I've been doing a lot of introspection lately regarding my own chronic illnesses and how I feel they've affected my ability to make and keep relationships, and I've been wondering how other people with chronic illnesses feel about their own. To me, it feels as though my mind and body are constantly betraying me, and have left me in a state where I'm either sick/symptomatic or recovering from being sick/managing symptoms. It's frankly exhausting. Both my mental and physical health have, in many ways, completely crippled my ability to socialize in what many people would consider normal ways. I feel almost completely isolated from the rest of the world, and I often feel as though I'll never have things I'd very much like to someday have because of my ongoing battle with my own health.

So my question is this:

How do you feel your chronic illness (physical and/or mental) affects your ability to find and keep relationships? Conversely, for those with healthy relationships, how do you manage your symptoms so that they don't negatively affect your relationship?