Chronic Illness

How to Create a Medical Binder

Using a daily wellness planner can be a huge mental health boost. First, it can help you to stay organized in your personal and professional life. Having a place to write down to do lists and other things that you’re tracking is a big stress reducer. Wellness planners can also be very useful for women with chronic illness who have even more things to keep track of like lab work and other test results, tracking symptoms, food intake, bowel movements, specialists, bills and prescriptions.

Even with all I have going on, I’ve never gotten myself organized like I should. And not only that, I’m a special needs mom. My youngest son has Down Syndrome and is a heart patient. There is LOTS to keep track of and we all know how important it is to document everything. And as I get older, I know I can’t rely on memory for everything!

The Chronic Illness Healing Binder

I was excited to have the opportunity to review The Chronic Illness Healing Binder. Its purpose is to help you organize your medical information and track your treatment and healing process. But even more than that, this combination medical binder and wellness planner will help you feel like you’re back in control of your life.

If you suffer from brain fog like I do, you’ll love having all of your information available at your finger tips without stressing yourself trying to remember all the lab results and procedures you’ve had over the years. The Chronic Illness Healing Binder is designed so that you can create your own binder devoted exclusively to your health. Just print it out, punch holes in it and place it in your binder.

For me, I’m using a classic sized Happy Planner this year for my health management and tracking so my plan is to print these out slightly reduced, maybe at 75% so that I can put them in the Happy Planner and have everything I need in one place. If you use a big Happy Planner, just use a punch to put these in your planner.

Here’s some of the forms included in the Chronic Illness Healing Binder:

Personal Information
Family History
Treatments Tracker
Medications Tracker
Practitioners Information
Diagnosis tracker
Lab Results Record
Thyroid Labs
Hospitalization Record
Surgery record (speaking from my own experience, you do lose track after awhile!)
Food sensitivities tracker
Milestones and Victories
Supplements Tracker (if you’re having a procedure, it’s really important to tell them EVERYTHING that you’re taking!)
Genetic Testing Record
Questions to Interview a New Doctor
Medical Mileage Tracker
Water Tracker
Food Journal
Movement Tracker
Self Care Tracker
Medical Bill Tracker
Login Tracker for all of those Patient Portals
Sleep tracker
Stress management evaluation
Dental Log
Before and after pics
Medical Timeline
Digital File Organization
Vacation Food Plan
Grocery List
Pharmacy Information
Toiletries Detox
Quotes for Inspiration

I’m really looking forward to FINALLY getting my organizational act together in 2019. Having everything organized and in one place is an enormous time and stress saver. Health isn’t just about your physical health, but mental and emotional health as well. Planners offer many mental health benefits, from reducing stress to diminishing anxiety. As you get organized with important information organized and planned out, you’ll feel so much better and have more time for your own self care.

With over 50 pages, worksheets, charts, and records, you will have everything you need for a sure-fire way to gain control over all your documents, lab results, doctor instructions, family history, genetic testing and a whole lot more! Whether it’s for you or a family member, I highly recommend that you give the Chronic Illness Healing Binder a good look!

How Sobriety Helps Me Cope With IBD and Mental Health

It was just about a year ago – November 2017 – that I noticed a nagging pain in my lower right side when I was doing yoga. I have a long history of pelvic pain and adhesions so I tried not to think too much about it but I had a gut feeling (see what I did there!) that something was very wrong.

The holiday season was under way and I didn’t have time for this so I swept it under the rug. A few weeks later while walking a Christmas stroll with my daughter I was almost doubled over with horrible GI pain. The buildings on the route were old and none of them had an open bathroom. I was a little panicked but I finally found a restroom. It turned out be “only” gas.

The pain and inflammation were picking up and I couldn’t even lay on my side. It was making yoga miserable. I called the gastro and made an appointment for January. I’ve had a long history of IBS and urgency but prior colonoscopies didn’t pick up anything. I was used to the urgency to poop hitting me about 10 or 15 minutes after I entered a store and walking around, and always thought that was just my normal.

I got a referral for a colonoscopy, and being me, I procrastinated about it until March. The weekend before the procedure I took my kids out. We had amazing NY pizza. I was thinking about how great it was that we finally had good pizza in Florida and how good life was.

I didn’t know that was going to be the last time I had pizza.

The big day arrived. When I woke up, the gastro told me that I had ulcerative colitis. I started out with a bang – it was pancolitis, meaning the ENTIRE colon was affected and it was, in fact “oozing.” We left and stopped to get something to eat on the way home. While we were at the table I started getting really nauseous and then I passed out cold in front of my husband. When I woke up I heard him crying and the paramedics were around me. I got whisked to our local ER where I spent a good portion of the day. I could barely stand up and needed help to get to the bathroom. When I finally was able to get there, I discovered that I had soiled myself while I had passed out. The prep didn’t go too well for some reason. I didn’t have clean clothes to change into except for the hospital gown.

