Before becoming disabled due to chronic pain, Jodi Cornelius was a bango-pickin’, backpackin’, tech editing, hard working dynamo. Read how her life has changed.

My Life As A Chronic Pain Sufferer

by Jodi Cornelius

Imagine, waking up one morning and discovering that your life has been slowly changing – and not for the better. Imagine what started out as an innocuous minor pain turned into a pain that keeps you from performing your everyday life without taking pain meds and muscle relaxers, anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications. Doctors shuffle you from one specialist to another because the neurologists say it’s orthopedic in nature yet the orthopedists say it’s neurological in nature. Here is my story…

In 1995 I was involved in a rear-end collision. I was stopped for a flagman on a mild curve waiting to be allowed to go. Suddenly, from around the corner comes an 82 year old man who never saw the BIG orange diamond shaped signs signaling that there was road construction ahead and also a flagman and to slow down. He rear-ended me doing 50 mph and never touched his brakes. My car stopped his car and kept him from slamming me into the flagman. I had my left arm out of the open window because the weather was really beautiful and was kind of slid down into my seat just relaxing while waiting. I happened to glance into the rearview mirror just in time to see the car coming. I don’t remember much after that. I had my youngest son in the car – he was 12 – and he said that I sucked in a big breath, yelled hold on, and flung my arm in front of him to hold him in place. Fortunately we were both wearing seatbelts.

Because he didn’t see what was happening, he made out really well. No injuries that we knew of (although later down the road we found out that our internal organs aren’t quite where they are supposed to be due to the heavy impact and the scar tissue that has “moved” them around a bit) and since we were so close to my sister-in-law’s house, he ran down to get her to call the police.

As I sat in the car, I saw the older man sitting in his car with his airbag deployed and making no effort to get out of his vehicle and away from the chemicals from the airbag. As I tried to get out of the car, I realized that the door jamb of the car had slammed into my left elbow (he had apparently tried to avoid the car instead of slamming on his brakes or else it just happened to be the position he was in when he hit me and he collided with the left back half of the car), my left knee had been slammed into the dash, the seatbelt had ripped into my left shoulder (which was fine because that kept me from being flung through the windshield) and the driver’s seat had been shoved into the my left hip. But at that time, I didn’t feel much of anything – I just wanted to get out of the car and see if I could get that older man out before he got sick from the airbag fumes.

Shortly after that, the police and an ambulance showed up. They went over to see the older man and see how he was doing and when they came to see me, I slowly started sliding down the side of my car. They got me on the ground and asked me where it hurt. I kind of kidded with them and said “Everywhere, of course” and then proceeded to tell them where I thought my injuries were. They put me in a neck collar and took me to the hospital – my car, at that time, was not drivable because the bumper had been shoved forward so far that it was keeping the tire from turning.

I was diagnosed at the hospital as having a badly bruised elbow, knee, and hip, with mild to moderate whiplash. It took me about a year to recover from the accident but after that I was mostly fine. No real major problems although I continued having knee surgeries on my left knee every 3 years or so needing to clean it out and started having some major reflux problems that caused GERD and it was later discovered I now have Barrett’s Esophagus which is a pre-cancerous condition. It is unknown as to whether the accident had much to do with it. It is possible since my insides got a touch “rearranged” which was discovered when I had to have a Nissan Fundaplication done due to the fact my GERD could not get under control with medication and new spots of Barrett’s continued to show up.

Then, in 2005, I woke up one Monday morning to get ready for work only to find out that I couldn’t get comfortable unless I placed my left arm over my head and rested it on top of my head. I was a cylindrical press operator at the time and there was no way I could do my job, or any job, in that condition. So I went to my chiropractor and he ended up making it worse. I called a different chiropractor and she sent me in for x-rays which showed that I had degenerative disc disease in my neck and proceeded to do therapy. When that didn’t work, she ordered an MRI done to my neck and discovered that I had herniated discs with mild impingement at C3/C4 and C4/C5 and herniated disc with significant impingement at C5/C6 and C6/C7. After some physical therapy, it was determined that the PT wasn’t doing what was needed so surgery was scheduled. My neck was fused with bone from my hip and a titanium plate at C5/C6 and C6/C7.

