Stuff we learn...

”Life is a lot like jazz... it's best when you improvise.”

-George Gershwin

Making friends with pain

When I'm constantly fighting the pain, my body becomes a battle ground... so I've decided to be buddhist about it and embrace my enemy :)

Feeling electric!

It's been a pretty intense year. After spending 2010 working mostly on this blog and my book, this year I have been in worse shape physically - and have had time for reflection. After I got the grant to start a Norwegian blog about the health care system  I've been getting more involved in politics concerning chronic disease, patients rights and freedom of choice. With more pain, there is less energy, and I've also had to rethink many of my viewpoints on chronic disease and the biomedical paradigm (which I used to criticize abundantly). Things are changing, and I guess I'm learning and developing.

Today is a great day, because I've just received a new shipment of TENS electrodes from my sister in Austin. My last TENS electrodes were wearing thin already in May, and with a new cold season approaching and rapidly increasing pain levels I've been trying to get new ones, but they are hard to come by and ridiculously expensive here in Scandinavia. But with some help from my globetrotting family I have now received 48 new electrodes, which should keep me supplied for atleast a year:

These things aren't easy to find where I live...
but they work wonders for my chronic pain!

So for the next few months I'll be wired and electrified daily. I wear the TENS unit while working, driving, reading, resting... whatever I need to do - and it immediately diminishes my pain and helps me keep intake of medication low. I'm training a lot these days, following a pretty strict physical regime with ashtanga yoga and physiotherapy and I hope that will help me manage to stay on my legs through the winter!

With the TENS on my belt I am fully mobile 

Understanding pain - video

This educational video sums up the new pain paradigm in just 5 minutes. Maybe a bit simplistic for many of us, but great to share with our friends and family as an introduction!

Ouch? Pain pitfalls and boring setbacks

Sorry for being out of touch lately... I have forced myself to take out sick-leave from all non urgent activities and keep my computer time to a minimum. Nothing dramatic, just a grinding increase in my daily pain through this whole winter, that has left me slightly more humble and quite reduced.

Once again I have trouble walking to the tram and back, not because I'm paralyzed, simply because I have no energy after struggling with pain around the clock for several months. I've wanted to inspire others by sharing how well I've become, but I'm starting to see that "Healthy" isn't a one way street. Sometimes we get better, sometimes there are setbacks.

I usually get worse during winter, but this winter was really bad... part of me wants so desperately to understand "why?" that I could probably spend a whole day describing different possible pain triggers and health theories. I want to understand because by understanding, I can maybe reduce the possibility of new setbacks. By removing pain-inducing activities/foods/habits, maybe I could get well again?

But whatever the reason for the setbacks, I'm going to spend as much time as possible to rest and recuperate for a while. At the same time I will keep doing what I've learned to do, which is focusing on building health with gradual small changes and adjustments in my daily life.

I have lots of new thoughts to share... just don't know where to start..! .... Well, I guess I can begin with this recent movie. This is anaesthesiologist Elliot Kranes presentation about Chronic Pain at Ted Talks, where he explains why pain is a disease in its own right, describing a new medical understanding which will hopefully lead to more sucessful treatment options. Enjoy :)