That was my entry into the world of IBD at age 55.

The SCD Diet

I was pretty stunned at this turn of events but jumped into action right away. As a special needs mom I was familiar with GAPS, SCD and grain free diets so I sourced some things and changed my diet immediately. Initially I had to take prednisone for a couple of weeks, then tried balsalazide for awhile. To my distress, the incontinence was an ongoing problem so I stopped it. After a few months I switched to 100% SCD and tried not to take any more meds for a few months but after distressing, labor like pains and continual bleeding it was very apparent that I still needed to be on them. I had a sample of Apriso from the doctor and that plus the SCD diet seems to have greatly reduced my symptoms.

IBD and Mental Health

After the diagnosis, I think I jumped into everything so fast that it took me months to really start to notice the effects on my mental health. I really like to think I’m a badass but I was scared. I already had a neurological condition called cervical dystonia, (read more here) I was a special needs mom and now this?

I didn’t know what I was going to do when I had to take my 17 yo son (who has Down syndrome) out and the urgency hit. He can be pretty stubborn and is beginning to balk at coming into the woman’s bathroom with me, though I do try to find family bathrooms as much as possible. I could just see myself having an accident while caregiving because I obviously I have to tend to his safety first.

Life changed on a dime for me like it has for so many others. With the risk of accidents and other unpredictable and at times noisy GI symptoms, it seems easier to just not leave the house. When I go out shopping, I always have to case where I am so that I know where the bathroom hits. From the time I feel that first cramp, I have maybe 5 minutes to find a bathroom. And if I have my stubborn son with me, that’s pretty challenging.

I’ve read a lot of personal stories from others with IBD. The surgeries scare me. My kids need me, who will take care of them if I wind up in the hospital for extensive surgery? After my second ER visit this year my son said he was worried about me. It broke my heart.

The stomach pains are awful. The depression is unpredictable and hits me hard. I’m sure anyone who knows me well can tell when it happens because the light just goes out of my eyes. My first Thanksgiving just passed. I made some grain free sides for myself but they just didn’t taste the same. The reality of the Christmas season without the traditional foods that I loved started to get overwhelming.

How Sobriety Helps Me Cope

Many people who have IBD are in a dark place. It’s an overwhelming set of circumstances and mental health help is NOT offered by medical professionals.

Likewise, people in recovery struggle with some form of depression and anxiety. Getting a life altering diagnosis like IBD is traumatic and mind blowing. I’m really grateful to be sober and don’t miss my old life at all. But I do struggle with all that’s on my plate. The longer you stay sober the more things you find that you’re powerless over. To that end, I’ve developed a self care tool box over the years that serves me well since I can’t get to a lot of meetings because of my health issues and family responsibilities.

I’ve found a lot of similarities in coming to terms with IBD and my early days in sobriety.

Being all in. In early sobriety a friend said that whatever I would do for a drink or a drug, I had to apply to recovery. That means to go to any lengths to stay sober. The same applies to IBD for me and staying on such a restrictive protocol. It’s hard as hell, but for the sake of my family and myself I’m willing to go to any lengths that I have to do keep this beast under control. Early in recovery, I used to worry about how I was going to handle potential drinking situations…like what was I going to do New Years Eve or when I got married (yes, I really thought about this!) Now it’s simply a non issue. I don’t drink. It’s who I am. I have to learn and practice the very same principles with managing my IBD and it’s going to take some time..I still get down about what I can’t eat any more.

Daily meditation and quiet time. I have devotions before I check social media or do anything else. It keeps my head straight.

Yoga has become an important recovery modality. So much so that I just signed up for a 200 hour teacher training. I’m not entirely sure of what I’m going to do with it yet, but because of my ongoing mental health issues, I feel like I need to take things to a deeper level. Kind of like the rehab experience that I never had.

Movement. Anxiety cripples me. And makes my illnesses worse. Sometimes it’s just THERE and won’t go away. Doing cardio (Leslie Sansone works great for me) is a great way to burn it off.

Social connections. A lot of this takes place online now. And that’s okay for where I am today. I used to think that virtual connections didn’t really count but right now, they’re vital. I found a couple of good groups for IBD, dystonia and being a sober mom. There’s a big chronic illness and recovery community on Instagram. Knowing other people go through what I do is a relief. Helping someone else out is how I carry the message and get out of my own head.

Doing something creative. I keep this very simple. I like stickers and use them in my planner and journal. I also like to cook (which is a good thing because I have to cook every. single. thing. from scratch now to stay compliant on the SCD.

