Pain on the Plane - How to Travel When It Hurts

Traveling has become a real pain in the ahem, tushie. Even for those folks without chronic pain, it's a stressful experience. How do you maintain your travel, for work or play, when your body just says "ouch"?

Here are some trips from a real travel-lover (I've been to 50 countries):

1. Take your treatments with you. Most everything you do to manage pain can be traveled with. You can get small thermophores, refillable ice bags (remember those pix of the kid with the ice bag on his jaw? yeah, those), little bottles of Emu Oil under 3 oz, pain meds, stretch bands, small travel pillows for your back, earthing wires for your bed - yes, it can all go with you.

Even those non-pain treating activities that make you "whole" again are critical. I used to say, when I was actively traveling for music (we were doing 30 concerts in 27 days in 8 countries in 20 cities...) all I needed were my pillow, a book, my walkman (back then) & some bubble bath & I could make myself happy anywhere in the world. Above and beyond your pain management stuff, find out what your happy tools are, and take them!

2. Plan ahead. Being a person who feels trapped when I can't get up at least once an hour on a plane, I pretty much refuse to fly unless I get an aisle seat. Period. That is getting harder to do as crazy airlines like American are making you pay for some of them now. But still, if you book far enough in advance, you can get that seat that you need.

3. Take care of yourself anywhere. I grew up traveling, so I learned to bathe in the sink of trains traveling across Russia, sleep on floors at the airport, use the bathroom alongside the road, drink out of sinks all over the world (using carbon filter cups), stretch my whole body in the airplane bathroom, whatever was needed. Traveling is no excuse for not treating your pain. So whatever you need to do, find a way to do it. Just make yourself as flexible as possible, literally, lose the "ugh, I can't touch/do that" approach, and welcome your new environment.

4. Only travel with people that understand you. When you're a) in pain and b) on the road, the last thing you need is ANOTHER complainer besides yourself. So limit your travel companions to those that are understanding, or at best, keep their mouth shut about how you get your needs met. Want to enjoy yourself while in pain? Choose your company wisely.

In a group and can't choose your company? Just stay away from those who make fun of you, try to prohibit you from getting your needs met, keep you awake all night or generally make your life worse. Even if you have to be a loner at times, your own happy company is better than negative vibes.

5. Reward yourself. When I used to travel for music, I would start out the day, every day, looking forward to that hot shower at the END of the day. That helped me get through exhausting days with a little more comfort. That reward is so important. Create yourself a mental carrot when you travel, and no matter how bad things get, you can find a way to laugh at the craziness. Reward yourself for the effort, and the fact that you MADE IT, even when it was harder for you than for anyone else.

Let me know how these tips work for you. What things do YOU do when you travel, that we all should know about & try?

(Cartoon Credit: Pete Pascoe. Permission pending.)

Dealing With - Or Without - Your Western Doctor

I have a really mixed opinion about doctors. I dislike Western Doctors (MDs). I love Western Chiropractors (DCs). And I respect Eastern doctors.

This opinion, of course, excepts my current Western MD, who is just adorable, kind, and supports every new thing I want to try.

But to get HELP from Western doctors? Not so much.

Western doctors give: 1) diagnosis. 2) blood tests. 3) meds. 4) "you're crazy but I can't say it." 5) "even if you're not crazy, what do you expect me to do about it?"

The first three are useful things. But the last ones will do everything from making you tear your hair out, to go home crying.

How can you best put your Western MD to use on your behalf? Make him an important part of your treatment plan.

1. Get regular blood tests so you can see how you are nutritionally deficient.
2. Get pain-support or relaxation meds that make you not care about the pain (notice I didn't say relieve the pain), and don't screw you up mentally (i.e. beta-blockers, Low-Dose Naltroxene).
3. Ask for higher-level RXs of OTC meds like ibuprofen.
4. Get Vitamin B12 in high doses. Because FMS is a nerve problem, not a muscle problem. So treat it like a neuropathy.
5. Get referrals for any body part that CAN be fixed (i.e. nose blockages to improve your breathing).
6. Make sure that all the things you're doing on your own aren't going to cause long-term damage (i.e. multi-year use of Guaifenisen).
7. Ask for referrals to great massage therapists, chiropractors, physical therapists, and pain clinics (if you believe these might work)

Otherwise, that's it. A cure is not even in your doctor's sight, because remember, your pain doesn't exist. So there you have it.

