dahlia in my garden: Rio Fuego in Coleus leaves

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Don’t Forget to Keep it Simple

Living with chronic pain can be a struggle which complicates all aspects of life. Handling the big stuff like managing treatment, regulating medications, maintaining relationships, and being employed (if you are able), etc. ... take enormous energy to accomplish. Our lives become a juggling act with chronic pain acting like a tantrumming terrible two-year old constantly poking us in the leg, causing us to lose our focus and drop a ball we are so desperately trying to keep aloft.

Though it’s true the big things can really be overwhelming, sometimes it’s the small daily stuff that grates upon us the most. Those activities which we cannot do at all, those which are limited by our pain, and those which cause us pain by doing them can cause us a great deal of consternation when we must face them over and over and over again.

So what can we do besides grind our teeth and let the pain win? The trick is to face the problem head on and find a simple answer. We tend to underestimate low tech solutions. Just because something sounds ‘too easy’ does not mean that, properly applied, it wouldn’t work successfully. Here are some daily life issues that pain/illness can complicate, followed by simple ideas for how to circumvent the problem and keep your pain level low at the same time.

Problem: Perhaps like me you can’t lift a gallon of milk to pour yourself a cup. Instead of struggling with the container and spilling it or just foregoing the drink entirely, you can find another way. 

Solution: Buy a set of Tupperware-type cups with sealable lids and have someone fill them up for you. Now you’ll have milk whenever you want it. This solution can be applied in other situations where lifting or opening an item is too difficult.

Problem: I can’t lean over or squat down to feed & water our cats.

Solution: Make a food chute! Take a wrapping paper tube and duct tape a funnel into one end. Now you can place the bottom of the tube into the cat food dish and pour the dry food into the funnel and you won’t spill it. You can use a PVC pipe with a funnel to fill the water dish, too. A completely pain-free solution that I use nearly every day!

This is my trick for feeding dry cat food to my buddy, Jaspurr.

Problem: When you want to cook dinner, it’s too hard for you to reach the pots in the lower cabinets.

Solution: Buy or make a pot rack. My husband got permission from the landlord and used pieces of pipe to make a plain one over our stove. It has helped me tremendously!

Problem: It’s painful for me to use a blow dryer to dry my hair. My wrist gets sore from holding up the dryer, and raising my arm above my head can cause my shoulder to dislocate.

Solution: When I shower at the YMCA after my daily physical therapy, there are wall-mounted blow dryers which work great. If you like to shower at home, you can buy a counter top stand or a wall mount to put your blow dryer into which will keep your hands free.

Problem: It’s hard for me to access lower shelves in the fridge or pantry because of my physical limitations.

Solution: Work out a plan with your spouse, roommate, or family for the kitchen. In my home, I am allocated the top shelf and drawer in the refrigerator and the top three shelves of the pantry strictly for my things. My husband gets the rest of the fridge space and all the low shelves and cabinet areas he wants (he has a lot of items for his diabetic diet and his camping food). Storage containers, spices, cooking utensils, and other items we both use are kept where I can easily reach them. We started this system last year and it really helps me.

Here is the pot rack my husband made for me.

Problem: It’s difficult to get my laundry down the stairs and into the washing machine. It’s also hard to get clothes in and out of the dryer because I can’t bend over or squat down.

Solution: Collect your laundry together and if it’s a small load, stuff it inside a pillow case or if it’s larger use a garbage bag. If you can’t carry it, tie it securely and roll it down the stairs. Keep a short stool and a reacher in your laundry area. When you need to remove the clothes from dryer (mine has a low door), sit on the stool so you can get the clothes out and use the reacher for what it beyond your grasp. Collect them back into your bag or pillow case. If it’s too much for you to carry up the stairs, just wait until someone can take it up for you.

So you see, there are options if you stop and look for them. Don’t let the annoying daily stuff cause you mental frustration or physical pain. Find another way. Look for the simple solution!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Tuesday-Newsday #22

In my news updates this week are Chronic Pain News, Patient News, Lyme Disease, and Osteoporosis. The final item is a blog post by Sue Falker-Wood titled,  ‘Sometimes Life Just Plain Sucks!’ I also noticed a breaking story that could be important for people living near the border who are experiencing severe mysterious symptoms.

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below.

WARNING:  My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, meds, etc., in anything I post nor can I guarantee that they are all effective, especially not for everyone. I always include the citation, source, or website so you know where it came from. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!
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BREAKING STORY
CHRONIC PAIN NEWS
PATIENT NEWS
LYME DISEASE
OSTEOPOROSIS
COPING

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Facing a Lifestyle change: Benefits outweigh struggle

Getting a diagnosis for a chronic condition can be completely and entirely overwhelming. You begin to envision the worst that could happen to your body, how your life will change, how it will affect your relationship with the ones you love, and what kind of treatment and medications you will have to endure. Then there’s another thing which can be even harder to accept... how you will have to change your daily lifestyle.

