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Text reads: best gift ideas for the holidays, new chronic illness patients, www. kate the almost great .com
in Health, Lifestyle · December 1, 2023

Best Gift Ideas for the Holidays: New Chronic Illness Patients

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in Health, Lifestyle · December 1, 2023

Best Gift Ideas for the Holidays: New Chronic Illness Patients

This post contains affiliate links and sponsored product placement. I do not share any product or company that I dislike; all opinions are mine. Thank you for supporting Kate the (Almost) Great®!

Shopping for new chronic illness patients this year? I’ve got you covered! These are tools that make coping with chronic illness easier and more fun. From kitchen tools to TENS machines to books to self-care cases, this post has the best gift ideas for people with chronic illnesses.

2023 Gift Guides | All Gift Guides

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Kate the (Almost) Great®!

Text reads: best gift ideas for the holidays, new chronic illness patients, www. kate the almost great .com
Contents hide
Kitchen Tools
Inadvertent Chronic Illness Tools
Chronic Illness-Specific Tools
Books

Kitchen Tools 

Cooking can be really difficult, but eating is essential to everyone, especially if you have food sensitivities and have to cook most things from scratch.  

Cuisinart Deluxe Can Opener (Chrome) – Using an electric can opener has made my life significantly easier! I’ve put one of these on my own Christmas list.

Cuisinart Deluxe Can Opener 

OXO Salad Spinner 

OXO Upright Sweep Set – Trouble bending down and standing upright again? Get a sweep set!

OXO Hand-Held Spiralizer – 

Kyvol Robot Vacuum Cleaner – Robot vacuum cleaners are so helpful. It’s so nice to have a clean place without putting my body through vacuuming. 

Crucial Ways to Prep for Surgery Recovery Ahead of Time

Inadvertent Chronic Illness Tools 

These are products that aren’t necessarily for chronic illness patients but are super helpful for us!

Fitbit Versa 4 Smartwatch 

Apple Watch Series 8 – I got an Apple Watch this year and I LOVE it!

Personal Microderm Elite Pro – Skip the spa (and exposure to COVID, along with other contagious things) by having high-quality skincare products at home!

FaceSpa Pro Facial Epilator Kit 

Beats Solo³ Bluetooth Wireless On-Ear Headphones – Distract yourself with good quality headphones!

Beats Studio Buds True Wireless Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Earbuds – Dealing with sensory issues? Don’t want to make a big deal about it? Get these!

SmoothStyle Heated Comb Straightener and Smoother – These enable you to do your hair (and feel good about yourself and feel more normal) with fewer products.

Le Volume 2-in-1 Volumizing Brush Dryer 

Best Gift Ideas for the Holidays: Unique Gift Ideas

Text reads: gifts to give the newly-diagnosed chronic illness patient in your life, www. kate the almost great .com

Chronic Illness-Specific Tools 

These are the tools that you’ve GOT to have if you have a chronic illness.

Soluxe Comfort Weighted Heating Pad for Neck and Back 

Electric Heating Pad 

Prospera OTC TENS Electronic Pulse Massager – TENS machines are absolutely incredible tools and if you deal with chronic pain, you should absolutely get one.

Omron Electrotherapy TENS Pain Relief Device 

Percussion Massage Gun Deep Tissue – Massage guns are great for muscle pain!

Therabody Theragun Relief – Sand 

What No One Tells You About Autoimmune Diseases

Walking Cane for Women and Men, Sleek, Foldable, Collapsible, Lightweight and Sturdy Walking Stick with Comfortable T Handles – Canes are incredible. I love them. These are some great fun ones!

OrthoGlam “Silver Screen” Lightweight Crystal Rhinestone Bedazzled Fashion Cane – God this is a BEAUTIFUL cane. So fun. 

Use code KATEM10 for a discount at Mighty Well!

Mighty Well Self Care Case™ – “The Self Care Case™ offers a customizable, lightweight and durable case to secure and transport diabetic care supplies. The Self Care Case™ includes a built-in binder system – and multiple Resealable Storage Bags for diabetic supplies and medications that can be secured inside the binder or removed from the case to take on the go” (x).

Self-Care Essentials Case – “Ready, Set, Take Care: Face the world with the Self Care Essentials Kit. This carry-all kit includes everything you need for essential travel or a much-needed self care vacation” (x).

Brain Fog Fix Planner – “With the Brain Fog Fix (BFF) planner, we hope to alleviate frustration and conserve your precious time and energy. This planner is more than just a reminder system. It includes space to track daily symptoms, hydration, thoughts and moments of gratitude amidst the daily challenges” (x).

Medical Organizer Care Case – “The Medical Organizer Care Kit simplifies life and keeps your wellness routine on track. Gift the tubie or chronic illness warrior in your life (or yourself) the gift of confidence – and the freedom to ditch the IV pole” (x).

Gift Ideas: Chronic Illness Must-Haves

Text reads: 34 gift ideas for people with chronic illness, www. kate the almost great .com

Books 

These are books by and about chronic illness patients and disabled people. 