Then what do you do? Hop on over to your Eastern medicine practitioner for the REAL stuff that works...because there is something to that growth of China thing.

How to Live with Half a Brain Because You're in Pain

It's a little-known fact that people with pain have a considerable amount of pain messages flooding their brain at all times. This necessarily means that less brain-power is available for other things. Thinking, for example. Perhaps this is the reason for what I call "looping", when your brain cycles through things obsessively, and you can't seem to stop it.

If you live with someone in pain, it's important to understand their availability fluctuates. For you, for thinking, for anything. At times when the pain is low, they are fully available for you (unless they are just in their cave recovering). But when the pain is high, it takes priority.

The way to function when you are in pain & only have half a brain is to - block out the pain. If you have done everything you can to address it (by meeting your basic needs), you just gotta suck it up & go on with life. Crumbling in and falling down because of the pain is not an option if you support yourself or others.

How do you block out the pain? Well, you have to learn to concentrate very well. Fortunately, as a musician, this is an easy one for me. But if you are not in the habit of concentrating, then you probably should learn it. Get books, practice. Reading is good for this. TV is not. Anything that forces your brain to gain strength is good, because of course, you only have 1/2 of it to work with.

Remember that old childhood rhyme: "Concentration, concentration, get the rhythm?" Well, that's what it's all about. Work at it, practice, and you will find you can get more done with the 1/2 brain that is available to you, than many pain-less people will get done with their whole brain. It's all about perspective.

When I was writing this I googled pain & brain to get a picture. And look what I found: "Chronic Pain Harms the Brain." So I guess I'm right-on here...

Check out this quote:
"'If you are a chronic pain patient, you have pain 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every minute of your life," Chialvo said. "That permanent perception of pain in your brain makes these areas in your brain continuously active. This continuous dysfunction in the equilibrium of the brain can change the wiring forever and could hurt the brain."

Picture credit: Comparison of brains. These images show the brain from the left side, demonstrating striking differences between chronic pain patients and healthy subjects. They illustrate with colors how much activation (red-yellow) or deactivation (dark/light blue) was found at each location. (Credit: Image courtesy of Northwestern University)

I am a firm believer that your brain can be hurt, but grow in other areas. So don't give in to the pain killing your brain concept. Just work on concentrating with what you do have, and using new areas of your brain. You can do it. You just have to believe it.

Snake-oil Salesmen: Getting the Oil Without the Snake

Being sick makes you a target. But you don't need to be sick. You can just be alive and you will be a target for somebody's agenda.

One of the most challenging tasks, sick or well, is graciously extracting yourself from the suffocation of the snake-oil salesman. Whether they mean well or not, they want to get you to buy something from them. And usually it involves a lot of persuasion. (Because, really, they love the act of persuasion even more than the sale.) Their product may be awesome too, like Melaleuca, which I use daily. Since you don't want to lose out on a good thing, how do you transition away from being a target?

Easy. Remove their ability to persuade.

I learned this snake-extraction secret just the other day. A friend at a conference I attended suggested she knew a guy that had a great product, grape-seed extract from Pycnoginol. She said HE said it worked wonders for people with FMS. But, she warned me, he likes to talk. Great, I said, I will try it. But I'm not talking to him.

I never did. He e-mailed me a long e-mail about how he HAD to talk to me on the phone. Sent me a letter. Pictures. Lots of info. NOTHING about the product.

Long story short, he never sent me a thing. I never got a brochure, price list, anything. And I was 100% prepared to try his product! He was more interested in telling me about it, than actually selling it.

In general, my motto when dealing with snake-oil salesmen is, "Sure, I will try it. Just send me the info. Goodbye." Then I'm on my way. Other people's experiences with a product are not mine, never will be, and I really only need to know if it works for ME, that's it.

So how did I get the oil after losing the snake? Easy. Melaleuca also offers a grape-seed oil product called Provex. It was in the mail to me the next day. Slither-free.

Sickness and Self-Hatred

This is a very big topic, but one that I will cover very quickly. Because it sucks.

You already know all about it. You hate yourself because your body failed you. Therefore you reject your body back.

Bad move.

Pain means your body needs something. So how would rejecting your body in return help anything?

I actually haven't figured out the answer to this one yet. Candidly. So if you have, please leave a comment. The closest I can get is to get my basic needs met, ALL THE TIME, NO MATTER WHAT. That is my commitment to my body. That is how I appease my body for hating it.

