chronic pain

Oxalates, pain and autism

~ Helen White ~ 2 Comments

Don’t think this has anything to do with you? Oxalates can be related to a wide range of health issues, from inflammation to urinary frequency, interstitial cystitis, nonspecific joint pain, carpel tunnel, nerve pain, weak bones, vulvodynia, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, tissue destruction, autoimmune diseases, digestive problems, skin rashes, vision issues and just so many chronic pain issues, including fibromyalgia, plus very many more. There's also an intriguing link with autism and EDS...

Under pressure: the EDS anxiety link

~ Helen White ~ 3 Comments

Hard science has uncovered a mechanism whereby the same collagen abnormalities in EDS that make joints especially flexible seem to affect blood vessels, making those with it prone to accumulation of blood in the veins of the legs, an effect that may lead to exaggerated cardiovascular responses to maintain the output of blood from the heart. This and other foibles, which I feel are versions of the same response, put those of us with this issue under immense pressure and strain, all the time, as our version of "normal" so just imagine how much we then react to any additional triggers, to which we tend to be hypersensitive (I share my about theory about that too...), setting off our nervous system at regular intervals in a way that has nothing inherently to do with mental health...although, no surprise, it can start to manifest as anxiety over time. Joining some dots and celebrating just how much people with hypermobility type EDS deal with as their daily benchmark...plus some practical ways of making it better.

Ehlers-Danlos, POTS and Asperger’s…many lightbulbs go on at once

~ Helen White ~ Leave a comment

It can feel like a very long walk down a dimly lit corridor when you are trying to fathom your way out of a long running health condition such as fibromyalgia, as I expect others on the journey could probably relate to. From time to time, if you’re fortunate and diligent enough in pursuit of … Continue reading Ehlers-Danlos, POTS and Asperger’s…many lightbulbs go on at once

Rigor mortis

~ Helen White ~ 1 Comment

Why does the kind of stiffness that can be likened to rigor mortis occur in the body of someone with fibromyalgia; are there any clues why that could happen in a living-breathing person? Rigor "stiffness" mortis "of death" says it all really....it is a condition of death so what makes it appear within life for just so many people, resulting in a kind of half-life. I had been here before but this time I wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery...

OK, so I overdid it…but I learned a lot

~ Helen White ~ 5 Comments

There's nothing to be lost by being wrong (as I am prepared to admit), just as long as you learn from it. Better still, regard it as an opportunity to mix the timely reminder together with new things that you have only just become aware of...which is when you realise there really are no mistakes, only evolutions!

So, last time I shared about getting back on my bike and here's how it went afterwards...

On my bike!

~ Helen White ~ 5 Comments

Today demonstrated to me, so aptly, the old-adage that some things are like riding a bicycle; once learned, we never forget how. Somewhere not so deep inside all of us is the feeling of a joyful, liberated, unlimited physical state and once we even get close to it, even with the mind, those feelings come flooding back, creating brand new chemistry...the healing chemistry of our potential future self...in our cells.

Bodywork

~ Helen White ~ Leave a comment

The current trend is towards energy treatments, which is as it should be in order to rebalance a world that has been so physically focussed for so very long and yet, for some of us (and I speak only to them here), working with spirit has been our natural domain for just so very long that it is in the return to the body that we find ourselves coming home...

Who knows your pain

~ Helen White ~ 5 Comments

When we are in chronic pain, or even an episode of acute pain that seems to go on and on, who do we share that with, can we even expect to share and does it make it better or worse to convey to loved ones what we are going through? Yet, do we need that outlet of saying it like it is and not feeling so isolated in our experience and, if so, where do we get that from, without stirring up the pot to make ourselves feel all the more defeated from over-talking it. This conundrum is familiar territory to anyone who lives with pain, chronic illness, even the disillusionment of daily chronic fatigue. Sharing some home truths, perhaps some helpful perspectives, from my own experience of this highly emotive topic.

The synesthesia – sensitivity – chronic pain link

~ Helen White ~ 1 Comment

Synesthesia has overlaps with heightened sensitivity and both have overlaps with chronic pain. All of these phenomenon overlap in me so you can see why I am so interested. It's as though chronic pain is the down side of the see-saw on which synaesthesia is the colourful gift at the highest end (I really wouldn't be without it and the sensory adventures it takes me on) and sensitivity is the mixing pot of both, made up of both pluses and minuses, depending on how challenging these heightened sensitivities make the experience of life. Exploring the sensory soup of these cross-over phenomenon, asking whether we are all born with synesthesia as science is now suggesting and looking into all the potential a deeper understanding of them holds for transforming human experience.

E-motion

~ Helen White ~ Leave a comment

When we think of emotion as e-motion...electricity in motion, within the body...it can have a very huge impact on how we work with health issues we are grappling with, especially those of us who are highly-sensitive or suffering from PTSD, unresolved trauma or other issues going all the way back to earliest childhood (even if we think we have processed those and moved on...) and even more bizarre phenomenon such as paranormal experiences. One particular study has really assisted me in understanding this whole, largely unexplored, area of health and super-sensitivity and I share some of what I have found out in this post.