Nutrition and weight

I have been making concerted efforts the past few years to figure out the best way of eating for me. I've been about 10 lbs heavier since my injuries, which I want to remedy, and I also wanted to know if eating a healthy, anti inflammatory makes a difference for me. I saw a nutritionist my...

Outings

Last year outings somehow became this word I use, and now it's ridiculously ingrained in my vocabulary and, actually, in my recovery. I had completed the pain clinic and learned so much, and essentially got it that this thing I had called "my injury that wouldn't heal" was chronic pain. Having wrist tendinitis had made...

Group Therapy

I thought this group therapy stock image was hilarious. Also when I googled group therapy pictures they sit a lot closer together than we do in real life. And this group looks pretty youthful for the chronic pain groups. There are different classes or sessions I can attend at the pain clinic, but I kinda...

Acute vs. Chronic

Heh heh, glad I could use this Bitmoji.  I've been thinking about acute versus chronic a lot lately, as my pain likes to play tricks on me. Some days my knee feels the pain of my old injury, so much so that I feel like it's acute pain that needs R&R. I have to remember...

Baseline

The Explain Pain book talks about how to increase an activity you want to do more of when you have chronic pain. For me it's being on my feet, whether that's standing or walking. It says to find a balance between pain and flare and figure out what your baseline for that activity is. (If...

Good People

Tonight my friend Carrie came over for dinner. My voice issue has been acting up, so she carried the conversation like a champ. I love hearing about all of her adventures in work and love. Spending a lot of time alone while I'm not working and putting effort toward my recovery, I start to feel...

Patience

Patience- the ability to accept and tolerate delay, trouble or suffering without getting upset. I'm glad there's a word for this difficult feeling. It's patience. I never really had to know what patience was before. It feels like waiting and the only way to get through it is knowing it will pass and adding in...

Flare Plan

With chronic pain, flares are a normal part of life. They are my nervous system throwing out emergency signals to protect me from a perceived threat. I've appreciated learning about this because they can be scary if you don't know about chronic pain and what's going on. It can be certain thoughts or emotions, like fear...

Living with it Daily

I love this book. At the pain clinic they read the daily passage at the beginning of group therapy sessions. (It's gone out of print but you can order it from the publisher, the Hewyer Chronic Pain Association.) A woman named Patricia Nielsen wrote it after living with chronic pain and having it change her...

Acceptance

Oooooh acceptance. You are so challenging. One day in the pain clinic we were discussing acceptance with the group. One participant who is so kind and I really respect said, "Acceptance is about getting where you want to go, so so slowly, while taking care of yourself and bringing all of your body parts with you,...

Get out of your own way

I went to my case manager at the pain clinic to talk about some road blocks I was having. I felt like I couldn't make progress on my physical rehab goals and do the harder PT exercises to make me stronger, because of the pain I was having. But I had to do the exercises...

3 Ps and 2 Point Rule

One thing that seems so obvious, but was a huge revelation to me at the time, was learning about pacing in the pain clinic, or the 3Ps, which are pacing, planning and prioritizing. I was so used to thinking about things as someone without limits. But I obviously had some serious limits and I was...