Thank you for all the great feedback on the Blogger Highlight series. I’ve enjoyed meeting each blogger and sharing their blog with you. This week, I highlight The Mindful Migraine.
I’ve had migraines on and off since I was 11 years old. More recently, my ‘episodic hemiplegic migraines’ began to merge together, and I was diagnosed with ‘chronic migraine’. Chronic migraine reduced my ability to parent, work, study, travel and socialize. It is a debilitating condition, which is not yet fully understood and is not currently curable. It’s more than ‘just a headache’ – it’s a ‘full body catastrophe’ – and perhaps not surprisingly, can lead to isolation and depression.
Remember it’s ‘your brain – your pain – your journey’ and since every body and every situation is different, you should always work with your health care support network on which strategies will best suit your individual condition.
Questions I Asked Linda
M. What is your favorite post and why?
L. My favorite post is probably “The face of (dis)ability” – it aimed to show that people with chronic illness are still capable – we might be down but we’re definitely not out. It was one of the rare posts that I include a photo of myself, and in it, I’m celebrating my successes (showing myself as a uni student and a new blogger) AND acknowledging my limitations (I’m wearing my brain-fog shirt and my invisible disability lanyard). I think it’s a nice reminder that life is complex and there’s often more to everyone than meets the eye.
M. Looking back at your blogging experience, what stands out the most to you personally?
L. By far the greatest joy to me has been the sense of community that Blogland provides. When I first started blogging, I was lonely and felt as if my chronic illness had left me on the outside of my local community (no one I knew had chronic migraines, so no one really “got it”). Reading other blogs, commenting on their posts, and replying to their comments on my blog soon saw a network of bloggers grow around me. Those that had similar experiences helped me feel seen and understood, whilst those who were not annoyed by chronic illness helped me feel part of the wider world. Imagine logging on each morning and hearing from people like yourself, positioned all over the world!! What a wonder!! That same network now helps me stay motivated to keep writing, keep reading, keep encouraging others to speak their truth and be there for others
One of my favorite posts is Foot yoga for migraines. I shook my head at first, then realized it made sense.
Be sure to visit Linda’s blog, say hello, and enjoy her archives.
I was a young mother living my dream life when everything changed. At a wedding, I absentmindedly pulled a tick off the back of my leg, crushed it into the pavement, and moved on.
I never realized that tiny creature would alter the course of my life.
Not long after, my health began to unravel. Crippling symptoms emerged, yet every doctor I saw dismissed them as anxiety. But deep down, I knew something was terribly wrong.
What followed was a terrifying descent into medical uncertainty, a relentless fight to uncover the truth while my body continued to deteriorate.
For five years, I battled through a system that refused to listen, all while my family suffered alongside me. I suspected Lyme disease early on, but each time I voiced my concerns, I was brushed aside. “It’s just anxiety.” “You’re overreacting.” “Maybe it’s depression.” The gaslighting was endless.
Finally, after years of searching, I received the diagnoses that changed everything: Lyme disease, multiple co-infections, and alpha-gal syndrome. By then, the damage had already been done.
Documenting every struggle
Throughout this journey, I kept a journal, documenting every struggle, every setback, and every moment of resilience. In 2023, newly diagnosed and still fighting for my life, I turned those pages into a book—because this cannot not keep happening. Not to young mothers. Not to fathers, children, or anyone else. The cycle of medical dismissal and gaslighting must end.
I wrote my book while still in the fight, in the trenches of this disease, so it would be raw, real, and relatable. So others would know they are not alone.
You are not Lyme. You are not a burden. Lyme is the burden placed upon you.
Today, my battle continues. In the summer of 2024, I began SOT therapy for Lyme disease. This winter, I started SOT therapy for Babesia and Bartonella, alongside herbals and methylene blue.
Recent tests have revealed demyelination and autoimmune markers resembling those seen in multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s — the result of years of untreated infections.
To help heal my brain and reduce inflammation, I will soon begin peptide therapy. My medical team is also exploring stem cell therapy in Europe. The road ahead remains steep, but I refuse to give up.
Because this fight is not just for me. It’s for every person who has been dismissed, misdiagnosed, and left to suffer in silence.
Thank you for all the great feedback on the Blogger Highlight series. I’ve enjoyed meeting each blogger and sharing their site with you. This week, we highlight Adjunct Wizard. Paul has a varied background that results in great and sometimes quirky posts. He is also the caregiver of his wife, who has Parkinson’s Disease.
I write this for me but I am always interested in other’s thoughts about life and dealing with chronic disease.
My favorite quote: Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. — Emerson
Questions I asked Paul
M. Looking back, what experience shaped you into who you are today?
P. Being fired from a job… makes you a better person by forcing you to understand importance of self.
Why ? That day when I wrote it and later as I refer to it, it is a metaphor for the strong love I have for Cheryl. In the early days of her dementia I felt like I was always scrambling to quickly find out how to help her and be there with her because she could appear “just fine” to her friends and family. I quickly wound up doing all the household chores — it is easy to get lost in all that and forget that the disease was not Cheryl. The laundry that day bought all those thoughts to the fore.
My favorite recent post is Is This Fly Shit or is it Pepper? I could immediately relate to my career. As I said, I’ve had anought Fly Shit to last a life time.
Stop by Paul’s blog, say hello, pull up a seat, and read through his archives; you will find a nice mix of topics.
In their book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, coauthors (and twin sisters) Emily and Amelia Nagoski reveal that completing the stress cycle — finding a way to let our bodies know we’re no longer threatened or in danger and we can stop being stressed — can be the most effective way to avoid burnout and emotional exhaustion. Physical activity or any kind of physical movement is one great way to do this, but there are several other ways.
Here are 6 evidence-based strategies to help you complete your stress cycle:
1. Breathing
Deep, slow breaths down-regulate the stress response, especially when the exhalation is long and slow and goes all the way to the end of the breath so your belly contracts. Breathing is most effective when your stress isn’t that high or when you just need to siphon off the very worst of the stress so you can get through a difficult situation.
A simple, practical exercise is to breathe in to a slow count of 5, hold that breath for 5, then exhale for a slow count of 10, and pause for another count of 5. Do that three times — for one minute and 15 seconds of breathing — and then see how you feel.
Casual but friendly social interaction is the first external sign that the world is a safe place.
2. Positive social interaction
Casual but friendly social interaction is an external sign that the world is a safe place. People with more acquaintances are happier. Just go buy a cup of coffee and say “Nice day” to the barista or compliment another customer’s earrings. Reassure your brain that the world is a safe, sane place, and not all people suck. It helps!
3. Laughter
Laughing together, and even just reminiscing about the times we’ve laughed together, increases relationship satisfaction. We mean belly laughs — deep, impolite, helpless laughter. When we laugh, says neuroscientist Sophie Scott, we use an “ancient evolutionary system that mammals have evolved to make and maintain social bonds and regulate emotions.”
Aarm hug in a safe and trusting context can do as much to help your body feel like it has escaped threat as joging, and it’s a heck of a lot less sweaty
4. Aceptance
Sometimes, a deeper connection with a loving presence is called for. Most often, this comes from a loving and beloved person who likes, respects and trusts you, whom you like, respect and trust. It doesn’t have to be physical affection (though physical affection is great). A warm hug in a safe and trusting context can do as much to help your body feel like it has escaped a threat as jogging a couple of miles, and it’s a heck of a lot less sweaty.
One example of affection is the “six- second kiss” advice from relationship researcher John Gottman. Every day, he suggests, kiss your partner for six seconds. There’s a reason behind the timing: Six seconds is too long to kiss someone you resent or dislike, and it’s far too long to kiss someone with whom you feel unsafe. Kissing for six seconds requires that you stop and deliberately notice you like this person, you trust them and you feel affection for them. By noticing those things, the kiss tells your body that you are safe with your tribe.
Another example: Hug someone you love and trust for 20 full seconds, while both of you are standing over your own centers of balance. Research suggests this kind of hug can change your hormones, lower your blood pressure and heart rate, and improve mood. It doesn’t have to be precisely 20 seconds. What matters is you feel the stress easing, or what therapist Suzanne Iasenza describes as “hugging until relaxed.”
Of course, affection doesn’t stop with other human beings. Just petting a cat or dog for a few minutes can help complete the cycle too.
5. A big ol’ cry
Have you had the experience of just barely making it inside your home — or bedroom — before you slam the door behind you and burst into tears for 10 minutes? Then you wipe your nose, sigh a big sigh and feel relieved from the weight of whatever made you cry? You may not have changed the situation that caused the stress, but you completed the cycle.
Have a favorite tearjerker movie that makes you cry every time? Going through that emotion with the characters allows your body to go through it, too.
You might experience completing the stress cycle as a shift in mood or mental state or physical tension, as you brethe more deeply and your thoughts relax.
6. Creative expression
Engaging in creative activities today leads to more energy, excitement, and enthusiasm tomorrow. Like sports, the arts — including painting, sculpture, music, theater and storytelling in all forms — create a context that tolerates and even encourages big emotions. Arts of all kinds give us the chance to celebrate and move through our big emotions.
P.S. How do you know you’ve completed the cycle?
It’s like knowing when you’re full after a meal or like knowing when you’ve had an orgasm — your body tells you. You might experience it as a shift in mood or mental state or physical tension, as you breathe more deeply and your thoughts relax.
It’s easier for some people to recognize than others. For some people, it’s as obvious as knowing that they’re breathing. That’s how it is for Emily. Long before she knew about the science, she knew that when she felt stressed and tense and terrible, she could go for a run or for a bike ride and at the end of it she would feel better. She has always been able to feel it intuitively, that shift inside her body.
Don’t worry if you’re not sure you can recognize when you’ve completed the cycle. Especially if you’ve spent a lot of years — like, your whole life, maybe — holding on to your worry or anger, you’ve probably got a whole lot of accumulated stress response cycles spinning their engines, so it’s going to take a while before you get through the backlog.
