This summer, we asked Smart Patients if they'd ever met each other in person. From a hundred nights of phone calls that led to a flight across the Pacific, to a cross-country road trip full of hugs and reunions, here are two stories about what happens when online friendships become real ones.

Why do some people develop multiple autoimmune diseases, and can AI finally connect the dots? In this Ask the Expert conversation, physician-scientist Dr. Marjolein Klaassen explains what AI is learning to see across genes, antibodies, and lab data, where it falls short, and how patients can use AI health tools wisely.

A myasthenia gravis diagnosis often takes years, even though the disease is treatable. See how patient community insights and registry data reveal the delay and how to close it.

For World Sjögren's Day, we're looking at what the 2025 Sjögren's Foundation patient survey reveals. We also compared it to clinical data and listened to what our patient community had to say about it. Each source added texture and expanded our understanding of what it means to live with Sjögren's disease.

Does "palliative care" mean the end? For many people it's the first fear, but that's often not the case. Stanford physician Dr. Grant Smith joined our community to explain what palliative care is, who qualifies, and how to ask for it.

July is Sarcoma Awareness Month. Sarcoma is a rare cancer that forms in the body’s connective tissues. We asked three leaders working across sarcoma research, patient support, and pediatric osteosarcoma what they most want you to know.

World Brain Day is a global reminder to talk about brain health before problems start rather than after. This piece shares the experiences of patients and caregivers as they notice changes in memory and thinking, and struggle to talk about it.

Uterine (endometrial) cancer is now the most common gynecologic cancer, and cases are still rising. Yet no Pap smear or routine screening test can catch it. Learn more from Dr. Ebony Hoskins about the one warning sign every woman should know, typical symptoms, and what to do next.

One of the quietest, most exhausting parts of living with serious illness is the uncertainty or the waiting, the what-ifs, the future you can't quite plan for. In this Living With It conversation, members and social worker KrisAnn Talarico explored what it takes to keep going when the future feels unsettled.

For Men's Health Month and World Kidney Cancer Day, a Smart Patient kidney cancer survivor shares how he has managed more than twelve years with metastatic renal cell carcinoma . He shares his practical advice on self-advocacy, specialists, and hope.

Sudden confusion, agitation, or aggression in someone with dementia doesn't always mean the disease is progressing. For Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, caregivers in the Smart Patients community share how an infection, a new medication, or unspoken pain can trigger a sharp behavior change, and why it's worth checking before you accept it as the "new normal."

For Migraine & Headache Awareness Month, we’re sharing how members of our community describe what migraine means to them . Their answers make one thing clear: a migraine is far more than "just a headache." These are their words describing the pain, the long road to a diagnosis, and the determination to keep going.

For Clinical Trials Awareness Month, Smart Patients is sharing what patients tell each other about trials and what it suggests for the teams running them. One finding is that patients want to join clinical trials, but sometimes it is the logistics, undisclosed costs, and information gaps that keeps them from doing it.

Can you trust what AI tells you about your health? That's the question our Sjögren's community put to AI health tool expert Erika Warren of Inciteful Med over three a three-day Ask the Expert session. The answer was more nuanced — and interesting — than a simple yes or no.

Systemic lupus erythematosus affects more than 1.5 million Americans, yet 63% of patients are misdiagnosed before receiving the correct diagnosis. For Lupus Awareness Month, we are sharing real voices from the Smart Patients lupus community describing what it’s like to live between what the labs say and what the body knows.

For fourteen years, Robin has shown up every single day for patients and caregivers navigating serious illness — contributing nearly 53,000 posts to the Smart Patients community. Her journey from cancer caregiver to trusted peer support leader is a testament to what happens when lived experience meets purpose.

Anticipatory grief is one of caregiving's most universal yet least recognized experiences. This conversation with experts from the Family Caregiver Alliance explores how caregivers can recognize and name this quiet, accumulating grief, and what small, practical steps can help them find support before burnout takes hold.

Every year, nearly 83,000 Americans are diagnosed with bladder cancer — and most will face it more than once. This Bladder Cancer Awareness Month, we're sharing the words of the people living it.

For the estimated 4 million Americans living with Sjögren's disease, the path to diagnosis is rarely straightforward — and the care that follows isn't always better. For Sjögren's Awareness Month, we asked two doctors three questions that don't always make it into the appointment.

What does chronic illness actually look like from the inside — not clinically, but on a random Tuesday afternoon when you're figuring it out alone? The latest Living With It conversation gathered the accumulated tools of people who have learned to stay in motion when circumstances would rather stop them.