Some illnesses are obvious to the naked eye. If someone is hobbling around with a plaster cast on their leg, we can tell they have a broken leg. If they have misshapen fingers, we can normally presume that they have painful arthritis. But so many people have health conditions that…
Category: Self Help
Chronic Pain
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How to Cope with Medication Side Effects
For many people living with chronic health conditions, medication isn’t optional — it’s essential…but, unfortunately, it often brings a few unwelcome side effects along with the benefits. Some settle once your body adjusts, while others like to linger. We can learn to live with them to an extent, but some…
Medical
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How to Manage Medication More Effectively
You probably know the script — meds for breakfast, meds for lunch and meds for dinner. It becomes part of the daily routine. But they don’t always help as much as we’d like, and they often come with side effects. The good news is that with a bit of planning…
Medical
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How to Help Doctors Listen and Understand Better
When we live with chronic illness, the relationship we have with our primary care doctor becomes one of the most important ones in our lives. We rely on them to guide us, support us, and help us make sense of what our bodies are doing. But what happens when we…
Self Help
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Ten Good Intentions to Carry into the New Year
Here we are, celebrating the start of another new year. Each new year, people make resolutions. I’m not so keen on that term. Resolutions are seldom kept. I prefer to write a list of intentions. Good intentions which I will try to carry on in the new year. I really…
Chronic Pain
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Does Pain Steal Enjoyment from Your Life?
Does pain steal all enjoyment from your life? We shouldn’t let it. The Good Pain Theory explains how I cope with pain after doing something I enjoy.
Chronic Pain
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Chronic Pain – How Can We Overcome the Burden of Guilt?
We struggle with pain. We struggle with the stress of living with pain. And sometimes, we struggle with all-consuming guilt, which can ultimately affect both our mental and physical health.
Sometimes our guilt makes us believe we are a burden to our families. And very often there is only one person who is pointing the finger and making us feel guilty – ourselves.
Chronic Pain
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I Am Not My Pain
It can often feel as though it comes along like a thief in the night and takes away part of ourselves. It creeps into the deepest crevices of our beings, then wears us down until there is virtually nothing left. It destroys who we are.
But it is important to remember that there’s more to us than pain.
Back Pain & Scoliosis
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Learning to Listen to Your Body When You’re in Pain
Learning to listen to your body when you’re in pain is easier said than done. I have lived with pain for most of my life. Chronic severe pain which has been both disabling and debilitating. There have been spells when it’s been extremely difficult to cope with it.
For many years, I tried to fight against my pain which did nothing but make it worse. Eventually, I learned to listen to my body. It didn’t stop the pain, but I was able to cope with it better.