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The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 The Weight Behind the Smile
Dear Diary, Some days, life feels heavier than usual. Not because one enormous thing happened, but because every little thing decided to climb onto my shoulders at the same time—work responsibilities, family concerns, medical appointments, unanswered questions, expectations, symptoms, and emotions I keep postponing because apparently my feelings did not check my calendar before requesting a…
The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 The Test That Finally Believed Me
Celebrating the Anniversary of My MuSK-Positive Myasthenia Gravis Diagnosis Dear Diary, I never imagined I would celebrate the anniversary of being diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease. Yet here I am. Not because I’m grateful to have Myasthenia Gravis. No one hopes to hear those words. I’m celebrating because this anniversary represents something much bigger than a diagnosis. It marks…
The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 You Are Not the Burden
Dear Diary, I came across a message while scrolling that stopped me in my tracks. I do not know where the words originated, but they stayed with me: “You are not a burden. You have a burden—which, by definition, is too heavy to carry on your own.” Whew. Sometimes social media gives us nonsense, unsolicited opinions, and recipes we save knowing full well we are never going to make them. But…
The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 Why Me?
Dear Diary, This morning, I had a moment. Not a dramatic moment.Not a giving-up moment. Just one of those quiet, heavy moments when everything I have been carrying seemed to land on me at once. And it wasn’t one thing that made me ask. It was the weight of everything. The things I’ve already survived.The things I’m still navigating.The things I’ve had to learn to accept even though I never…
The Dual Diagnosis Diaries | Kia’s Journey: 🌻 The Pictures That Matter Most
Dear Diary, I used to hope I looked good in pictures. Now, I just hope the pictures my doctors are looking at do. Funny how chronic illness changes your definition of picture perfect. There was a time when I could look at a photograph and immediately find something to criticize. My smile wasn’t right. My hair wasn’t cooperating. I looked tired. I had gained a few pounds. The angle was…
The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 When Sleep Became a Breathing Test
Dear Diary, There was a time when I thought going to bed was the easiest part of my day. Sleep was supposed to be my refuge. After navigating Crohn’s Disease, balancing a demanding career, and trying to keep up with everyday life, bedtime should have been the one place where my body could finally recover. Instead… It became another medical test. Not metaphorically. Literally. Long before…
The Dual Diagnosis Diaries: 💜 COVID-19, Myasthenia Gravis, and the Search for Answers
Dear Diary, Looking back, I realize I wasn’t just living through a global pandemic. I was unknowingly living through the beginning of another autoimmune journey. At the time, I simply didn’t know it yet. When COVID-19 swept across the world, I had already been living with Crohn’s disease for years. Crohn’s had taught me that my immune system didn’t always follow the rules. I understood…
