It's hard to think of anything positive about chronic illness. It causes pain and shame, and can take our lives away. But, as I look back on the last decade since chronic pain became part of my life, I can see positives as well as negatives. Yes, I lost a few years of my life, yes I had a lot of … [Read more...]
The Slow Death of Compassion For the Chronically Ill
In "The Slow Death of Compassion for the Chronically Ill," Ken McKim makes several excellent points, about the lack of compassion towards those with chronic illness. It's not too long (30 minutes) and definitely worth watching and sharing, especially with those who question your illnesses, or … [Read more...]
The Chronic Pain Scale: Communicating Your Chronic Pain
The Pain Scale and Chronic Pain This is the pain scale they have on the wall in the rooms at the hospital. This is a terrible pain scale on so many levels! But, for someone in chronic pain it's pretty much useless. The faces that go with it are just, well, humorous. 0 - No Hurt - A person … [Read more...]
When your partner is sick and pushing you away
What do you do when your partner is struggling with chronic illness and pushing you away? In order to understand what you need to do, you have to first understand what your partner really needs, and what they are really asking for when they push you away. The following question came via email … [Read more...]
Communicating Your Needs When You Have Chronic Illness
A friend in my local fibro support group asked a fairly common question about how you deal with family who just don't get that your energy level varies, they don't get that you really DO hurt and that you really DON'T have any energy. How do you communicate your needs when you have chronic illness … [Read more...]
Things to Say to Someone with Chronic Illness
If you love someone with chronic illness, you want to show them you care. There are plenty of lists of things that you shouldn't say, things that aren't helpful to them or to your relationship. But, more important are the things that you should say to someone with chronic illness. These are the … [Read more...]
How do we Communicate Pain?
While taking Nonverbal Communications, our first assignment was to review a scholarly article. Upon reading through our list of choices one caught my eye right away. The title: "How Do We Communicate Pain? A systematic Analysis of the Semantic Contribution of Co-Speech Gestures in … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Show Your love, even when you feel like crap.
When we aren't feeling well it's all too easy to take it out on those closest to us. We can let the stress get the best of us and that often leads to lashing out. We can't take the anger and frustration out on the illness that causes these emotions, so we take them out on the people around us. Most … [Read more...]
Building a Solid Healthcare Team Isn’t Easy
Over the last decade I've really struggled to build a medical team I can trust and I think I have finally almost managed it... just in time to barely need most of them. My greatest struggle has been finding a good general practitioner. For about two years I didn't have one at all and strictly … [Read more...]
The Impact of Chronic Illness on Marriage
Unless you were already sick before you met your partner, it's highly likely that your relationship took a drastic change when you became ill. Perhaps you had a great sex life, you went out often and did lots of things together, you traveled, you enjoyed life. I know that's how it was with my … [Read more...]