The Pretty One (Keah Brown) 

Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up (Selma Blair) 

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century (Edited by Alice Wong) 

Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life (Alice Wong) 

A Face for Picasso (Ariel Henley) 

Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist (Judy Heumann) 

Hacks for Chronic Disease Management That You Need

Like this post? Share it! Then check out: 

Do I Have a Chronic Illness? What You Should Know If You’re a New Patient, Tips To Make Independently Living with a Chronic Illness Easier, What Is Considered a Chronic Illness? And Other Chronic Illness Basics, 6 Tips for How To Accept a Chronic Illness

Kate Mitchell

Kate Mitchell is a blogger, chronic illness patient, and advocate who helps people understand chronic illness and helps chronic illness patients live their best lives.

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Having decades-long health problems sometimes mean Having decades-long health problems sometimes means coming across something in your health history that you completely forgot about⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate. Follow me for more content for chronic illness patients and their loved ones!⁣
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#AlmostGreatHealth #rheumatoidarthritis #arthritis #spoonielife #healthblogger #autoimmune #autoimmunedisease #chronicallyill #healthblog #dysautonomia #fibro #fibromyalgia #endo #chronicallyill #disability #disabled #invisibleillness #spoonielife #healthblogger
Here are some ways I practice self care, aka talki Here are some ways I practice self care, aka talking care of myself AND who I am as a person separate from illness⁣
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This is my Wonderful Things jar. Every day, I write down something wonderful or good that happened that day. ⁣
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I know it looks like I'm forcing Harley to sit like this, but he was making this face before I put my arm around him. Dog snuggle time is the best!⁣
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I got a Kindle this year and it has been amazing. It's so much easier on my body than lugging around books and it makes borrowing from the library a lot easier.⁣
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Yes, I share this all the time, but filling my pill boxes every 3 weeks make it so I stick with all of my medications. But the self-care part of this is that I don't have to take the time to refill a box every single week.⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 7+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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1️⃣ A glass jar on a desk with a lot of multi-color post-its inside⁣
2️⃣ Kate has her face in a golden retriever who is slumped onto her. They're in a teal room with a red rug. Kate is a brunette white woman wearing red pants and a gray sweater.⁣
3️⃣ A Kindle on dark mode in Kate's lap⁣
4️⃣ 3 open pill cases on a yellow bedspread ⁣
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#AlmostGreatHealth #AlmostGreatLife #SelfCare #ChronicallyIll #ChronicallyAwesome #SpoonieLife #Spoonie #ChronicLife #ButYouDontLookSick #InvisibleIllness #MentalHealthMatters #RetrieversOfInstagram #Readers #Kindle #WonderfulThings #GratitudePractice
What I Bring To the Doctor _______ Video: a pa What I Bring To the Doctor 

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Video: a pan of an exam room. White text reads “What I Bring To the Doctor ” and the “1. Planner/notebook
2. List of current medications 
3. Notes on my biggest concerns and questions 
4. My kindle for wait time” 
The intro to Maroon 5’s Priceless plays. 