This is my first holiday season with IBD. It’s going to be different and I’m going to have to just ride it out. Going on close to 10 years of chronic illness and disability now has taught me a lot about pacing myself. If I need a down day or more, that’s okay. I still struggle with future tripping, fear and worry and continually have to remind myself to live one day at a time…and trust that the same God who watched over me in my alcoholic insanity still has my back today as I fight IBD and dystonia.

Finding Gratitude With Chronic Illness

When I first saw Thankful for Cervical Dystonia I took a deep breath but continued reading. I’ve had enough life lessons, thank you very much! Dystonia is a life changing, miserable condition that has impacted our entire family. How could anyone find gratitude with chronic illness?

But as I read on I saw that the author was grateful for the life lessons that cervical dystonia had taught her. Our worldviews are very different, but I as I read through the list I realized that I have been learning these same lessons myself since my own cervical dystonia diagnosis in 2010. Much like the 12 steps of recovery, some spiritual truths are universal and practical for anyone who seeks them.

Finding Gratitude With Chronic Illness

No matter what chronic illness you’re living with, I know that you’ll find these life lessons to be encouraging as well as empowering.

And if you haven’t found gratitude in chronic illness, that’s okay too. We’re all on the journey. Keep seeking and reaching out to others and the way will become apparent to you. Read on.

Gratitude changes your perspective on the life that you’ve been given. When you have gratitude in your life you:

Feel less victimized by others or what’s happened in your life. Blaming no longer exists. Rather than look at what you may have lost or what you don’t have, you’re able to look at situations in a new light and move forward focusing on what you can do and what you have.
Have a more open heart. Gratitude helps you become more compassionate and empathetic. You’ll be able to connect with people even if you don’t think you have much in common with them. It’s a more rewarding way to live.
With gratitude you’ll be able to recognize and appreciate what you have rather than what you don’t. As you begin to become aware of what is good and positive in your life, what is good and positive will grow.
Attract more gratitude and happiness. It’s often found that people attract experiences and people based on what they expect. If you focus on and expect good things to happen, more good may show up.

Keep A Gratitude Journal

Gratitude journals are often quicker to write in than full out personal journals so provide a quick snapshot into a span of time. If you don’t have time to write out a full narrative, jotting down some quick thanks is perfect. When you are feeling depressed or having trouble finding what’s positive, go back and look over your previous entries and gain a new slant on everything that is right with your life.

There’s no wrong way to begin and keep a gratitude journal. You might want to make it a daily habit, or you can keep the journal in a handy place and to write thankful thoughts when the mood strikes.

Gratitude Journal Prompts

Music
Your pets
Nature
Your body – no matter what it’s capable of
The gift of story in books, movies and social media
Your faith
Meditation
Art
People
Food
Your Home
Modern conveniences
Your work
Experiences
Hobbies that bring you joy.

Finally, here’s some Christian scriptures to meditate on:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. James 1:2-8

7 Survival Tips to Reduce Holiday Stress

The holiday season can be a great opportunity to spend time with family and friends and celebrate. While the holidays can be a joyous time the reality is that for many, holidays are stressful and can cause anxiety. Whether it’s because of finances, family dynamics or other worries, not everyone is excited about the holidays.

The expectations of seeing family, endless social events, gift shopping, and holiday preparation can become too much for even the most dedicated extroverts. All too often, anxiety and depression can become unwelcome holiday guests. Fortunately, there are a number of ways that you can reduce holiday stress and mindfully enjoy the holiday season.

One of the most common reasons that the holidays become stressful is the expectation placed on families who are sometimes overextended emotionally and financially. The added burden to provide big meals, provide gifts, pay for travel and overextend the budget feels like a heavy weight. Families begin to stress out just about the time they are putting away the Halloween decorations.

Despite Hallmark Channel’s fairy-tale insistence that families all love one another and that just being together is what really counts, many families are fractured, busy and unable or unwilling to live in harmony.

Have A Simple Christmas

There’s something to be said about having a simple Christmas. It’s very possible to have a holiday season without the stress and without going all out on decorations, events, and gifts. By scaling back and focusing on the more spiritual side of this holiday, you just might find more joy this season. And as an added bonus, when you keep things simple, you have a lot more time to enjoy everything this special time of the year has to offer.

For my older readers, do you remember what Christmas time was like when you were younger? Chances are you spent the month of December looking at Christmas lights, playing board games, baking cookies and singing Christmas carols. Gifts were probably less expensive but more meaningful and homemade.

So instead of buying more decorations, sort through what you have. Keep what you love and give away the rest. The house will be less cluttered and January clean up will be much easier.

Keep your calendar light too. You don’t have to go to every. single. event. Just pick a few activities and events that you know your family will enjoy. Spend the rest of the time with quiet activities at such as making cookies, crafting and watching holiday movies.

