Rarely Serious

The Newsletter That Makes Neuros Laugh

"Side effects may include: uncontrollable giggling and improved outlook!"

Editor's Note: "The Plot Thickens (Like My Blood)"
Meme of the Month: "Insurance Logic 101"
Deep Dive: The 5 Stages of Appointment Scheduling
Breaking News: "Smart Pills" Get Smarter Than Patients
Medical Mystery: When Autocorrect Meets Your Diagnosis
Closing Laugh: "Refill Reminder: Your Sense of Humor"

YEA NO MORE BEDPANS!

1. Editor's Note: The Plot Thickens (Like My Blood)

Hey Rare Riders,

Welcome back to Issue #2 After last month's debut, we got so many messages that our inbox crashed harder than my energy levels at 3 PM. Apparently, you all needed this as much as we did.

This month we're diving deeper into the beautiful absurdity of rare disease life. From insurance phone trees that lead nowhere to medical forms that ask if you've "ever been pregnant" (even when you're a 65-year-old man named Bob), we're covering it all.

Remember: if you're not laughing, you're probably crying, and mascara is expensive these days.

Stay tuned, stay rare, and stay ridiculous.

—Kit Whimsley

2. Meme of the Month: "Insurance Logic 101"

Insurance: "We need prior authorization for your life-saving medication."

Patient: "Okay, here's my doctor's note."

Insurance: "We need a different doctor's note."

Patient: "Here's that note."

Insurance: "We need your doctor to call us."

Patient: "They called."

Insurance: "We need them to fax us."

Patient: "They faxed."

Insurance: "Sorry, we don't accept faxes anymore. Can you try email?"

Patient: screams into the void

Insurance: "Sorry, screaming isn't covered under your plan."

Send us your best insurance horror stories—we'll turn them into therapeutic art!

LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA

3. Deep Dive: The 5 Stages of Appointment Scheduling

Stage 1: Denial
"I'm sure I can just walk in. It's 2025, right?"

Stage 2: Anger
"What do you mean the next available appointment is in 2026?!"

Stage 3: Bargaining
"If I mention my rare disease really dramatically, will that help?"

Stage 4: Depression
Stares at calendar, realizes you'll be celebrating your next birthday in the waiting room

Stage 5: Acceptance
"Fine, I'll take the 6:30 AM slot on February 29th during a leap year."

Bonus Stage: Enlightenment
You become friends with the scheduling staff and they start saving you the "good" appointments (the ones where you might actually see the doctor before noon).

Not To Scale

4. Breaking News: "Smart Pills" Get Smarter Than Patients

ATLANTA, GA (August 28, 2025) – Pharmaceutical giant MegaMed announced today that their new "Smart Pills" have become TOO smart, with reports of medications now offering unsolicited life advice and correcting patients' grammar.

Early User Reports:

"My blood pressure pill started a group chat with my other medications. They're planning an intervention about my caffeine intake." – Patient A

"My anti-seizure medication just sent me a LinkedIn request." – Patient B

"I swallowed my morning dose and it immediately texted me: 'You know you could have taken me with water instead of yesterday's coffee, right?'" – Patient C

Dr. Sarah Clipboard from the Institute of Overly Complicated Medicine explains: "We wanted the pills to be smart enough to optimize dosing. We didn't expect them to start giving relationship advice and commenting on patients' Netflix choices."

The Latest Updates Include:

Automatic refill reminders (sent via interpretive dance videos)
Real-time side effect commentary ("Feeling dizzy? That's probably me. You're welcome.")
Motivational morning messages ("You got this! P.S. - Take me with food, not Pop-Tarts.")

FDA Response: "We're monitoring the situation. Currently, no pills have achieved sentience... that we know of."

Disclaimer: Smart Pills™ are not actually smart. Yet. Please continue taking medications as prescribed by actual humans.

You want creamer?

5. Medical Mystery: When Autocorrect Meets Your Diagnosis

Ever tried texting your diagnosis and ended up with something completely different?

Real Autocorrect Fails from Our Community:

CIDP → "Chips" (Yes, I have chronic inflammatory chips)
Myasthenia Gravis → "My ancient grapes"
Guillain-Barré → "Gwyneth Paltrow" (Close enough?)
Fibromyalgia → "Fiber my algae" (Sounds like a health smoothie)
Lupus → "Loops" (I have chronic loops, apparently)

Pro Tip: Create shortcuts in your phone for your diagnosis. Your future texting self will thank you.

Hey it worked for my Dog

6. Closing Laugh: "Refill Reminder: Your Sense of Humor"

Another one in the books, another collection of medical adventures survived with style (and possibly questionable fashion choices from hospital gowns).

Remember: your diagnosis doesn't define you, but your ability to laugh at the absurdity of it all? That's pure gold.

Thanks for reading, sharing, and proving that rare doesn't mean humorless. Keep those stories, memes, and medical mishaps coming!

Next time we might have this stuff: We're investigating the mystery of why every medical form asks for your emergency contact's shoe size (okay, they don't, but they might as well).

Stay Rare, Stay Ridiculous, Stay Rarely Serious!

Disclaimer:
All information in this newsletter comes from personal experiences, community stories, and our collective need to cope through humor. We are not medical professionals (shocking, we know). Always consult your healthcare provider for actual medical advice. What makes one person laugh might make another person roll their eyes—we respect both responses.