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Chronic illness blog

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Kate Mitchell

Text reads: 9 arthritis products that help my rheumatoid arthritis (end text) I've tried a lot of arthritis products over the years to help. my symptoms. Here are the products that have helped me!
Text reads: 9 arthritis products that help my rheumatoid arthritis (end text) I've tried a lot of arthritis products over the years to help. my symptoms. Here are the products that have helped me!
in Health &middot October 8, 2021

9 Arthritis Products That Help My Rheumatoid Arthritis

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9 Arthritis Products That Help My Rheumatoid Arthritis

Text reads: Maine travel guide, what to do according to a Mainer (end text) As a Mainer, I pulled together a Maine travel guide including specific things to do and places to go, as well as general things to do in Maine in October specifically.
Text reads: Maine travel guide, what to do according to a Mainer (end text) As a Mainer, I pulled together a Maine travel guide including specific things to do and places to go, as well as general things to do in Maine in October specifically.
in Lifestyle &middot October 5, 2021

Maine Travel Guide: What To Do According to a Mainer

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Maine Travel Guide: What To Do According to a Mainer

Text reads: Buy my ebook for chronic health bloggers, worth $140, but buy for $10! There is also an image of the ebook cover. The ebook is named "Take Your Blog (And Income!) To The Next Level: Resources for Chronic Health Bloggers".
Text reads: What I would do if I started a blog today (end text) I want to talk about the lessons I’ve learned since I started this blog in 2013, specifically what I would do if I was starting a blog today. I tried to include things that apply to all bloggers of all niches, and not just health bloggers.
Text reads: What I would do if I started a blog today (end text) I want to talk about the lessons I’ve learned since I started this blog in 2013, specifically what I would do if I was starting a blog today. I tried to include things that apply to all bloggers of all niches, and not just health bloggers.
in Writing & Blogging &middot September 24, 2021

What I Would Do If I Started a Blog Today

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What I Would Do If I Started a Blog Today

Text reads: What to expect after subtalar fusion surgery, a patient's perspective (end text) I have had 2 subtalar fusions, 1 in each foot. I have tarsal coalition and rheumatoid arthritis. This is what I think you should know about the surgery recovery.
Text reads: What to expect after subtalar fusion surgery, a patient's perspective (end text) I have had 2 subtalar fusions, 1 in each foot. I have tarsal coalition and rheumatoid arthritis. This is what I think you should know about the surgery recovery.
in Health &middot September 21, 2021

What To Expect After Subtalar Fusion Surgery: A Patient’s Perspective

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What To Expect After Subtalar Fusion Surgery: A Patient’s Perspective

There are lots of Halloween recipes out there, but it can be hard to find some that allow for common food sensitivities. In this post, chronic illness blogger Kate the (Almost) Great shares tons of recipes that don't have common intolerances.
There are lots of Halloween recipes out there, but it can be hard to find some that allow for common food sensitivities. In this post, chronic illness blogger Kate the (Almost) Great shares tons of recipes that don't have common intolerances.
in Lifestyle &middot August 31, 2021

Halloween Recipes for Common Food Sensitivities

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Halloween Recipes for Common Food Sensitivities

Text reads: Starting a chronic illness blog, tips for blogging with fatigue and pain (end text) For those of you who want to blog but haven’t started to because you live with chronic illness, I figured I would share my tips. Starting a chronic illness blog isn’t always easy, but I hope that these tips help you succeed.
Text reads: Starting a chronic illness blog, tips for blogging with fatigue and pain (end text) For those of you who want to blog but haven’t started to because you live with chronic illness, I figured I would share my tips. Starting a chronic illness blog isn’t always easy, but I hope that these tips help you succeed.
in Writing & Blogging &middot August 24, 2021

Starting a Chronic Illness Blog: Tips for Blogging with Fatigue and Pain

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Starting a Chronic Illness Blog: Tips for Blogging with Fatigue and Pain

Text reads: resources for chronic illness, how organizing can make it easier (end text) If there’s one thing I love, it’s organizing. I’m a big planner person, I love planner stickers, it’s a whole thing. And that organization has helped me a lot with managing my life with chronic illness. I figured that I would share my organization tips for chronic illness life. I hope that these organizing tips and tricks help you out!
Text reads: resources for chronic illness, how organizing can make it easier (end text) If there’s one thing I love, it’s organizing. I’m a big planner person, I love planner stickers, it’s a whole thing. And that organization has helped me a lot with managing my life with chronic illness. I figured that I would share my organization tips for chronic illness life. I hope that these organizing tips and tricks help you out!
in Health, Lifestyle &middot August 17, 2021