I finally had the surgery and once I recovered from it, I was ecstatic with the results! No more pain in the neck — outside of my husband and occasionally my kids and grandkids; no movement issues other than an inability to look fully to the left, which was totally acceptable to me. I was very happy.

About 5 to possibly 8 months later, I started developing a problem in my left wrist. It would get a sharp pain in it which would cause me to drop stuff. I wasn’t concerned because it wasn’t happening that often so I just contributed it to the fact that it was part of my job. Then I started getting muscle spasms in my forearm muscle that would cause my arm to draw up similar to that which happens to stroke victims. I would also get triceps spasms which would lock my arm in a straight position that I would be unable to bend. Both types of spasms were severe enough that I would have to have someone else straighten or bend the arm to break the spasm. This developed into difficulty raising my arm above my head. It also caused weakness in my left arm and a sharp pain behind my left shoulder blade that felt like someone was stabbing me with a red-hot poker.

I went to my surgeon to tell him about my problems and all he told me was the fact that his surgery was perfect, which I agreed with, and there was nothing he could do. This went on for about 2 years before I finally said “enough.” By that time I was in so much pain I was crying from it every day (and I have a very high pain tolerance). The general practitioner prescribed me Tramadol, and Hydrocodone and neither of them did anything for me so all this time I was dealing with a major amount of pain without any relief. It was during this time that we discovered that I have a high resistance to medications so meds that would sedate an elephant would have no affect on me whatsoever.

This, of course, led to a difficult time trying different pain medications due to the fact I live in a small town and there were no pain management clinics close-by to make sure that I wasn’t just a “drug seeking” addict so all I could get prescribed was Hydrocodone which was useless because it was like taking candy. I got to the point to where I said “forget it” when any new doctor would say “I can prescribe you Hydrocodone.” So for about 2 years I went through agonizing pain without any pain medication. Suicide began looking like a viable escape. If it hadn’t been for a supporting family, I wouldn’t be here writing this today.

I finally went to a neurologist in a larger city (I had refrained from doing this because riding in a car hurts me really bad and having to travel for 1.5 hrs to 2.5 hours one way is not a good thing for me) but I was to the point that I was ready to do whatever I had to do to get some help. So I went to a neurologist that my sister-in-law had gone to. Now, as I’m sure some of you reading this realize that once you’ve had surgery in your neck or spine, other specialists tend to refuse to treat you because they have to deal with whatever the surgeon did or didn’t do. But since my husband had taken his sister to one of her appointments he mentioned my situation to the surgeon and asked if he would look at me – if nothing else, just look at me and see if there’s something he can recommend. So I went to the appointment and he told me it wasn’t neurological, it was orthopedic. Here we go again. He sent me to a local (for me) orthopedist that I hadn’t been to before and that doctor gave me a shot in my shoulder and scheduled me for an MRI. He got the results and told me that I had a minor rubbed spot in my rotator cuff and that since I hadn’t gotten any good results from the cortisone shot then he couldn’t do anything for me. Naturally, I cried. I was so depressed and so upset that no one seemed to be able to help and no one seemed to even care.

I called the hospital where I had the MRI done and asked for a copy of the MRI and the doctor’s report that went along with it and discovered, myself, that not only did I have a “minor” rub spot in my rotator cuff but I actually had, according to the report,”…a partial-thickness tear of the surpaspinatus tendon just before it’s attachment to the greater tuberosity. A frank complete thickness tear is not identified. There is a signal void in the supraspinatus tendon, which conceivably could represent calcification, which would be better seen with a plain film of the left shoulder. There is considerable DJD of the right AC joint with significant osteophyte extending inferiorly from the joint, which depresses the musculotendinous junction on the surpaspinatus tendon indicating a high likelihood of impingement syndrome caused by this osteophyte. The bicep tendon appears intact.”

In English, that means that I had a tear in my rotator cuff, not a minor rub spot, as the doctor said, I also have significant DJD (Degenerative Joint Disease) that the doctor didn’t even mention PLUS bone spurs rubbing on my bicep tendon.

