The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey 💜
Where chronic illness, resilience, advocacy, and hope come together. Sharing stories. Building community. Inspiring hope.
Kia’s Journey
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Sometimes Support Is Just Showing Up
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Sometimes Support Is Just Showing UpLiving with chronic illness reveals that real support isn’t about positivity or strength—it’s the quiet, intentional care that lets me…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 When the Movies Turned Into a Sh!tty Mess—Literally
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 When the Movies Turned Into a Sh!tty Mess—LiterallyThat weekend movie outing turned into a comedy of errors, as Crohn’s decided the real entertainment would begin after the…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 When Being Strong Was Never a Choice
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 When Being Strong Was Never a ChoiceDear Diary, During one of my usual scrolls—don’t judge me—I came across a message by Rachel Marie Martin of Finding…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Dear Me, You Don’t Have to Keep Up
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Dear Me, You Don’t Have to Keep Up🌻 A reminder from me, to me: I don’t have to keep up with healthy people—or the person I used…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Scared, But Going Anyway
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Scared, But Going AnywayFear doesn’t always mean stop. Sometimes it means you’re stepping beyond what’s familiar and growing into someone new. I’m learning…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Caring and Capacity Aren’t the Same Thing
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Caring and Capacity Aren’t the Same ThingSometimes caring deeply doesn’t mean having the capacity to carry someone else’s burdens. When my emotional battery hits 3%, I’m…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Apparently, My Roommates Really Did Come to Alaska
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Apparently, My Roommates Really Did Come to AlaskaCrohn’s and MG ignored their eviction notices and came to Alaska anyway. Between bathroom sprints, a human-bobble-head moment, way too…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 The Women I Keep Getting to Know
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 The Women I Keep Getting to KnowSome friendships survive decades not because people stay the same, but because they make room for each other to change.…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 My Coping Toolbox: Baking, Beaches, Pooh, Potter & Punchlines
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 My Coping Toolbox: Baking, Beaches, Pooh, Potter & PunchlinesWe all have coping mechanisms, and mine change depending on what I’m carrying. Baking, music, writing, the ocean, Winnie the…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Consider This Your Warning Label
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Consider This Your Warning LabelWhat happens when a Facebook morning scroll asks you to describe yourself like you’re warning someone before they meet you?…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 More Than a Sunflower
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 More Than a SunflowerLong before chronic illness entered my life, the sunflower was already my favorite flower. 🌻 Now, knowing its connection to…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Apparently, My Roommates Are Coming to Alaska
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Apparently, My Roommates Are Coming to AlaskaPreparing for an Alaska cruise means packing layers, medications, backup plans—and apparently two uninvited roommates. Crohn’s and MG refuse every…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Who Holds the Strong One?
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Who Holds the Strong One?Being the strong one often means carrying everyone else’s burdens while quietly hiding your own. This reflection explores the strength…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻Through My Mother’s Eyes
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻Through My Mother’s EyesIn Part Two of the *Through Their Eyes* series, my mother shares what it has been like to watch me…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 The Weight Behind the Smile
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 The Weight Behind the SmileSome days, “I’m fine” carries more weight than anyone realizes. This reflection explores the invisible burdens behind the smile, the…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Why Me?
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Why Me?This morning, I asked God a question I’ve carried more than once: Why me? Why Crohn’s? Why Myasthenia Gravis? I…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 The Pictures That Matter Most
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 The Pictures That Matter MostI used to worry about looking good in pictures. Now I worry about the pictures my doctors are looking at.…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 You’re Too Young to Be Going Through That
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 You’re Too Young to Be Going Through ThatSometimes the words “You’re too young to be going through all that” are meant with love—but chronic illness doesn’t care…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 She Had No Idea
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 She Had No IdeaShe thought her biggest challenge was deciding what to wear on Friday night. She had no idea life would become…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Learning to Travel Again
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Learning to Travel AgainA weekend in Las Vegas became more than a getaway—it became proof that healing sometimes looks like slowing down. Join…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Most People Fake Being Sick. I Fake Being Well.
