Category: Pain Management
Chronic pain patients reveal hidden truths to a future doctor
What one med student learned about chronic pain treatment from hundreds of honest, unfiltered responses on Reddit—and why it should change how we train physicians. Learning about chronic pain is a depressingly low priority for US medical schools, despite the fact that pain is the number one reason that Americans access the health care system…
Chronic Pain Pillows: Your Ultimate Guide to Every Type
Chronic pain pillows that quickly reduce your pain while helping you sleep Chronic pain pillows are a crucial part of life when it comes to managing the pain of an illness, injury, chronic condition or disability. It’s hard to overstate the effect that the right combo of pillows can have: not just on easing your…
Top 7 Gifts To Make Chronic Pain Easier
Gifts to make life with chronic pain easier, more productive, and less painful Finding the perfect gift for someone with chronic pain requires understanding both their daily challenges and their desire for independence. This curated guide highlights seven categories of gifts that genuinely improve quality of life: pillows, stretching tools, massage tools, heat and cold…
Beyond the Pain Scale: A Patient’s Guide to How Nurses Can Improve Pain Management & Combat Stigma
Last weekend (October 2024) I had the incredible opportunity to speak at the 2024 American Society of Pain Medicine Nursing conference about the importance of communication between patients and their medical providers. I’m no medical pro, but as a chronic pain patient for over two decades, I’ve experienced firsthand the transformative power of compassionate, patient-centered…
Can you see pain?
Different ways to see pain, even when your condition is invisible Can you see pain? It’s a tricky question! Pain is such a complex and subjective experience, and the word “pain” covers a whole host of very different experiences. It gets even more complicated when you’re talking about chronic pain or illness. It’s not like…
The Best Type of Heat To Help You Feel Better
Types of heat & how each helps pain differently Living with chronic pain can feel like an endless battle, but sometimes, the simplest solutions can offer the most profound relief. Heat therapy may be a time-honored tradition in pain management, but your options have evolved far beyond the humble hot water bottle. Let’s look at…
Migraine Relief W/o Meds: A Huge List of Stuff to Help Your Headache
The ultimate guide to stuff that might make migraines more manageable Stuff to help your migraine… that you can get over the counter?! Yeeeah, seems like a “I’ll believe it when I see(/feel) it” situation. For my entire life I’ve dealt with migraine disease, tension headaches, and sinus headaches so bad I had one surgery…
Exactly what to say to your doctor to get refills on the meds you need
Urgent med refill? Learn how to effectively communicate with your doctor and pharmacy, track prescriptions, and get quick refills. Includes printable script!
Poems about mental health & chronic pain– & despite them!
Poems about mental health & chronic pain that are wise, not sappy This post has been updated on 4/23/25. Poems about mental health, chronic pain or other invisible disabilities, just like quotes on the subject, tend to be sappy as hell (except those quote pages I put together, of course). And that is extremely not…
Navigating Relationships with Chronic Pain with Unity & Partnership
Despite whatever conditions are in play, there are ways to find and build a healthy romantic partnership where you thrive as a team. Here’s how! Building a healthy relationship despite chronic pain is a complex dance, one that requires grace, patience, and of course love. Whether it’s you or your partner who’s in this continuous…
10 Quotes About Chronic Pain & Joy to Motivate Your New Year & Beyond
Inspirational quotes about chronic pain that actually resonate with what we’re going through can be hard as hell to find. Living with constant pain or chronic illness is a tough slog, rougher than “able-bodied” people can ever know. Finding the joy in a life filled with pain is more difficult for us, but it’s also…
Surprise friends w/ The Most Useful Gifts For People With Fibromyalgia This Holiday Season
Gifts for people with fibromyalgia that truly help make life easier Gifts for people with fibromyalgia aren’t hard to come up with: you just have to put yourself in their shoes. (Hopefully, cute ones.) Though fibro is an invisible disability, that doesn’t make its effects, like chronic widespread pain, fatigue, sleep issues, and sensitivity to…
Quotes About Self Care (& Self Care Quotes About Invisible Illness)
Quotes about self-care, especially self-care quotes about invisible illness, are hard to come by. Well, good ones at least– you can find sappy schlock everywhere. But there are also gems, little bits of wisdom that remind me to take time for myself, helping me through the chronic pain of my invisible illnesses. Click one in…
Cool Canes For Chronic Pain: Coming soon!