So, in tears again, I got another appointment with my “new” neurologist and brought my MRI report for him to look at, hoping that it would be something that would tell him “Oh, yeah, okay now that we see this, I see what we need to do.” Instead, what he told me was the same thing he told me before – I need an orthopedic surgeon and I burst into tears in front of the doctor when he said that. I told him the local doctors were either bad or just not caring and I had no idea what to do or where to go and he recommended the orthopedic surgeon who did his wife’s knee. I said, fine, I am at the end of my rope and the office called and they scheduled me within a few days. The neurologist sent a personal letter to the orthopedic surgeon explaining all that had happened and the orthopedic surgeon looked at the MRI that I had and pretty much said the same thing. He couldn’t do anything but give me cortisone shots and see what that would do for me. But then he did one of the best things I’ve ever had done for me during this whole time. He sent me to a pain management clinic that actually believed what the ortho doc told them. He told them I have a high tolerance to medications and that they may need to do a lot of trying out various medications in order to find the right combo without making me look like a drug addict. We’ve worked around quite a bit with different medications and we’re slowly getting closer and closer to getting the right combo – and this has been going on for over a year. But the pain levels weren’t going down that well with the meds that were being issued. The doctor gave me a couple of lidocaine shots in the bad areas in my neck and shoulder and while they helped a little bit, they still didn’t do the job. I was still unable to move my left arm outside of my waist area. To raise it caused intense pain regardless of the meds.

So the pain management doctor told me, if I didn’t have surgery done on my shoulder then we would be unable to go further. My orthopedic surgeon didn’t want to do it because he knew that it wouldn’t work and fix my problems. After the comment from the pain management doc, I made an appointment with the ortho doc and told him I realized that the surgery wasn’t going to “cure” my problems but with what the pain management doc said, it needed to be done in order to rule out shoulder problems.

The ortho doc told me “you do realize that your problems are not going to go away, right?” And I told him yes, I understand but whatever help it gives me has to be better with what I have going on now.

So he did the surgery, and once again, it’s a surgery I wish I had done way back when. It’s a surgery that, once the doctor got in there, he realized that had my shoulder surgery been considered the first time I had started having problems and had the original doctor moved away from my “perfect neck surgery”, I wouldn’t have had the problems I had. Had he gotten in there and done exploratory when I was mentioning my problems, he would have discovered a small bone spur that could have been removed, a small tear or rubbed spot in my rotator cuff that could have been repaired or eased, and a little bit of arthritis that could have just been given cortisone shots on a regular basis and ¾ of my problems would have never developed. But because the proper attention was not paid to my complaints, when the surgeon got into my shoulder to fix the minor tear and remove the bone spur, he found a surprise waiting for him. My “up to 2 hr” surgery lasted 4 hours. When he got in there, there wasn’t one minor rub/tear in the rotator cuff, there were 2 significant tears. Not only was there 1 bone spur, there were 3. Not only did I not have a slight rub on the bicep tendon, the bicep tendon was so worn they had to remove 4 inches off the tendon and reattach the tendon to the top of the humerus instead of back where it belonged. They removed 1 inch off my collar bone due to arthritis and generally just cleaned everything up.

Once I recovered from THAT surgery (let me tell you – if you have to have rotator cuff surgery and people tell you it hurts like crazy – believe them! But I would do it again in a heartbeat.) I can now raise my arm over my head which I had been unable to do for over 2 plus years. I can open cupboard doors over my head, I can adjust the showerhead. To me, these are short of a miracle – just ask someone who suffers with arthritis and has been given something that allows them to finally take the lid off their medication with a minimal, if any, amount of pain. It’s wonderful! Now, I can’t do much with it other than that. I can hold stuff so long as my arm stays by my side. I cannot take a cup or bowl out of the cupboard without fear of dropping them. If I grab a bottle to drink out of or a cup to drink out of, I have to switch to my right hand because I’m liable to either drop the item, or spill it because the spasms can strike making my hand shake.

The weakness I have mentioned is all throughout the left side of my body. I still have the red-hot poker in my left scapula that no one can explain. No one has explained the weakness that I have. No one can explain the nerve pain I get in my shoulder. No one can explain the severe neck pain that shoots up through my head and out my eye with no warning. I can’t get an explanation as to what is going on with my left hip – one says it’s arthritis, another says it’s my sacroiliac joint. But neither doctor nor therapist has helped it. My left knee needs replaced but I’m too young, although I’m sincerely hoping that since I’m now 49 that this will change. I will wake up screaming in the night with the inside of my left knee burning so bad I can’t straighten it out. I have to hook my right foot behind my left ankle and straighten it out that way. Because of this, I must use a cane when out in public because I lose my balance fairly often and that’s the only thing, outside of my husband, that keeps me from falling. However the only good thing on my left side is my left ankle, which I probably shouldn’t mention because it’ll jinx it.

