When someone is chronically ill, they are asked a lot of questions. Most people are confused by the abnormal absences or treatment they receive, and they innocently ask questions. Many times, these questions invade privacy or are simply difficult to answer. Below, I listed some answers that I have found helpful for difficult to answer questions.
1) How are you feeling? -- With the chronically ill, generally speaking, the truthful response to this questions is "Not great" or, "bad". But no one wants to admit they aren't feeling well. So how do you respond? I have found the best answer to be: "I've been better." This is because it doesn't admit that you aren't feeling well, but it also doesn't mislead the other person into thinking you are feeling well.
2) What's wrong with you? -- This is a tough question to respond to. Many times, the answer is quite complicated or the person doesn't want to share that information because it's personal. With migraines especially, the general population doesn't realize they are anything more than just headaches, so explaining you have debilitating migraines can be really confusing. One response that I have used in the past is "It's really complicated." This doesn't allow for people to press further, but the issue with this response is that it gives the other person the impression that you don't want them to know what's going on with you, or that they won't understand it. Instead, I have found that, "I have a chronic disease" is the better response. This is because it only invites the question, "What's a chronic disease?" This question allows you to explain why you may have been out of school or work for so long, and allows you to explain the severity of the illness, all without having to explain exactly what's wrong. For me, this response keeps the perfect balance of privacy and response.
3) Why have you been out of school/work/etc for so long? -- There are many possible responses to this question, but I have found that the same response from question #2 works. Saying that you have a chronic disease explains long absences and severity of disease without having to explain the entire nature of your illness.
4) Have you tried ___? -- This question is really frustrating for someone who struggles from a chronic illness. When people say this to me, a lot of the time I just want to scream. Of course I've tried that and a bazillion other treatments! But yelling doesn't do anything. I think that you really have two options here. Firstly, you can say, "I've tried that before". The issue with this is that the other person will likely try and ask how it went, or might even suggest something else. If you want to end the conversation, I think the better response would be: "Thanks so much, I will keep that in mind." I like this response because it ends the conversation. It gives the other person validation that they were helpful, but it doesn't provoke them to continue questioning you or recommending other treatment methods. I know it implies that you haven't tried the treatment before when you probably have, but if you want to end the conversation, I think this is your best answer.
5) Rate your pain on a scale of 1-10 -- This question is practically impossible for a chronic illness sufferer to answer. This is because they are in CHRONIC PAIN. This means that their pain tolerance and pain scale has been warped because they are in pain all the time. Answering this question is really difficult because of this. I have found that the best response to this question is: "I'm sorry but my pain scale has been warped because I'm in chronic pain" or something like that usually works. If the doctor/nurse/etc continues to press you, just give them a number, it's not going to change the outcome of your appointment.
Anyways, I hope this was helpful to everyone!