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Most People Fake Being Sick. I Fake Being Well.Most people fake being sick. I fake being well. Living with Crohn’s Disease and Myasthenia Gravis means smiling through pain,…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Running on Empty
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Running on EmptyWhat started as a simple trip to the laundromat turned into a reminder that living with Crohn’s Disease and Myasthenia…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey🌻 The New Normal…Again
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey🌻 The New Normal…AgainWhat happens when your “new normal” keeps changing? In this heartfelt reflection, I share how Crohn’s Disease and Myasthenia Gravis…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Food for the Soul
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Food for the SoulSometimes the greatest nourishment isn’t found on our plates but in the people gathered around them. Food for the Soul…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Sometimes Home Is the Best Medicine
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Sometimes Home Is the Best MedicineAfter much-needed rest, I discovered that some of the best medicine isn’t found in a prescription—it’s found in Mom’s house,…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻Through Steph’s Eyes
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻Through Steph’s EyesSometimes the people who love us see strengths we no longer recognize in ourselves. In this first installment of *Through…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻Living or Resting? The Battle I Fight Every Day
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻Living or Resting? The Battle I Fight Every DayAs I prepare to board a red-eye flight home to Washington, D.C., I find myself caught between two competing thoughts:…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey:🌻From Surviving to Thriving
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey:🌻From Surviving to ThrivingHave you ever been so focused on surviving that you forgot it was okay to dream about thriving? In this…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Hold On… But Can Someone Tell Wilson Phillips I’m Tired?
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Hold On… But Can Someone Tell Wilson Phillips I’m Tired?Sometimes inspiration comes from the most unexpected places—even an Instagram meme. A joke about Wilson Phillips’ “Hold On” made me…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻Unexpected ER Visit — The Mystery of the Rebellious Thumb
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻Unexpected ER Visit — The Mystery of the Rebellious ThumbTwo days after having my power port removed, I unexpectedly found myself back in the emergency room—this time for a…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 It’s Not About the Ride: Managing Expectations and Learning Who Shows Up
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 It’s Not About the Ride: Managing Expectations and Learning Who Shows UpChronic illness teaches you many things, but one of the hardest lessons is learning who shows up when you need…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Dear Life: Open Letter to the University of Hard Knocks
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Dear Life: Open Letter to the University of Hard KnocksSome lessons in life teach us. Others practically require a dissertation. After decades of chronic illness, unexpected challenges, and enough…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 💜 My Energy Isn’t the Same Every Day
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 💜 My Energy Isn’t the Same Every DayI did not choose to have fluctuating muscle weakness. I did not choose chronic fatigue. I did not choose autoimmune…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 💜 When Emotions Overflow: Understanding Emotional Flooding
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 💜 When Emotions Overflow: Understanding Emotional FloodingThe reality is that trying to simultaneously manage chronic illness while maintaining a demanding career often means that my emotional…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🇺🇸Stars, Stripes, and Gratitude: A Fourth of July Reflection
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🇺🇸Stars, Stripes, and Gratitude: A Fourth of July ReflectionFor me, freedom isn’t always about grand adventures or elaborate plans. Sometimes freedom looks like breathing easier, having enough energy…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries|Kia’s Journey: 🌿Between Herbs and Hospitals: Finding Balance with Crohn’s and MG
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries|Kia’s Journey: 🌿Between Herbs and Hospitals: Finding Balance with Crohn’s and MGBut chronic illness has a funny way of making us willing to try almost anything in hopes of feeling better.…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Don’t Tell Me What to Do!
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Don’t Tell Me What to Do!After more than a decade, saying goodbye to my power port wasn’t as simple as scheduling a procedure and moving…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: ✍🏾 Kia’s Journey Never Ended: The Evolution of The Dual Diagnosis Diaries
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: ✍🏾 Kia’s Journey Never Ended: The Evolution of The Dual Diagnosis DiariesSome diary entries are heavily focused on autoimmune disease, treatments, symptoms, advocacy, and all the complicated realities that come with…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries|Kia’s Journey: 💜The Story Before the Story: The Prequel to The Dual Diagnosis Diaries
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries|Kia’s Journey: 💜The Story Before the Story: The Prequel to The Dual Diagnosis DiariesA journey through childhood symptoms, family history, missed clues, and the decades-long path to understanding Crohn’s Disease and MuSK+ Myasthenia…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Who’s Is That?
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Who’s Is That?After a long and exhausting day, Kia pushed through fatigue to support a friend pursuing her dreams in a new…