The second way is that I look as good as possible, all the time. This means that the more I hurt, the better I look. This helps me NOT hate my body, because look how pretty I am? It's hard to reject pretty things, even when they are you.

Fundamental to chronic illness is self-hatred. Though I haven't figured out the answer, I do know this, you've got to break the cycle. You have GOT to learn to love and cherish your body, just the way it is.

Because your body is you.

Never Complain, Never Explain

One of the hardest things with pain is the feeling that you need to constantly explain things. Why you can't do things, why you have to do things, yadda yadda yadda.

You don't.

I love the phrase "Never Complain, Never Explain." This is PERFECT for chronic illness.Unless the person is deep in your life, and really needs an answer, you can just say - "Hey, I gotta..." and fill in the blank. Period.








- Hey, I gotta run now!
- Hey, I gotta cut this conversation short, chat tomorrow?
- Hey, I gotta get some sleep.
- Hey, I gotta find a place to sit down.
- Hey, I gotta reschedule with you, is that ok?
- Hey, I gotta run by the doctor's office, I'll be in late tomorrow.

See how easy that is?

No embarrassment, no guilt, no anger at yourself for what you CAN'T do, just hey, I gotta...

Give it a try! Post a comment, let me know how it goes!

How to Be Happy (Around Other People) When You Feel Miserable

The toughest part about chronic pain - or in fact, any pain - is getting along with other people at the same time. If you are alone in pain, you don't need to be nice. But when you are out, you do.

Taking your pain out on other people is a natural tendency. It's one that is hard to fight, and hard to build tools around because nobody trains you in this. Ever.

So that's what I am here to do. A mini-training session on how to be happy when you're miserable. Notice I didn't say APPEAR happy, I said BE happy. I think it is possible to go for the higher level of being, rather than just faking it. But if you can't quite reach the BE state, just go for the APPEARANCE. Trust me, you will want this so that you can preserve your relationships, your job, your friends.

Here is how you do it, in a nutshell:

1. Get your basic needs met. All the time. In the particular moments (or hours, or days) when you have to relate to people while in pain, it is most important that you meet your needs. Whether this be

- popping that ibuprofen before the pain escalates
- stretching ouchy muscles
- getting ergonomic accomodations in the workplace (required by law, DO ask for this, no matter how embarrassed you are)
- getting to bed by 10 p.m.
- stopping your kids from waking you up unnecessarily
- locking your cat out of your room
- sleeping alone, even if you are in a relationship
- carrying food around in your handbag to eat at any time
- stopping your activities to eat, drink, etc.

DO IT NOW! You can't be happy when your needs aren't met.

2. Muzzle your mouth. Learn self-control, and learn to think before speaking. A good way to do this is to have a "pain persona." This is like your professional self. Put your best-self forward, whether you feel like it or not. Fake it. Stop complaining & just put on your "pain persona." Learn to make it automatic. "How am I? GREAT! How are YOU?" [Smile][Walk on] And if you think you can reserve your "pain persona" only for your co-workers and out-side folk, you are DEAD WRONG. You need it for your significant other and family members also. In fact, even moreso for them. They deserve the best of you, don't they?

3. Withdraw to your comfort zone. Do the least possible, interact with other people the least possible, and make sure that you focus on getting through the pain without it affecting other people. Let people come to you if they want, but don't seek out sympathy. Just go take care of you.

4. If you must talk, talk only to "safe" people. Do not tell everyone that you are feeling bad, they really don't want to know. Trust me. They don't. If you think it's showing on your face, you can say a mild "Sorry if I look a little down, I'm not, just not feeling great right now." That's it. With your significant other (who I hope is safe for you), you can talk sometimes in depth about your pain. But reserve those times for few & far between. Let them know in general how you are, but don't overload them just because they are safe and available. That will create resentment on their behalf, and unfortunately, YOU have to manage their resentment.

5. Reschedule stuff for a better time. If you are just not "up" for whatever you have to do, see if you can reschedule. If you can't, do only the basic that is required. This will keep your resentment down at your own illness. Save the outperformance for a time when it is appropriate.

6. Reward yourself. Put on your calendar a small reward for every time you don't blurt out how sick you are when the timing isn't good, or when the person doesn't want to hear it. Challenge yourself to do your best all the time at putting your best "pain persona" forward, and then knowing when and how to let it down.

If you can do all of this, you will find that your internal anger at your illness and helplessness will diminish, and you will be able to live in the "happy" more often, even if your body says "ouch."