Limit Social Media

The amount of online drama and negativity has dramatically increased with no sign of slowing down. It seems to get worse every week! It can be incredibly draining. Too much time spent scrolling and absorbing other people’s outrage never helped anyone feel any better. Not only that, if the holidays are difficult for you it can increase feelings of despair and isolation. You might want to consider putting strict boundaries on your social media time.

Your time with God has to come first. Spend the first few quiet minutes of every day in quiet devotion and prayer to help center your thoughts. I like to pray the offices to spiritually check in as the day’s stresses begin to accumulate.

Eat Well

The sugar onslaught that begins around Halloween can result in decreased immunity, meaning it’s easier for you to catch everything that’s going around. As much as you can, make healthier and intentional food choices. If/when you choose to indulge, don’t turn it into a binge that lasts into January. Begin eating healthy again at the next meal. And be sure to stay hydrated.

Keep Moving

Set aside some time for movement – whether it’s walking, gentle yoga or just getting outside for a bit, getting your blood circulating is enormously helpful. Any activity or exercise you can fit in will help reduce your stress and elevate your mood. And it will help to keep the extra holiday weight away!

Set A Budget

Admittedly, retail therapy can be great fun but not so much when you have to face the New Year with more credit card debt than you can handle. You can minimize the damage by setting a budget and sticking to it.

Know Your Limits

As a chronic illness patient, I’ve had to come to accept that I can’t do everything that I used to. I don’t bake as much as I once did, try keep the decorations minimal and try to pick just a few holiday events to try to participate in. Set the priorities that work for you and your family and then stick to them.

For some of us, holidays can be really difficult. Not everyone has a supportive extended family close by. If you’re by yourself, look for ways to serve in the community. If you’ve sick, have experienced a recent loss or are experiencing ongoing financial struggles, you might want to step away from the holidays completely. Take a road trip, go to the beach or mountains. Detach in whatever ways make sense to you.

Practice Self Care

Self-care is a conscious choice that we have to make on a daily basis not only now, but throughout the year. Take some time and create a deliberate plan of self care for yourself to make it through the holiday season. Find my winter wellness tips here.

The key to having a stress-less holiday is all about preparation and setting boundaries. Holding to a plan that allows for the fun parts of the season without setting the family up for failure is the best way to ensure that everyone has the best time possible, even if times aren’t perfect.

Holiday Gift Guide for Moms With Chronic Illness

If you’re wondering what you should put on your holiday gift list, my Holiday Gift Guide for Moms with Chronic Illness suggestions are little luxuries that I’ve found over time that help me to cope with being home, struggling with isolation and in pain much of the time.

Holidays are never been easy for moms with chronic illness. They’re exhausting to even think about. As a mom with chronic illness, I often struggle with comparing myself with other moms who are able to keep up the frenzied pace of parenting, appointments and activities as the holiday season gets under way.

Faith Based Gifts for Moms

Dayspring has cute & inexpensive faith based gift items including jewelry, journals, bibles, coffee mugs, and t-shirts.

Beyond Suffering Bible – Being homebound can get depressing, to say the least. The most important thing I can do every day is to check in with God and align my thoughts so that negative thinking doesn’t get out of hand. This Bible is from one of my disability heroes, Joni Earickson Tada and has much to encourage those who struggling with chronic pain and disability.

Streams in The Desert devotional – I’ve had this for years and never get tired of it. It’s fantastic encouragement for those who are going through trials and hard times.

The Illustrating Bible – Newly released from DaySpring, the Illustrating Bible offers thick pages & ultra wide margins for those who love the craft of Bible journaling. It’s pretty pricey, so I’d only recommend it if you LOVE journaling and creativity indoor bible.

Gifts for Journal Lovers

Colors of Hope – I get a little overwhelmed with typical adult coloring books but I really enjoy this series of coloring books. It’s cheerful and easy to color in. I’ve also been loving Joy for the Journey.

Leuchtturm 1917 Notebooks – the standard in the bullet journaling world for their lovely, thick paper and quality binding. Customize to your heart’s content!

Tombow brush letter pens are the ultimate gift for journaling enthusiasts.

Struggle with drawing? Stainless steel stencils will add function & beauty to your journal pages without the mess.

Gifts for Moms With Chronic Illness

Heating Pad – Even though I’m over 50 and live in a subtropical climate, I’m always freezing because of the air conditioning everywhere and tile floors. I use it for relief of the frequent muscle spasms I live with because of dystonia and the ongoing pelvic pain from ongoing gyn problems. I’m beginning to think about a heated blanket too. Don’t tell my husband!

Spa products. Nothing helps to reduce stress for me like spa products. Take a look at these bath bombs and bath salts!

Fuzzy socks are a huge go-to comfort item for me (even in summer.) I can’t relax if my feet aren’t covered!