All you need to do is recognize that you feel incrementally better than you felt before you started. You can notice that something in your body has changed, shifted in the direction of peace.
“If I was at an eight on the stress scale when I started, I’m at a four now,” you can say. And that’s pretty great.
To learn more about the stress cycle and burnout, watch Emily and Amelia Nagoski’s TED conversation:
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Emily Nagoski PhD is the author of “Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life.” She has a PhD in health behavior with a minor in human sexuality from Indiana University, and a MS in counseling, also from IU, including a clinical internship at the Kinsey Institute sexual health clinic. A sex educator for 20 years, she is the inaugural director of wellness education at Smith College.
Amelia Nagoski DMA Amelia Nagoski holds a DMA in conducting from the University of Connecticut. An assistant professor and coordinator of music at Western New England University, she regularly presents educational sessions for professional musicians discussing the application of communications science and psychological research, including “Beyond Burnout Prevention: Embodied Wellness for Conductors.”
The spacing is wacky this morning; the system will not allow me to save the changes.
From about eight weeks old, Angie Kent couldn’t have breast milk. As she grew older, she realised lactose products were “ruining her whole day”, so she listened to her body and made adjustments.
There are so many lactose-free dairy options out there now. But when Angie Kent was growing up, not so much. There wasn’t even much information about lactose intolerance, which she now realises was the reason she couldn’t take breast milk after about the age of eight weeks and why, after noticing how eating regular dairy products brought on discomfort and pain, she made a “conscious effort” to research her symptoms and seek medical advice.
Body+Soul: You’ve spoken often about your journey with being a coeliac, but not of your lactose intolerance – why is that?
Angie Kent: Coeliac disease can be a life-threatening disease for many people and I felt it was important to bring attention to how serious this intolerance is. By comparison, for most people, lactose intolerance symptoms can often be managed.
How does drinking/eating lactose make you feel? What are the major symptoms for you?
Eating and drinking lactose gives me overall discomfort. I feel as if my digestive issues have the power to ruin my whole day. I don’t feel my best, and I don’t feel like I can be relaxed or active due to my physical pain from bloating, toilet troubles, and skin breakouts.
When did you first learn of your intolerance, and how did you get diagnosed?
I was a colicky baby and was not able to have breast milk from eight weeks old. As a child, there wasn’t much education around being lactose intolerant and as I got older I could no longer deal with the pain and needed to do something about it.
I started noticing a pattern after eating dairy and experiencing consistent symptoms, so I made a conscious effort to listen to my body, researched my symptoms, and learnt more about lactose intolerance, and then sought medical professional advice.
How did avoiding lactose affect your social life/general diet/ability to eat what you wanted/mood?
I find catering to my dietary restrictions these days is much easier with the increased number of alternative milk and lactose-free options, as well as the amazing vegan products that are now on the market.
Being lactose intolerant has just made me more conscious of what I am putting in my body, but I don’t feel like I have to make major sacrifices in my life.
How has knowing about your intolerance improved or changed your general wellbeing?
My overall well-being improved when I got a handle on my symptoms and felt more myself again. I certainly know when something my body doesn’t agree with has snuck into my food, because all hell breaks loose with all different types of symptoms. I’m a sensitive soul.
What is the worst thing possible for you to eat/drink for your lactose intolerance?
I don’t consume any dairy milk, yoghurts or creams because of my intolerances but I am a sucker for cheeses! With so many lactose-free dairy products out there, I can now enjoy lactose-free cheese without all the stress on my body physically and mentally. If you’re feeding your gut something it can’t process or handle, your mental health suffers too. It’s important to know your gut is your second brain. Why do you think people say ‘trust your gut’ so often?!
What non-dairy and dairy alternatives are you able to eat with your lactose intolerance?
So many dairy products have lactose free options nowadays that I don’t necessarily have to seek dairy alternatives, my favourite brand is Liddells. But knowing that most coffee shops always have a range of reliable dairy-free alternatives always makes things really easy for me.
What does your average day on a plate look like now?
I am mainly veggie-based so I will make myself a smoothie in the morning with my herbs, supplements powders, dairy-free yoghurt, bananas, blueberries, and almond milk.
For lunch I try to have a salad with lots of greens and maybe some kind of seafood. Dinner I love to make myself a veggie dish or fish curry! The options are endless.
For snacks, I can now snack on some lactose-free cheese singles, avocado, and tomato with rice crackers. I am mad about it! Plus lots and lots of herbal teas.
The benefits of changing your diet when living with chronic pain have long been debated. But while a diet full of processed and high sugar foods isn’t great for everyone in general, is there actually any truth in a diet curing chronic pain?
While changing your diet can eradicate your pain levels and cure you, there is some truth in looking at what you eat and how you can greatly impact your pain levels. However, because everyone experiences pain differently and lives different lifestyles, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to using diet to manage health conditions and pain. All you can do is an experiment and see what works for you if anything does at all. That being said, there have been numerous studies into an anti-inflammatory diet improving symptoms and pain levels in fibromyalgia patients, meaning they can improve their quality of life by making some easy dietary changes.
The main thing to remember when making any dietary changes is that it can take time and patience to find what works for you. For example, cutting out many food groups won’t alert you of anything specific instead, it will further restrict your diet.
So try removing one food group at a time and see if it makes any difference before trying something else.
Best Foods For Inflammation
If you want to try some foods linked to good health, you can find some recommended foods for people with chronic pain. But doing your research into what works for you, especially if you lead an active lifestyle, can give you a better understanding of the nutrients you need to support your body the way it needs it.
Peas and other plant foods that include a pod, including beans and garbanzos (also known as chickpeas), white beans (also known as navy or cannellini beans), and hummus are examples of great foods for people with chronic pain.
Nuts and seeds are further examples of foods that fall into this category. Nuts include walnuts, almonds, pecans, and peanuts, along with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts. Peas and soybeans are a type of plant known as a “legume,” which is produced in a pod. Sugar snap peas, ordinary peas, roasted soy nuts, edamame, and any form of tofu are all acceptable options.
Berries, pomegranates, and cherries are examples of dark-colored fruits, which are beneficial in the prevention of inflammation. Drinking fruit juice should be avoided, or a small glass should be consumed and mixed with equal water. Fruit juice contains a high concentration of sugar, which exacerbates inflammation.
Yellow, orange, and red peppers, as well as tomatoes, are examples of vegetables. Arugula (rocket or roquette) and a variety of mixed greens, particularly dark leafy greens, such as spinach, chard, and kale, as well as leaf lettuce and romaine lettuce. Purple and green cabbage, onions, garlic, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower are among the vegetables you should try along with radishes, cucumbers, green beans, and green onions too.
When it comes to changing your diet to reduce inflammation, you need to experiment with what world for you and allow your body time to adjust to the changes and rid itself of any irritants to fully benefit from the changes.
Both MS and fibromyalgia may cause chronic pain and fatigue, they are very distinct conditions. A correct diagnosis is important to ensure proper treatment.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune neurological condition that destroys the protective coating (myelin) that surrounds the nerves. MS destroys the myelin and eventually causes the nerves to no longer be able to function as they should.
Fibromyalgia is characterized by musculoskeletal pain that affects the entire body. In addition to chronic pain, fibromyalgia causes increased drowsiness and fatigue, as well as mood and memory issues.
They are very different conditions, but they sometimes share similar symptoms.
Both conditions require a variety of medical tests for a diagnosis. Before you begin any tests, you may be able to distinguish your symptoms and decide if they’re signs of one of these conditions. Your doctor can help, too.
While these two conditions share some symptoms, they also have distinct symptoms of their own. These include:
Symptom
Fibromyalgia
MS
chronic pain
✔
✔
fatigue
✔
✔
memory issues
✔
✔
difficulty walking
✔
slurred speech
✔
vision problems
✔
numbness and tingling
✔
✔
trouble concentrating
✔
✔
depression
✔
✔
Fibromyalgia symptoms
Pain associated with fibromyalgia is chronic and widespread. It’s described as a dull, aching pain. To be classified as fibromyalgia, a person must experience the chronic pain for at least 3 months. Also, the pain must occur on both sides of the body, above and below the waist.
Other symptoms of fibromyalgia include:
Memory issues: “Fibro fog” is a term applied to the confusion, difficulty focusing and concentrating, and changes in memory that people with fibromyalgia often experience.
Mood changes:Depression is not uncommon in people with fibromyalgia. Also, people with fibromyalgia sometimes experience sudden shifts in mood.
Chronic fatigue: Fibromyalgia causes a great deal of fatigue. People with fibromyalgia are prone to long periods of sleep and rest. However, many people with fibromyalgia also have sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome.
MS symptoms
MS destroys the protective coating around your nerves and eventually the nerves themselves. Once damaged, the nerves may not be able to feel or experience sensations as well as healthy nerves.
The symptoms associated with MS vary depending on the amount of nerve damage and which nerves are affected. It’s common for people who have MS to have significant chronic pain, eventually experiencing numbness and weakness in affected areas. Tingling and mild pain can occur, too.
Other symptoms of MS include:
Difficulty walking: You may develop an unsteady gait and have trouble walking. Coordination and balance are also challenged.
Slurred speech: As the myelin is worn away, communication from the brain may slow down. This can make speech seem more difficult, and you may have a harder time speaking clearly.
Diagnosing either condition can be difficult for doctors. In many cases, a doctor will come to one or the other condition after they’ve ruled out other possible causes for your symptoms.
Diagnosing fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is diagnosed if your doctor can’t find any other explanation for your whole-body pain. The pain will also need to have occurred for at least 3 months.
There’s no specific test that can be used to diagnose fibromyalgia. Instead, a doctor will make a diagnosis off a group of symptoms, one of which is widespread pain.
Doctors often also use “tender points” to diagnose fibromyalgia. What this means is that people with fibromyalgia feel additional pain when a doctor applies firm pressure to these sensitive points on the body.
Diagnosing MS
MS isn’t diagnosed with a single test or procedure. If other conditions are ruled out, an MRI can detect lesions on your brain and spinal cord. Additionally, your doctor may conduct a spinal tap.
