What Do You Do?

What do you do,
What can you say,
When you have a chronic illness
But you don't look that way?

What do you do,
What can you say,
When your family that "loves" you
Doesn't believe what you say?

How do you handle
Their snide remarks--
That hurt you to the core
And makes ice form around your heart.

You can explain and defend
Yourself until you're blue
In the face, you're not alone--
There are more in the world like you.

Despite medical studies,
And hundreds of tests--
No one believes us,
We're the subject of jest.

By the time they realize
Our illnesses are real--
Their actions may have left wounds
That may never heal.