Yoga pants – I live in these, no apologies.

Ipad – It’s a splurge, I know. But it’s been my sanity saver since my diagnosis in 2010 and couldn’t sit at a computer for a year. I use it for social media, checking email and the Kindle app for reading, shopping, exercising and just about everything! And yes, mine is rose gold…it makes me happy!

Headphones – I enjoy listening to music and podcasts when I’m too tired to read or watch anything. A nice set is a huge treat!

Kindle Paperwhite – I got one this year even though I already had an iPad. I like to use it when I’m sitting around doctor’s offices with spotty wifi and at the beach when the glare is too strong to use a tablet.

Do you have any great suggestions to add to this gift guide for moms with chronic illness? I’d love to hear them!

This blog uses affiliate links. They do not affect the cost of the product for you, but I receive a small commission for recommending them. I only recommend products that I feel comfortable with and believe would benefit my readers.

SaveSave

All About My Wellness Journey

My wellness journey really began back in 1986 when I made the decision to start living alcohol free. There were lots of things that lead up to this decision, but one that I remember the most was a simple picture. (which I don’t have anymore!)

I looked like a boozer. My face had the flushed look of a young woman who spent too much time at the clubs.

It wasn’t pretty.

Taking that first shaky step was the most important thing I ever did for myself. As it turned out, it was the last one I ever had to do alone. Anything that’s positive in my life today is because of that decision I made 32 years ago.

My recovery journey has taken lots of twists and turns. I had a lot of inner crap to wade through. But I’ve learned a whole lot about balancing mind, body and spirit along the way. Managing the stresses of special needs parenting while wrestling with my inner demons took a toll on me and years ago I began to suspect I had autoimmune problems.

Cervical Dystonia

In 2010, I was diagnosed with cervical dystonia, a neurological movement disorder similar to Parkinson’s disease. I was in devastating chronic pain and desperate for help.

That’s when I found yoga. I could only start with basic chair yoga but little by little, I began to inch my way back.

Over time I regained my mobility and some normalcy but it was always a thorn in my side. I felt like I was on the sidelines and unable to function like the rest of the moms around me.

Ulcerative Colitis

Just because you have one chronic condition doesn’t make you exempt from getting anything else. Last December I started noticing some abdominal pain when I was doing yoga. My initial gut reaction (see what I did there!) was that something was very wrong.

Still, it took me a while to get to the gastro and finally to the fateful colonoscopy that confirmed a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis in April of 2018.

This is some scary stuff. I have pancolitis, the form of ulcerative colitis which affects the ENTIRE large intestine. Which explains the pain I was getting under my ribs..and here I was worrying about liver problems.

My Wellness Journey

As a special needs mom, I had some familiarity with the GAPS diet and was able to source a few things right away. Seeing pictures of fellow Crohn’s & Colitis sufferers in the hospital made me scared to try to do this holistically, so I reluctantly took the two week course of prednisone and then began the course of meds and hoped for the best.

Despite my continuing on GAPS, some of my symptoms got a little more distressing.

Like incontinence. Sorry, I’m too young for this.

This last weekend after crapping my pants for about the 20th time, I decided to go off the meds. (Be assured that I have a gastro and a primary doctor that I won’t hesitate to use if things worsen!)

Am I scared? Yes. But I know via anecdotal evidence that many Crohn’s & Colitis patients were able to do this holistically and get rid of most, if not all, the meds. Nutrition, stress relief and cannabis can go a long way.

Doing My Research

I’m not against traditional doctors at all. You need the diagnosis, the tests and at times, the meds, the antibiotics, the traditional treatments and the surgeries.

But many times they just send you off with a bunch of expensive prescriptions with frightening side effects with no real answers.

I’ve learned to network with others and find out what works for them. I follow what some might consider sketchy alternative health social media pages.

In this day and age, you have to become your own advocate.

The learning is never going to stop.

Moving along..yes, I’m a little scared. But if things begin to escalate I know I can get into my doctor’s office right away. But so far I’m slowly feeling better OFF the meds than I was ON them.

And I did check the formulary for what the next meds to be considered are. They cost from hundred to over a thousand dollars.

That’s motivation enough for me!

Disclaimer: As always, I like to remind my readers that I’m not a health care professional, just a graduate of the School of Hard Knocks. I’m only sharing my journey. Always consult with a trusted health care professional before making any life changes.

This blog post contains affiliate links.

Figuring. Completing. Boring. Cuddling.

This week’s been weird. No sooner do I have a routine that I think I can stick with then life throws a curve ball at me.

I woke up with a minor cold on Monday but when you live with ulcerative colitis and dystonia, nothing’s minor. I started bleeding a bit and a quick check in with my UC groups confirmed that this is something I can expect going forward.