During this procedure, your doctor will remove a small sample of spinal fluid and test it for antibodies that are associated with MS.
Once a diagnosis has been made for either fibromyalgia or MS, your doctor will suggest different treatments to help treat symptoms and improve your quality of life. Just as the two conditions are different, treatment options for the two conditions differ.
Fibromyalgia treatment
There are a variety of different types of treatment options for fibromyalgia, including over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, prescription medications, and alternative treatments.
As with fibromyalgia, there are a variety of treatments available for those with MS. These prescription treatments can reduce the inflammation and slow or change the course of disease progression.
Other treatments can help with symptom management and improve a person’s quality of life. These include OTC medications, alternative remedies, and lifestyle changes.
OTC medications, which are used to help relieve musculoskeletal pain, include:
eating a nutrient-dense, well-balanced diet that includes omega-3 fatty acids and is high in fiber and low in saturated fat
exercising regularly, including stretching
No matter what method of treatment you’re currently on, discuss any new changes in your treatments with your doctor before you start them, even if they’re considered “natural” or “safe.” These could interfere with treatments or medications you’re currently taking.
Both MS and fibromyalgia are currently chronic, incurable conditions. Though treatments can alleviate symptoms and improve your overall quality of life, there are no cures available for either condition, and both tend to advance with time.
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is not fatal. Because medications are limited, lifestyle and alternative remedies are an important part of treatment management.
In general, people with fibromyalgia who adapt to necessary lifestyle changes coupled with the help of medications can experience significant improvement in their symptoms.
MS
Most people with MS will have an equivalent or almost equivalent life expectancy to that of the average person without MS. However, this isn’t generally the outlook for rare cases of severe MS.
People with MS may develop cancer or heart disease just like people without MS.
Symptoms in people with MS can be unpredictable, though most will see some amount of disease progression as time goes on. People with MS who experience more time between symptom attacks and relapses tend to do better and experience less severe symptoms.
Though they sometimes share similar symptoms, MS and fibromyalgia are two very different conditions. Understanding the differences can help you and your doctor start testing for the right condition earlier.
If you have unexplained symptoms that resemble one or both of these conditions, make an appointment with your doctor. They can begin investigating your symptoms to diagnose the cause and get you the treatment you need.
Both of these conditions are likely to be life changing. As is true with many other conditions, getting treatment as soon as possible can help increase your comfort and quality of life. It can also potentially slow down the onset or advancement of symptoms.
Joint pain may worsen during the night due to fluid buildup or chemical processes in your body that cause inflammation. But at-home treatments and adjustments to your daily and nighttime routines may help you get a good night’s sleep.
If you have a condition that causes joint pain, you may have found that the pain can be worse at night. Joint pain at night is not usually a medical emergency. But it can severely limit your ability to get a good night’s sleep.
Most joint pain is due to arthritis, inflammation of the joints. This includes:
At night, some of your cells release cytokines, small proteins that help activate your immune system. Some cytokines help to make you sleepy. But they can also generate inflammation, which can increase joint pain.
Body position
Your sleep position can put pressure on joints, making existing joint pain worse. For example:
If you have hip or shoulder pain on one side of your body, try to avoid putting pressure on that joint by sleeping on your other side.
You can worsen wrist pain if you sleep with your wrists bent.
Neck pain may worsen if you’re a stomach sleeper and your neck remains twisted to one side for hours at a time.
Mattress and pillow
Your mattress and pillow may also be part of the problem. A too-soft, unsupportive mattress may not provide enough cushioning to support the proper alignment of your spine. This can put pressure on tender joints.
If your pillow is too high, too low, or lumpy, it may force you to hold your neck and shoulder joints in an unnatural position while sleeping. This can irritate your nerves and generate joint pain.
The underlying cause of joint pain may determine how best to manage it. For example, if you have jaw pain due to a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder, wearing a night guard might be a good way to reduce it.
You can typically manage joint pain at night with at-home treatments. A trial-and-error approach may be needed before you learn what works best for you. Here are 10 things to try:
1. Exercise
Strong, supple muscles help take pressure off of painful joints. Exercises like stretching and yoga can help people with conditions like rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis. Other good choices include:
You may consider working with a physical therapist on exercises for specific joints and muscle groups.
2. Apply heat
Some people find that using heating pads or compresses on painful joints before sleep provides nighttime relief. You may also find that taking a warm bath before bed reduces pain and provides relaxation.
When you apply heat to an aching joint, the blood vessels in that area increase in size. This increases blood and oxygen circulation in and around the joint, reducing stiffness and pain.
If your joint pain is due to an injury, check with a healthcare professional before using heat. For injuries, applying cold during healing may be a better choice.
3. Apply cold
Cold packs decrease blood flow to the joint, reducing swelling and inflammation. The numbing sensation caused by applying cold or cool compresses can also help reduce pain.
Try using a cold pack directly on the painful joint for 10 to 20 minutes before going to sleep. You can also try immersing yourself in a cold or cool bath for as long as you feel comfortable.
4. Try over-the-counter (OTC) pain medication
OTC pain relievers, including those that reduce inflammation, may be helpful. These include acetaminophen (Tylenol) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin or ibuprofen. Look for extended-relief versions that last for 8 hours or more, so your pain doesn’t return during the night.
Make sure to follow package directions and don’t overuse. If OTC pain meds aren’t enough, talk with a healthcare professional about prescription drugs for pain.
If you have high blood pressure, heart disease, or kidney disease talk with a doctor about which OTC pain reliever would be best for you. Some may cause you to retain water, which can cause kidney problems or raise your blood pressure.
5. Use topical treatments
Topical treatments are medications you apply directly to your skin. Some ointments can provide targeted pain relief. Look for gels, sprays, and lotions that contain active ingredients such as:
Menthol: Menthol can provide a cooling sensation to your skin, helping to mask pain.
Camphor:Camphor can provide both cool and warm sensations to your skin and numb nerve endings.
Arnica:Arnica has anti-inflammatory properties and supports enhanced circulation.
Capsaicin:Capsaicin reduces the amount of a specific pain transmitter in your nerves.
Salicylates: These plant-based chemicals can help reduce inflammation.
6. Consider glucosamine and chondroitin supplements
Glucosamine and chondroitin are compounds found in cartilage, the connective tissue that cushions and surrounds your joints. Research into their benefits for joint pain has produced mixed results. But some people find that taking these supplements as directed helps to reduce joint pain from osteoarthritis.
Since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate supplements, be sure to look for the “USP-verified” mark on these products. That means it’s from a trusted manufacturer.
7. Meditate
If joint pain wakes you up at night, it can be hard to go back to sleep. But research suggests that meditation may help you manage chronic pain of all types, especially during the night and before bed.
A 2018 review of studies found that meditation changes the way your brain processes pain signals, reducing your sensitivity to pain. It can also reduce anxiety and help you relax.
Many gyms and yoga studios offer classes and workshops in meditation. There are also meditation apps to guide you through long and short meditation exercises.
8. Upgrade your mattress and pillow
If your current mattress is too soft or older than 8 years old, consider getting a newer model suited for joint pain relief.
You may also benefit from a pillow designed to reduce knee or neck pain.
9. Create a soothing sleep environment
Proper sleep hygiene habits won’t necessarily reduce joint pain, but they will make it easier for you to fall asleep, despite it.
Ensure your room is dark, cool, and quiet. Turn off electronic devices at least 1 hour before trying to sleep. You may also benefit from listening to relaxing music, meditating, or reading a good book before you turn the lights out.
Aromatherapy may also be helpful for soothing sore joints and for promoting relaxation.
10. Move and stretch when you wake up
Morning stretches won’t necessarily help you with nighttime pain, but they may help relieve stiffness and pain when you first wake up. Moving right when you wake up helps to move fluids out of inflamed joints and reduces swelling.
Try stretching your arms and legs and flexing your fingers and ankles before you get out of bed. You can do this with your knees bent, lying chest-down, or sitting.
Chronic nighttime pain can cause sleep deprivation and exhaustion. It may also significantly reduce your ability to partake in daily activities and enjoy life. Let a healthcare professional know if your joint pain doesn’t respond to at-home treatments.
See a doctor if you notice any of the following symptoms:
You have intense joint pain that lasts for several weeks or longer.
Pain is waking you up from sleep consistently.
You experience sudden swelling or warmth around the joint or can’t move it easily.
Your joint pain is accompanied by fever.
A doctor may prescribe oral, topical, or injected medications to help reduce your symptoms.
Joint pain at night has various underlying causes, from injuries to arthritis. It can be exhausting and debilitating. But you don’t need to live with pain.
Many at-home treatments, such as OTC medications and heat or cold compresses, can help. Lifestyle changes like exercising or improving your sleep hygiene can also help.
If your joint pain is severe or doesn’t respond well to at-home treatments, visit a healthcare professional. They can assess your symptoms and provide further treatment options.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month is significant to me because I have been assaulted. I know the pain and anger that followed; it took many years of therapy to work through the trauma. Women and men experience sexual assault, and it’s important to reach out for support to process your assault.
Every 68 seconds another American is sexually assaulted.1
1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed, 2.8% attempted).4
About 3% of American men—or 1 in 33—have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime.4
From 2009-2013, Child Protective Services agencies substantiated, or found strong evidence to indicate that, 63,000 children a year were victims of sexual abuse.5
A majority of child victims are 12-17. Of victims under the age of 18: 34% of victims of sexual assault and rape are under age 12, and 66% of victims of sexual assault and rape are age 12-17.6
What was the survivor doing when the crime occurred?7
48% were sleeping, or performing another activity at home
29% were traveling to and from work or school, or traveling to shop or run errands
12% were working
7% were attending school
5% were doing an unknown or other activity
Most of the time, loved ones of survivors want to do anything they can to help— but aren’t sure what to do. Whether someone you love has disclosed to you already, or you just want to be prepared for the moment someone does, taking the time to proactively learn how to support a survivor as they disclose can make all the difference. When the time comes to support a survivor in your life, remember this important acronym about how to TALK. Learn more from RAINN’s Family and Friends Toolkit.
