As I sit here writing this diary entry, “I’m Every Woman” by Chaka Khan keeps playing in my head. Not because I’m feeling particularly empowered today, but because surviving the healthcare system sometimes requires the strength of an entire village packed into one exhausted body.
If I had a dollar for every time a doctor looked at me and said, “Well… your labs look fine,” I could probably cover all the out-of-pocket testing insurance refused to pay for over the years.
Actually, scratch that.
If I knew then what I know now, I might have spent that money on functional medicine and skipped a few of the detours altogether. Unfortunately, hindsight has perfect vision while the rest of us are squinting through specialist referrals, prior authorizations, and copays.
For so many of us living with chronic illness, this is the part that hurts the most.
You know something is wrong.
Your body is screaming.
You don’t feel like yourself.
Yet because a standard panel of blood work comes back “normal,” you’re left questioning your own reality. Somewhere between appointment number seven and specialist number twelve, you start wondering whether you’re imagining the symptoms that have completely hijacked your life.
Meanwhile, you’re trying to navigate:
🧠 Brain fog that makes simple tasks feel impossible.
😵💫 Dizziness that appears out of nowhere.
💥 Neuropathy and unexplained pain.
🤢 GI issues that turn every meal into a gamble.
😴 Crushing fatigue that sleep never seems to fix.
💔 Anxiety, depression, and mood changes.
🦠 Constant infections and mysterious symptoms.
And somehow, after describing all of that, you hear the same sentence:
“Everything looks normal.”
Here’s the thing that many people don’t realize: normal lab results do not automatically mean that everything is normal.
It simply means that those particular tests did not identify the cause.
People living with autoimmune diseases, Crohn’s disease, Myasthenia Gravis, Lyme disease, MCAS, mold illness, CIRS, and countless other chronic conditions know this conversation all too well. Many of us spent years collecting symptoms before finally collecting diagnoses.
I know I did.
Long before I was diagnosed with MuSK-positive Myasthenia Gravis, my body had already started waving red flags. I struggled to breathe. Simple activities became exhausting. Walking short distances left me winded. Speaking for long periods felt like work. Yet test after test came back without the dramatic answers everyone expected.
At one point, I even found myself wondering whether I was simply overworked, out of shape, or somehow causing the symptoms myself.
Spoiler alert: I was not.
My body was trying to tell me something.
Then there was Crohn’s disease.
Before my diagnosis, there were years of unexplained symptoms, endless bathroom trips, debilitating fatigue, and the quiet fear that maybe this was just my “normal.” Looking back, my body had been speaking fluently the entire time—I just hadn’t found the right translators yet.
And let’s be honest: when you’re chronically ill, hearing, “Everything looks fine,” while simultaneously feeling like your body is staging a hostile takeover is enough to make you question your own sanity.
The gaslighting doesn’t always come from bad intentions. Medicine is complicated. Many healthcare providers genuinely want to help, and not every illness announces itself with flashing lights and obvious lab abnormalities.
But patients deserve providers who stay curious instead of dismissive.
We deserve doctors who say:
“I don’t know what’s wrong yet, but we’re going to figure it out together.”
Because sometimes the most healing words a patient can hear aren’t:
“Your labs are normal.”
Sometimes they’re:
“I believe you.”
As someone now living with both Crohn’s disease and Myasthenia Gravis, I often think about the younger version of myself sitting in exam rooms, trying to explain symptoms I didn’t yet have names for.
I wish I could go back and tell her that she wasn’t dramatic, lazy, anxious, or imagining things.
She was sick.
She just didn’t have the diagnosis yet.
And if you’re reading this while fighting a battle that nobody else can see, please know this:
💜 You deserve to be heard.
💜 You deserve answers.
💜 You deserve a healthcare team that listens when your body is telling a different story than the lab report.
Also, can we all agree that “everything looks normal” should come with a coupon for free therapy, gas money, and reimbursement for all the parking fees at specialist appointments?
Asking for myself. 😂
💜 Thank you for taking the time to read this entry from The Dual Diagnosis Diaries.
If this story resonated with you, taught you something new, or reminded you that you’re not alone, please consider liking, subscribing, and sharing this diary entry. Your support helps raise awareness and reminds others living with chronic illness that they are not alone in their journey.
Until next time, keep advocating, keep asking questions, and keep trusting yourself.
Kia Lorice
Founder • Author • Advocate • Future Wellness Coach
The Dual Diagnosis Diaries 💜
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