Luckily it seemed to pass quickly but then the end of the week got messed up by a couple of consecutive nights of bad insomnia, probably menopause induced. So by Friday I couldn’t really think straight and today (Saturday) I realized there was a kids’ party that I forgot to enter into the calendar and I realized it at 10:50–the party started at 11:00 about 25 miles away. The Cuban is not too happy with me right now.

And needless to say, my blogging schedule get messed up.

Anyway, this month I’m participating with the August Link Up Party for people with chronic illness. Go check it out and read some of the great posts from other chronic illness bloggers!

Figuring.

This is wildly appropriate for this month because that’s pretty much all I do is figure things out. Here’s just a few of them.

Ketogenic Gaps
My Fitness Pal
How to navigate my daughter’s transitional years after high school
Training my dog
Getting my son with Down syndrome ready for the new school year and trying to figure out why the hell he’s been so difficult lately.
What tattoo I really want to get.

BTW, I just figured out that I already used my carb allotment for the day and it’s only 12:00 as I write this.

Completing.

I wouldn’t know. I have yet to complete a household chore. Luckily my family pitches in. Taking my own advice about boosting my mental health with hobbies, I got my lettering stuff together and am trying to spend a few minutes every day working on hand lettering. It’s a perfect way to detach from digital everything and is reminiscent of what I used to enjoy doing before life took over.

Boring.

I sure wish things could be boring. There’s nothing I like more than just being home. But the reality of having two kids with special needs is that Mom and Dad have to be available for Uber duties. It’s exhausting and I really appreciate the days that I can just stay home.

Cuddle.

I’m notoriously standoffish about hugging ANYONE. But I always have lots of love for my dogs. I like to call them my little antidepressants.

Here they are!

Lilly the Jack Russell

A post shared by Marya (@chronicmomlife) on Aug 24, 2018 at 9:54am PDT

Belle the Aussie

A post shared by Marya (@chronicmomlife) on Aug 9, 2018 at 12:21pm PDT

New Arrival Gordita the Bulldog (aka Deeta)

A post shared by Marya (@chronicmomlife) on Jul 14, 2018 at 7:24am PDT

How to Get Started With Yoga for Chronic Pain

Yoga is the oldest existing physical culture system in the world. Not only is it a systematic and scientifically proven path to attaining physical fitness, it can also delay aging, rejuvenate your mind and spirit, improve your appearance, maintain joint fluidity and can increase overall vitality and creativity. Not only that, yoga can also help to relieve chronic pain.

When I got diagnosed with cervical dystonia in 2010, I quickly became disabled with horrible chronic pain in my neck and upper back. I spent close to a year on the couch much of the time. Even simple tasks like making breakfast became overwhelming.

After awhile I began practicing chair yoga, moved on to neck and yoga postures, and as I improved, on to whole body yoga. Am I cured of dystonia? No. It’s one day at a time but yoga has greatly reduce the need for pain management medications.

Yoga for Stress Relief

I don’t have to tell you how fast-paced and easily distracted our world is. When not in the car, people are sitting behind their desks all day, whether at home or in the office. They’re hunched over their phones. Many come home and crash in front of the computer. It seems easier to sustain an unhealthy lifestyle with processed food and inadequate movement than to put the effort into healthier lifestyle habits.

When we don’t put healthy habits first, we can become more susceptible to chronic pain and chronic illness. I’m convinced this is part of what happened to me. When the day finally came that I was really struggling, I started looking for answers and became willing to change.

The Benefits of Yoga For Chronic Pain

Like me, many people are looking for natural health alternatives for chronic pain. Traditional pain medications and muscle relaxers, while necessary for some, have side effects and run the risk of addiction. Yoga is an ancient practice combining meditation and exercise which have a deep and long lasting effect on the mind and body. Yoga regulates breathing and increases metabolism, aids in weight loss, relieves stress and reduces depression and can also help in pain relief and management.

The best thing about yoga is that it can be practiced anywhere and anytime. And remember, it doesn’t even have to be a full practice. Think about taking short movement breaks. You can do some of them in bed, your home office or even in your cramped workspace if you know the right exercises.

Christians and Yoga

The Christian viewpoint of yoga I’ve always heard was that if you open your mind to clearer thinking and inner vision, you’re opening the spirit to demonic possession. It’s often taught that yoga practices borders on occultism, and that opening your mind and spirit to the health benefits of yoga is dangerous and against everything Christianity preaches.

My personal conviction is that Romans 14 addresses this argument.

^13-14Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. I’m convinced—Jesus convinced me!—that everything as it is in itself is holy. We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it.

For me, yoga is primarily healthy movement. It benefits me spiritually by calming down the noise in my head and reducing anxiety so that I can actually focus on prayer and meditation.