I know it’s difficult to reach out for support, but it’s the first step to dealing with the trauma and healing.
One of the most important things a person with Lyme disease needs is clear, concise information.
Here’s a list of useful resources to get you going in the right direction.
LymeDisease.org is one of the foremost Lyme patient advocacy organizations in the United States. We provide a wealth of information on our website–about ticks, Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
Special features include:
Symptom Checklist: Patients can answer a series of questions, print out the filled-in form and take it to their doctor. The printout describes basic facts, explains the two standards of care for Lyme disease, and endorses the ILADS guidelines. It’s a way to help your doctor help you.
MyLymeData patient registry: This big data research project allows patients to privately pool information about their Lyme disease experiences. So far, more than 17,000 people have enrolled in the project, providing millions of data points on Lyme disease demographics, tick bites, diagnosis, symptoms, lab tests, co-infections, treatment and quality of life. Add your Lyme data to MyLymeData to help find a cure for Lyme disease.
Gestational Lyme disease LymeHope, a Canadian Lyme advocacy organization, has taken a particular interest in the issue of mother-to-fetus Lyme transmission.
LymeAid4Kids–Financial assistance for Lyme treatment for those under age 21.
Lymelight Foundation–financial assistance for Lyme treatment for children and young adults through age 25.
LivLyme Foundation–Financial grants for children with Lyme disease (under 21).
There is growing evidence that certain types of tick bites can trigger alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) a life-threatening allergy to red meat and meat-related products.
Parasite prevalence mapsEducational website includes a US map down to the county level, showing where dogs have tested positive for Lyme, anaplasmosis, erhlichiosis and other diseases. Also, information about protecting your pet from tick-borne diseases.
Companion Animal Parasite Council website has comprehensive information about how to protect your pets from ticks and other parasites.
Books (Treatment, healing modalities, family life)
Mood stabilizers help keep my bipolar symptoms in check, but they still affect some areas of my life in unexpected ways.
In a previous blog, ‘6 Things I Didn’t Realize About Taking Antipsychotics’, I wrote about some of the impacts that taking antipsychotics can have on your life. But I don’t just take antipsychotics for my <a href=”http://DON’T GIVE UP, MARY! I have had so many bad days, weeks, months, and years even, but when you stick it out, things always get better–sometimes much better than you ever imagined. I encourage you to contact the SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE at 1-800-273-8255. They also have an online chat here: http://chat.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/GetHelp/LifelineChat.aspx. I’ve been in that space before, Mary, and it gets better. I PROMISE! Depression tricks us into believing the world is better off without us, but I PROMISE YOU, THE WORLD IS BETTER OFF WITH YOU IN IT! Please stay…and please stay in touch. bipolar disorder. I also take mood stabilizers. I have been taking mood stabilizers since my diagnosis, but it took two years to get the combination right.
I now take two different mood stabilizers and am happy to say that I am euthymic. Although I experience few side effects from mood stabilizers, taking these medications still impacts some areas of my life.
It’s worth noting that while mood stabilizer is a commonly used term among clinicians, it’s not an official classification of medication. For bipolar disorder, this category typically includes anticonvulsants and lithium.
1. Tremors
In the beginning, the tremors caused by my mood stabilizer really bothered me. I was on such a high dose of one particular medication that I had to choose between managing my maniaor dealing with wild tremors. It was frustrating, but at the time, the higher dose was necessary to keep my symptoms in check.
I remember being a student nurse on my mental health placement and meeting a young man my age who was on the same mood stabilizer. His tremors were so severe that they made daily tasks — eating, brushing his teeth, writing, brushing his hair, and even getting dressed — incredibly difficult. It took him so much effort just to do things most of us take for granted.
I had no idea then that, just a few years later, I would be struggling with the same challenges — while also trying to write a thesis and work as a nurse in the emergency department. The tremors exhausted me, and I was embarrassed by them. What was hardest was that I couldn’t play the piano or cello, something I truly love. On top of that, the constant tremors felt like a visible reminder that I had bipolar disorder.
Every time my dose was lowered, I would become elevated. During a particularly severe manic episode, I was prescribed an additional mood stabilizer. That second medication, combined with my original one, finally helped keep my mania at bay. More importantly, it allowed me to reduce the dose of my first mood stabilizer without destabilizing my mood. As a result, my tremors are now very mild.
It’s important to point out that the tremors caused by mood stabilizers are different from tardive dyskinesia, a potential side effect of antipsychotics. While both involve involuntary movements, they have different causes and feel distinct from one another.
2. Thirst
Need I say more? Mood stabilizers make you really thirsty. As I mentioned in my previous post, antipsychotics can cause a very dry mouth. Combine that with the thirst from mood stabilizers, and it’s not exactly a pleasant experience.
3. Regular Blood Tests
Some mood stabilizers can make you toxic if they’re over the therapeutic range. To measure this, routine blood tests need to be taken as the level of medication shows up in the blood. I don’t know how many blood tests I’ve had since commencing mood stabilizers, but there have been lots.
When first starting on mood stabilizers, blood tests have to be done very frequently while the dose is titrated up to a therapeutic range.
When I’ve been hospitalized for mania, I would get a blood test every morning. Once the optimal dose has been established for the individual, the blood tests become less frequent, but levels still have to be monitored. I usually get blood work done every two months, but if my dose changes, testing ramps up again.
When that happens, my Saturday morning routine begins with a trip to the local pathology clinic and for a blood test. Fortunately, I don’t mind needles, but I can see how this could be a real challenge for someone who does.
4. Fluctuating Blood Levels
Sometimes, the levels of mood stabilizers in my blood fluctuate. I can always tell when they get too high: I struggle to concentrate, I feel weak, my tremors worsen, and I experience nausea, dizziness, and hot-and-cold flushes.
The first time this happened, I had no idea what was happening to me. I was studying in the university library and seriously considered asking a colleague to take me to the hospital. I didn’t — but looking back, I probably should have. It happened a few more times before I finally made the connection that my medication levels might be too high. Blood tests confirmed it, and my psychiatrist adjusted my dose.
Now, it doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s always when I’m dehydrated — which makes sense since dehydration can increase blood levels. Because of this, I have to be extra careful when exercising or on hot days. If my levels spike, it can completely wipe me out for a day or two.
5. Minimal Side Effects
Aside from toxicity — which is extremely serious and requires immediate medical attention — I’ve been surprised at how few side effects I experience from mood stabilizers, especially compared to antipsychotics.
When my tremors were at their worst, I wouldn’t have said this, and I know not everyone has the same experience. But of the three types of medication I take for bipolar, mood stabilizers are the ones I prefer. I owe my quality of life and mentally healthy mind to them.
Sally lives in Victoria, Australia. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder two years ago when she was 22, however she has been dealing with extreme moods since she was 14. When she experienced her first episode of depression, she was too embarrassed to get help even though she knew that something was wrong. Throughout high school she battled depression after depression, each one getting worse. At university she continued to have depressive episodes and when she wasn’t depressed she was extremely happy, incredibly driven and unusually energetic. Everyone thought this was her normal mood, herself included and so the elevated times went unnoticed. The turning point was in her final year of university when she was referred to the university counsellor. She was diagnosed with depression but after many failed treatments she saw a psychiatrist who diagnosed her with type II bipolar disorder. However that quickly turned into a diagnosis of type I bipolar disorder after a psychotic manic episode. She is currently completing her honours degree in nursing and works as a nurse in the emergency department. She blogs for The International Bipolar Foundation and has written for several publications. She also volunteers for a mental health organization where she delivers presentations about mood disorders to high school students. Although relatively new to this world, she is passionate about mental health promotion and thoroughly enjoys writing about mental health.
Thank you for all the great feedback on the Blogger Highlight series. I’ve enjoyed meeting each blogger and sharing their site with you. This week, we highlight Taking Each Day Free. Liz’s writing is inspiring, and will leave you wanting more.
My name is Liz and I have been blogging a good number of years, whether its using the WordPress or Blogger platform.
I decided to write this blog, to share some of my life journeys.
Taking each day as it comes is the only way I can tackle life and it has been this way for some time. Each day I am free to do as I please. I have no one to answer to, but myself. So hence the title of this blog, “Taking Each Day Free.”
Liz has had a long and difficult journey to getting a cochlear implant.
For my cochlear implant, everything is under the tag “My-Cochlear-Implant-Journey. At the moment, I don’t have my CT scan results. So until I have those, I don’t know if it will still be happening. It all depends on my CT scan results.
L. I have been blogging for much longer than the years, writing my current blog. But it’s always served the same purpose:
• Being therapeutic
For keeping in touch with friends near and far.
M. What is your favorite post and why?
L. My favourite post is a hard one to pick. But I think my favourite post is one I wrote this year, “What makes you feel good?” This one is my favourite post because it serves as a reminder to me what things I need to keep doing that make me feel good both physically and mentally, along with my other physical exercises I do that I have mentioned in other posts.
llness invalidation by medical professionals—sometimes called “gaslighting”—is an underappreciated and understudied problem in Lyme disease.
Many Lyme disease patients complain not only of fighting to recover their health but also of fighting to be believed by health care practitioners.
Expecting to receive understanding and proficient care from medical professionals, many instead experience having their persistent debilitating symptoms dismissed, minimized, disbelieved and/or psychologized.
How common is the occurrence of medical gaslighting in Lyme disease? Is illness invalidation by medical professionals related to disease severity? Are there specific constituencies who are being affected more than others?
These are some of the questions that a team of researchers led by Alison Rebman, MPH, Assistant Professor in Medicine and Director for Clinical and Epidemiological Research at the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Research Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine, set out to identify and quantify in a cohort of well-characterized Lyme disease patients.
Invalidating encounters
The Johns Hopkins study, published in August 2024 in Scientific Reports, finds that invalidating encounters with medical professionals are common for post-treatment Lyme disease (PTLD) patients, particularly women and younger patients, and also are linked to higher illness severity.