Every morning, I take my pain med, my muscle relaxer, my anti-depression med, my anti-anxiety med, my acid reflux med, my cholesterol med, and my mood stabilizer in the hopes that I don’t go off the deep end. Some days, you just wish something would happen and you just wouldn’t wake up the next time you go to sleep. Other days, they aren’t too bad – they’re actually quite good, relatively speaking. But most days are the days that chronic pain sufferers tend to deal with — it’s not a “good” good day, but it’s not a “bad” bad day – like the chart in the hospital – we usually run between 4-7 on our “normal” days.

A lot of times I get asked “How do you deal with this every day?” from people who know me. I just tell them God blessed me by making me highly tolerant to pain. I mean, if He’s going to make someone “highly tolerant to pain” seems to me it’s better to give it to someone who’s needing it than someone who’s always healthy, right?

But those of us chronic (or ongoing as I’ve heard a lot of people mention) pain sufferers who have no external signs (in my case, I just have a cane and I limp – there’s no visible injury or anything like that and nothing visible to show all the rest of the stuff that is wrong) that anything is wrong with us, we get slapped with a “you’re just trying to get sympathy.” Or another good one is “you’re just a hypochondriac looking for attention.” Those are the ones that make you want to knock their heads off their shoulders and send them on their way. Now you may think that sounds brutal, but when you suffer 24/7, 7 days a week, 52 weeks out of the year with NO breaks from pain, to have someone look at you and say “There’s nothing wrong with you. Why don’t you just get a job and stop sucking money out of us taxpayers!” — well, that cuts pretty danged deep. Because for me, personally, I busted my hump for my last employer and had been with them going on 9 years and had planned on making it my retirement job when all this crap happened. I loved my job. I still love my job. If I could be healed right now, I’d immediately go back to my job and see if I could go back to work there. I’ve paid my dues into the Medicare and disability programs. I didn’t just decide one day, enough working – I want “free” money. No, I struggled to work until the doctor flat out told me I had to stop or end up possibly paralyzed. What choice would YOU make?

So for those of you reading this (should this not end up on the cutting floor) who happens to be fortunate enough to not be dealing with chronic pain and who happens to see someone park in a handicap parking space who appears to be healthy, think about it before you condemn them. Maybe they aren’t as healthy as they look. Think about it the next time you go to the doctor’s office and you see someone with a Medicare or Medicaid card who doesn’t look like there’s much wrong with them. It may not be a real noticeable thing but it’s still there, regardless.

And know that for all of us who are suffering on a day-to-day basis with a legitimate chronic pain problem, none of us want to be in this situation.

Pain not only hurts, it’s depressing to the point of suicide and it takes away all the things you used to do before all this happened. (I played the banjo and loved to backpack neither of which I can do any more.) You tend to be stuck in the house by yourself because friends don’t know what to say to you so they stay away.

But know also, there are a lot of us, myself included, who try to find humor in our lives, making fun of things that happen to us. I never go into a doctor’s office without kidding with the nurses and the doctor and trying to stay upbeat because I refuse to allow my life to be ruled by pain. I still go out and do things that I know I’m going to pay for the next day or even that evening and will probably pay for for days after. And while I don’t do it often (I’m not a masochist!), I do enjoy my time when I do decide to get out of the house and go on a trip even when I know it is going to cause me pain. My pain is not going to rule my life, I am going to rule my life and deal with the pain as it comes.

Index for this One Good Thing about Pain comic strip poster and gift idea index

My Life As A Chronic Pain Sufferer by Jodi Cornelius is a post from: Chronic Illness.org

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Index to the Fibromyalgia is a Pain T-Shirt and Gift Idea design

Chronic-Illness.org invites you to read Julie Wendell’s Fibromyalgia story:

Living with Fibromyalgia

by Julie Wendell

“Mommy, open this, please?” my 3-year-old son asked as he handed me a cereal bar early one morning.

I tried to tear off the top of the wrapper, but my fingers would not move or grasp the wrapper!