I’m familiar with the argument “just stretch on your own.” This doesn’t really work for me as I’m just not creative enough to come up with my own beneficial stretches to benefit my physical challenges.

As with anything else, to thine own self be true. If there’s any compelling reason that you need to stay away from yoga, then do so.

How to Get Started With Yoga for Chronic Pain Management

In yoga you can find a huge variety of practices and teaching styles. If you don’t care for mysticism, be assured that most of what is taught in a typical gym setting is going to be more health oriented. Or you can always look around on YouTube to get started with an at home practice. My top two YouTube recommendations are Yoga With Adriene and Sleepy Santosha.

When getting started, just begin with a simple intention, meditation or spiritual prose. Find something to focus on and begin to practice some simple breath work. This will ease your mind and body and prepare it for the exercises ahead. Remember to be slow and steady with your movements.

If you’re checking out a yoga studio, look at their social media accounts to get a feel for where they’re coming from. Power yoga is very popular but can be too rough for people with chronic illness or chronic pain conditions. No matter which you choose, it’s really important to get proper cuing, guidance and adaptive assistance as you move through asanas.

Remember you must know your own body and its limitations. If you have back problems, you will want to check what’s safe for your condition with your doctor or do some online research about your condition.

This blog post should not be construed as medical advice. I’m not a doctor or a yoga teacher, just a yoga enthusiast who has suffered with the debilitating neurological condition dystonia since 2010. Yoga for natural chronic pain management has worked for me not as a cure, but as a tool to help manage the complexities of my condition.

SaveSave

The Pain Companion {Book Review}

Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of The Pain Companion to review. The opinions below are completely my own. I am not being paid for writing this review.

If you live with chronic pain from injury, autoimmune disorders or any type of chronic illness, you understand that the challenges are far more than physical. Not only are the physical aspects challenging, but the mental and emotional struggles are very real as well.

As a chronic illness blogger, I received a copy of The Pain Companion to review. I took it along with me when I was on vacation at the beach which helped to really focus and meditate on it.

This is one of the most important books I’ve read since I began my chronic illness journey. It will occupy a place on my nightstand because I know I’m going to refer back to it again and again as I navigate the complexities of living with two major chronic illness conditions.

Review of The Pain Companion

“In the twenty-first century, one might wish that pain were an easily treatable nonissue. It is not. Millions of doctor and emergency room visits stem from pain, and addiction to pain medications, rampant in the United States, often takes root in an attempt to manage unremitting discomfort.

In The Pain Companion: Everyday Wisdom for Living With and Moving Beyond Chronic Pain (New World Library, June 12, 2018), author Sarah Anne Shockley, who has personally lived with chronic pain since 2007, offers fellow pain sufferers a compassionate and supportive guide for living with pain that can be used alongside their ongoing medical or therapeutic healing programs”

“I cannot know your personal suffering, of course; only you can,” writes Sarah. “But I do understand the experience of being in significant and relentless pain for long periods of time, and I understand the fear, sadness, and frustration associated with long-term physical debilitation. So I can say that this book has been written from inside of pain, a perspective on the experience and the healing of pain that we are seldom offered.”

Part 1: Pain Moves In. I can totally identify with the feelings of chronic pain being an unwanted visitor that moved in unannounced!

Part 2: The Emotional Life of Chronic Pain. The Pain Companion addresses the complex emotions that we face as learn to adjust to our new and unwanted normal. It gives a voice to thoughts and feelings that we may not realized that we even had! Naming and understand these emotions has been an essential part of the coping process for me.

Part 3: Meditative Approaches to Physical Pain. I can’t overstate the importance of meditation practices to people living with chronic pain and illness. There are about 15 different meditation techniques here that you can incorporate into your day. I like to think on them slowly. Don’t rush through this section!

Part 4. When Pain is the Teacher. Chronic pain and illness has been a journey that I never asked for but I work hard to remain teachable even as I feel powerless over my symptoms at times. One of the most important lessons that I’ve personally learned is having compassion for myself. As a woman in recovery I’ve always pushed too hard and been too hard on myself, even when my mind and body were telling me otherwise. Living with two debilitating chronic pain conditions has taught me to be kind to myself.

Living Better While Living With Chronic Pain

I had so much identification with Ms. Shockley. While I’m not a single mom with chronic pain as she is, I am a special needs mom and can completely identify with the overwhelm of being a caregiver while having physical struggles and limitations of your own.

She speaks of a different approach to chronic pain – one of not running away from it or resisting it. She also talks about writing as a way of processing everything and again, I was able to identify with it because that’s what drives my own writing and blog.

Do give this a listen!

The Pain Companion is an excellent book for both the newly diagnosed chronic pain patient and for those who’ve been on the journey for a long time. There are so many nuggets of wisdom and insight that you’ll want to refer back to it over and over again.