How Not to Ruin A "Good" Day!

So I am having a very good day. In fact, it started yesterday after exercising on my Denise Austin stair-step machine (for 40 minutes) while watching Food Network Star & the RedSox.

It is continuing! All my little blood cells feel happy, my energy is aligned, the pain is way down, I have less tension & generally, I am thankful to be alive, for a change.

So what to do when these windfalls happen to you? The days you wait, and pray for? The days where the pain is gone, or down & you begin to have hope again (that you know will be dashed, but still).....

What you do is - DON'T RUIN IT!

You know what I'm talking about, I know, but you just don't want to admit it. The one day in a million that you're feeling good is NOT the day to:

- Clean the house
- Fix your relationship
- Quit your job
- Start a major project
- Overdo it (it being anything)

Your good days are for rewarding yourself, for all the bad days that came before and that will come afterward. What good is a "good" day when you just wear yourself out, yet again?

Do all your favorite things. Relax. Suck in the yumminess of feeling good. Bring the joy. You deserve it! In fact, "Have a GREAT day!"

Some Like it Hot, Some Like it Cold - The Role of Temperature in Pain Control

Pain can be managed with temperature. It is actually so easy to relieve pain with temperature, that it is highly underrated. Like anything else there is a skill to using hot & cold treatments to your benefit. You will want to make whatever you do work for YOU, but here is how I do things...

Basically, I treat my pain like a sports injury.

That takes away the shame, the blame, and makes me feel like I'm in the game. Right now, I think of my pain management techniques as being "in rehab", whether I can rehab them away or not. Treating yourself as an injured athlete brings the pride. It also makes you take better care of yourself because you validate your self-worth with this viewpoint, rather than continuing the traditional self-demeaning beaten-down view that we chronically-ill folk usually have.

For burning pain: Use ice-packs. Core Products icepacks are best, ColPac is also good for your back. I have a stack in the freezer of several of them. 3 square ones from Core Products, one long one from ColPac (11x21), and another smaller one from Core Products that wraps around my neck. I use the long one & lean against or lay on it at least once a week. It does wonders in opening up my breathing. I use the smaller ones behind my neck, to put me to sleep at night. Or I strap them on with a Nylatex wrap (you can find them at WisdomKing.com) during the daytime. The thing with ice is that it should be very cold and hurt a little at first. I put it on with a thin layer of t-shirt or something in-between. I put all three packs on at once (back, back of neck, front of neck) for 45 minutes, or until I get very cold & then warm up again & perhaps fall asleep. Any shorter time just doesn't have the whole-body effect. I have found that I know when I need to use ice packs: when I get annoyed and irritated at EVERYTHING. Or when the pain is a burning, searing one that nothing else can help. Out come the ice and up goes my mood.

(IcePacks from Core Products)

For aching pain: Use heat. There are many ways to use heat. You can use a heating pad (for short periods of time), a thermophore (much better)from Battle Creek products for longer periods, a hot bath with Epsom sales (yes this really works) or a hot shower. I use all of these frequently, depending on how I am feeling. If I am in too much pain to get up, I just reach over, put the thermophore on or under me, and punch that button. That's how easy it is to get pain relief. Hot showers in the morning are IMPERATIVE. I have found they work wonders in pain relief, and muscle loosening. Then there are the hot baths that are just wonderful. Make sure you have the water as hot as possible. You want the most heat you can stand. Cool off with a cold shower afterward to feel best.

If you do nothing else for pain control, I encourage you to (check with your doctor about your circulation and then) start using cold and heat frequently. Like every day. Several times a day. Water is cheap, easy, effective, and delivers temperature to your skin in a manner that is highly effective. If not water, using heat & cold in another manner is critical to pain relief.


Practice:

For three days use an application of heat or cold. Record your feelings, thoughts and pain level before and after. Determine which method does what for you, so that for all kinds of pain you know what works best. Start making temperature the primary pain-control tool of your entire arsenal, and lean on it above everything else - pain meds, exercise, sleep, everything. Because it will just make everything else better.

Back to the Future - Upcoming Posts

I can't write everything at once, so here are a few topics to check back for...Feel free to suggest topics if you'd like to hear about something specific. The topics below that have links have already been written, so click on the link for the discussion.

