Category: General
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20-Seconds to Improve your Doctor Appointments
https://resources.littleenginepatientadvocacy.com/20-second-appointment-opener-worksheet
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2025 Holiday Gift Guide for the Chronic Illness Community
Ho, ho, ho and mistletoe, my friends. If you’re like me, then you have two goals for holiday shopping this year: sticking to a budget and supporting small businesses. And bonus points if it comes from small businesses and creators living with chronic illness. Because helping each other is the best kind of gift. Every…
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How to Keep a Medical Binder Without Losing Your Mind (or Your Labs)
Raise your hand if you’ve ever walked into a doctor’s appointment and immediately blanked on your medication list? How about the date of your last MRI? Or what that “mystery rash” even looked like? Yep, me too. Keeping up with chronic illness in the face of fatigue, brain fog, and dismissive providers requires a strategy.…
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Impatient Patients: Why Rushing Hurts More Than It Helps
Hi, my name is Kristina, and I was that patient. The impatient one. The one who refused to wait another second for answers. I was sick, scared, and desperate for someone, anyone, to help. I ping-ponged between functional medicine practitioners, integrative doctors, and traditional doctors, thrusting my palms out like Oliver Twist, begging, “Please, sir,…
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The Road Less Traveled: Navigating a Rare Disease Diagnosis
It took me five neurologists over five years to finally get diagnosed with my rare disease: seronegative myasthenia gravis (MG). MG is a chronic autoimmune disorder that messes with your neuromuscular junction, where your nerves meet your muscles. It causes muscle weakness and fatigue. It’s rare—affecting about 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 20,000 people…
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Navigating Chronic Illness with a Patient Advocate
So, you’re chronically ill. Your body’s throwing curveballs, the doctor’s office is practically a second home, and your insurance company treats you like that kid who keeps raising their hand, but never gets called on. Sound familiar? Yeah, I’ve been there. It’s exhausting. That’s where an independent patient advocate comes in, your trusty sidekick in…