This blog uses Amazon Affiliate links.

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

How to Cope with a Chronic Pain Flare Up

If you live with chronic pain, you’re probably all too familiar with chronic pain flare up days – when the pain that you already live with on a daily basis intensifies and completely levels you. In order to help minimize bad chronic pain flares, it’s helpful to know what triggers your physical symptoms and that can help you to cope with a chronic pain flare up.

How Does Weather Affect Pain?

When the weather changes to an extreme, whether from atmospheric changes or temperature fluctuations, it can affect certain types of chronic pain. This is especially true when your pain is related to your joints, such as with arthritis or fibromyalgia. If you start to keep a pain journal and record everything that occurred on the days when you had a flare-up, you might notice that your neck or knees hurt a lot worse when it rains or gets extremely cold. For others, extreme heat can trigger symptoms. Journaling can help you see what weather changes might be triggering you and help you to prepare for them in the future.

The Relationship Between Chronic Pain and Stress

Everyone experiences stress. Some women are living with chronic illness, multiple caregiving responsibilities, work demands and more. It’s overwhelming for sure but we’ve got to learn how to manage it. No matter what chronic illness you’re living with, stress will probably impact your pain levels and cause flare-ups. But be assured that while we can’t eliminate stress completely, effective stress relief methods can help to reduce chronic pain.

Hormones and Chronic Pain

For women, a big flare trigger for chronic pain might be as a result of fluctuating hormonal levels throughout the month. This might be related to PMS, where your pain is worse when you are about to start your period, or you might be experiencing more pain as you head toward menopause. This is yet another reason to keep a pain journal, since it helps you to notice these patterns. The more you know, the more prepared you’ll be for these potential triggers.

Nutrition and Chronic Pain

Eating inflammatory foods such as refined carbs, and sugar can increase symptoms for many people. Others might need to eliminate dairy and gluten. They key is to know yourself and track your symptoms. Again, a journal is going to be helpful here to track your symptoms.

How to Cope With a Chronic Pain Flare Up

Despite your best intentions, chronic pain flare ups can happen at any time. If you’re having a bad day, week or month…just step back and regroup. Think about what absolutely has to get done and let the rest go for now. If you need to spend a few days in bed, that’s perfectly fine. There are things you can do every day that help you cope with your chronic pain. Some things you might already be doing, while others are good to start getting into the normal practice of. It is important that you keep trying to make changes in your life for proper chronic pain management and mental health.

Take Intentional Action to Reduce Stress

Stress has such a large impact on nearly every facet of your life, including your chronic pain. No matter where your pain comes from, stress is likely to trigger chronic pain flare ups and make everything worse. The best thing you can do is figure out what is causing your stress and work to reduce it. Limiting time with toxic people, not taking on extra tasks at work, reducing unnecessary spending and just living a more organized life are a few ways to begin to reduce stress.

Get Those Endorphins Going to Ease Chronic Pain

You may not love exercise, but exercise definitely loves you! We all know it’s great for weight management, but it can also help to promote blood flow that helps to reduce your risk for heart disease and high blood pressure. Working out also helps to release endorphins, the happy chemicals in your brain. When this happens, you not only reduce stress, but your mood will improve and you’ll probably find that you can handle your chronic pain much better. And some types of chronic pain are reduced when you are moving your body more often, like mild forms of arthritis. (This has definitely been true for me in managing the pain from cervical dystonia.)

The Danger of Using Alcohol for Pain Relief

Drinking alcohol may temporarily reduce your pain, but it is only hurting you in the long run. Not only is there a risk of addiction, but alcohol can get in the way of your sleep. Sleeping is extremely important when you are trying to cope with chronic pain, so you don’twant to get into the habit of putting a Band-aid on the pain with alcohol every day. Plus, alcohol is a depressant, so it can make your mood highs and lows a lot worse. And don’t forget how miserable a hangover can be! Finally, mixing alcohol with other meds is extremely dangerous and can lead to catastrophic consequences.

Join a Support Group for Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is serious business. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by it and let it ruin your life. Unfortunately, even those who love you might not understand what it’s like. Finding a chronic pain support group might be one of the best things that you can do for yourself, whether online or local. You’ll feel less alone and much more empowered.

The Effects of Chronic Pain on Family

Chronic pain can cause a lot of family stress including social isolation, marital conflict, and feelings of anger and resentment. Be patient with each other. Let your family know where you’re struggling and ask for help with what you need. Let them know that you appreciate their support. Keep meals and expectations simple. Don’t take on any additional responsibilities. Finally, when you’re feeling awful…just do whatever nourishes your soul. Binge on Netflix, journal, listen to music that you love, take a long bath or spend some time outside. How do you like to regroup during a chronic pain flare up? SaveSave