“There is a certain pain that comes from trying to suppress your dreams. If you block it out for long enough, it will grow until you can’t ignore it anymore.”—Sunlight In Winter from “One Foot In The Real World” I’ve been away from my writing and, in reality, a part of myself for a while…
Exhibiting Pain Home
A fellow chronic pain blogger, member of our community, and PhD candidate has created a research project entitled “Exhibiting Pain” and would appreciate your participation. “Exhibiting Pain” is a research project designed to analyze how creativity can help to communicate the affects of living with long-term physical pain. The exhibition includes art, textiles, and poetry and its aim…
Article Exploring Pregnancy and Fibromyalgia Pain
An article entitled “Coping With Fibromyalgia During Pregnancy” recently published in US News and World Report Health provides greater insight into what fibromyalgia patients experience during pregnancy. According to the article, the condition, characterized by widespread pain, tender points on the body, extreme fatigue, memory and concentration problems, headaches, and temperature and touch sensitivity, effects…
A Returning
I have been away. I have often thought of how to begin this blog again after a long hiatus and then more time would pass and there it stood waiting for me to speak, write, and reach out. The reason for my silence is the same reason for beginning this blog. Living with chronic illness…
Is It Finally Time To Take Endometriosis Seriously?
Is It Finally Time To Take Endometriosis Seriously? Ten years ago, I sat in my primary care physician’s office and I listened to her as she told me that the symptoms commonly associated with endometriosis were actually a result of depression. “If you take a little Prozac this would all go away.” She explained with…
“Pain In Focus”: A New Photography Project By Fellow Blogger
A fellow blogger who writes about her personal struggles with chronic pain and provides links to resources for those who struggle with the disease is beginning a new creative project. As a photographer, she has channeled her private battle with the disease of chronic pain into art and is now planning to embark on a…
For Kaira
For Kaira Come out today And do not hold back your heart gently I have carved a passageway For you to free those moving years Hold your heart like your hand Out the window of a speeding cavalcade Flying by the wind-broke land Come out today And dance as Kaira would Under the tree, in…
Private, Secret, and Alone: Chronic Illness and Feelings of Isolation
It was 6 am on a Monday morning and a warm and hazy sun flooded my room reminding me that I had an appointment to attend in an hour. I had just fallen asleep in what seemed like mere minutes ago. I sat up in bed sipping coffee and feeling hung-over from medications and a…
The Grand Staircase
As some of you may know, I am also an artist working with mediums such as acrylic, oil, gouache, tempera, oil and soft pastels, bronze and gold leaf, collage, paper, charcoal, and ink. Most of my paintings involve repeating images, bursts of colors, and dream-like images resembling woven tapestries. This is the first painting that…
My Body is a Full-Time Job
If you live with a chronic illness, you may have noticed that you work several jobs. Perhaps, you work full-time or part-time which is your first job. If you are a student, than classes and time spent studying is your second professional obligation. Your third occupation involves family, chores, and necessary errands. However, with chronic…
Blame it on My Body: Chronic Pain and Feelings of Failure
Everyday acceptance of chronic pain necessitates that we reflect our attention away from pain to the non-pain facets of life. We go to work, go to school, take care of children, and have social lives. But what happens when we miss our deadlines or maybe an exam? Maybe we have to rely more on our…
When Healing Our Body Is Not an Option, We Still Can Heal From the Inside
I was once told that the sun shining through the trees had healing qualities. That the act of partially blocking out of the sun as its rays emit through the green helped with emotional release. I always thought this was a myth—a beautiful story I was told in adolescence to make me feel better. Still,…
para las fridas 