Terrified, I tried opening it again, but to no avail.  I had lost all strength in both of my hands!   As calmly as I could, I asked my 7-year-old son to open the cereal bar for his brother.  But inside, I was panicking because the weakness in my hands persisted for about an hour.

What was happening to me?

Little did I know that the morning of February 10th, 2008 marked the beginning of a myriad of severely painful symptoms.  My life was about to drastically change.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I started to experience alarming new symptoms. In addition to the weakness in my hands, I noticed that the joints in my hands were very swollen and stiff. I even took pictures of my hands from all angles to make sure that their odd shape was not just my imagination. I would often feel sharp zinging pains in my extremities, especially in my hands, wrists, knees, and ankles. My muscles and joints ached like I had the flu. There were times when I would be convinced I had a temperature of at least 101, just to find out it was completely normal every time I checked.

My level of fatigue went from being a “full time single working mother” to feeling like a “full time single working mother who also ran 100 miles a day.” I was physically exhausted from dealing with so much pain every day.

To make matters worse, I started noticing that when I woke up each morning, I would not feel refreshed, even after a full straight 6-8 hours of sleep.  Instead, it felt like I only slept for one hour each night.  So not only was I physically exhausted, I was emotionally drained as well.  The overall level of exhaustion was indescribable, the worst I have ever experienced in my life!  But I was hoping that whatever was plaguing me would just stop on its own.

One afternoon in April 2008, after I got off work and picked up my kids, I couldn’t get home fast enough.  My body was overwhelmed with pain like I never felt before.  As soon as we walked through the door, I immediately headed for the couch, where I spent the next four days. I had to call my mom to help me take care of the kids.  In addition to my existing symptoms, I also suffered from oppressive chest pain, muscles/joints that felt bruised, extreme coldness in my arms and face, and TMJ-like jaw pain.   I also had the sensation that my aching spine and pelvis were going to slide out of my body.

I cried often, because I had no idea how to cope with these bizarre symptoms.

I tried heating packs, ice packs, Tylenol/Advil, but nothing even remotely helped me.

My temperature was still normal at 98.6.

My mom, who is a nurse, thought maybe I had a virus, but most of the symptoms did not even resemble any virus I had ever had in the past, plus I was not running a fever.  Even after the four worst days of feeling severely “sick,” most of my symptoms never fully disappeared.

At this point, I was at my wits’ end, so I finally decided to get some help.  So even though I was terrified of the possible outcomes, I made an appointment to see my primary care physician.

After reviewing my list of symptoms and seeing the pictures of my hands, he thought it was very likely that I had rheumatoid arthritis. He immediately referred me to a rheumatologist, who wanted to test me for not only rheumatoid arthritis, but also lupus, mononucleosis, and multiple sclerosis.

He ordered some x-rays of my hands and a lot of bloodwork.   He also prescribed a week’s worth of steroids to see if that would help.

My daily life started becoming a real chore for me.  Everything and anything I usually did without a problem was now unbearable or overwhelming.  The mornings and evenings were the worst times of day for my pain, fatigue, and weakness.  I tried to stay strong, especially for my children, but there were days where I felt like giving up on everything.

I tried talking to a few friends and family members about how I was feeling, but they would just say that I was complaining too much and/or accuse me of being a hypochondriac. I had never felt so alone in my life.

The results of the blood tests and x-rays came back the following week and were completely normal.  Also, the steroids ended up not helping me at all.  Based on these findings, the rheumotologist suggested that I may have fibromyalgia.  He prescribed an NSAID called mobic to help with my muscle/joint pain and an anti-convulsant/anti-neuropathy medication called gabapentin to help with my nerve pain.

The doctor said that diagnosing fibromyalgia was very tricky because there are no actual diagnostic tools. Instead, the diagnosis is made after everything else has been ruled out.  He also wanted to wait and see how the next few months went with the new medications before confirming the suspected diagnosis.

During the following months, both of the medications had made a difference to where my daily activities became more tolerable.  I still felt very fatigued, but my quality of sleep seemed to be more restorative (due to the gabapentin).  My muscle and joint pain were definitely persistent but they were on more manageable levels (due to the mobic).

When I went back to the doctor in August 2008, he reviewed all of my test results and evaluated me again, then officially diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, a syndrome characterized by chronic pain, stiffness, and tenderness of muscles, tendons, and joints (definition by MedicineNet.com).

