Tag: chronic-pain
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12 Things I’ve Learned About Ankylosing Spondylitis (and Axial Spondyloarthritis)
While math and I are typically not friends, I’m going to throw some numbers at you: That is what it took to finally get answers and treatment for progressing lower back stiffness and pain that plagued me for nearly five years. I don’t think I slept through the night without cringing or gasping in pain…
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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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3 Truths About “Why Me” Moments
Hi, friend. I see you over there, drowning in the existential soup of “Why me?” And listen, it’s valid. Chronic illness hit you like a meteor, and now you’re just trying to figure out how to dodge the next one. I get it. The thing is, I care about your “why me” because it’s part…
Little Engine Patient Advocacy 