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Signing off, with tears in my eyes and joy in my heart

For me, writing has always been equal parts advocacy and therapy. I wanted to help others but I also needed a way to deal with the vortex of emotions swirling inside of me. Early on, I wrote regularly about all the struggle, pain, and heartache associated with…

How a lupus diagnosis taught me to embrace being weird

Wonderfully weird: That’s how I’d proudly describe myself. I’ve always been weird. And much to the dismay of a younger Kristiana, I’ve accepted that I’ll always be weird. By nature, I’m a clumsy and kooky dork. But I’ve reached a point where I’m just too old to care that…

How I learned to accept life with lupus fatigue

I remember the first day I was fully aware of my now chronic fatigue. But it would take a week or so after that for me to give it an official name. It’d been creeping up slowly. For two weeks, I’d been growing increasingly tired, until finally, I felt…