, please. I didn't see your RN credentials last I checked. 

[Lurky]

@Jellybean Thank you for the kind words, that means a lot to me.   I'm so sorry you're going through that, and I hope things get easier for you.

Ultimately, I'll never be the 100% I was before I got sick, but I'm super-lucky in that out of all the shitty things to get, I've got something more understood and controllable.  I had a period of being disabled, but I was incredibly lucky to come out of it - so my heart is with people like you who have conditions that don't have that. 

I can't even imagine HOW one could fake a condition like ED, if I'm honest - and I'm gutted for USA types that for a lot of people, actually getting a diagnosis would cost so much money, so people who need it can never get treatment they need. 

It's hard enough here, where a diagnosis doesn't mean treatment and getting a diagnosis in the first place can be very hard, and take years in some cases - but at least the process of "go to GP - get blood tests - get referred to a specialist - get more tests (eg bloods, ultrasounds, x-rays, MRIs, the specific chemical tests for Addisons) - maybe get more - get diagnosis" only costs the travel to the hospital, so I think we have much, much less of a culture of people saying they have something but they've never been to the doctor, because there's much less of an excuse.  So when someone like my mum blithely announces she has dyslexia, but has never even tried to get tested for it because reasons, there's pretty much no sympathy/belief for her.

BUT my bottom line is to able bodied people is always this: please do be super-careful about how you talk about conditions you think are often fake, because it really hurts people who have them.  Of course there's a difference between Lyme Disease (very real) and Chronic Lyme Disease (no evidence it's real), and the weird unevidenced Toxic Mold syndrome things that Racheal talks about, but people with/who've had conditions like Ehlers-Danlos, fibromyalgia, OCD, ADHD etc etc etc face a LOT of people refusing to believe they have problems, and probably had tons of issues getting diagnosed, and living with their conditions, and I'll bet pretty much everyone has faced people who think they're making it all up.  To me, at least, it feels like a slap in the face every time I see things I've struggled with referenced as likely to be fake, and while I do admit I've over-sensitive about it, it's also based on real hurt.

 

[Red Jumper]

2 hours ago, ViolaSebastian said:

unnecessary detail that one of these groups consisted of HIspanic boys.

oh yes

Quote

Into the shade of the fly stepped another group of eighth graders, headed by this cute little blonde girl with big glasses and an attitude that became apparent when she opened her mouth. She was an adamant Unionist.

 

* the words "little blonde girl" ring all my racism alarm bells. Is it just me? All my siblings and i had been blond little girls/boys, but people never talked about our hair colour. They talked about how the child behaved (friendly, shy, open,...), my wording and knowledge compared to age... Only years later I heard this phrase and it was always matched with "good Nazi", "German as can be", "Arayan"

*an adamant 8th grader? It's a child! Hopefully this child will grow up to be an adamant proponent for democracy, equality, freedom,...

Quote

As he kept firing questions at her

It's still a child! You, my dear, can't even answer the questions after stating your abhorrent believes on the internet. But you expect a child to keep up with a manipulating adult?

 

Quote

Every single one of those kids went over to the Confederate side of the tent--including our little blonde girl. The teacher was called over by the kids, but he raised his fist and declared, "The Union forever!"

This teacher has a lot of work ahead. but perhaps The only good thing taken from here: One can talk with the children why there are still people like this Rachael.

[Soulhuntress]

15 hours ago, GeoBQn said:

Racheal went to a Civil War reenactment over Memorial Day weekend.  The first day was the day just for school groups to visit.  Note the part where she calls a group of 8th graders "brainwashed" for being Unionists, only to later wish that she had the power to "force" people into thinking a certain way.  I'm creeped out by the idea that the kids probably thought Racheal's group was playacting at being staunch Confederates from the past.  They had no fucking clue that this group really believes that way.

http://adventuresmidkid.weebly.com/blog/branch-county-civil-war-days-2017

Quote

If there is one thing I want to learn from Hawk...it is how to force people to think the way he does. He seems so nonchalant about it and it's fascinating to watch him "work".

Force people to think the way he does?   Not a commendable thing dearie.  Not at all

[EmainMacha]

Does she mean force people to think about things or force people to agree with him?

Either way that was a depressing read both in terms of the content and the writing. I'd almost feel sorry  for this woman, if her beliefs weren't so utterly objectionable.

[ViolaSebastian]

See, here's the thing. I'm an adamant Constitutionalist, but there comes a point in time where the discontinuance of an inhumane and barbaric system in which people are considered livestock and treated as such is more important than the Constitution. But apparently YMMV. 