The treatment for fibromyalgia includes pain medication and exercise.  The doctor advised me to continue with the medications I was currently taking and to try doing light exercise when possible.  He also warned me that my medication combination was not always going to be perfect.  He said it may take a few tries with various medications before reaching optimal pain management, and what works for me now may not work for me in a few years.

I was completely devastated, knowing that I was going to live with unrelenting complicated pain and severe fatigue for the rest of my life.

Sometimes, in addition to medication and exercise, doctors recommend a gluten-free diet to help alleviate fibromyalgia symptoms.  Coincidentally, I had already been on a gluten-free diet for 4 years already, due to having an auto-immune digestive disorder called Celiac Disease.  Unfortunately, being on this diet did not stop me from having fibromyalgia nor had it eased its symptoms.  My doctor said that I’m one of the unlucky fibromyalgia patients who was not positively affected by a gluten free diet.  Sometimes I like to think that being gluten free has stopped my fibromyalgia symptoms from becoming uncontrollable.

A diagnosis of fibromyalgia carries a negative stigma in society because the symptoms are very vague and are not so clear-cut as other diseases/conditions.  I have actually heard people say that there is no such thing as fibromyalgia, or that the symptoms are fake and they are all in the person’s head.

It is also widely believed that people who have fibromyalgia just want attention and/or medication.  There are many doctors do not recognize fibromyalgia as an actual medical condition.  Therefore, people who do have fibromyalgia usually have to see numerous doctors before receiving a diagnosis.  Luckily for me, reaching a diagnosis for my symptoms only took 6 months and involved seeing only 2 doctors.  Some people suffer for years before finding an answer.

Since my diagnosis, additional symptoms have added themselves onto the original list, such as hypersensitivity to stimuli.  For example, if there is too much light or sound, I start feeling very overwhelmed and need to remove myself from the situation.

There are times where I cannot be touched, when even my clothes feel like too much overload on my skin and receiving a hug actually HURTS.

I also started becoming sensitive to the weather patterns, especially low pressure systems.  I jokingly call myself the “human barometer” because I seem to predict rain better than the weatherman!  During periods of damp or cold weather, my muscles and joints heavily protest, and in turn, the pain increases substantially.

I found that I have a low tolerance for any kind of exercise, it makes me feel worse rather than making me feel energetic and refreshed.

I have also developed difficulty with my short term memory and concentration (ie-”fibro-fog”), which has affected all aspects of my life, especially work.

Today, it remains difficult for me to deal with the pain and fatigue that I experience every day with fibromyalgia.  My doctor has changed my pain reliever from mobic to tramadol, which is a bit stronger, so my pain is at a tolerable level most of the time.  But I definitely have my share of bad days.

On a positive note, I have learned a few things from my experience with fibromyalgia.

I’ve learned not push myself to do more than I can handle, but I’m still learning that it’s okay to ask for help.

I have also learned to prioritize what is actually important and to just take things one day at a time.

Having fibromyalgia has made me realize it is so important not to take anything for granted.

After my diagnosis, my rheumatologist had pointed out to me that fibromyalgia is not a deadly or destructive disease, which is very fortunate.  However, living with chronic pain and fatigue is still a difficult challenge, no matter what the cause.

Yes, fibromyalgia is REAL.

My Fibromyalgia Story: Living with Fibromyalgia by Julie Wendell is a post from: Chronic Illness.org

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View the design for the shirt Pammy is wearing and other slow going designs on this page.

Redefining Slow: A Chronic Illness Realities Comic Strip is a post from: Chronic Illness.org

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It’s better to be slow going than to be not going at all!

t-shirt and gift idea designs.

Index to this It’s better to be slow going than to be not going at all crutches design	Index for this It’s better to be slow going than to be not going at all turtle design	Index to this It’s better to be slow going than to be not going at all forearm crutches design
Index to this It’s better to be slow going than to be not going at all wheelchair design	Index to this It’s better to be slow going than to be not going at all cane design	Index to this It’s better to be slow going than to be not going at all walker design
Index to this It’s better to be slow going than to be not going at all text design	Whenever Clock	Index to this It’s better to be slow going than to be not going at all text design
Have Hope T-Shirt and Gift Idea Designs	Nap Realities T-Shirt and Gift Idea Designs	Coping T-Shirt and Gift Idea Designs

Slow Going T-Shirt and Gift Idea Designs is a post from: Chronic Illness.org

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A long handle shoe horn definitely makes life easier, especially for those with range-of-motion or mobility issues — and is among the must-have items for those who wish to make living alone easier.