Lyme disease is the most common tick and vector-borne disease in the US with about 500,000 new cases per year. Lyme infections are expanding geographically, and acute and chronic cases are on the rise in the US and Eurasia. Lyme infection-associated chronic illness affects around 2 million Americans and can be difficult to properly diagnose and effectively treat.
A Lyme infection can affect multiple body systems including musculoskeletal, neurologic, and cardiovascular. Patients with early diagnosis and appropriate treatment usually get better. However, about 10-20% of patients even when treated promptly with standard of care antibiotics do not return to health and are functionally impaired by persistent musculoskeletal pain, crushing fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction, known in the research setting as post-treatment Lyme disease (PTLD).
Patients frequently refer to this as “chronic Lyme.” Misdiagnosis and delayed treatments further increase the risk for PTLD as well as for more broadly defined community-based Lyme infection-associated chronic illness or “chronic Lyme.”
Women and younger patients
In the Johns Hopkins study, 49% of the PTLD patients reported a lack of understanding and 29% experienced discounting from medical professionals. Additionally, women and younger patients were at higher risk for experiencing more invalidation than men or older age patients.
The study found, “Before their initial diagnosis of Lyme disease, approximately half (51.3%) had first been told that their symptoms represented another illness or condition. This high rate is consistent with the hypothesis that diagnosis and treatment delays, and possibly exposure to inappropriate treatment, may be risk factors for PTLD.”
Women more often received alternative diagnoses (such as another contested illness like fibromyalgia or ME/CFS and/or a psychological illness) which in turn correlated with more discounting and lack of understanding. PTLD patients who reported the highest levels of illness invalidation were discovered to have greater symptom severity, lower quality of life, and less trust in physicians.
The pervasiveness of Lyme disease illness invalidation and the consequential negative effects on illness burden and health outcomes are not broadly known by medical professionals.
Improved physician education is needed to help engender more patient-centered paradigms that incorporate the patient illness experience and better recognize how that experience may impact the healing process.
National Academies look at IACI
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) has helped validate infection- associated chronic illnesses as being significant public health problems that need greater national attention, a coordinated strategy, and considerably more federal resources.
In July 2024, a follow-up NASEMmeeting focused specifically on Lyme infection-associated chronic Illness. Both forums discussed the importance of listening to and incorporating patients’ illness experience perspectives into improving diagnostic and treatment approaches. For example, patient-driven data such as MyLymeData can be leveraged to improve research and clinical care. It is vital to listen to patients especially when diagnostics are problematic, treatments are inadequate, and the science is contested or evolving.
Building upon insights and collaborative momentum from the NASEM IACI meetings, a coalition of advocates (patient, scientific and medical) are now calling for thecreation of a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) office to help strengthen and coordinate research across infection-associated chronic conditions and illnesses including Lyme infection-associated chronic illness, Long COVID, ME/CFS, PANS/PANDAS, POTS/dysautonomia and others.
Listening to patients will be key to advancing solutions, reducing invalidating patient-practitioner encounters, and improving health outcomes.
Excessive stress is associated with health complications. Are there ways to accurately measure stress levels?
Although stress is a natural and inevitable part of life, many people feel that they’re experiencing excessive stress levels.
However, there’s no objective way to define “excessive stress.” Many people find it hard to express or quantify their stress.
There are a few methods for measuring stress. These look at certain biomarkers — in other words, physiological responses — to assess how your body responds to stress.
Stress response: how you respond to stress triggers on an emotional, biological, or cognitive level
When we talk about measuring stress, we tend to be talking about measuring triggers or responses. Measuring stress triggers can include taking stock of the major life changes you’ve been under.
However, everybody responds to triggers differently. Events that might be very stressful for one person can be easily manageable for the other.
The following ways to measure stress look specifically at measuring your stress response. These methods of measuring stress look at your body’s physiological responses. They record stress biomarkers such as your heart rate and brainwaves to assess how stress affects your body.
Heart rate variability (HRV)
Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is a common way to measure stress. It involves recording the variation in time between consecutive heartbeats. In other words, it doesn’t just look at how fast your heart is beating, but how the time period between heartbeats changes.
When you’re chronically in fight-or-flight mode, your ANS is unbalanced. This imbalance can show up in your HRV. HRV is lower when you’re in fight-or-flight mode and higher when you’re in a calm state. High HRV is associated with stress resilience and improved cardiovascular health.
A healthcare professional can check your HRV via an electrocardiogram. Personal wearables, such as chest strap monitors, can also measure HRV.
Brainwaves
Electroencephalography (EEG) measures brainwaves. Research suggests that brainwaves can be an accurate way to measure stress response.
In particular, a 2020 study found that alpha asymmetry — an imbalance in alpha brainwave activity on different sides of the brain — could be a potential biomarker for stress.
Mental health practitioners who use neurofeedback can measure brainwaves and train the brain with positive feedback when the EEG finds that treatment goals are being met.
When you’re stressed, your body will produce adrenalin to give you energy to handle your stressor. It’s a part of the fight-or-flight response, and it’s why you might feel restless when anxious.
In times of stress, your body also produces cortisol, which assists with the fight-or-flight response. Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland.
Cortisol is also involved in regulating:
blood sugar
inflammation
metabolism
Your cortisol naturally ebbs and flows during the day. Neither cortisol nor adrenalin is “bad,” but when cortisol is chronically high, it can harm your health. For instance, it can lead to the following:
The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a questionnaire that was developed in 1983. It’s used to assess the amount of stress that you feel you’re under.
Unlike the above-mentioned methods of measuring stress, this tool relies on your own perception of your stress. The questions don’t focus on the events you’re currently experiencing, but your emotional and mental state.
It could be helpful to use the PSS to check in with yourself. It’s available in PDF format.
What are stress trackers?
There are at-home devices that claim to track stress. Usually, these devices track stress by measuring your heart rate and heart rate variability. Many fitness trackers, including smartwatches and chest strap monitors, have stress analysis features.
Are wearable stress trackers accurate? It’s not easy to say. There’s a lack of research into whether these are accurate. However, because these trackers only use one variable — typically your heart — they don’t give a complete picture of your body’s stress response.
Stress is a part of life, and it’s natural to feel stressed from time to time. However, excess stress can be harmful to your health.
When is stress considered excessive? There’s no objective answer to this question. However, if you’re experiencing physical symptoms of stress, or if you feel unable to relax, it may be an indication that you should speak with a healthcare professional.
Similarly, if you feel like you can’t cope or feel overwhelmed most of the time, you might benefit from speaking with a doctor or a therapist.
Although these issues can be caused by other factors, it’s worth speaking with a doctor or a therapist if you believe that stress is causing physical or emotional symptoms.
There are a number of ways to manage stress in a healthy way.
Try exercise: Find a form of exercise or movement that you enjoy. Yoga, in particular, is associated with stress reduction, but other forms of exercise can also be helpful.
Practice deep breathing exercises:Research from 2018 suggests deep breathing can activate your parasympathetic nervous system, putting you in a relaxed state.
Limit screen time: Excessive screen time can harm your mental and emotional health, according to 2018 research. Try to find breaks throughout the day to walk away from your screens.
Spend time with others:Research from 2020 suggests that spending time with others can help you feel less lonely and stressed. If you don’t have loved ones nearby, join classes, religious services, or meetup groups to get a regular dose of human interaction.
Try meditating regularly: Research shows that meditation can lower stress and improve overall well-being. If you’re not sure where to start, try a guided meditation.
Spend time in nature: Being in nature can reduce stress and improve your emotional state, according to 2020 research. Try walking in a local park or natural space, taking up an outdoor sport, or simply eating a meal outside every day.
Find support: If a particular stressor feels difficult to cope with, consider joining a relevant support group. For example, if you were recently bereaved, a grief support group might help you process your emotions.
If you’re often stressed, you might find it helpful to speak with a therapist. Anybody can benefit from quality therapy — it can help you build resilience to stress and process stressful events in a supportive environment. If the cost therapy is a concern for you, consider other affordable therapy options.
Stress is a natural part of everyday life. Numerous methods of measuring stress, such as heart rate variability analysis and hormonal testing, could help you find out whether you’re excessively stressed.
However, you don’t need to measure your stress levels in order to justify reaching out for help. If you feel that you could benefit from handling stress better, consider speaking with a therapist or using stress management techniques to improve your well-being.
Although many narcotic drugs and medications have similar effects or characteristics, each substance is unique. Here are some common examples.
From codeine to heroin, there are many narcotic substances. Some have medical uses and are available by prescription, while others do not.
The term “narcotic” originally referred to any substance that relieved pain and dulled the senses. Some people use the term to refer to all drugs — particularly illegal drugs — but it technically refers to opioids only.
Today, “opioid” is the preferred term, in part due to the connotations the term narcotic has.
Opiates are naturally occurring compounds. Opioids include naturally occurring compounds as well as semi-synthetic and synthetic compounds. Opiates are a subcategory of opioids.
Clinicians often prescribe opioid and opiate medications:
Hydrocodone: This semi-synthetic opioid is typically used to treat severe pain and, in some cases, coughs.
Oxymorphone: A highly potent opioid, oxymorphone is used to help manage severe pain.
Morphine:This medication is used to manage pain in people with moderate or severe acute or chronic pain, particularly in cancer treatment and palliative care.
Fentanyl: A synthetic opioid, fentanyl is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.
Hydromorphone:This medication is used to help manage moderate to severe acute pain and severe chronic pain. It’s very potent and has a high potential for misuse, so it’s usually only prescribed when other treatments have been unsuccessful.
Tramadol:This medication is used to treat moderate to severe pain, but it has a high potential for misuse. Doctors usually only prescribe it to manage pain when other treatments have been unsuccessful.
What to do if your clinician prescribes a controlled substance
Your doctor or other healthcare professional may recommend a controlled substance to help treat an underlying health condition, like anxiety or insomnia.