- Traveling Without Trauma
- Pain Distraction Techniques - For Me, Flowers = Forgetting
- Valuable Vices - When Sex & Alcohol ARE Therapies
- You DO Have Something to Live For - Managing Suicidal Thoughts
- Creative Responses To "The Cure" Topic [Guest Blogger Requested to Co-Write]
- Going Mint-Free - How to Lower Your FMS Pain With the Guaifenisen Protocol
- Fill'er Up! - Feeding Your Body When Your Mind Doesn't Care
- Some Like it Hot, Some Like it Cold - The Role of Temperature in Pain Control
- Sitting Pretty - How to Handle a Pain-In-The-Butt Sedentary Lifestyle
- I Got That Awful Feelin' - Anxiety & Other Emotions That Accompany Pain
- Beauty & the Beast - Feeling Pretty When You Want to Scream
- How to Live with Half a Brain Because You're in Pain
- Hoax-free Pain Management Products, Proven by Me
- My Daily Regimen for Beating Pain [By Request]
- Help, Nobody Wants to Date a Sick-o
- Work, Schmerk - What to Do When You Can & Can't Support Yourself [Guest Blogger Requested to Co-Write]
- The "H" Words - How to Ask for HELP When You HATE To
- Meds & Your Sanity
- Dealing With - or Without - Your Doctor
- The Golden Rule of Pain: Putting Yourself Before Others When You are a Caretaker [Guest Blogger Requested]
- The Symphony of Sympathy & How to Stop the Music
- Passion & Pain - Giving Up What You Love Because It Hurts
- Prioritizing Your Life When Pain Comes First
- When You're Crying a River At Work
- Identity Crisis - No, My Name is not Pain
- It's So Funny It Hurts - When Others (And You) Laugh At Your Pain

Don't Complain - Fight the Pain

One of the most difficult and interesting characteristics about chronic pain is the complete lack of motivation most of us have to fight it. Depression is a big factor, leading to an acceptance of the pain as "our lot" in life.

Maybe there are high levels of pain that you cannot fix, but still, I challenge you to GET UP OFF OF THAT COUCH & DO SOMETHING. In all my years of having Fibromyalgia (if that's what it is, b/c I think it's a BS diagnosis) I have personally found not one person that was willing to change their life enough, say, to try the Guaifenisen Protocol that I have been on for 7 years. People love to complain more than they love to help themselves. The result is, that I refuse to provide support for people second-hand. If others ask on their behalf I suggest they contact me directly. Nobody ever has.

My take on pain is to kick its a**. That's part of the never give up part. Sometimes you give IN, because that actually lowers the pain level, but never UP. You always do something.

I have a long list of things I do for pain management, some of which I elaborated on in the first post, and others which I will share later. My approach is to run through the list, starting from top to bottom until I find what works. Period. Something has to lower the pain. And usually something does. But it may be 4 things in combination.

Are you one of those individuals that is a couch-potatoe when it comes to pain? Do you let it defeat you? I encourage you not to. Even if you are incredibly pain-ridden and depressed, find a way to start treating your pain, right now, today, and every minute of the day.

YOU deserve a better life. Put it in motion.

In case you don't have somebody in your life to kick your a**, I'm here to do it for you. :) Make it happen people.

Feedback: Anyone want to commit to kicking the pain in the a**?

Productivity - The Pain & Pressure Connection

As someone who has experienced a considerable amount of pain that was a result of pressure put on me (in my case, violin performance), I have a definite opinion around pressure and pain.

Let's just roughly define it as the Pressure Point (PP). The PP can occur with anyone, but is most likely to afflict those of us who are high-productivity individuals. Similar to a manufacturing plant, we measure our value by our output. Only problem is, we are PEOPLE. So we are inherently valuable, outside of the need to perform. But still, we do.

I have found the PP to be a high-level pain producer. And the bad news is, I create PPs for myself. Because I just WANT to do something, I do it, regardless of the impact. (This is a picture of me performing in 2000.)

The problem with the PP is two-fold. One is that it leads to pain creation because stress or injury exacerbates pain. Two, is that it leads to pain ignoring, because we just don't want to awknowledge the pain. So in this cycle we are unable to fix the pain because we refuse to acknowledge it, because we don't want to stop doing what we want to do.

The way to break this cycle is to become a cat. Yes, my cat. To realize that value is inherent in each of us (aka main premise #4 - YOU are worth it) and that we do not NEED to live with continual PPs.

