Tag: Patient Advocate
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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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Patient Advocacy Lessons from An Orange Cat
This is Mal Purrcino (the white slash across his face = Scarface = Al Pacino). One summer day, this loud-mouthed orange cat walked onto our property and demanded to be adopted, and we obeyed. This formerly feral cat (now fixed and vaccinated, you’re welcome, Bob Barker) has had nonstop health issues. In fact, we have…
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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 Sjogren’s Course I Needed. The Course You Deserve.
Streamlining Sjogren’s is back and better than ever. When I first launched Streamlining Sjogren’s: How to Navigate Your Path to Diagnosis and Treatment, I built it from the ground up with one goal in mind: to create the exact course I needed when I was fighting for my own diagnosis. I wanted to make something…
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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,…
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IT’S FINALLY HERE! HOW TO BE A BADASS IN A BROKEN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IS OFFICIALLY ON SALE!
I should probably write something polished and professional to mark this moment, but after pouring my heart, soul, and a few too many spoons into this book, all I really want to do is run (or gracefully waddle) through the streets yelling, “IT’S HERE, IT’S HERE, IT’S FINALLY HERE!” So, consider this my virtual confetti…
Little Engine Patient Advocacy 