Hi Readers

I started this website in July 2018 and have decided to take a break for just over  a month. Before I go, I’d like to share with you an astonishing video – a wonderful discussion on the flaws of medicine today and the need to move in a different direction. Enjoy.

I wish you a lovely next month and will return to the blog early December

all the best

Judy

Hello readers

This has been a very busy month. I am enjoying my self indulging in a writing course at SFU and have found a wonderful group of fellow writers. My mentor is Jen Sookfong Lee who is a brilliant author. Very exciting. I hope it will improve my writing for the website too. Creative work is an excellent way to manage stress. Of course I am now sitting here writing from 4am which is not exactly health – too much creative energy is also not good. Darn Judy – looks like I’m going to have to try my Yoga Nidra sleep meditation. 

I am presenting my website at a provincial conference webinar – hooray. wish me luck. I have some Case Scenarios I’ve worked out – feel free to comment on Contact if you like. 

Website has received a bit of a makeover in spots – Check out:

Improve Pain where to Start

Also to Anxiety and depression and Stress Anxiety PTSD

Also added a new page – link to Articles.

I would appreciate any links you would like to share

Have a great rest of your week

Judy

Here I am again with my most valuable resource – a patient. Ms. A. has given me a grand link to another example of how trauma affects the brain. Modern medicine is no longer medicine. We are truly lagging behind. Modern medicine focuses on putting us in boxes – boxes that we can then throw medicine at, while forgetting the actual cause of our illnesses.

Please take your time to read this article as it explains how the Limbic system and Trauma work. Remember all stress is collected in our Limbic system. The article is on borderline personality disorder but it mentions how the limbic system works.  Mental Health and the Limbic System.

Thanks A

Have a great day

judy

I am sitting with a patient and we are discussing how trauma and chronic pain disempowers us.

When we are faced with situations that we have no control over, we become systematically disempowered. This leads to shame. Shame leads to guilt. This can result in a person withdrawing from people around them and can lead to anxiety. The more anxious we are, the more we seek to control our environment. When our environment is not protective – as in chronic pain – especially nowadays where chronic pain is not being treated well and stigmatized – all this leads to shame and more trauma.

Consider a person who is in an abusive relationship. The first time you kind of take the abuse. Maybe you have no place to go or you don’t feel strong enough to leave. The more the abuse occurs, verbal or physical, the more disempowered we get and the more likely we are to develop shame. Vicious cycle.

The shame leads to poor self image and people feeling that they are not “worth it”.

How do we break the cycle. It’s bloody hard. I think first education is the key – to understand that the response is an automatic response in your Limbic system and not something you have control over. Then to say – okay – now we know where it came from – now we have to go to extra-ordinary measures to move to healing.

If you have a loved one – they need to be educated about what his happening. Calming the body – Qi Gong Daily Program is easy to do but also again very hard to get into a routine of actually doing the work. Try the daily program. The more we don’t do the program – the more shame we feel and the more stuck we feel.

Watch this space – I’m working on a PTSD Website.

Have a good day

Judy

Dear Bloggers

Every day I am faced with stories of trauma. Not only trauma from physical injuries, but trauma inflicted on people by other people or by circumstances, trauma that happened in childhood, or more recent traumas.  One thing that strikes me is how often my patients think about other people. They worry about how they have hurt their families, especially their children, disregarding their own injuries, blaming themselves, taking responsibility when what has happened to them is in no way their responsibility.  

I have started working on my PTSD website. It will be a while coming, but in the meantime I have included a possible introduction. Any comments or thoughts would be welcomed. 

Thank you

Have a great weekend

Judy

Introduction to new PTSD website

Stress can affect your health in many ways. 

Sometimes your body needs a break. A break from the cycle of pain causing your alarm centre to fire up (limbic sytem) and the alarm centre causing pain.

You could try – recovery poses. One pose if for if you have pain standing or lying down – Recovery Pose 1. Other recovery pose 2 is if you have pain sitting. Use these positions every single time you have pain. It may mean every 10 or 20 minutes. Within 3 to 5 days you should notice improvement.

Also do the meditations even in the day, as often as possible to calm your brain and don’t forget to breathing.

Hello Bloggers

I have had a rather difficult two weeks. More than usual. Thank goodness my therapist was on hand on Friday afternoon.  I attended another very useful EMDR session. For those of you who haven’t heard of EMDR – please check out the blog post on August 20th 2019.  

I added this piece to Health Professionals (and another valuable link to Stories).   

Facilitating patients in their goals to wellness can be stressful. I know. I have found many tools to help me cope with stress, all of which I have shared on my website and on the Blog section (2019/Aug/20). First rule in a crisis – start with yourself before you can help others. Another helpful link to Fight Burnout.  If you have any suggestions, please help build and improve this website by adding your thoughts to the comment section found on each page. Thank you for helping families and communites cope with chronic pain. 

Good luck with your journeys. 

Judy

Dear C.

Thank you for your query. I have a response which I hope may help.

EMDR has helped me cope with my trauma. My A.C.E. score is 6/10 and doing EMDR therapy has improved my confidence, my anxiety, depression and sleep. here is a short video which you may find interesting.

it is not for everyone. You do need to have all your mental health tools on board before attempting this procedure. These are a few of the vital ones:

Mindfulness

You may already be practising mindfulness without knowing you are. If you feel upset or stressed and you reach out to pray, that is a form of mindfulness. It means you are in the moment and aware of your reactions. Forgiveness is letting go which is also a form of mindfulness. The more you think about the future, the less mindful you are. 

Breathing

Breathing heals the body and the body heals the Limbic system. This technique is essential to calm the Limbic system which stores pain and past traumas. 

Body Calming through Yoga, Tai Chi or QiGong Daily Program

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – What you think is what you feel. 

Good Luck

Judy

A year ago I started building my website. I was scared out of my wits, but the Gale Course offered through our library guided me wonderfully through the journey. I would have loved to have done a similar course to understand the rest of social media. A year later I feel I am only now beginning to get the hang of Twitter and Facebook, and don’t dare go to any of the other platforms. (Ha Ha – see – I have some jargon. Also could have used LOL but then always think of how I thought that meant lots of love – which confused my administrative assistant no end.)

I digress. As usual. Social Media has proven informative and fun. I am still learning the rules. In an attempt to spread the news of my website, I think I broke a zillion etiquette rules. But life is learning and I am now sharing a helpful article from Twitter that introduces a number of great hashtags and twitter handles that deal with chronic pain. I hope you find it interesting.

Social Media Skills for Professionals.

Although marked for professionals, the article mentions how important it is for patients to explore these avenues as well. Partnership in Care! Love it.

All the best

Judy