A comprehensive guide on chronic pain, its causes, symptoms, and effective management strategies to improve your quality of life.
I wish I had been prepared for the impact of what was going to happen in my life from chronic illness being newly diagnosed. Realistically. I had a firm belief back then that I could limit the impact by choosing a specific job and as long as I was engaged mentally, it didn’t matter if I was hindered physically. I didn’t think of the radius pain has. It never occurred it would get worse, complex…
I have been having severe fibromyalgia–related chest pains. The way I can tell it is fibromyalgia is that a) they are enduring and b) my sternum is extremely tender to the touch and so it is quite inflamed. I am going to the doctor to discuss it. At the moment using anti-inflammatory creams and a heating pad What is costochondritis anyway? It is swelling in the cartilage between the ribs and the sternum and the…
Chronic muscular pain may be linked to a previously unknown principle for how pain signals are transmitted in the human body. This is shown by Umeå University researchers Tuija Athanassiadis and Karl-Gunnar Westberg, in collaboration with Canadian associates, in the scientific journal PLoS ONE. Click Here to Visit the Store and find Much More…. Muscles have sensory organs called muscle spindles. Their task is to inform the brain of changes in muscle length. Muscle spindles,…
The millions of Americans who suffer from fibromyalgia live with a two-edged sword: excruciating pain, accompanied by the doubts of many who dismiss it as a made-up illness invented by a troubled mind. But researchers at the University of Florida and elsewhere are beginning to piece together clues that reveal the physical basis of the puzzling syndrome that causes severe fatigue and aches and has defied easy diagnosis. Click Here to Visit the Store and…
Immediate treatment by a physiotherapist, bypassing a waiting list, can reduce problems with recurring low back pain, reveals a thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Many people suffer from low back pain, and most get better. However, those who suffer from long-term pain can find that their work, everyday, and leisure activities are limited to varying degrees. Given that long-term pain often requires extensive treatment, it is important that the pain be treated at…
It may seem counterintuitive, but young and middle-aged fibromyalgia patients report worse symptoms and poorer quality of life than older patients, a Mayo Clinic study shows. Fibromyalgia most often strikes women. It is characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain with fatigue, sleep, memory, and mood issues. The research, one of several Mayo studies being presented at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting, suggests the disorder plays out differently among different age groups. Researchers studied 978…
Time for another post about Fibromaygia for Awareness month. Fibromyalgia is more than widespread pain Primary symptoms Primary symptoms are the areas used to diagnose someone with Fibromyalgia because they happen to a degree in all of us. Chronic widespread pain Yes, there is chronic widespread pain. It is often the symptom people think of. Yes, we have pain. All the time. And we can flare up with a lot more than our baseline pain as…
At a recent appointment with my naturopath, to the wonderfully named Dr. Love, the topic of recurrent muscle pain flares came up. Anti-inflammatory interventions and nervous system calming remedies had not broken the cycle of muscle pain I experience. My pain predominantly occurs in my upper back/shoulder blades on either side and my glute muscles/SI joints. Even though I stretch and strengthen, which helps, I have not broken out of these painful cycles. My naturopath…
My husband and I have decided the time is finally right to start family planning – or as right as it ever will be! For most (hetero) couples, this might be as simple as throwing out the birth control pill pack and spending more time in the bedroom. Of course, many otherwise healthy couples face fertility challenges that shouldn’t be minimized. But for anyone living with chronic illness, the starting point for trying to conceive…
A few months later my husband graduated with 2 BS degrees in Finance and we were ready to start our life for real. During the first 5 years of our marriage, he had been completing his undergrad full-time and working full-time. This had left us a bit distant and out of touch with each other. We were really looking forward to some re-connecting and had scheduled a week of “vacation” together while he graduated and…