Now the caveat to this is if we are caretaker for another, than the Pressure Point is not a choice. But still, do we have choices? I believe we do. The devaluation of ourselves vs. another is not a necessary factor. We may be caretakers, but in that caretaking, it is the ignoring of our OWN needs that leads to the PP - and therefore the increased pain.

Valuing ourselves first is central to pain-filled individuals. It is perhaps the hardest thing we will do, but is the #1 way to start treating the pain cycle. After all, if there is anything we can ever DO to treat the pain, we must first value ourselves enough to take the steps to put that plan into motion.

So back to the cat. (This happens to be my cat, Skertzo, when he was a kitten.)

Cats are valuable simply because they sit & purr & do nothing. We adore them for this. Their prime function in life is to - be adored. For this they seem to be created. Do we fault them for this? No, we love it!

Today's challenge is to become a cat. Learn to shift your value structure so that you are a human BEING, not a human DOING. Reflect on the loveability of this pet who just makes everyone happy because it purrs.

Suggested practice for this technique:

1. Sit on the couch or on your bed.
2. Inhale deeply.
3. Think of your favorite experience with a cat. Or sit with your cat!
4. Imagine petting the cat & it's happy response. To being petted, scratched, rubbed.
5. Imagine the cat sleeping in the sun.
6. Think that the only value this cat really brings is probably in its mousing (ugh) & tranquility. Yes, we're after the tranquility factor.
7. Realize that you are infinitely more loveable than a cat.
8. Think about creating "cat-time" each day where you can just sit around & purr.
9. Shift your focus back to production and notice how stressed out you get just thinking about all these things you should be doing.
10. Go back to "cat" mode & see how relaxed you are.
11. Check your pain levels when in "cat" mode.
12. When you feel you SHOULD produce, think of what your cat would do. He would go do whatever needs to be done (taking care of business, etc) & then go BACK into purr-mode...

I find that the more I try to become feline & tranquil in my behavior, the deeper I breathe (increasing O2), the more my body relaxes, and the less pain I feel.

Give it a try. Let me know what you think...

Every Cell is Sacred - Cell Oxygen & How to Get It

Part 1 - Pain Equation: Pain = Lack of O2

Remember the "every sperm is sacred" song from Monty Python? Well, let's take that thought to pain management.

Fundamental to my understanding of pain, and clear to those who I talk to, is the shared experience that pain is relieved by oxygen delivery to the blood cells. This would indicate that pain is caused by oxygen deprivation.

Therefore, everything you can do to increase O2 in your blood cells should alleviate pain.

To get the quick and dirty on these (which will be discussed in detail later) some things you can do to increase 02 delivery are:

Deep breathing
Exercise
Ice packs
Thermophores (moist heat)
Sex
Hot baths with Epsom Salts
Massages (yes, you can do these on yourself too)
Massage machines
Chiropractic treatments
Muscle stimulation (electronic)
Stretching with stretch bands
Stretching the muscle by just moving it
Chinese cupping
Cellfood (liquid oxygen)

The first thing two questions you should ask yourself when you're in pain are:

1. Can I identify what hurts? What is it?
2. How can I deliver O2 to that area, IMMEDIATELY.

So if you are in church or your bed, there must be a way to increase O2 delivery. Then you will find the pain lowers.

Do you have ways that you reduce pain through oxygen increase? Care to share? Do you believe this premise? What is your experience with it?

Pain With Joy!

Good morning.

This morning is the beginning of my new blog, "Pain With Joy."

It has been launched due to the request that I share some of my thoughts and strategies around my 20+ years of chronic pain, requests for information on the regimen that I use to handle that pain, and discussions with my friends and family about how we seek joy in the midst of pain.

First, I will tell you, Pain With Joy is as possible as Peanut Butter and Jelly. You can touch it, you can feel it, you can pass it on. Joy is contagious, and it DOES make pain better.

Stop back by as I share later on my many tips for pain management. Since I have had chronic pain since I was 18, you can imagine there are many of these available for you to consider. I also hope some of you will chime in and add your own strategies, so anyone who reads this blog can seek healing of body and mind.

A few things I want to start off sharing in this inaugural post. These premises will be the foundation of this blog.

1: Never, Never EVER give up. You can give IN, but not UP.
2: EVERY pain gets attention.
3: Don't just lie there, DO something!
4: YOU are worth taking care of.

(More about these later!)

If you like these comments, hate them or just need them either way, this blog is for you. Please pass it along to your friends & family that need Pain With Joy as well.