Chronic Pain

Dealing with Behaviours: When All You Want Is Sleep

Edith woke with a start.  The children needed her. She had to get them dressed for school, and make sure Jeremy washed his face and brushed his teeth after breakfast. Alice didn’t usually need reminding, but Jeremy tried to sneak out without cleaning up. She needed to make their lunches, and after they left, she […]

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How to Train Your Mind to Handle Chronic Pain

I felt like a bug on the wall, hearing a private conversation which took me into the hearts and mind of people struggling with dementia. It wasn’t private, but a podcast featuring several people sharing. One elderly British lady stole my heart as she explained how she took her caring children aside. “Please don’t help

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How to Outsmart Chronic Pain so it Sits in the Back

Have you ever been in a room with a loudmouth? Maybe at work, or a party? I met one in a bus shelter once. A loudmouth has opinions and loves to expound them. They have no interest in listening, little agenda for hearing or understanding your opinion, and they are “full of themselves.” Their opinion

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How to Keep Chronic Pain From Stealing Your Life

I have a companion who travels with me 24/7. I can’t call him friend, and even companion sounds a little too cozy. Gremlin? Hanger-oner? Pest? He won’t kill me, but if given the chance, he’ll steal parts of me, a little each day. If he wins, he will leave me incapacitated, so I must fight

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Can Exercise Be Fun? Here Are Some Tricks and Tips

“Exercise and fun shouldn’t be used in the same sentence.” I said and believed that for years, and I sometimes feel skeptical even yet, but I’ve found ways to make even the most boring leg lifts more fun. (Okay, somewhat, a little fun. Endurable.) What is exercise? This feels like a “stating the obvious” question,

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One Key to Success With Exercise and My Secret Inspiration

Back in our “poverty days,” which seemed to last for years, we had no dental insurance for a period of time while my husband changed jobs. As soon as we had coverage again, I got the kids to the dentist, but didn’t go myself. My internal dialogue ran like this: “I’ve gone this long without

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Why I Hate Exercise But I Do It Anyway

I remember when my niece, Jenn, discovered marathon running. After four children, she was heavier than she wanted to be, and wanted to be her healthiest self. She’d always been a person of incredible discipline, and she brought this to running. She completed a 5 km. run, then a half marathon, then full marathons. She

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Important: After research comes action!

My shoulder is killing me. Tylenol is starting to dull the ache and make it use-able, but my mind is going in 100 anxious directions. As someone with a hip and knee replacement (and the other hip probably pending) I wonder absently how many parts you can replace. Should I look into physio? What about

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How to Live Your Best, Healthiest Life When You Hate Exercise and Love Sweets

I hate exercise in all forms (with the possible exception of swimming, but only in natural settings, never a pool.) I love sweets. I hate being hungry. I love to eat whatever I want, when I want and as much as I want. I hate feeling sick, having no energy and being unable to do

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What do Care Partners Need? They Need to be Heard.

“It’s okay to talk to yourself…and okay to answer yourself. But sad when you have to repeat what you said because you weren’t  listening.” seen on Facebook It had been the first “fabric shopping trip” since COVID began. My friend and I often travelled along country roads to a wonderful fabric warehouse because we are

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