Resources for Chronic Illness: How Organizing Can Make It Easier

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Resources for Chronic Illness: How Organizing Can Make It Easier

Text reads: How to be a health blogger, writing a blog post (end text) Whether you want to learn how to be a health blogger or you’re looking for tips on how to take your health blog to the next level, I hope that this post will help you succeed. I’m going to share my tips for planning your health blog post, as well as the research that you need to do when writing a post about health. 
Text reads: How to be a health blogger, writing a blog post (end text) Whether you want to learn how to be a health blogger or you’re looking for tips on how to take your health blog to the next level, I hope that this post will help you succeed. I’m going to share my tips for planning your health blog post, as well as the research that you need to do when writing a post about health. 
in Writing & Blogging &middot August 3, 2021

How To Be a Health Blogger: Writing Blog Posts

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How To Be a Health Blogger: Writing Blog Posts

Text reads: Arthritis Diagnosis, Diagnosis Stories + The Diagnostic Process Explained Since July marks 11 years since my arthritis diagnosis, which was 9 years since I developed symptoms, I thought I would talk about the process for getting a diagnosis of arthritis. In this post, I’m sharing how 7 different forms of arthritis are diagnosed, as well as my rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis process.
Text reads: Arthritis Diagnosis, Diagnosis Stories + The Diagnostic Process Explained Since July marks 11 years since my arthritis diagnosis, which was 9 years since I developed symptoms, I thought I would talk about the process for getting a diagnosis of arthritis. In this post, I’m sharing how 7 different forms of arthritis are diagnosed, as well as my rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis process.
in Health &middot July 27, 2021

Arthritis Diagnosis: Diagnosis Stories + The Diagnostic Process Explained

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Arthritis Diagnosis: Diagnosis Stories + The Diagnostic Process Explained

I read 10 books in quarter 2 (April-June) of 2021. In this post, I review the books I read so you can decide if you want to read them, too!
I read 10 books in quarter 2 (April-June) of 2021. In this post, I review the books I read so you can decide if you want to read them, too!
in Lifestyle &middot July 20, 2021

2021 Recent Reads: April-June

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2021 Recent Reads: April-June

Blogging changes a lot over the years, but one thing that stays the same is we always want blog post ideas. This was true when I started in 2013, and it’s true now in 2021! I’ve written several of these posts, but not in a while. That being said, I’ve pulled together 25 blog post ideas for beginners. Whether you haven’t published your blog yet, or you’ve been blogging for 6 months, these blog post ideas will help you write awesome blog posts.
Blogging changes a lot over the years, but one thing that stays the same is we always want blog post ideas. This was true when I started in 2013, and it’s true now in 2021! I’ve written several of these posts, but not in a while. That being said, I’ve pulled together 25 blog post ideas for beginners. Whether you haven’t published your blog yet, or you’ve been blogging for 6 months, these blog post ideas will help you write awesome blog posts.
in Writing & Blogging &middot July 6, 2021

25 Awesome Blog Post Ideas for Beginners

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25 Awesome Blog Post Ideas for Beginners

life with chronic illness, living with chronic illness, how to live with chronic illness, living life with chronic illness, chronic illness symptoms, chronic illnesses, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, POTS, dysautonomia
life with chronic illness, living with chronic illness, how to live with chronic illness, living life with chronic illness, chronic illness symptoms, chronic illnesses, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, POTS, dysautonomia
in Health &middot July 2, 2021

Life with Chronic Illness: One Patient’s Life with 6 Illnesses

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Life with Chronic Illness: One Patient’s Life with 6 Illnesses

Text reads: how to write a blog post in 10 easy steps (plus a free blog post template); I know, I know - do we really need a post about how to write a blog post? You might think “no,” but I think “yes.” Yes, anyone can write a blog post. But writing an effective blog post, writing a good blog post, is different than just writing one in general. I’ve been blogging for 8 years, and the industry has changed a bunch since I started in 2013. So my process has changed a bunch, too.
Text reads: how to write a blog post in 10 easy steps (plus a free blog post template); I know, I know - do we really need a post about how to write a blog post? You might think “no,” but I think “yes.” Yes, anyone can write a blog post. But writing an effective blog post, writing a good blog post, is different than just writing one in general. I’ve been blogging for 8 years, and the industry has changed a bunch since I started in 2013. So my process has changed a bunch, too.
in Writing & Blogging &middot June 25, 2021

How To Write a Blog Post in 10 Easy Steps + Free Blog Post Template

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How To Write a Blog Post in 10 Easy Steps + Free Blog Post Template

