how i am not coping with chronic pain

 I was going to say that I haven't been coping well with my chronic pain lately, but that's not exactly true. "Lately" is more or less a year at this point and "coping well" is always relative. Maybe I have never coped well, but the last year has been the hardest since I first got ill and has actually led me to seek more permanent (medical) help for the first time in quite a while. Because although I have seen various people over the past decade and a bit it's often only been a quick check up or revision/refill of prescriptions. And it actually took a semi-casual remark of "what? you're in pain all the time every day - that's not right" from a friend for me to figure out that no, it is not right, I shouldn't have to live this way and I actually deserve to be fully examined and treated (again). Shockingly, I deserve more than the bare minimum in this area of my life, too.

migraine awareness week

Apparently it's Migraine Awareness Week, and when I went to check out the Migraine Trust's website about it I came to realize that as someone who has lived with migraines for over a decade I wasn't as aware of them as I thought either. So, how am I expecting those around me to be when it isn't talked about that much (much like most other medical conditions aren't) even though it is so common?

working out when you have chronic pain

Honestly, this is not something I'd thought ever to confess as I've tried to maintain my image and reputation of laziness and 'oh-I-don't-exercise' nonsense, but most of the time I enjoy working out. The gym's not for me, but for almost two years (!) I've had some kind of a workout routine going on that I can do at home. I even mentioned it in passing on here once to hold myself accountable. And I mean, it's kind of worked.

managing (chronic) pain

Tomorrow's my 11-year-anniversary with my chronic headache, so what could be more appropriate than another little post on chronic pain? An alternative title for this post I had is "managing pain and how I fail at it" because like any human bean, I have periods of time when I don't do well with the things I know I should be doing, others when I'm managing much better and sometimes I don't even know what I should be doing to feel okay. And, honestly, I'm currently living through a larger patch of having struggles. So, even though when I began writing this it was with informing and helping others in mind, maybe I'm really trying to help myself along the way, too.

life with chronic pain

On this blog and on social media, I often mention in passing how I've been feeling ill/poorly, having migraines or headaches, but I've never been more explicit on the matter. And for quite a while now I have actually wanted to start talking more about these topics, maybe even health (physical and mental) in general. Because, here's the thing: I've lived with chronic pain for over a decade now. It has not been a fun experience.