Practical Strategies for Living with Autoimmune Disease and Chronic Illness
Finding Purpose & Fulfillment with Autoimmune and Chronic Disease
People with autoimmune diseases or other severe chronic illnesses learn how to manage their condition but also strive to find purpose, stability, and a way forward. Pursuing these goals while living with a chronic condition involves discovering personal and professional opportunities that fit a new lifestyle but also reclaiming agency, dignity, and the sense of being helpful to others.
Living Well with Autoimmune Disease
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Exercise and Autoimmune Disease: Evidence-Based, Low-Impact Approaches
An expert-informed, evidence-based overview of low-impact exercise approaches for people with autoimmune disease.
Living Well with Autoimmune Disease
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Navigating Autoimmune Care With Limited Resources
Navigating the healthcare system can be challenging for almost everyone. Finding the right providers, getting timely appointments, and accessing appropriate treatments often feel overwhelming. For people living with autoimmune and other chronic conditions, these challenges can be even greater.
Autoimmune Care & Caregiver Support
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Managing Mental Health with an Autoimmune Disease
Mental health: it’s a discussion that our modern world is slowly beginning to embrace. Although there are many factors that can impact a person’s emotional balance, the interplay between mental health and autoimmune disease is a topic that should not be dismissed. Mental health challenges are a common experience among people with autoimmune disease and […]
Living Well with Autoimmune Disease
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Effective Communication Strategies for Those with Autoimmune Disease
For patients with autoimmune disease, management means understanding a wide range of symptoms, unpredictable disease courses, and any impacts on quality of life. But how can patients better communicate with their providers? The Global Autoimmune Institute expounds on key tips elucidated by Johannah Ruddy, M.Ed., a doctoral candidate at Campbell University and co-author of Gut […]
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A Guide for Immunocompromised Individuals in a Post-Pandemic World
Even as the world moves on from the pandemic, immunocompromised individuals continue to face heightened health risks. With fewer people wearing masks, navigating daily life safely can be challenging. This guide explores the science behind immune function, the impact of mask-wearing, legal protections, and practical strategies for advocating for personal health. Whether seeking protection in healthcare settings, workplaces, or social interactions, immunocompromised individuals can find support and solutions to maintain both physical and mental well-being in an increasingly unmasked world.
Autoimmune Care & Caregiver Support
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Chronic Illness: When You Feel Like Giving Up
When your chronic illness has put you through the wringer in terms of doctor and hospital visits, lab tests, imaging, medications, and other treatments, it’s only natural to feel defeated.
Living Well with Autoimmune Disease
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Misdiagnosed and Undiagnosed: Expert Insights on the Autoimmune Diagnosis Process
Diagnosing autoimmune diseases is often a complex and challenging process because autoimmune diseases vary widely. Identifying patterns and clusters of symptoms can help, but autoimmunity often relates to many factors including stress, deficiencies, toxic exposures, gut and immune dysfunction. As such, autoimmunity has a tendency to go undiagnosed — or misdiagnosed. Here, the Global Autoimmune Institute speaks with Dr. Francisco Contreras, Johannah Ruddy, M.Ed, and Dr. Henri Roca about the process of diagnosing autoimmune disease.
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Experts Discuss the Complex Path to an Autoimmune Diagnosis
Unlock the mystery of autoimmune diagnosis with insights from medical experts. Learn about diverse timelines, proactive patient advocacy, and holistic approaches to unraveling the mysteries of chronic conditions.
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Autoimmune Terminology To Know For Your Next Doctor’s Appointment
While having guidance and support from your doctor is essential, taking control of your own health is important for planning and making informed decisions about your autoimmune disease. Being on board with the terms used to describe autoimmunity and specific diseases during your doctor’s appointments can help you receive the care you need as you […]
Autoimmune Care & Caregiver Support
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Stay Cool: How to Manage Autoimmune Flare-ups in Hot Temperatures
Heat and humidity can worsen symptoms for some people with autoimmune diseases. Learn why this happens, how to reduce the risk of heat-related flare-ups, and what research suggests about the effects of a warming climate on autoimmune health.
Living Well with Autoimmune Disease
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Outbursts in Autoimmunity: Disease Flare-ups
Autoimmune disease flare-ups can be unpredictable and disruptive, causing symptoms to suddenly appear or worsen and interfering with daily life. But what causes a flare-up, what is happening in the body when one occurs, and what can you do when symptoms intensify? This article explores what researchers know about autoimmune disease flare-ups, including common triggers, […]
About Autoimmune Disease
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How do Cold Temperatures Affect Autoimmune Disease?
During the fall and winter months, cold temperatures can exacerbate many disease symptoms. Sensitivity to temperature fluctuations is a problem common to many autoimmune conditions, with the cold activating flare-ups of diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, arthritis, and psoriasis. This is especially true when temperature changes are extreme. Although scientists have described cold weather […]
Living Well with Autoimmune Disease
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When You’ve Lost Trust in Doctors…
Have you been told “it’s just stress”? Or diagnosed as a hypochondriac? Has it taken years to find a diagnosis? Maybe you’re still searching for one. The exhaustion is real! It’s a long road to figure out what’s wrong and how to address it, without getting derailed by judgement and misdiagnoses. The experience of managing […]
Autoimmune Care & Caregiver Support
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- Pain Scale
- Pain management and condition tracking app that offers personalized reports.
