Here’s What You Need to Know Have you ever thought, “I can predict the weather with my joint pain”? You’re not alone. If you live with chronic pain, you’ve likely noticed a change in how your body feels as the weather shifts. Maybe your knees ache before a storm, or your muscles tighten when the…
In this blog post, let’s take a look at what this boom/bust cycle is and what we can do about it.
Flare ups are a normal part of reclaiming our lives from pain. Here are 7 simple strategies you can use to calm a flare-up when they happen.
I suggest breathing a lot as a way to start to get a handle on your pain. I am often looked at like I have lost my mind, or that there is no way breathing can help. If you have been reading my blog for very long, you know I am a firm believer that…
I was introduced to progressive muscle relaxation by my high school swim coach. It was like heaven. The team would go to this dark room and the upperclassmen would get these lazy boy like recliners and the underclassmen would get yoga mats. I loved these sessions. I always felt so renewed after them. So if…
Ever feel like a hamster stuck in a wheel of pain? Lord knows I have. Questioning if I would ever get my life back. Stuck in a wheel of Boom and bust. Good days and bad days, unpredictability, lost in brain fog and medication haze. Stuck in cycles of pushing hard and then being stuck…
We all want to know how to calm a flare up right? I think we would all agree flares of pain are no fun. In prior posts, I’ve talked about Red Flags to watch for to know when to go to the ER, and things I’ve learned during my 20-year journey with pain in prior…
You’re writhing in your bed. You woke up and your back pain is out of control. It hurts to move. It hurts to breathe. You are scared. Rightfully so. Unsure what to do and if the pain might kill you. It feels like it might sometimes, I know I’ve been there. Laying in bed with…
Understanding Pain Flares: What I’ve Learned from My Journey Pain flares drove me up a freaking wall during my journey through pain. Just when I thought I had things under control, BAM! My pain would spike, and I’d lose my mind, my hope, and my will to keep going. In short, pain flares suck. One…
As a teacher, I emphasize to my students that art can be a release, but never had I thought of this going beyond self-expression. I certainly hadn’t considered it for my own pain management.
Tending an Aching Back with or without Epsom Salt Often in the midst of pain, we get so busy surviving we forget how to thrive. Simple pleasures like a warm bath become too taxing to initiate. Consider for a moment this ritual might be a window toward a thriving life. Consider, that a bath may…
This Hot pack should be comfortably WARM but not HOT… Would you believe me if I told you they drilled us to say that at PTA school? It was the most bizarre thing, especially because I don’t think valuable therapy time should be wasted with you sitting or laying on a hot pack… which is…
Ever notice people react quite strongly to their love of heat or ice? Icing for pain, you love it, but you’ve been told to use heat, but you hate it. I’m here to tell you, stop feeling guilty! Icing for pain is just fine! You don’t want to “do the wrong thing” and feel…
Maybe you have heard that meditation or mindfulness can help you in learning to move beyond your pain. Good news, it CAN. If you are like me – this is a SUPER hard thing to do. Not gonna lie to you all. I have struggled with quieting my mind in my faith, yoga practice,…
I think I am finally rounding a corner again after being injured again 8 weeks ago. It’s surprising, and nice to finally feel like I am following the “textbook” of healing and not mapping out my own route. I saw my Primary Care Dr a few weeks ago to get cleared to go back to…
Do you ever feel like you have a mask you wear because of your pain? Do you feel like people don’t really want to know how you are doing, or you shouldn’t bother explaining, because no one will really listen anyway? If you feel this or anything like this, please know you are not alone!…
I think that this is one of the most important things we can talk about while we are in the midst of trying to live in our pain. It doesn’t matter where you are in your journey with pain… stuff gets hard to do and when we put our heads together and talk about how…