The long handle shoe horn pictured on the left has a chrome-plated shaft and a flexible head for easy use. The long handle also extends the user’s reach an additional 24 inches.

An alternative is the less expensive, shorter Carex Shoe Horn.

A Long Handle Shoe Horn Makes Living Alone Easier is a post from: Chronic Illness.org

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A sock aid definitely makes life easier, especially for those with range-of-motion or mobility issues — and is among the must-have items for those who wish to make living alone easier.

The Flexible Sock Aid shown on the upper left has a nylon interior that reduces friction, while the terrycloth outside holds the sock in place. The flexible three-finger design bends with the contours of the foot and heel. The  29-inch long looped handles reduce the need to bend and are easy to manipulate. The Flexible Sock Aid is hand washable.

The Hard Plastic Sock Aid shown on the lower left uses molded hard plastic design that most physical therapists recommend. Each sock aid helps the user put on socks and stockings without bending. To use the Hard Plastic Sock Aid, the sock or stocking is placed over plastic core. Garter clips attach to the sock or stocking and holds it in place while the user slips his or her foot into the sock or stocking. The 48-inch strap  reduces the need to bend and are easy to manipulate. The Hard Plastic Sock Aid comes with instructions.

A Flexible Sock or Stocking Aid Makes Living Alone Easier is a post from: Chronic Illness.org

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iCOPE (blue) T-Shirts and Gift Ideas Design

Anyone who must deal with a disabling chronic illness, chronic condition, or chronic pain needs to develop coping skills to help overcome their situational depression and improve their personal well-being.

These suggestions will help:

Dave Roever’ Message of Hope
by Spc. John S. Wollaston
3BCT PAO

Loneliness and Your Immune System

“Support” and Muscle Spasms: A Comfortable Bra Alternative
by Pamela Rice Hahn

Meditation and Pain Management
by David L. Hebert

Coping T-Shirt and Gift Idea Designs

Sponsor: Wendi.com Body Mastery – A Hypnosis Healing Program for a Healthy, stronger, and more youthful body and mind.

Sponsor: CLICK HERE for the most Stunning functional Relaxation and stress relief products you’ve ever seen, at Discount Prices.

Coping Skills for Personal Well-Being is a post from: Chronic Illness.org

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T-shirts & Gift Gear Index featuring this “RA Sucks!” graphic T-shirts & Gift Ideas Index featuring this “Rheumatoid Arthritis Sucks!” design Help raise awareness for arthritis and show your frustration about your arthritic condition with this “arthritis sucks” gift idea. T-shirts & Gift Gear Index featuring this “Arthritis Sucks!” graphic T-shirts & Gift Gear Index featuring this “Arthritis Sucks!” graphic Index for this “Have Hope” T-Shirts & Gift Ideas Design Index for Disabling Chronic Condition Warning T-Shirts and Gifts Index for T-Shirts and Gifts that feature this “Disabling Chronic Pain Warning” Design T-shirts & Gift Gear Index featuring this slogan Read the “I’m a Pain When I’m in Pain” essay that inspired this slogan Mini Poster | Small Poster | Camisole | Mug View Entire Gift Gear Index for this Comic View Full-Sized Comic T-shirts & Gift Gear Index featuring this slogan Related Designs: View Full-Sized Comic View Placebo Effect Gift Gear View Placebo Effect 2 Gift Gear (that feature this graphic) T-shirts & Gift Gear Index featuring this graphic “My To Do List” Index T-shirts & Gift Gear Index featuring this graphic T-shirts & Gift Gear Index featuring this graphic Chronic Condition Serenity Prayer Designs: View Pink Chronic Condition Serenity Prayer Gift Gear Index View the Chronic Condition Serenity Prayer (multi) T-shirts & Gift Gear Indexto gift ideas that feature this Chronic Illness Serenity Prayer To see the full beauty of the letters in this design, CLICK HERE to see a full-sized sample image View Disabling Chronic Condition Serenity Prayer (Clouds) Gift Gear Index Graphic on the back of these Disabling Chronic Condition Serenity Prayer (Clouds) gift items View Blue Chronic Illness Serenity Prayer Gift Gear Index Whenever Clock Humorous Disabling Chronic Condition Quote Designs: View entire T-shirts & Gift Gear Index (that feature this graphic) View Entire T-shirts & Gift Gear Index (that feature this graphic) T-shirts & Gift Gear Index featuring this slogan View Entire T-shirts & Gift Gear Index (that feature this graphic) Chronic Illness Realities Comic Strip Designs: Mini Poster | Small Poster | Camisole | Mug | View Gift Gear Index for this Comic View Full-Sized Comic View Full-Sized Comic | View Gift Gear (that feature this comic strip)