What will you have to change for your health and will you be able to keep it up?  Sometimes it’s those daily adjustments in our comfortable lives which have the most impact. You may think to yourself, sure I can take the pills, okay I can do the therapy, no problem I’ll learn to give myself injections... but then you hear what else the doctor says: I have to eat a strictly controlled diet? I have to live near a certain hospital/treatment center? I can’t travel because of my weakened immune system? It’s not recommended for me to have children? I’ll have to give up my driver’s license? 

These types of changes often have the biggest immediate impact and can trigger an emotional reaction we may underestimate. It's a struggle we have no choice but to face.

Eighteen months ago, my husband, Mark, was diagnosed as borderline diabetic. His family history is full of diabetics (both parents and his brother) and high blood pressure. The doctor told Mark his current state of health was speeding him toward an inevitable date with diabetes.

The doctor laid everything out about how bad diabetes can get, in blunt detail. It really scared my husband. Although the doctor said Mark would not need to take insulin or use a glucose monitor at every meal, he recommended doing some testing occasionally to learn how his numbers were fluctuating. But the doctor’s biggest medical advice: he told my husband to make major lifestyle changes, and to make them quickly.

“Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache, 
carries with it the Seed of an equivalent or greater Benefit.” 
~Napolean Hill 

Now, I have to step in and say that at the time, Mark was not exercising, he ate what he liked, and was carrying extra weight around his middle. When he was younger he was much more active and healthier, but he’d never put any limits on his diet. 

After his diagnosis he went into a flurry of self-education. Mark bought books about diabetes or checked them out of the library. He looked up information on the internet. He took a class through our health insurance on managing diabetes. He bought glucose testing supplies and started testing himself far more often than the doctor had suggested. He found healthy recipes online and cookbooks for diabetics. Even though I could see Mark was taking the diagnosis seriously, I didn’t believe he would make the major dietary changes required of a true diabetic or that he would push himself to exercise regularly - and stick with it over the long term. This was a man who’d eat what was there just because it looked good, not because he was hungry. He was more couch potato than exercise nut. I just didn’t believe his good intentions would last more than 6 or 8 weeks.

I was wrong. And boy, am I glad!

Mark cut out white flour and only allowed himself limited sugar. He stopped using salt when I showed him a few great herbal salt-substitutes. He gave up drinking coffee and soda. Despite his avowal of hating most vegetables, he willingly started trying them - if anyone had told me my husband would eat broccoli and like it, I would have laughed myself silly. Mark made an effort to cook more for himself (with some guidance from me) instead of eating frozen or fast food. He used to eat a lot of rice, but he omitted it as well. I was very surprised to see how far he was willing to go. His glucose testing showed how what he ate and how active he was directly affected his numbers. It revealed patterns which helped him to make further adjustments, and motivated Mark to challenge himself even more.

As for exercise, it had been years since he had gone bike riding, which he used to do a lot. He started out slowly to give his body time to adjust, but over time he began to tackle hills and add more miles. He’d call me on the way home from work to ask if I had any pressing household chores because he was so eager to get out on his bike. In the past he’d come home from work and collapse in front of the television, saying he didn’t have the energy to do anything. Now here was my husband rushing to take out the garbage so he could hit the saddle and get out on the road. I was so proud of him!

As of today he has lost 25 pounds! He is biking about 20 miles on an average ride and doing it three days a week. He decided to take it to another level when he heard about the Diabetes Tour de Cure bike ride to raise money for research. He signed up for the ride, asked friends and family to sponsor him, and challenged himself to complete thirty miles. He finished the ride in two hours and fifteen minutes and raised $850. He enjoyed it so much, he can’t wait to do it again.

I know Mark misses a lot of his favorite foods and treats and that it’s a constant daily struggle to avoid the things he knows he shouldn’t have. And I also know, as a borderline and not true diabetic, he does sometimes allow himself to step outside his recommended diet. But he’s been so good at maintaining a steady course and not letting himself lose focus. 

He says the motivation to make alterations in his diet and exercise was fear of diabetic complications, and how that would far more affect his life - and in a destructive way instead of a beneficial one. Making and maintaining a life transformation like this is not easy, but the benefits far outweigh the difficulty of the struggle. In addition, having pride in the achievement of such major success can give us strength to face down our chronic illness as a whole.

If you are currently facing a lifestyle change which will help you avoid an illness or better manage one, I wish you all the certitude and will-power you’ll need to meet your goal. Good luck!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Tuesday-Newsday #21

Time for news! The subjects we look at this week are Chronic Pain News, Assistance/Therapy Dogs, Sickle Cell, Autoimmune Disease, and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Last is a piece written by a woman with Fibromyalgia & Sjogren’s syndrome titled, 10 Tips For Navigating Your Way Through Brain Fog’.

