Wednesday, September 30, 2015

September is Pain Awareness Month

September is Pain Awareness Month


My 30 Things - Better late than never!




30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

1. The illness I live with is: Chronic migraine, fibromyalgia, lupus, and more.
2. I was not diagnosed until after I sustained a TBI.
3.  I had symptoms since: my menstrual cycle began.
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: letting go of the old me.
5. Most people assume: I look OK, so I must feel OK.
6. The hardest part about mornings is: waking up. I wake each day with head pain.
7. My favorite medical TV show is: House
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: iPad
9. The hardest part about nights is: falling and staying asleep.
10. Each day I take more pills than my 83 year old mother.
11. Regarding alternative treatments: I've tried almost everything except acupuncture. None have helped with pain, but have helped with stress.
12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: Neither.
13. Regarding working and career: chronic daily pain prevents me from having a full time career.
14. People would be surprised to know: I am in pain every day and hide it very well.
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: not being able to do want I feel I should be doing.
16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: have the honor to help others who experience chronic pain.
17. The commercials about my illness: make me laugh out loud.

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: doing whatever I want, whenever I want without any pain.
19. It was really hard to have to give up: sleeping in on the weekends. Doing so makes my head pain much worse.
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: making card.
21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: I have to think about that one.
22. My illness has taught me: I'm resilient.
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: "Oh, it's just a headache."
24. But I love it when people: how can I help?
25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: this too shall pass.
26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: Hang in there, and get support.

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: how many different people I've met.
28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: put me to bed and covered me with blankets.

29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: education.
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: inspired. Thank you for reading.

Thank you to MyMigraineLife for the reminder!

Tuesday, June 2, 2015



Migraine and Headache Awareness Month Blog Challenge Day 2


Today's Prompt: Who Helps You Hope?
Which person in your life has helped you most to hold on to hope, despite your Migraines or Headaches and how?


It's not just one, but two very special people who help me hope, Sarah and Samuel, my children. Now 25 and 20-years-old respectively, they've grown up into spectacular adults. When things seem especially bleak, and my pain is at its highest, I try to think of my children.

My pain doesn't evaporate when I think of them, but it does help with my perspective. The thing is, when I'm in extended chronic, debilitating pain, I see problems everywhere; my house isn't clean, the laundry is piled high, the weeds are overtaking the garden, the oil in the car needs to be changed, the water damage from this winter is still not fixed, and on and on. It's not that these issues don't exist when my pain is reduced, they do, but chronic pain can distort our emotions. In essence, I make mountains out of mole hills.

Sarah and Sam tend to notice when I get out of whack and rescue ME. They reaffirm that everything is not as horrible as it seems, assure me things WILL be OK and give me mountains of hope. Without them, I'm not sure where I would be on this journey.

The Migraine and Headache Awareness Month Blog Challenge is organized by the American Headache and Migraine Association; http://www.ahmablog.com/2015/06/migraine-headache-blog-challenge-2.html#.VW5Mg9Viko

Thanks for reading,
Happy Migraine and Headache Awareness Month
Nancy

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