They’ll work with you to determine the appropriate dose for your needs and advise you on any side effects or risks associated with use.
Different regions have different laws around prescription medication and other controlled substances. Familiarize yourself with the laws in your area to ensure you’re properly storing your medication.
Some opioid and opiate substances aren’t prescribed by clinicians. They’re typically used for their pleasurable effects and have a high potential for dependence and misuse.
Common examples include:
Opium: This naturally occurring substance is derived from the opium poppy. It creates many different opioids, including heroin, codeine, and morphine. It’s a Schedule II controlled substance in the United States.
Heroin: Made from morphine, heroin often takes the form of white or brown powder or a sticky black substance. It’s a Schedule I controlled substance in the United States.
Lean: This is a liquid mixture of cough syrup containing codeine and soda. It’s also known as “purple drank” or “sizzurp.”
Carfentanil: Veterinarians use this medication to tranquilize large animals, like elephants and rhinoceroses. It’s a Schedule II controlled substance in the United States.
Opiates are naturally occurring compounds. Opioids include naturally occurring compounds as well as semi-synthetic and synthetic compounds. Opiates are a subcategory of opioids.
Clinicians often prescribe opioid and opiate medications:
Hydrocodone: This semi-synthetic opioid is typically used to treat severe pain and, in some cases, coughs.
Oxymorphone: A highly potent opioid, oxymorphone is used to help manage severe pain.
Morphine:This medication is used to manage pain in people with moderate or severe acute or chronic pain, particularly in cancer treatment and palliative care.
Fentanyl: A synthetic opioid, fentanyl is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.
Hydromorphone:This medication is used to help manage moderate to severe acute pain and severe chronic pain. It’s very potent and has a high potential for misuse, so it’s usually only prescribed when other treatments have been unsuccessful.
Tramadol:This medication is used to treat moderate to severe pain, but it has a high potential for misuse. Doctors usually only prescribe it to manage pain when other treatments have been unsuccessful.
What to do if your clinician prescribes a controlled substance
Your doctor or other healthcare professional may recommend a controlled substance to help treat an underlying health condition, like anxiety or insomnia.
They’ll work with you to determine the appropriate dose for your needs and advise you on any side effects or risks associated with use.
Different regions have different laws around prescription medication and other controlled substances. Familiarize yourself with the laws in your area to ensure you’re properly storing your medication.
Some opioid and opiate substances aren’t prescribed by clinicians. They’re typically used for their pleasurable effects and have a high potential for dependence and misuse.
Common examples include:
Opium: This naturally occurring substance is derived from the opium poppy. It creates many different opioids, including heroin, codeine, and morphine. It’s a Schedule II controlled substance in the United States.
Heroin: Made from morphine, heroin often takes the form of white or brown powder or a sticky black substance. It’s a Schedule I controlled substance in the United States.
Lean: This is a liquid mixture of cough syrup containing codeine and soda. It’s also known as “purple drank” or “sizzurp.”
Carfentanil: Veterinarians use this medication to tranquilize large animals, like elephants and rhinoceroses. It’s a Schedule II controlled substance in the United States.
With substances like opioids, there’s always the potential for tolerance, dependence, and addiction. Although these terms are often used interchangeably, they’re not the same.
When you develop a tolerance to a substance, it becomes less effective. In time, you’ll need a higher dose to get the same effects.
When you develop a dependence, your body begins to rely on the substance to function. It’s not related to the dosage needed to feel the substance’s effects.
Caffeine, for example, can cause physical dependence. Some people develop a headache, have difficulty concentrating, or experience fatigue if they go more than a day or so without coffee or other sources of caffeine.
Addiction, in contrast, is a chronic dysfunction of the brain system involving memory, motivation, and reward. When it’s related to drugs, it’s sometimes referred to as a substance use disorder. It can be managed with treatment.
You can develop an addiction to a wide range of things, from over-the-counter substances — including caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol — to controlled substances.
Different substances have different thresholds for tolerance, dependence, and addiction.
Heroin, for example, has a high potential for addiction. People who use the substance often develop a tolerance, requiring a higher dose or more frequent use to produce the same effect.
Harm reduction and safer substance use
Harm reduction refers to various strategies implemented to reduce the negative consequences associated with drug use. Safer substance use refers to using substances in a way that minimizes harm.
This might include not using a substance while alone or having a trusted friend or loved one check in on you.
Understanding the effects of different substances, using only one substance at a time, and staying hydrated can also reduce your risk of harm.
If you’d like to learn more, many organizations can help. And likewise, if you’re looking for support for yourself or somebody else, there are places you can go.
Adam England lives in the United Kingdom, and his work has appeared in a number of national and international publications. When he’s not working, he’s probably listening to live music.
I became a host for Borrelia burgdorferi (the microbe at the root of Lyme disease), at a time when no one knew what it was. This was over 40 years ago, in 1982, only a few years after Lyme disease was discovered.
It would be decades before the telltale symptoms of unseasonal fevers, bull’s-eye rashes, faux-arthritis, and inexplicable neurological symptoms would become more known to people and doctors living in Lyme-endemic areas.
So, I was initially untreated, giving the Lyme bacteria decades to slowly and quietly populate my body, generating few symptoms or warnings along the way.
A devious bug that evades the immune system
As we now know, Borrelia burgdorferi is a devious bug with unique abilities to evade the immune system and keep itself alive. I was healthy, athletic, and active in the world, apparently achieving a kind of multi-year balance, or truce, between the slowly and inexorably growing bacteria and my body’s natural ability to ward it off.
Meantime, Lyme silently and slowly took over, embedding itself—undetected—in my brain.
It was held at bay for most of the first two decades, but that couldn’t go on indefinitely. After a period of intense business stress, I was hit with overt and acute symptoms, as if a storm had blown into my body. Apparently, the microbes had selected my central nervous system as a cozy home, rather than the joint soft tissues that affect so many patients.
Over the next few years, I wrestled with peripheral neuropathy (sirens of pain in my feet), skin and scalp inflammation (what’s going on inside blooms on the surface), Bell’s palsy (complete with an eye patch to hide the purulent discharge), chills and buzzing throughout the body, brain fog, brain dysfunction, deep fatigue, “air hunger,” dizziness and an incipient loss of balance.
This finally crescendoed into a “cryptogenic” stroke [of unknown origin], complete with a week in hospital. It was apparently caused by a weakened small blood vessel that had been undermined by Lyme.
Ok, yes, that’s a typical litany of symptoms for post-treatment (or no-treatment) Lyme disease. As my case rolled out over a second 20 years following the first 20 years of near-dormancy, I became an inadvertent observer and participant in what one might think of as “Lymeworld.”
As a somewhat over-educated guy committed to the world of rationality and science, I began a quest for health in the allopathic or mainstream medicine side of Lymeworld.
Many docs “don’t believe” in Lyme
But as anyone familiar with Lyme knows, the involvement of conventional medical science with Lyme is a heartbreaker. Even today, many doctors don’t “believe” in Lyme (as if it were a mystic religion rather than biological fauna). They wouldn’t know even a fresh case if it bit them on the butt and left a bull’s-eye!
My first internist in my Lyme-endemic geographical area literally fired me as a patient when I tried to convince him to consider Lyme as a possible cause of my painful burning feet.
I went from doctor to doctor, specialist to specialist. I even went to one of the drafters of the Infectious Disease Society of America’s guidelines for Lyme treatment. In a single visit, he dismissed my case as no longer active, though many symptoms were still to come.
I stuck with allopathic doctors, in my heart of hearts believing that after 50 years they would soon have a cure for this bacterial disease, as medicine had cured so many other bacterial conditions.
After getting a high positive count on the Western blot test for Borrelia in my cerebral spinal fluid—not a good thing—I got hooked up with a 30-day intravenous infusion of ceftriaxone. When that finally provided only the most minimal symptom relief, the infectious disease specialist told me: “There’s nothing more we can do for you.”
Those are hard words to hear when you think you’re dying.
But I refused to accept that there was nothing more to do. I became my own advocate and researcher, a path everyone with long-term Lyme must follow—because there is so little help from others.
I’d lost a lot of mental functioning but mercifully could still do online medical research. Being retired, I had the time to turn over every stone.
Devising my own protocol
Eventually, with myself as test subject, I created a multi-pronged protocol based on in vitro studies that indeed began to work, one that grew from a foundation of credible laboratory science (if not quite yet proven in the clinic).
Many of the strange-sounding botanicals I used are in fact the basis of pharmaceuticals, and not toxic or dangerous. Their action is slower because they work to support the body’s own immunity, and they don’t have noticeable side effects. But their efficacy is clear.
I hope it can help people afflicted with Lyme and their loved ones escape the loneliness that Lyme can induce. It takes persistence, discipline, time, and tenacity to recover from a Borrelia infection, and it’s worth the effort. My life has taken a dramatic turn for the better, finally the days are bright again. A message for Lyme sufferers: you can overcome this, you really can.
Making changes to your diet can be challenging, but many people give up before they’ve given their new lifestyle choices enough time to become a habit.
Many find it hard to make changes to their diet, giving up soon after starting.
However, nutrition experts say it takes time for new habits to form.
Breaking things into smaller steps will give you a better chance of achieving your goals.
Finding motivation and support are also important for success.
You know that making better choices like eating better and moving more can help you feel better and live a longer life.
Maybe you even set a New Year’s resolution for yourself to improve your diet and get more exercise. But here you are, a few weeks into your new lifestyle, and your resolve is already wavering.
Change is hard; there’s no doubt about it.
However, experts tell us that there are things we can do to improve our chances of making real, lasting changes. One is being aware that it takes time for your new behaviors to become habits.
Marie Kanagie-McAleese, MD, from the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health, explained: “Some perspectives suggest it takes 21 days to create a new habit. ResearchTrusted Source on behavior change shows an average of 66 days for a behavior change to become a habit, with a range of 2-8 months.”
Kanagie-McAleese went on to say that the specific amount of time is really dependent on the individual as well as the changes that they are trying to make.
