By Tammie Allegro Caregiver? I had never really embraced this term until my mother’s terminal illness thrust me into the role. I guess we all need to give ourselves a title that somehow explains what we do, but “caregiver” never seemed to cover it completely. For starters, a ca... [More]

When I got my dog, Ginger, she was a tiny brown and white fluff, barely eight weeks old. A surprise gift from a family member, she was not the kind of dog I’d planned on. What on earth, I wondered, was a Shih-Tzu? [More]

Remember the movie John Q. in which Denzel Washington plays the father of a young boy who takes a downtown Chicago emergency room hostage when he learns that the heart transplant his son needs won’t be performed because his health insurance doesn’t cover it? [More]

Families dealing with a chronic disease live with a lot of medical paraphernalia. Between treatments, however, many of those same families long to appear, “normal.” They don’t want the look of a sterile medical environment; they simply want their home to be sterile. [More]

For much of my life, I never gave much thought to choosing doctors. Often I simply picked a name at random from an insurance directory. But, when I suddenly found myself suffering from mysterious pelvic pain 10 years ago, I quickly discovered that finding a physician who could provide an accurate diagnosis was not just difficult, it was next to impossible. [More]

By Tammie Allegro When you meet a 17-year-old who says he was raised in captivity, it gives you pause. You might even wonder what on earth the kid is talking about. However, when you learn that this particular young man has been sheltered and home-schooled since kindergarten due to his autoimmune ... [More]

I often hear from IG Living readers who are frustrated with questions and advice from well-meaning, but slightly misguided friends and family. When trying to show support, they offer advice and make suggestions that make us want to scream. [More]

Since you’re reading this blog, you know the frustrations of living with an immune disease. It can be like waking up in the Land of Oz, wandering down a Yellow Brick Road in search of ways to understand what caused your illness and how to feel better, to explain to others how it feels to be constantly ill, and to find and bond with others who are experiencing the same physical and emotional pain. [More]