Best Inspiring Quotes About Invisible Illness
Quotes about invisible illness, chronic pain, and disability pride to inspire us all Quotes about invisible illness are too often filled with sappy, inspirational cliches. But that doesn’t change the need that people with chronic pain and invisible disabilities have for guidance, understanding and truth. In the two decades that I’ve been in pain, I’ve…
Chronic pain & trouble sleeping: sleep routines may cure your insomnia
A sleep routine (aka “sleep hygiene): if you have chronic pain, anxiety, ADHD and insomnia (or any combo thereof), like I do, this simple process might just be the “cure” for insomnia you’ve been seeking. “Sleep hygiene” is the process of creating an environment that can help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Here are…
How To: Dating With Chronic Pain or Dating With Invisible Disabilities
Dating with chronic pain is tough, especially if there’s nothing visible about your condition. Finding someone using dating dating apps like Hinge or Tinder is hard to begin with, but dating with a disability, especially invisible illnesses, adds a whole other level of difficulty. In some ways using those apps would be easier if I…
Graphic Novels About Chronic Pain: “Pain Is Really Strange”
Graphic novels about chronic pain are few and far between: “Pain Is Really Strange” is a welcome find I love books, especially graphic novels. I was at the library recently and stumbled on “Pain Is Really Strange,” one of the only graphic novels about chronic pain I’ve ever seen. (Thanks, Austin Public Library!) Explaining “What…
Acupuncture for Pain: Complementary Medicine That Works
Acupuncture for pain is one of the oldest forms of treatment out there: this ? can help chronic pain, neck pain, lower back pain, nerve pain, and a lot of non-pain related issues as well. Read on to learn more about the history and science behind acupuncture, and to find out how it can help…
Best Quotes About Chronic Pain, Disability, & Mental Health
A lot of “inspirational’ quotes about chronic pain & mental health are too sweet or sappy to be helpful for me. I’ll keep updating as I find more quotes that are encouraging without being… too much. (I promise, no “live laugh love” posters.)
Top 15 Chronic Pain Gifts To Help Patients Around the House
These are the top 15 around-the-house gifts for chronic pain patients that they’ll appreciate long after the holidays have passed.
Keeping a medical log-with free printable & spreadsheet!
This free printable medical log tracking calls to doctors is the quickest and easiest way of staying on top of contact with your medical team, especially for patients with chronic pain or complex health conditions. Read on to learn why you should use one, download a free printable medical log, and learn how to customize…
Top Qs about Invisible Illnesses & Disability Pride Month
Invisible illnesses are tough: you never quite know where you belong. Since July is Disability Pride Month, here are answers to the top questions people with invisible illnesses ask about disability.
6 Disabled Inventors You’ve Never Heard Of
May is National Inventor’s Month! And that inspired me to learn about some of the many, many scientists and inventors with disabilities out there. That’s why I’ve put together a selection of physically disabled inventors whose names were completely new to me, but have nonetheless changed the world. However well-known they are or which challenges…
Why I Didn’t Write About Medical Cannabis On 4/20
Happy 4/21! I didn’t write about medical cannabis yesterday, even though I wanted to. Why? Texas, mostly.
6 Qs People W/Disabilities Should Ask Before Getting a Dog
For people with disabilities, getting a dog can be a life-changing experience. In addition to company and love, caring for a dog can get you out of your own head and off the couch at times when you wouldn’t or couldn’t otherwise. It’s a great way to meet new people and a great excuse to…
Guilt-Free Self-Care Tips for Introverts
These guilt-free self-care tips for introverts explain options for people with social anxiety, chronic pain, or who just need alone time.
Gift Guide For Chronic Pain, Part 1 — UPDATED!
This story was most recently updated on 11/1/2024. Christmas is coming, and that’s got me thinking about all the little gadgets I continually recommend to my friends. Some of this stuff took me 20 years to learn about (Theracane, where were you all my life?!) and some are old standbys that can help a surprising…
Pain Scales (1-10): How To Explain Your Pain
1-10 Pain scales have real limitations: keep the bigger picture in mind when using a 1-10 scale to measure your pain.
How Selma Blair’s Canes Support Me Too
When i saw a picture of Selma Blair on the red carpet wearing this absolutely stunning gown and a cane, it blew me away. The cane didn’t distract from the outfit: the cane fucking MADE the outfit. She rocked it head to toe– and as somebody who really struggles with staying sexy and staying myself…
So Much More Than a Headache: What’s Your Migraine Routine?
I have been coping with chronic migraine disease since my teens. Although I get sinus headaches and tension headaches, a migraine is an entirely different animal. If you’ve never had one, it can be hard to explain what they feel like (and they’re different for everyone, of course). What causes my migraines? Stress, allergies, changes…
Chronic Pain, Weight, & The Challenge of Getting Through The Damn Day
Stuff like anger, stuff like weight gain, stuff like frustration, stuff like anxiety– it’s all tied in together. And none of it lends itself to a 1-10 pain scale.
Complementary Medicine That Works: Biofeedback –Migraine Update!
Biofeedback for migraines and chronic pain is one of the only complementary medicines that really helped me This post has been updated twice, in 2022 and in February 2025. Biofeedback for my migraines and chronic pain in general was one of the only alternative / complementary treatments I’ve tried over the last 20 years that…
Complementary Medicine: What Works and What Doesn’t
Over the last 20 years, I’ve tried (and retried) many more options. Some of them helped; most of them didn’t. The majority of complementary treatments I’ve tried have been an expensive way of pissing money away. But there ARE things that can really, truly help. Everyone is different, and everyone’s pain is different. But here’s…