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below.

WARNING:  My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, meds, etc., in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. I always include the citation, source, or website so you know where it came from. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!
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CHRONIC PAIN NEWS

Pain Community News, summer edition (from the American Pain Foundation)
Inside this issue, you’ll find articles on how not to pay when you play this summer, using humor to help cope with pain, safe use of over-the-counter medications, Top 10 Tips for setting limits and Fast Facts on knee pain and much more! Also look for articles on PCAC’s expanding role, APF’s new Action of the Month and how APF’s Action Network leaders are making waves in Puerto Rico.
Read the issue in PDF format or Flash format

ASSISTANCE & THERAPY DOGS
SICKLE CELL
AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE


CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME


COPING

Saturday, July 16, 2011

In the Garden

It’s been a busy and overwhelming week for me. Once again I’m wearing a cardiac monitor for 30 days (ugh!). I’ve had a whole bunch of doctor appointments, my pain level has been high, and my sleep reduced. All in all, there’s been a lot going on with me.

I just haven’t had time to write a blog post, so instead I’m going to share some garden photos. This week my dahlias bloomed for the first time this season! The two blooms are so different from each other and so very striking. See the photo below, followed by some favorites of years past.

I hope you’ll enjoy these dahlia photos, and I promise to be back on track with a regular post on Tuesday-Newsday.
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Here they are! My first two dahlia blooms this year:
Juul All-Star and Powder Puff Polka
Next to my cat ceramic piece is a bloom of Wynne's Eeekk!
Resting in a bed of green coleus is Junkyard Dog
A display of dahlias on my computer desk in summer 2007

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Tuesday-Newsday #20

It’s time for Tuesday-Newsday! The subjects this week are Pain Relief, Neuropathy, Cancer, Interstitial Cystitis, and Multiple Sclerosis.  The final item I've included is an essay meant for healthy people to read, called “10 Commandments for interacting with the chronically ill.”

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below.

WARNING:  My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, meds, etc., in anything I post nor can I guarantee that they are all effective, especially not for everyone. I always include the citation, source, or website so you know where it came from. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!
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*PAIN RELIEF
*NEUROPATHY - NERVE PAIN
*CANCER
*INTERSTITIAL CYSTITIS

*MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS



*FOR THOSE WHO *DON’T* HAVE CHRONIC ILLNESS

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Letting Truth, not Fear, Guide Your Perspective

This post is not so much about living with chronic pain as it is about dealing with the unhealthy ways some of us use to try to cope. It’s also about recognizing what you’re doing and facing it head on...

As I’ve mentioned in a few previous blog posts, dealing with my chronic pain lead to depression and ultimately to several years of anorexia. It took intense therapy and incredible force of will to finally recover. However, I am always worried that my eating disorder thinking will sneak back in. So, to this day I prefer not to know what my actual weight is, lest it trigger a relapse. When I must be weighed, I always turn my back to the scale and ask not to be told what the number is.

Last week as I was leaving a doctor’s appointment, the physician’s assistant gave me a sheet of paper as a record of my visit. There it was... my weight was listed. 

"There are seeds of self-destruction in all of us 
that will bear only unhappiness if allowed to grow." 
~Dorothea Brande 

At first, I wasn’t quite sure what I felt when I saw the number. It took a moment to process. Was it too high? Too low? Right where I should be according to my doctor? Did it make me want to skip dinner and start fretting about being fat?

I was surprised to find that I was actually feeling quite complacent. It wasn’t setting off alarm bells in my head. This wasn’t the big terrifying reveal I was afraid it would be. I continued to think about it, but not in a negative way.

It reminded of one of my poems I rediscovered recently in an old filing cabinet, something I’d written during therapy to help me get past the eating disorder and take a more realistic view of my health.

I’ve often thought that this poem would be incredibly helpful to others, especially some women I see at my gym who get on the scale and obsess very vocally about the numbers. Maybe this poem will speak to you or someone else you know, and help you face a truth you haven’t seen before.

~ Stepping on the Scale  *~

The number you see on the scale
does not show if you’ve won or failed.

Remember it does not reveal
if you ate too much at your last meal.

The digits don’t break down to show
your muscle - fat - bone - water ratio.

It easy to forget, your see,
fat’s lighter than the other three.

If you eat well and exercise
you might be caught by a surprise:

The muscle and bone which you gain
might cause the sum to rise, not wane.

And it would be a good result
not something that is an insult.

Don’t be misled by myths and diets.
Some CAN be harmful if you try it.

And taking weight loss to extreme
can totally destroy your dreams.

You may not see what underneath 
is damaged when you do not eat...

a balanced plan of healthy food
with exercise and positive mood...