Understanding the Spoon Theory

Living with an invisible illness leads to a lot of frustrations for chronic illness sufferers. If you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), you’re likely an expert at explaining your condition to others — especially people who don’t understand why you can’t do everything you want to do.

Lupus sufferer Christine Miserandino came up with the spoon theory as a way to explain her condition to her best friend. Using spoons as a metaphor for energy, she demonstrated how each task in a day “costs” a spoon.

Once these spoons are gone, they’re gone — there is no more energy left for your day. Most healthy people have unlimited spoons, but people with COPD must ration theirs.

Chronic illness sufferers everywhere use Miserandino’s theory to help people understand them, and to connect with other sufferers — calling themselves “Spoonies.”