Welcome friends.
I hope you find this site helpful. I have created it to help you manage chronic pain or anxiety and stress. Please remember to heed your healthcare provider’s advice first before following my advice.
Good Luck. Judy
Thanks to social media, and Twitter in particular, I have been sent more resources on chronic pain.
I’ve added a few of these links to Understanding Pain and in other spots.
Be sure to explore Flippin’ Pain from the UK. Chronic pain is a condition common to people all over the world, and we are trying to work as a community to help. Good luck.
Judy
When no problem has been found on CT scans or Xrays or blood tests, it does NOT mean you have psychosomatic pain. The pain is physical.
Yes – anxiety can cause inflammation – anxiety and stress makes everything worse – but it is not psychosomatic. Many people have pain for no known reason. Just because your physician can’t exactly point to your source of pain, doesn’t mean it’s in your head.
Many of my patients have vague auto-immune disease – not classified – YET. I think in years to come, we will discover more.
For now – Do NOT call your pain psychosomatic. It is somatic – in the body. The Psyche can make it worse, but it is a physical problem. Inflammation usually – and needs to be addressed accordingly.
Check out the blog on Inflammation
And Step 3
Breathing helps to calm inflammation and low impact exercise and stretching.
Doctors unfortunately have helped drive this SHAME narrative, sometimes, by making patients feel it’s all in their head or making them feel they shouldn’t need pain meds.
Best
Judy
It is important to plan for your future, especially when it comes to your health. If you have a serious chronic condition or if you are getting older, it is especially important to plan. It helps your health care provider provide better care if you are able to explain what measures you would want should you become suddenly very ill.
Have a look at this page which helps with issues of advanced decision making around health care.
Health Care Plans for the Future
Take care
judy
One of my patients has shared a lovely site she really likes. Feel free to check it out. BrainPickings.
Also try these new pages:
Signs and Symptoms of Chronic Disease
Have a great weekend
Judy
Inflammation happens in your body when your body feels under threat, like when there is a bug, like COVID, or your body is exposed to a toxin, like excess carbohydrates or glucose when you’re a diabetic. Your body responds with inflammation.
Everybody responds different to this stress of inflammation. If the inflammation lasts for a long time, in other words it is chronic inflammation, it causes diseases. 3 out of 5 people will die from chronic inflammation because it causes diseases like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, allergic reactions.
Some people have chronic inflammation without knowing it. In fact many people do. The inflammation can even come from threat that exists in the Limbic System in the brain from Difficult Childhoods.
Chronic inflammation causes tissue damage. That is why stress and trauma are not only in your head. Stress causes inflammation which then damages the body.
Stress can be physical from toxins, like Covid causing inflammation and infection or even other infections or from trauma – like repeat injuries which then damage the body long term or from toxins like alcohol or too much sugar, all causes damage on the body.
This is why it is so important to manage Stress and to examine childhood traumas.
Have a great day.
Check out Daily program and the links above
Judy
Roma Pahwa; Amandeep Goyal; Pankaj Bansal; Ishwarlal Jialal.Author Information
Hi Readers,
I would like to share a discussion held with a group of my brave patients and mental health clinicians. I hope you find it interesting.
Feeling misunderstood, feelings of shame, having to deal with addictions (to food, alcohol, drugs, sex addictions), torture, exhaustion, memory loss and brain fog, not knowing myself, lack of confidence, paranoia, food hoarding, feeling unsafe, inability to sleep, isolation, OCD behaviours, overthinking, fear of reaching out to others for help or to socialize, triggered by authority – police or others, accepting abusive behaviours from others, dealing with health issues relating to complex PTSD, like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, sleep apnea.
Remembering that trauma has given me symptoms, but this is not who I am, this is not my personality. I am not the problem. The problem is the problem.
Distractions: puzzle books, crafts, going for a walk, learning a new skill, going on the internet.
Breathing, 5-step grounding technique, music, pets, taking my dog for a walk, yoga, resting or sleeping, talking to a friend.
Feeding my spiritual side. Remembering I have been created kind, generous, caring and thoughtful.
“What I think if what I feel”- trying to be mindful of my thoughts. Remembering I am good enough.
Reach out to a counsellor.
Eating a proper diet and exercising. Body Work – connecting my heart to my head. Body Scans.
Writing can help, journalling.
Thank you to our wonderful group. We are all trying to help each other.
All the best for 2021
Judy
2021 is two days away. The worst is yet to come in many countries across the world. More than ever we can now see the impact of a global network, global economy, and global connections.
I wish you all safety and security in the next few months, but I realize that will not be possible for all too many of you waiting for a viable income and being faced with ignorance from too many people.
I would like to share a heartfelt story from Mika Kuyoro.
Best
Judy
A memorable week! The Covid-19 vaccine has been approved and the first recipients have received the vaccine. These brave people have fought in the most dangerous of areas, the ICU, the emergency rooms, and long-term care facilities. Thank you for your service.
We must all do our duty and protect each other. Please Please Please get the vaccine. As soon as I am eligible I will get the vaccine. It provides protection as early as 12 days after the vaccine, and, after the first one, will work for 2 to 3 months, depending on the vaccine. After the second dose, the immunity is boosted. We are not sure for how long.
Take care. Stay safe. Judy
Hello Readers
I hope you are all well and staying safe in the home stretch. Please don’t give up. This Christmas will not be like any other Christmas we have experienced. Experience it safely. Hugging your grandparents may mean you won’t have them with you to enjoy a normal Christmas next year. Please protect those who have diabetes or immune suppression. Take care.
Here is a useful video about vaccines. I hope it helps. I will certainly get the vaccine and hope you will consider getting immunized.
Take care. Judy
Good morning dear readers
This morning I would like to urge any readers to pass news along to their relatives with diabetes that they need to be particularly careful in these difficult times.
COVID-19 has caused universal stress and stress raises glucose. In Canada we have a help-line 1800 BANTING (18002268464) where a person can speak to a diabetes educator. There is also a Diabetes Prevention Program that can be accessed.
I have also added education on diabetes on my site on this link – Diabetes. There is a video on foot examination and other education videos.
Stay safe everyone. If you have symptoms you are concerned about, contact your health care provider.
All the best
Judy