In this post, long-time arthritis patient Kate the (Almost) Great explains key information about TMJ arthritis, including answering your questions about it; shares the full details of her extremely messed up TMJs; and talks about TMJ arthritis treatment, both what doctors recommend and what she does for her flares.
In this post, long-time arthritis patient Kate the (Almost) Great explains key information about TMJ arthritis, including answering your questions about it; shares the full details of her extremely messed up TMJs; and talks about TMJ arthritis treatment, both what doctors recommend and what she does for her flares.
in Health &middot June 22, 2021

What You Should Know About TMJ Arthritis

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What You Should Know About TMJ Arthritis

Making friends as an adult is SUPER hard! It’s also hard when you have a chronic illness or chronic health issues in general. Which is why, in addition to sharing tips for how to make friends as an adult, I’m also going to talk about how to make friends with a chronic illness.
Making friends as an adult is SUPER hard! It’s also hard when you have a chronic illness or chronic health issues in general. Which is why, in addition to sharing tips for how to make friends as an adult, I’m also going to talk about how to make friends with a chronic illness.
in Health, Lifestyle &middot June 8, 2021

Making Friends as an Adult: 12 Tips You Need

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Making Friends as an Adult: 12 Tips You Need

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Kate the (Almost) Great

Chronic health lifestyle blog

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Dos and don'ts for when someone in your life is di Dos and don'ts for when someone in your life is diagnosed with autoimmune arthritis! What are some that you would add?⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 10+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣.⁣
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ID: "So someone you know was diagnosed with Autoimmune Arthritis". Under the Do column (indicated with a green checkmark) is:⁣
"As how they feel about it⁣
Offer specific ways to help⁣
Treat them normally⁣
Ask follow-up questions⁣
Wear a mask around them when sick."⁣
Under the don't don't column (indicated with an x in a red circle) is:⁣
"Say “At least it’s not xyz!”⁣
Say that and not follow through⁣
Assume nothing about their lives has changed⁣
Conflate autoimmune arthritis with osteoarthritis⁣
Pass your cold to an immunosuppressed person".⁣
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#AutoimmuneDisease #RheumatoidArthritis #PsoriaticArthritis #AnkylosingSpondylitis #JuvenileArthritis
Weekj 26 of 2026 Weekly Scenes of a summer week Weekj 26 of 2026 Weekly 

Scenes of a summer week in Maine! So glad I work from home, which means I can work from my real home (Maine, if that wasn’t clear)

1️⃣ Lots of Harley time
2️⃣ Working from home means saving my PTO for fun things!
3️⃣ Lots of duck families (📸 my dad)
4️⃣ What a lot of my days look like - Harley and my current project (needlepoint). And, yes, I’m still in a cast.
5️⃣ Learned how to play Mahjong, which my parents love
6️⃣ Lake views on the 4th

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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 10+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣.⁣⁣⁣⁣

⬛⁣⁣⁣

IDs:
1️⃣ Harley the golden retriever on a deck as seen through some plants
2️⃣ Kate takes a selfie
3️⃣ A duck with little ducklings following on a lake
4️⃣ Harley coming up to Kate. Her legs are out on an ottoman, 1 foot in a walking cast, and an in-progress needlepoint project
5️⃣ Looking down at a Mahjong table with the game set up
6️⃣ A kayak on the shore of a lake 

#MaineTheWay #MaineSummer #Needlepoint #MaineLife
Living with chronic pain is really hard. You’re wi Living with chronic pain is really hard. You’re winning every day you’re still here.⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 10+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣.⁣
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ID: The background image is a lake at sunset. Text reads what's above the first square and also "katethealmostgreat".⁣
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#ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #RheumatoidArthritis #Fibromyalgia #Endometriosis
I've been spending a fair amount of time at my foo I've been spending a fair amount of time at my foot surgeon's office this year, and boy has it been messing with my head. ⁣
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I spent a lot of time from 2001-2010 dealing with my left foot. Long story short, it took until this foot surgeon saw me in 2010 after fixing this foot for me to be diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. But I spent those 9 years going from doctor to doctor, having surgery after surgery, trying to figure out what was causing my pain and to fix it. ⁣
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Was it the tarsal coalition? Did I have another chronic health issue? Etc. ⁣
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I spent from age 10 to 19 unsure what exactly was wrong with me and in huge amounts of pain. We thought we figured it out, and then something else happened. ⁣
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We know exactly what is wrong with this foot this time around: in 2024, I got 3 stress fractures, and no one put me in a boot. They almost fully healed before breaking in 2025, and then the same thing happened in 2026. ⁣
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This is a different part of the foot than I used to deal with, but any problems with my feet and especially my left foot messes with me. While this doctor eventually fixed the problems and even got me diagnosed with RA, every time I go back to his office, I have to fight not to become 17 again. ⁣
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PTSD is a bitch.⁣
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(PS - if you want to know why I'm going back to this guy when it messes with me, it's because I don't trust anyone else to fix my foot.)⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 10+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣.⁣
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ID: Kate takes a selfie in a doctor's office. ⁣
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#PTSDAwareness #ChronicallyIll #TarsalCoalition #RheumatoidArthritis #Osteoporosis
Week 25 of #2026Weekly Happy to be in Maine for Week 25 of #2026Weekly 

