Last week I promised you I would set up my online dating profile, and I’m happy to report that I did it! Profile Posted! I kept to the basics and didn’t write too much in the description section since I tend to go cross eyed and lose interest when I’m reading long and rambling profiles. I also had a friend, who is a writer and an online dating veteran, review my profile and make a few suggestions before I put it up. What I didn’t do is make any reference to having chronic pai

PART II: The First 8 Alternative Practitioners There are so many people on my “Alternative Practitioner” list that I’m breaking it down into two posts. Today we start with the more mainstream ones, and next week we’ll look at the spiritual ones. Here we go! Once again I'm writing about what each practitioner does, and including my level of satisfaction with the results, graded on a 0-10 scale (10 being "thrilled" with the outcome): Massage therapist Aaaah, massages. I love th

PART I : Medical Practitioners If you’re living with chronic pain and illness, I bet you’ve seen a lot of doctors, right? And probably quite a few other health and medical practitioners as well. I like to hear about what has and has not worked for fellow spoonies (spoonie: any individual who suffers from a chronic illness), so in return, I’m going to share some information on who I’ve seen, what they do and how helpful they were for me. And just a disclaimer: what worked and

I am getting ready to date again. I took a break earlier this year after my father died because I just wasn’t in the mood. And then I got really focused on my upcoming book. Having limited oomph, I have to carefully pick and choose what I give my energy to. Now that my book is in the publishing phase, and I’ve delegated a lot of the tasks to other people, I feel like it might be time to start dating once more, buuutttt…I see some roadblocks ahead. This is the first time I’ve

On Monday I posted my thoughts on why so many of us are suffering from chronic pain and illness (the answer is stress, ICYMI). Today I’m going to give you some suggestions to help you to reduce your stress level, which in turn may reduce your physical symptoms. These are all suggestions that have helped me tremendously. ​ A note about stress: It’s everywhere and impossible to escape completely, so it’s not so much the type or amount you’re facing that matters, rather it’s how

I’m no doctor, scientist, researcher, sociologist or anthropologist, but I’ve lived with pain and illness for over 20 years, and I recognize it in so many others, when working with clients, researching my book and simply meeting new people. I know the statistics, I’ve seen the numbers on how many people live with chronic pain and illness, but yet I’m still surprised every time I meet someone who does. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. Millions of people deal with pain and i