Other factors to consider are whether the changes are new to the individual or are simply building on existing behaviors.
Kanagie-McAleese also pointed out that it probably took years for you to create your current pattern of eating habits.
“It will take longer than a month to rewrite those old habit pathways in a person’s brain,” she said, “but it helps to break big change down into smaller, more manageable steps.”
Brittany Placencia, a Nutritionist and founder of Simple Plate Nutrition, advises that the best way to make changes in your eating habits is to tackle one change at a time.
“When you have success with one change, you get a boost of confidence in tackling the next change,” she said. “It is not realistic to change your entire diet all at once and think it will stick long-term.”
One way to do this is to adopt an “addition mindset” rather than a “restriction mindset.”
“You want to figure out what you can add to your current diet to start a healthier path rather than cutting out foods altogether,” she stated.
“For example, begin with aiming to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. That’s it. Don’t worry about other aspects of your eating yet. This is adding nutritious foods to your diet instead of a heavy focus on restricting foods,” she explained.
Placencia said that having an addition mindset can be helpful because you don’t feel like you are doing something wrong, which eliminates one of the common challenges that people face when trying to change their diet.
“Once your diet is balanced with more nutritious foods, it becomes easier and easier to enjoy less nutrient-dense foods like sweets occasionally,” she added, “as you have never felt restricted by them, and you can tell a difference in how your body feels after eating more nutritious versus less nutritious foods.”
Kanagie-McAleese further suggests setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Realistic, and Time-based).
“Instead of saying your goal is simply to snack on more fruit, a SMART goal would be ‘I will choose an apple for my 3 pm afternoon snack on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week instead of a bag of chips, starting next Monday,” she explained.
In addition to setting SMART goals, Kanagie-McAleese offered three other tips for successfully changing your eating habits.
Identify your “why“
“If you can connect your goals to deeper motivations, it becomes easier to stick with them,” she remarked. “For instance, eating healthier to prevent diabetes so you can live longer and enjoy your grandkids is more motivating than fitting into a pair of skinny jeans.”
Make it part of your identity
“Linking new, healthy changes to your identity makes the change more intuitive,” said Kanagie-Aleese. “If you want to eat healthy and improve your family’s health, it becomes easier when you identify as someone who prioritizes health and is a good role model for your children.”
Find your community
“It helps to have others that are interested in creating similar habits or who can support you and help to hold you accountable,” she said, adding that working with a certified health and wellness coach for a few weeks or months is one good way to do this.
Eating better can help us feel better and live longer.
However, making changes to our diet can be hard, leading many to quit after a few weeks.
Nutrition experts say it is important to give your new way of eating enough time to become a habit. On average, it takes about 66 days to form a new habit, but it can take up to 8 months, research suggests.
Breaking things into small, manageable goals makes it easier to create lasting changes.
Knowing your why, making your new eating habits part of your identity, and finding your community can also help.
I have been battling depression for several months. I have Treatment Resistant Biplor Disorder. What that means is many medications don’t work on me, or if they do, they stop working at some point. I have been dealing with this up and down since 1992.
One of the medications I started in the Spring, which was working wonders, stopped working. I’ve been working closely with my Psychiatrist to change doses, but nothing is working. He increased the dose today on one of my medications, and I’m always positive it will work. My fingers are crossed.
I’m sure you’ve noticed I have been posting less; I can’t wait to get back to myself.
If your medications stop working, don’t abandon your medications, call your doctor and get the attitude that the next drug will work. You can’t do it alone.
March is not only the beginning of Spring but it is chocked full of awareness days, weeks and months. Due to the size of the list, I only included the monthly awareness days. At the bottom of the post there is a link where you can see the full list.
Stress has been linked to cardiovascular disease, depression, and even the common cold.
Stress is all around us. And while some stressors certainly can feel overwhelming, it’s important to remember that not all stress we face is bad.
The National Institutes of Health says stress is “how the body and brain respond to an external cause that may be a one-time or short-term occurrence or happen repeatedly over a long time.”
Our body’s response to stressors can sometimes be helpful — giving us a burst of energy to get away from danger or perform well under pressure, explains Michelle Dossett, MD, PhD, MPH, an internist and an integrative medicine specialist at the University of California in Davis.
Anxiety about a doctor’s visit or a performance review at work, for example, or even something scary, like a car heading right at you, are all examples of short-term stressors.
Long-term stressors have a different effect. “Stress that lasts years or a long time is usually the worst kind of stress,” says Bert Uchino, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City who studies stress in aging populations.
If you’re in a job you hate or you’re a caregiver for a family member with Alzheimer’s disease, for instance, says Dr. Uchino, you may suffer from high levels of chronic (or long-term) stress. That’s where your body “never receives a clear signal to return to normal.”
It’s this type of chronic stress that causes changes in the body that can do damage and contribute to disease in some cases, says Uchino. Blood tests can reveal inflammation, changes in blood pressure, and elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can all be signs of chronic stress.
9 Illnesses That Stress May Cause or Make Worse
Chronic stress certainly doesn’t help or promote healing in any disease or health problem. Here are some common illnesses that can be caused and made worse by stress.
1. Depression and Other Mental Health Conditions
The exact reason why some people experience depression and anxiety as clinical mood disorders and others do not is still unknown, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Many factors are potentially in play, including genetic, environmental, and psychological conditions, as well as major stressful or traumatic experiences.
Research shows, however, that chronic stress left unmanaged is linked to serious mental disorders like anxiety and depression. Persistent or prolonged stress leads the body to produce certain hormones and chemicals that perpetuate an ongoing state of stress that can have adverse effects on key organs. Around 20 to 25 percent of persons who experience major stressful events will go on to develop depression, according to a commentary and review of research published in JAMA.
2. Insomnia
An informal APA survey from 2013 on stress and sleep found links in both directions. Forty-three percent of the nearly 2,000 adults surveyed reported that stress had caused them to lie awake at night at least one time in the past month. When they didn’t sleep well, 21 percent reported feeling more stressed. Among adults with higher self-reported stress levels (8 or higher on a 10-point scale), 45 percent said they felt more stressed when they didn’t get enough sleep. Finally, adults with lower self-reported stress levels claimed they slept more hours per night on average than adults with higher self-reported stress levels, to the tune of almost an hour less sleep (6.2 versus 7.1 hours a night).
3. Cardiovascular Disease
Chronic stress has long been connected to worsened heart health outcomes. While there’s limited conclusive evidence to say that stress alone can trigger heart disease, there are quite a few ways stress contributes to it, according to a JAMA review. Part of the stress response is a faster heart rate and blood vessel constriction (or vasodilation for some skeletal muscles to help the body move in a fight or flee response), thanks to the stress hormones adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol, according to research. If the body remains in this state for a long time, as in chronic stress, the heart and cardiovascular system may be damaged, according to other research.
Another means by which stress can contribute to heart disease: You might cope with your stress by eating or drinking too much, which in turn can contribute to cardiovascular disease, also according to APA.“Negative emotions and stress can contribute to a heart attack,” Dr. Dossett says. One meta-analysis, for example, found a 50 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease associated with high levels of work stress.
4. Common Cold
Stress can also weaken your immune function, which can make you more susceptible to infectious diseases like colds, Uchino explains. Researchers conducted an experiment in which they exposed a group of 420 volunteers to the common cold virus and then quarantined them to see if they got sick. The data revealed that participants who suffered from greater overall stress at the start of the study (measured via surveys on stressful life events, perceived stress, and mood) were more likely to become infected with a virus after exposure.
5. HIV and AIDS
Stress does not cause HIV (the virus that causes AIDS, which is sexually transmitted or passed through blood, which can happen when needles are shared). But there is some evidence that stress can worsen severity of the disease. A study of 177 HIV-positive patients found that the stress hormone cortisol (associated with chronic stress) was linked to a higher HIV viral load over four years and accelerated disease progression in people living with HIV. For the study, cortisol levels were measured via urine samples every six months.
Another review, published in 2016, concluded that while the link between stress and clinical outcomes is unclear, higher stress was linked to lower disease-fighting white blood cell counts, higher viral load, and disease worsening. Studies also linked stress with worse treatment adherence, per the review.
6. Gastrointestinal Disease
“Stress can affect gastrointestinal motility,” says Dossett, which is how food moves through your digestive system, increasing your chances of irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel conditions, gastroesophageal reflux, constipation, diarrhea, and discomfort. “All those things can be impacted by stress,” she says. Research supports this as well.
7. Chronic Pain
Some chronic pain conditions like migraine and lower back pain can be caused, triggered, or worsened when body muscles tense up. A lot of chronic low back pain is related to stress, says Dossett. “Very often it’s muscle tension and tightness that is pulling or creating strain, and then contributing to this sensation of pain.”
A study published in 2021 confirmed a strong relationship between the degree of stress and chronic lower back pain. The researchers concluded that clinicians who treated patients with chronic low back pain should also evaluate a patient’s stress levels.
“Pain is inherently stressful. When the pain does not appear to be remitting or getting better, the concern regarding the pain can turn into fear, anxiety, and hopelessness,” says Joel Frank, PsyD, a psychologist in private practice in Sherman Oaks, California.
A review published in 2017 examined the overlap between chronic stress and chronic pain, finding that both conditions triggered similar responses in the brain, particularly in the hippocampus and amygdala. The researchers also noted, however, that because of the wide variety of ways humans experience chronic pain and stress, these two conditions do not always overlap.
8. Cancer
What causes cancer is a particularly challenging question to answer, says Uchino. Because most patients are diagnosed only after years of cancer cell growth, it’s difficult if not impossible to pinpoint a specific cause. And it’s likely that several factors (someone’s genes, plus an environmental trigger like smoking, air pollution, or stress, for example) contribute.
But there is some evidence in human studies that stress plays a role in the onset of cancer, Uchino says. (It’s also worth noting that some studies have found no link.)
