Tag: autoimmune disease
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Building a Flexible Career with a Chronic Illness
I left “corporate America” to start my own business a couple of years before I got smacked over the head with multiple autoimmune diseases. I went from juggling four or five clients and working 50-60 hours a week to barely handling one or two clients and working 15 hours a week. I had to learn…
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How to Build a Flexible Career With a Chronic Illness: Introducing Chronically Ill, Wildly Capable
I was running a successful digital marketing business before I got sick with multiple autoimmune diseases. Before fatigue knocked me to the ground. Before the pain was a gnawing distraction. Before my brain felt my runny scrambled eggs. I had to learn how to pivot my career while still being able to pay my bills,…
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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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Sneaky Sjogren’s: Commonly Overlooked Symptoms That Delay Diagnosis and Treatment
Sjogren’s is a master of disguise—it doesn’t walk into the doctor’s office wearing a big flashing “CALL ME SJOGREN’S” sign. It tiptoes around and spreads its symptoms across different body systems. Forcing specialists to play medical hide-and-seek (and many providers aren’t good at that game). Most people know Sjogren’s for its poster children: dry eyes…
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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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Creating Your Chronic Illness Support Circle
When you’re living with chronic illness, the phrase “you’re not alone” is tossed around more than a football on a Friday night. But being surrounded by people doesn’t necessarily mean you feel supported. In fact, some of the most isolating moments happen in rooms full of people who don’t get it. Support is not about…
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Welcome to Sjogren’s Awareness Month: Let’s Raise Our Voices (and Glasses of Water)
Hello, Sjogees! It’s April, which means it’s time for Sjogren’s Awareness Month. It’s a time where we get to share our stories, raise awareness, and have a little fun while doing it. Whether you’ve just been diagnosed, have been living with Sjogren’s for years, or are supporting someone on this journey, this month is all…
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Trusting Your Gut and Taking Control: A Story of Advocacy in the Face of Breast Implant Illness
The world needs to know that women’s health issues often get swept under the rug, and it’s high time we start listening, talking, and advocating for ourselves. This is why I’m so thankful to come across this personal story on social media. With the patient’s permission, I’m sharing her story (and I hope you do,…
Little Engine Patient Advocacy 