The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey 💜
Where chronic illness, resilience, advocacy, and hope come together. Sharing stories. Building community. Inspiring hope.
ChronicIllness
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 The Truth Behind “I’m Fine”
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 The Truth Behind “I’m Fine”Dear Diary, “How are you feeling?” It sounds like a simple question. Most days, I give the simple answer: “I’m…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 The Healthcare System Is a Scam: When Insurance Stands Between Patients and Care
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 The Healthcare System Is a Scam: When Insurance Stands Between Patients and CareThe author recounts their frustrating experience with healthcare and insurance struggles after a medical emergency. They detail delays in treatment,…
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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: 💜 I Haven’t Even Left the House Yet
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 I Haven’t Even Left the House YetEvery morning is a battle between my body’s energy levels and my chronic illnesses. From the shower to the bathroom,…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 Asthma, Crohn’s, Myasthenia Gravis & Perimenopause—OH MY!
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 Asthma, Crohn’s, Myasthenia Gravis & Perimenopause—OH MY!Hurricane Marie’s humidity has turned my body into a battleground with asthma, Crohn’s, MG, and perimenopause. One at a time,…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 When My Body Changes the Rules
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 When My Body Changes the RulesLiving with chronic illness requires constant mental assessments to navigate daily activities. Each outing involves careful planning around potential symptoms…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 A Letter to the Woman I Was Before I Got Sick
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 A Letter to the Woman I Was Before I Got SickThe writer reflects on life before chronic illness, addressing her former self with affection and understanding. She acknowledges the freedoms…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 The Hidden Cost of a “Good Day”
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 The Hidden Cost of a “Good Day”Living with chronic illness means that a seemingly good day often comes at a cost. Despite engaging in activities, the…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 High Pain, Low Tolerance
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 High Pain, Low ToleranceLiving with chronic illness brings unpredictable challenges, particularly on high-symptom days when energy is scarce. The author reflects on the…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 IBD vs. IBS, Part 2 — Wait…You Can Have BOTH?
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 IBD vs. IBS, Part 2 — Wait…You Can Have BOTH?After sharing Part 1 about the differences between IBD and IBS, my friend Steph sent me a text: “Your blogs…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 Sometimes It Isn’t About the Small Thing
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 Sometimes It Isn’t About the Small ThingChronic illness brings expected challenges like pain and fatigue, but it also incites emotions like anger, often overlooked. This anger…
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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: 🌻 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: 🌻 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: 💜 Give Yourself Credit for the Days You Made It Through
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 Give Yourself Credit for the Days You Made It ThroughLiving with chronic illness often feels like a battle between personal plans and the body’s relentless demands. It’s essential to…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 Finding Your Tribe Is Finding Home
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 Finding Your Tribe Is Finding HomeIn a world that does not always understand chronic illness, finding people who see you, believe you, and accept every…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 The Weight You Never See
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 The Weight You Never SeeEven when I speak openly about chronic illness, what I share is only a glimpse. Behind every post are the…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 When Remission Still Hurts
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 When Remission Still HurtsRemission may mean Crohn’s inflammation is controlled, but it does not always mean the pain is gone. This entry explores…
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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: 💜 When Fatigue Isn’t Just Fatigue
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 When Fatigue Isn’t Just FatigueFatigue isn’t always “just being tired.” Living with both Crohn’s disease and Myasthenia Gravis has taught me that one drains…
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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: 💜 You Are Not the Burden
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 You Are Not the BurdenLiving with chronic illness may mean carrying heavy burdens, but needing help does not make you one. My diagnoses, symptoms,…
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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: 💜 When Sleep Became a Breathing Test
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 When Sleep Became a Breathing TestWhen sleep became a nightly struggle to breathe, I learned my exhaustion wasn’t just fatigue—it was my body fighting to…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 COVID-19, Myasthenia Gravis, and the Search for Answers
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 COVID-19, Myasthenia Gravis, and the Search for AnswersLiving through the COVID-19 pandemic while managing Crohn’s disease, I never imagined another autoimmune diagnosis was waiting. This diary explores…
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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: 💜 Can Nightshade Vegetables Trigger Autoimmune Flares? Separating Fact from Fiction
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 Can Nightshade Vegetables Trigger Autoimmune Flares? Separating Fact from FictionCan tomatoes really trigger autoimmune flares? Before you clear out your kitchen, let’s separate fact from fiction. Explore the science…
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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: 💜 Crohn’s Disease and Myasthenia Gravis: More Than a Coincidence?