One possible reason why stress might contribute to some cancers: Stress can activate your brain and body’s inflammatory response, as well as stimulating your adrenal glands to release stress hormones called glucocorticoids, among many other downstream effects. Some research suggests that too much of this type of inflammation from chronic stress is the connection with cancer (as well as some autoimmune diseases — see below), Dossett explains.
9. Autoimmune Conditions
“Many inflammatory conditions are exacerbated by stress, and that includes autoimmune conditions like multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriatic arthritis, and psoriasis,” says Dossett. A Swedish population-wide study published in the June 2018 issue of JAMA found that patients with a stress disorder were more likely to develop an autoimmune disorder (9 per 1,000 patients per year compared with 6 per 1,000 among those without stress disorders). Another extensive review on the role of stress in autoimmunity emphasized that this is a relationship that medicine often overlooks.
Summary
The good news is there are many effective ways to manage stress, says Dossett, including yoga and mindfulness. These types of interventions don’t undo or change whatever situation is causing stress (financial woes, a family argument, or a busy schedule), but they can retrain the body’s central nervous system’s response and help dial that response down if it’s been triggered.
But some conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, develop years before they are diagnosed, so more research into interventions is desperately needed, says Uchino.
All things considered, if you want help with your chronic stress or other psychological issues, it’s best to ask your doctor or a trained mental health provider to evaluate and support you based on your needs.
Some heartfelt advice from writer Bill Bernat, who’s been there
When I lived with severe depression and social anxiety, I found it extremely difficult to talk to strangers. Yet the one conversation that uplifted me more than any other occurred in the dining hall of the mental health wing of a mountain-town hospital. I met a woman who told me that a few days earlier, she’d driven her Jeep Wrangler to the edge of the Grand Canyon. She sat there, revving the engine and thinking about driving over.
She described what had been going on in her life in the days and months leading up, what her thoughts were at that exact moment, why she wanted to die, and why she didn’t do it. We nodded and half-smiled, and then it was my turn to talk about my journey to our table in that fine dining establishment. I had taken too many sleeping pills. After the doctors treated me, they were like, “Hey, we’d love it if you would be our guest in the psych ward!”
That day, she and I talked shop. She allowed me to be deeply depressed and simultaneously have a genuine connection to another person. For the first time, I identified as someone living with depression and I felt, oddly, good about it — or rather, like I wasn’t a bad person for having it.
Now, imagine one of the people at that table was a member of your family or a close friend who told you they were really depressed. Would you be comfortable talking to them?
Depression doesn’t diminish a person’s desire to connect with other people, just their ability.
The World Health Organization says that depression is the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide, affecting more than 300 million people. In the United States, the National Institute of Mental Health reports 7 percent of Americans experience depression in a year. But while depression is super common, in my experience most folks don’t want to talk to depressed people unless we pretend to be happy. So we learn to put on a cheerful façade for casual interactions, like buying a pumpkin spice latte. The average barista doesn’t want to know that a customer is trapped in the infinite darkness of their soul.
Depression doesn’t diminish a person’s desire to connect with other people, just their ability. And despite what you might think, talking to friends and family living with depression can be easy and maybe fun. Not like Facebook-selfie-with-Lady-Gaga-at-an-underground-party fun — instead, I’m talking about the kind of fun where people enjoy each other’s company effortlessly, no one feels awkward, and no one accuses the sad person of ruining the holidays.
There’s a chasm that exists. On one side are people with depression, and on the other side is everyone else and they’re asking, “Why you gotta be so depressed?”
I’ve noticed there’s a chasm that exists. On the one side are those people living with depression, who may act in off-putting or confusing ways because they’re fighting a war in their head that nobody else can see. On the other side is everyone else, and they’re looking across the divide, shaking their heads, and asking, ‘Why you gotta be so depressed?’
I began battling depression when I was eight, and decades later, to my surprise, I started winning that battle. I shifted from being miserable much of the time to enjoying life. Today I live pretty well with bipolar disorder, and I’ve overcome some other mental health conditions, like overeating, addiction and social anxiety. As someone who lives on both sides of this chasm, I want to offer you some guidance based on my experiences to help you build a bridge across. I’ve also talked to a lot of people who’ve lived with depression to refine these suggestions.
Please don’t let our lack of bubbly happiness freak you out. Sadness doesn’t need to be treated with the urgency of a shark attack.
Before I get to the do’s, here are some some things you might want to avoid when talking to someone who’s depressed.
Don’t say “Just get over it.” That’s a great idea – we love it — but there’s just one problem: we already thought of that. The inability to “just get over it” is depression. Depression is an illness, so it’s no different from telling someone with a broken ankle or cancer to “just get over it.” Try not to fix us — your pressure to be “normal” can make us depressed people feel like we’re disappointing you.
Don’t insist that the things which make other people feel better will work for us. For example, you cannot cure clinical depression by eating ice cream, which is unfortunate because that would be living the dream.
Don’t take it personally if we respond negatively to your advice. I have a friend who, about a year ago, messaged me saying he was feeling really isolated and depressed. I suggested some things for him to do, and he was like, “No, no, and no.” I got mad, like, “How dare he not embrace my brilliant wisdom!” Then I remembered the times I’ve been depressed and how I thought I was doomed in all possible futures and everybody hated me. It didn’t matter how many people told me otherwise; I didn’t believe them. So I let my friend know I cared, and I didn’t take his response personally.
Don’t think that being sad and being OK are incompatible. Please don’t let our lack of bubbly happiness freak you out. Sadness does not need to be treated with the urgency of a shark attack. Yes, we can be sad and OK at the exact same time. TV, movies, popular songs and even people tell us if we’re not happy, there’s something wrong. We’re taught that sadness is unnatural, and we must resist it. In truth, it’s natural and it’s healthy to accept sadness and know it won’t last forever.
Talk to a depressed person as if their life is just as valuable, intense and beautiful as yours.
And here are some do’s.
Do talk to us in your natural voice. You don’t need to put on a sad voice because we’re depressed; do you sneeze when you’re talking to somebody with a cold? It’s not rude for you to be upbeat around us.
Do absolve yourself of responsibility for the depressed person. You might be afraid that if you talk to them, you’re responsible for their well-being, that you need to “fix” them and solve their problems. You’re not expected to be Dr. Phil — just be friendly, more like Ellen. You may worry that you won’t know what to say, but words are not the most important thing — your presence is.
Do be clear about what you can and cannot do for us. I’ve told people, “Hey, call or text me anytime, but I might not be able to get back to you that same day.” It’s totally cool for you to make a narrow offer with really clear boundaries. Give us a sense of control by getting our consent about what you’re planning to do. A while back when I was having a depressive episode, a friend reached out and said, “Hey, I want to check in with you. Can I call you every day? Or, maybe text you every day and call you later in the week? What works for you?” By asking for my permission, she earned my confidence and remains one of my best friends today.
Do interact with us about normal stuff or ask us for help. When people were worried about a friend of mine, they’d call him and ask if he wanted to go shopping or help them clean out their garage. This was a great way to reach out. They were engaging with him without calling attention to his depression. He knew they cared, but he didn’t feel embarrassed or like a burden. (Yes, your depressed friends could be a good source of free labor!) Invite them to contribute to your life in some way, even if it’s as small as asking you to go see a movie that you wanted to see in the theater.
This is, by no means, a definitive list. All of these suggestions are grounded in one guiding principle: speaking to someone like they belong and can contribute. That’s what allowed the woman in the Jeep Wrangler to start me on my path to recovery without even trying: She spoke to me like I was OK and had something to offer exactly as I was at that moment. Talk to a depressed person as if their life is just as valuable, intense and beautiful as yours. If you focus on that, it might just be the most uplifting conversation of their life.
Bill Bernat is a technology marketer, Comedy Central comedian, and The Moth Radio Hour storyteller living in Seattle. He brings awareness and humor to mental health in his award-winning show, Becoming More Less Crazy. He also leads storytelling workshops and fundraisers for nonprofit organizations.
When you’re a parent, the last thing that you want to worry about is whether or not your kids are receiving quality medical care. Unfortunately, there are many instances where people have gotten subpar care because they didn’t know their rights.
It’s essential to be proactive and ensure that your family has access to medical treatment while also ensuring it is safe and sound. In this blog post, you will get information on how to do just that!
Having regular checkups is something that everybody should do. Even if you feel well, it is always good to make sure your body is functioning the way it should be and take steps towards any issues before they become serious problems.
If, for example, your family has a history of certain conditions like cancer or diabetes, regular checkups are something that everyone in your family needs to do regardless of their age or health status. Checkups will allow doctors and nurses to catch things early on while still fixing them efficiently instead of waiting until more extensive damage is done.
Always Be Keen and Ask Questions
Asking questions is essential. Your doctor will not think you are troublesome, and it is their job to answer your questions anyway! If they do not, ask another doctor until someone can provide satisfying answers that give you peace of mind. The same goes for nurses and other medical professionals: the more information all parties have available about your treatment plan, the better care everyone gets as a result.
If something goes wrong due to a breach on the doctor’s part, you can always seek legal advice from a medical malpractice attorney to help you acquire damages for violation. By doing so, you will not be negligent about your medical rights.
Ensure That Your Medical Rights Are Respected
Your healthcare providers should understand that you are a vital part of the medical team. You should ask questions and communicate with them about any concerns you have without feeling judged. Staff members at hospitals and clinics should treat you with respect.
When doctors order tests for you as a patient, they need to explain what they are for you to make informed decisions. If there’s something wrong with how things work in this area, speak up! Like other rights citizens enjoy, your right to advocate for yourself will only strengthen if you exercise frequently.
Other medical rights include having access to quality healthcare providers and receiving advice on navigating the system. You also have the right to get satisfactory answers to your questions concerning insurance coverage and everything you need to be an active participant in making good choices about taking control of your well-being.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is crucial to make sure that your medical care providers do everything they can to protect you from harm. Remember, this means not just getting treatment for a severe injury or illness — it also includes making sure you have all the information and resources available to take steps toward preventing health issues before they become emergencies.
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