#AlmostGreatHealth #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #RheumatoidArthritis #SjogrensSyndrome #Fibromyalgia #Endometriosis
💃🏼 Week 17 of #2025Weekly 💃🏼⁣
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1️⃣ She’s married!! ⁣
2️⃣ She married the best person in the world for her!!!!!⁣
3️⃣ I got dressed up! ⁣
4️⃣ The reality of doing fun things with chronic illness and pain is that then you have to recover from the fun things. It took … a while. One million percent worth it, but this is why I don’t do big events on a regular basis. ⁣
5️⃣ And then I had to be a person again for an appointment!⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 7+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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1️⃣ Kate stands hugging Emmie. They're both white woman. Emmie is in a wedding dress and Kate is in a red dress and wearing round tortiseshell glasses.⁣
2️⃣ Kate and Emmie stand next to Matt, Emmie's husband. He is a white man.⁣
3️⃣ Kate takes a mirror selfie. she's in the same red dress but now also wears a jean jacket and holds a cane and mask.⁣
4️⃣ Kate takes a selfie while giving a thumbs up. She looks tired. She's now wearing a pink flowery dress. ⁣
5️⃣ Kate takes a mirror selfie. She's wearing black shorts, a gray shirt, a jean jacket, a blue mask, and black aviator sunglasses. She has a bag over her shoulder and holds a cane.⁣
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#AlmostGreatHealth #AlmostGreatLife #ChronicallyIll #InvisibleIllness #SpoonieLife #RheumatoidArthritis #RheumatoidDisease #Autoimmune #ButYouDontLookSick #AutoimmuneDisease #SpoonieLife #InvisibleIllness #DisabledAndCute
On the one hand, you should always believe what pe On the one hand, you should always believe what people tell you about their bodies.⁣
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On the other hand, I’ve had so much ridiculous and unconnected health things happen that I do understand why people might not believe me.⁣
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⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate. Follow me for more content for chronic illness patients and their loved ones!⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Last week, I talked about how it surprised me how Last week, I talked about how it surprised me how systemic autoimmune arthritis can be. But something else that surprised me was how much pain can be caused by small things.⁣
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In this picture, I was getting ready to have an MRI on my knee. It has been bothering me a fair amount the last 6+ months, so I'm trying to do something about that. ⁣
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Unsurprisingly, some of the tissue is damaged, but it's not bad. What's probably causing it to bother me so much is a teeny tiny cyst. ⁣
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Baker's cysts are a type of cyst in the knee that are generally caused by arthritis. But having a cyst in my knee means that it's causing pressure on that damaged tissue. ⁣
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The body is a weird thing, and one of these weird things is developing tiny cysts that cause a lot of pain. ⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 7+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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ID: Kate takes a mirror selfie. She's a brunette white woman wearing a hospital gown, scrub bottoms, black mask, round tortoiseshell glasses, and round tortoiseshell glasses. ⁣
🌸 Week 16 of #2025Weekly 🌸 ⁣ ⁣ 1️⃣ S 🌸 Week 16 of #2025Weekly 🌸 ⁣
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1️⃣ Spring has sprung … ⁣
2️⃣ … Which means I am overheating! ⁣
3️⃣ A quick view of NYC on my travels ⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 7+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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1️⃣ A flowering tree on a street ⁣
2️⃣ Kate takes a mirror selfie. She's a brunette white woman wearing a blue t-shirt saying "The Future Is Accessible," a black mask, a green hat reading "Facilities Management), black shorts, a black knee sleeve, and a black knee brace. She holds a pink cane.⁣
3️⃣ A picture of the New York City skyline behind a bridge.⁣
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#AlmostGreatHealth #AlmostGreatLife #ChronicallyIll #RheumatoidArthritis #SpoonieLife #Autoimmune #AutoimmuneDisease #ChronicPain #Arthritis #RheumatoidDisease #Dysautonomia #PosturalOrthostaticTachycardiaSyndrome #POTS #InvisibleIllness
If I met my newly diagnosed self for coffee ... ⁣
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I tell her how things would get worse before they got better. ⁣
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I'd tell her to stop eating gluten, dairy, corn, soy, and eggs immediately (although that would have been a lot harder in 2010, more than it even is now). ⁣
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I'd tell her that she still needs to keep advocating for herself. ⁣
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I'd tell her that having a diagnosis unfortunately doesn't mean everything automatically falls into place. ⁣
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I'd tell her that she'll develop many more illnesses but her quality of life will actually get significantly better. ⁣
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I'd tell her that she would eventually have to get her right foot fixed, although she does expect that.⁣
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I'd tell her that using a cane is not a sign of failure, but a tool to make life better.⁣
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(I did a sort of tongue-in-cheek post about this a while ago and thought I'd post a more serious one).⁣
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⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate. Follow me for more content for chronic illness patients and their loved ones!⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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ID: Kate poses for the camera holding a mug with the letter M on it. Kate is a brunette white woman wearing a blue sweater and round tortoiseshell glasses. A white text box reads "If I met my newly diagnosed self for coffee ...". ⁣
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#AlmostGreatHealth #RheumatoidArthritis #RheumatoidDisease #ChronicallyIll #Autoimmune #AutoimmuneDisease #AutoimmuneArthritis #Rheum #InvisibleIllness #Arthritis #ButYouDontLookSick #ArthritisWarrior #CureArthritis
The thing that surprised me the most about autoimm The thing that surprised me the most about autoimmune arthritis is how systemic it is. ⁣
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Like with most things, it's one thing to know the fact and it's something else to experience it. ⁣
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Yes, my joints are affected (a lot). ⁣
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But I've had enough serious infections thats I have to see an immunologist because we need to be aware of my antibodies and I sometimes need help recovering from illnesses. ⁣
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And, yes, I see pulmonology because of my asthma, but we also have to keep an eye out on developing rheumatoid nodules in my lungs. (So far so good!)⁣
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Not to mention that, when I developed POTS, the hospital admitted me to run every heart test to make sure that, at 26, I wasn't experiencing heart failure. ⁣
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Plus, when I developed endometriosis, I also went through a number of GI tests because one theory was that I had ulcerative colitis. ⁣
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Anyway, RA is so much more than "just" joints. If it wasn't, I wouldn't have to kill my immune system every 3 months like I am in this picture.⁣
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I’m Kate, a chronic illness patient and advocate sharing what my life is like with 7+ chronic illnesses. Follow me for more and check out my blog at katethealmostgreat.com⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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ID: Kate takes a selfie in an infusion chair. She is a brunette white woman wearing a Boston Red Sox shirt, blue mask, and round tortoiseshell glasses.⁣⁣
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#AlmostGreatHealth #RheumatoidArthritis #RheumatoidDisease #Rheum #Autoimmune #AutoimmuneDisease #InvisibleIllness #ButYouDontLookSick #Sjogrens #SjogrensSyndrome #POTS #PosturalOrthostaticTachycardiaSyndrome #Dysautonomia
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