How to deal with the loneliness

Maybe it’s just me. And that’s ok if so. But lately as I have more flare ups and bad days, I feel lonely and isolated. I don’t feel like anyone around me truly understands and to them it just seems like I’m flakey and making excuses when I can’t attend things due to how I’m feeling. When in reality I can barely get out of bed without extreme exhaustion and joint pain.

I don’t have it as bad as most others with lupus, and I look “fine” on the outside so I think it’s hard for anyone I know to grasp what’s really going on. They just tell me to sleep more and workout and I just feel like closing everyone off more when they do that. Hopefully I’m not alone in these feelings but if you can understand, how do you handle it?