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 Crohn’s Disease and Myasthenia Gravis: More Than a Coincidence?When I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in 2006, I never imagined I’d later develop MuSK-positive Myasthenia Gravis. Could it…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 Why Did It Take So Long? Understanding Why Myasthenia Gravis Is So Difficult to Diagnose
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 Why Did It Take So Long? Understanding Why Myasthenia Gravis Is So Difficult to DiagnoseAfter months of unanswered questions and normal test results, I finally learned why Myasthenia Gravis is known as “the great…
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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: 💜 We Don’t All Get the Same Twenty-Four Hours
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 We Don’t All Get the Same Twenty-Four HoursFor those of us living with chronic illness and disability, time is measured differently. We count “usable hours”—the precious moments…
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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: 🌻 My Body Had Other Plans
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 My Body Had Other PlansAn unexpected ER visit, another mystery diagnosis, and a red-eye flight home for a family reunion reminded me that chronic…
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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: 💜Different Season. Different Race. Same Determination
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜Different Season. Different Race. Same DeterminationLiving with Crohn’s disease and MuSK-positive Myasthenia Gravis has changed what movement looks like for me. From completing a half…
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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: 💜 I Just Need Some Peace
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 I Just Need Some PeaceInfusion day is usually one of my favorite days of the week. It’s the day hope arrives on a schedule.…
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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: 💜The First Answer Isn’t Always the Final Answer
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜The First Answer Isn’t Always the Final AnswerJust when I thought I knew exactly why my thumb had swollen after my port removal, I discovered that living…
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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: 💜 Make It Make Sense: Fighting for Healthcare While Fighting Chronic Illness
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 Make It Make Sense: Fighting for Healthcare While Fighting Chronic Illness“Living with chronic illness is hard enough. Fighting your insurance company for the care you need shouldn’t be part of…
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💚 Before MG Awareness Month Ends: What I Want You to Know About Myasthenia Gravis (Bonus Diary Entry)
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≻: 💚 Before MG Awareness Month Ends: What I Want You to Know About Myasthenia Gravis (Bonus Diary Entry)What exactly is Myasthenia Gravis, and why is it often called the “snowflake disease”? As Myasthenia Gravis Awareness Month comes…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 🐇 Down the Rabbit Hole: What Chronically Ill People Wish You Knew
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 🐇 Down the Rabbit Hole: What Chronically Ill People Wish You KnewI try hard to rely on my faith, but sometimes it feels like God has a much higher opinion of…
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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: When Both Diseases Clock In
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: When Both Diseases Clock InSome days I wonder if people truly understand what it means to live with two autoimmune diseases. Not the diagnoses.…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: The Parts We Don’t Talk About: When Autoimmune Diseases Get Messy
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: The Parts We Don’t Talk About: When Autoimmune Diseases Get MessyLet’s be honest. Crohn’s Disease sucks. There. I said it. Not the polished version. Not the inspirational version. Not the…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: All My Life I Had to Fight: From Survival to Healing
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: All My Life I Had to Fight: From Survival to Healing“All my life I had to fight.” — Sofia, The Color Purple Recently, I was talking with my best friend…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: The Career They Saw, The Battle They Didn’t
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: The Career They Saw, The Battle They Didn’t“I have this weird relationship with my chronic illness where I spend 75% of my time trying to pretend it…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: I’ve Been Strong for Too Long
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: I’ve Been Strong for Too LongI was never a crier. I prided myself on being strong. I showed up for the people I loved, even…
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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: The Things Healthy People Take for Granted
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≻: The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: The Things Healthy People Take for Granted“People think I stay home because I’m antisocial. The truth is, sometimes leaving home requires more courage, planning, and energy…