Happy to be in Maine for a few weeks! I didn’t get up to a lot, so another week of very few pictures

1️⃣ IVIG 
2️⃣ Lots of beautiful birds have been coming to my mom’s bird feeder!

⬛⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 10+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣.⁣⁣⁣⁣

⬛⁣⁣⁣

IDs: 
1️⃣ Looking at Kate’s lap. Tubes are coming out from under her shirt and there’s a Kindle
2️⃣ Birds arriving at a bird feeder as seen through a window

#ChronicallyIll #InvisibleIllness #ChronicPain #IVIG
What do you have to do every day for your chronic What do you have to do every day for your chronic illnesses? ⁣
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For context, I have rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, POTS, heart disease, osteoporosis, and more. ⁣
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⬛⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 10+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣.⁣
⁣
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ID: ⁣
Things I Do Every Day for My Chronic Illnesses⁣
Take pills at least 4 times a day⁣
Don’t eat gluten, dairy, corn, soy, or eggs⁣
Sleep 7+ hours a night⁣
Consume 80-100 grams of protein, 120 mg of calcium, 5-10 grams of sodium⁣
Wear a mask whenever I leave the house⁣
Do pilates 4+ days a week⁣
Work from home⁣
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#ChronicallyIll #InvisibleIllness #RheumatoidArthritis #Fibromyalgia
Filmed this back in April (hence the sweater) but Filmed this back in April (hence the sweater) but it applies to whenever I have appointments! 

Video: Kate talks to the camera while holding a purse. She holds up individual items mentioned in the video before putting them in the bag. There are captions. 

#ChronicallyIll #RheumatoidArthritis #Osteoporosis #ChronicPain
There are a lot of medical advancements that I'm g There are a lot of medical advancements that I'm grateful for, but one of them is the ability to do IVIG at home. ⁣
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I'm on IVIG - or, in my case, subcutaneous immunoglobulin replacement therapy - because I have to kill the better part of my immune system. There are, in fact, some parts of my immune system that don't attack me, which is why we add them back in. This helps reduce my chance of serious infection and also made my rheumatologist feel comfortable enough to increase my Rituxan dose. ⁣
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This is a weekly treatment that I do, but it's so much better that I can do it at home than going into the hospital. It takes around 2.5 hours from taking my pre-meds to tossing my needles into a Sharps container. While it's another thing that I have to do, because I do it at home, I don't have to risk exposure to infections at the hospital or deal with Boston traffic, which would add another hour to the process. ⁣
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I can finish my treatment and then go about my day, which I'm very grateful for.⁣
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⬛⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 10+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣.⁣
⁣
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ID: A Kindle on Kate's legs. There are tubes for an infusion coming out of her shirt.⁣
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#IVIG #ChronicallyIll #RheumatoidArthritis #Autoimmune #AutoimmuneDisease
Weeks 23 and 24 of 2026 Weekly! The last two wee Weeks 23 and 24 of 2026 Weekly! 

The last two weeks were prepping for my infusion, having/recovering from my infusion, and getting caught up after. This meant things were very busy but also I don’t have a lot to show for them. 

1️⃣ New glasses! I really like having multiple pairs so I can switch them as I want.
2️⃣ One of my current projects. I got this standing hoop for my birthday and I’m working on an alphabet (uppercase and lower, although I’m still working on the lower) with extra floss.
3️⃣ Infusion time! I got my higher dose so hopefully my symptoms improve a lot in the upcoming weeks🤞🏻

⬛⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 10+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣.⁣⁣

⬛⁣

IDs: 
1️⃣ Kate takes a selfie. Her new glasses are thin silver circles
2️⃣ An in-progress cross-stitched alphabet in a special hoop stand that Kate is sitting on.
3️⃣ Kate takes a selfie in an infusion chair.

#ChronicallyIll #RheumatoidArthritis #AutoimmuneDisease #CrossStitcher
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