Greta’s 24/7 migraines were baffling. How could a migraine start and never stop? What could be going on in the body to make that happen? We couldn’t figure it out, the doctors didn’t seem to be able to give us any clear answers either. Medications, treatments and rest didn’t seem to ease her pain. Or maybe they would for a short while but then the pain would come back again. When Greta finally got diagnosed with Amplified Pain Syndrome (4 years later) her 24/7 pain started t

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, came up with the 5 stages of grief model after years of working with terminally ill patients. I have found this model particularly helpful for understanding the journey we have been on with Greta’s chronic condition. It has kind of outlined our journey. We have not necessarily experienced these in any clean and organized order. The first 4 have been cyclical for us and the last one has slowly become the lasting one. These are the 5 stages… Denial

Since I talked about goal setting last week, this week I will talk about pacing. Pacing is a strategy used to keep yourself from doing too much on some days and too little on others. It keeps things balanced to prevent pain flare-ups. If we are not pacing ourselves then it is hard to get off the roller coaster of feeling better and doing more and then crashing and not being able to do anything. We yearn for our kids to be playing and having fun and forgetting about their chro