[wotdancer]

@Jellybean, thank you for sharing your history of EDS! I recently was diagnosed with hypermobile EDS, after years of knee issues (bilateral patellafemoral syndrome for anyone playing at home!), and it was a relief to have a doctor who took my pain seriously. I wish you all the best!

[nausicaa]

On 5/31/2017 at 2:23 AM, ViolaSebastian said:

She also dissed other reenactors pretending to be nurses because they "didn't know how to deal with wounded men."  Bitch, please. I didn't see your RN credentials last I checked. 

Hellllo-- she was the physical therapist for her grandfather for several years.

I'm assuming she received her graduate degree from the accredited academic program of the widely regarded "Fundamentalist Dunning-Kruger Institute of Solipsism." It has had several notable blogosphere alumni. I believe Anna Maxwell received her degree in nutritional science there. 

[dairyfreelife]

On 5/31/2017 at 4:43 AM, Lurky said:

BUT my bottom line is to able bodied people is always this: please do be super-careful about how you talk about conditions you think are often fake, because it really hurts people who have them.  Of course there's a difference between Lyme Disease (very real) and Chronic Lyme Disease (no evidence it's real), and the weird unevidenced Toxic Mold syndrome things that Racheal talks about, but people with/who've had conditions like Ehlers-Danlos, fibromyalgia, OCD, ADHD etc etc etc face a LOT of people refusing to believe they have problems, and probably had tons of issues getting diagnosed, and living with their conditions, and I'll bet pretty much everyone has faced people who think they're making it all up.  To me, at least, it feels like a slap in the face every time I see things I've struggled with referenced as likely to be fake, and while I do admit I've over-sensitive about it, it's also based on real hurt.

I assume you aren't talking about people here, because I don't think any of the listed are fake and stated so. I stated that they both over and underdiagnosed. Personally, I only stated that Chronic Lyme and Adrenal fatigue are not recognized in the medical community as actual illnesses and lack evidence of being real. Lyme is real, Adrenal and Thyroid issues are real, Mold Toxicity is also real, but more rare than it's mentioned and is very serious problem-think possibly your home or work location being condemned as a result serious. 

I actually have OCD, actual OCD, diagnosed by professionals and many mental health issues are often a sort of joke "I love everything even or straight I totally have OCD" or "I love being organized I so have OCD", "I can't concentrate I think I have ADHD", "His/her mood changes so much s/he's so bipolar", "Don't be like a schizo"(when something seems crazy to them). I know for myself, I didn't actually believe I had it because of the stereotyping of excessive hand washing. I mean, I didn't check things or do things over and over again like 100 times so I didn't have it. Except that I actually did, but in different ways. As in, I had these crazy thoughts and I had to do things certain numbers of times and had to make sure the light switches were all even because if I didn't something bad would happen. If I did something like 9 times, I HAD to do it again because 9 was a bad number and something bad would happen. FYI, I'm not a superstitious person and knew such ideas were irrational. I would get these horrible thoughts in my head and then would do compulsions that I believed would somehow stop the obsessions all the while knowing both the obsessive thought and what I did as a result (compulsion) were silly. To my doctor and psychiatrist, my having OCD was obvious based on my behavior, but it was I who had to warm up the idea. I was not "crazy", it was just silly anxiety stuff. With a little time and more education on the condition I was able to understand that I did have it and accept it and no, I was not "crazy". Medication has allowed me to live a far more normal life not controlled by the obsessive thoughts and compulsions. It hasn't really helped my anxiety or depression as much, but I can manage that easier than OCD. Also therapy helped too, but job changes and crappy insurance has made me forego that for some time. I've relied on regular psychians for medication refills and have been doing my own therapy style sessions-not so easy, but was able to use exposure (YouTube has everything-thanks Google, Internet, and YT for the help) to ease some of my phobias tremendously. 

All to say, yes, I do get it that people can be dismissive or joke about having something they don't, but it doesn't really bother me. People can be dismissive all they want, but I know my body, I know my health, all the real doctors I've seen have given me the same diagnosis without prompting. It's harder to prove a mental illness if it's not severe like schizophrenia. It's much easier to prove my endometriosis because I had actual surgery and testing and have real images from those that sadly show my tubes are completely blocked and my uterus is scarred up. When there's not a physical proof of an illness I do think people are more likely to be skeptical. Which is good in a way-no evidence means no proof of its existence, that's science and it's good to be skeptical and look for critical evidence. But not everything has a clear physical proof. There are other things that prove its existence. There's evidence, it's just not written out or shown on a blood test or fluid sample. In mental illness, seeing the person's own behavior or daily actions would be proof that something isn't right, but since "we" (general we) can't observe everyone's daily patterns, it's easy for many to become dismissive.