- WebMD Apps
- An array of apps specializing in symptom managmeent, access drug and treatment information, check local resources, and keep track of allergies and flare-ups.
- Medisafe Medication Management
- Easily ports meds and prescriptions and offers drug-to-drug interaction warnings.
- Isabel
- Differential diagnosis generator that can help you keep track and research your symptoms.
- Lab Tests Online
- Web resource designed to help patients and caregivers make sense of their lab tests. This site is produced by AACC, a not-for-profit organization.
- Medicine Assistance Tool
- This web resource connects low-income, under-insured, and uninsured individuals to more than 475 public and private patient assistance programs.
- HealthWell Foundation- Pediatric Assistance Fund (P: 800-675-8416)
- Assistance with prescription drug or biologic therapies, devices or other treatment cost shares related to various diseases.
- Help Hope Live (Medical Fundraising Assistance) (P: 800-642-8399)
- Medical fundraising for the expenses insurance doesn’t cover
- Medicine Assistance Tool (P: 571-350-8643)
- A search engine designed to help patients, caregivers, and health care providers learn more about the resources available through the various biopharmaceutical industry programs.
- RxAssist
- Can help you learn about ways to use pharmaceutical company programs and other resources to help reduce your medication costs
- Healthwell Foundation (P: 800-675-8416)
- Provide financial assistance to adults and children to cover the cost of prescription drug coinsurance, copayments, deductibles, health insurance premiums and other selected out-of-pocket health care costs.
- 211 (P: 211)
- Whether it’s help paying your bills, finding resources for caregivers, or just needing someone to listen, 211 is only a call away.
- Patient Advocate Foundation (P: 800-532-5274; Co-pay relief program: 866-512-2861)
- Provides case management services and financial aid to Americans with chronic, life threatening and debilitating illnesses.
- GoodRx
- A free mobile app and website that helps Americans save millions of dollars every month by finding them the lowest prescription prices in their neighborhood.
- Accessia Health (P: 800-366-7741)
- Offer financial assistance for health insurance premiums, medication copayments, travel, and other essential medical expenses to individuals of all ages with qualifying household income and diagnosed chronic medical conditions.
- National Organization for Rare Disorders (P: 617-249-7300)
- Provide patient assistance programs to help individuals living with rare diseases obtain medication, receive financial help with insurance premiums and co-pays, get diagnostic testing assistance, receive travel assistance for clinical trials or consultation with disease specialists, provide caregiver respite, offer support during emergencies, gain knowledge about rare diseases, and connect with other patient assistance programs.
- My Good Days (P: 877-968-7233)
- Offer copay assistance, travel assistance, monthly medical insurance premium assistance, and diagnostic testing assistance.
- The Patient Access Network (PAN) Foundation (P: 866-316-7263)
- Offer financial assistance to help people with serious illnesses afford their out-of-pocket treatment costs
- National Organization for Rare Disorders: 203-744-0100; Patient service: 800-999-6673
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), NIH, HHS: 301-592-8573
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, HHS: 866-284-4107
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), NIH, HHS: 301-49504484; Toll-Free: 877-226-4267
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), NIH, HHS: 800-352-9424
- Office of Women’s Health: 1-800-994-9662
Our Recommendations
Autoimmune Disease Podcasts
Top-notch podcasts on nutrition, finding community, mind-body medicine, and more.
Books We Love
Essential reading for understanding autoimmune disease and the body, chronic illness memoirs, practical guides, cookbooks, and children’s books, as well as other books of interest.
Helpful Apps
A brief list of our favorite, simple,
and practical mobile apps to help manage life with chronic illness.
Autoimmune & Chronic Illness Toolkit
Includes journal templates, resource lists, guidance for doctor appointments, tips on communication, and many more tools to support and empower you throughout your experience.
Doctors who Diagnose & Treat Autoimmune Disease
Medical specialists typically familiar with autoimmunity and the specific autoimmune diseases they often diagnose and treat.
Autoimmune Basics
Learn more about autoimmune disease and how it is diagnosed.
My Autoimmune Story
Jun 15,26 · by Heather Blair
Heather’s Story: The Hurt and Healing
In her story, Heather shares her journey from years of unexplained symptoms and repeated surgeries to a diagnosis of hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), and the resilience, self-discovery, and hope she found along the way. While Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is not classified as an autoimmune disease, many people living with EDS face challenges that will feel familiar to those in the autoimmune community, including chronic pain, diagnostic delays, complex symptoms, and the emotional toll of an often invisible condition.
Jan 27,26 · by Bárbara Barros
Bárbara’s Story: The Invisibility of Continuity
Aug 08,25 · by Erika Reyna
Erika’s Story: Still Me
Find the Support You Need
Autoimmune Disease & Chronic Illness Related Support Groups
Connect with others, share experiences, and join virtual or local communities for support.
Resources for Healthcare Providers
In an exclusive interview, Dr. Drossman and Johannah Ruddy, M.Ed., authors of the Gut Feelings series, discuss how healthcare providers can better communicate with patients when it comes to autoimmune diseases in order to improve patient satisfaction and overall healthcare experience.