Chronic Illness Realities Comic Strip Calendar
(This is a direct purchase link, and not an index on this site)

Chronic Illness Realities Comic Poster Calendar
(This is a direct purchase link)

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Designs is a post from: Chronic Illness.org

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Chronic Illness Realities Comic Strip Calendar

Chronic Illness Realities Comic Strip Poster Calendar

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Chronic-Illness.org T-Shirts and Gift Shop Index

Chronic Illness Realities Comic Strip Calendars is a post from: Chronic Illness.org

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Article by David L. Hebert

Meditation, in its simplest form, is simply a way of calming your inner mind and bringing it into balance with your body. This balance can let your body ease its way into providing you with relief from the pain associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, arthritis, and other disabling conditions.

Often, because your days are hectic and you have so many thoughts running through your mind at the same time, your body can go into sensory overload. As a result, it can feel like your body just wants to shut down, similar to the way a marathoner can seemingly hit a “wall” where it seems he or she just can’t go on anymore. (The 24/7 flu t-shirt compares the fatigue and pain of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia to how one feels after running a marathon.)

By practicing daily meditation, you can help your mind and your body find quiet time to mend and re-establish a sense of equilibrium.

There really isn’t a wrong way to meditate. As long as you’re letting your mind rest, you’re probably accomplishing your goal. If you find that as you try to meditate, your thoughts keep running to how you’re ever going to find the energy to get the dishes done or deal with any of those other things that coping with a disabling condition makes seem overwhelming, just gently push those thoughts away.

A particularly beautiful way of dealing with thoughts like this is to picture the thoughts being wrapped in a clear bubble — a nice soap bubble with an iridescent rainbow that shimmers on the surface. Imagine the thought inside the bubble, bouncing around lightly inside that clear, shiny sphere — and then imagine that bubble just floating lightly upwards, bouncing slowly to and fro in the breeze — until it climbs so high you can’t even see it anymore.

You don’t have to sit in a yoga position and have absolute quiet to enter a meditative state. You can meditate while walking, or bathing, or even — heaven forbid — doing the dishes. The important thing is that you let your mind take that important relaxing break.

And while you’re doing it, use your imagination to help heal your body, too. One particularly effective way is to envision your body being wrapped in a gentle pink cloud. (One of my favorites is pretending that it’s a nice big wad of sweet, pink cotton candy.) Pink is a soothing color, and you can let yourself feel the warm sensations of the color spreading through your body and carrying a nice healing glow along with it.

If you have a part of your body that is being persistently painful, send an extra bit of this warmth and color to that part. Imagine it spreading a healing energy throughout the area, and be thankful that your body has the time to indulge itself in healing. You don’t have to believe in the process whole-heartedly; you just need to go through the actions. Your body and your mind will do the rest.

Try it for a week or two. At the very least, you’ll find that you’ve been able to enjoy some nice quiet moments to yourself. More than likely, you’ll find that the pain has started to dissipate, and you’ve discovered a new way to bridge the gap between mind and body and have found a way to help the body heal itself.

This is by no means the only way to meditate. It’s just one of a million. But it’s a great start, and it really is fun to try. Let yourself indulge in it, and then hop onto the Chronic-Illness.org Forum to share your results with others.

David L. Hebert is a lawyer and writer from Manitoba, Canada. He is the author of The Everything Learning French Book, the upcoming Speak French (In No Time) (available in 2006), and Freedom of the Press . For more information about the author of this article, you can visit his Web site — Lurquer.com.

Meditation and Pain Management is a post from: Chronic Illness.org

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