My History with Chronic Pain
I figure it’s only fair to introduce myself with a quick history of my life with chronic pain. It’s not how I would introduce myself to people I meet in real life, but I find myself more and more often...
View ArticleCollege Prep: Four Tips for Making it Through the School Year
The fall season approaches, and colleges across the country have kicked off their first week of classes. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia my senior year of college, but I didn’t have a lot to go on as...
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Invisible Illness Awareness Week
Note: This column is for Invisible Illness Awareness Week I probably joked about buying a cane for three weeks before I finally ended up getting one. Joking is still the easiest way to ease my friends...
View ArticleStop Telling me to try Yoga
“Well, have you tried exercise?” I’ve heard variations of that question probably every week since being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It’s often well-meaning, but sometimes it’s snide, or even...
View ArticleHave Chronic Pain? Here’s a Quick Primer on the ACA
I’ve been glued to CSPAN these days, but even if you barely watch the news, you probably know two things — the American federal government was shut down on October 1, and the Affordable Care Act’s open...
View ArticleTo Disclose or Not to Disclose? Working with Chronic Pain
It’s my first day at a new position, and I’m taking a tour of the offices. “Let me show you the top floor,” my guide says, and it’s only one floor above us. “The stairs are right over there.” Oh no, I...
View ArticleTalking About Opioids – Discussions with Doctors
Strong painkillers can be addictive. Abuse of pharmaceutical opioids and other prescriptions is at increasingly high levels in various populations, even in pregnant women. We see this played out even...
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Sweater Weather: Coping with the Cold
The brisk chill of fall is slowly creeping its way into DC right now, and winter is just around the corner. There are a lot of things I like about chilly weather. It’s an excuse for peppermint hot...
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Turkey Tips: Chronic Pain and Thanksgiving
Shopping Stress It’s the holiday season! Which means dinners with friends and family, and a whole lot of shopping, for food and for gifts. It can also mean a lot of extra stress and strain for...
View ArticleTalking About Your Chronic Pain
I recently found myself back in my hometown for something that turned out to be a de facto middle school reunion. I was surrounded by people I grew up with, people who I had intensely personal...
View ArticleRun a Mile in My Shoes: Chronic Pain and Baby Steps
It’s the beginning of the year, and people are all busy trying to come up with how they’re going to better themselves. This will be the year to lose weight, or learn a language, or travel more. I don’t...
View ArticleBaby It’s (Painfully!) Cold Outside: 3 Tips for Managing Chronic Pain in Winter
Weather in Washington, D.C. is always comically hard to predict, but last week was extreme even for this area. Monday kicked off the beginning of the Polar Vortex with some single digit temperatures,...
View ArticleDoes Hollywood Ignore the Disabled?
I’m a pop culture buff, the type of person who tries to watch all the movies nominated for an Oscar, and I’ve noticed that Hollywood rarely casts disabled actors or discusses the situation at all....
View ArticleShould Pregnant Women Stop Taking Tylenol?
Another thing for pregnant women to worry about: A new study found that children born to moms who took the painkiller acetaminophen during pregnancy were more at risk to develop ADHD or hyperkinetic...
View ArticleWhat We Talk About When We Talk About Pain
Chronic pain is hard to talk about in part because it’s so hard to explain what chronic pain is and what it isn’t. People want to empathize, and since everyone has hurt themselves at least once in...
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