Not too long ago I posted a letter from a doctor. The letter was an open letter to patients with chronic disease from the perspective of a doctor. There have been many posts and discussions on my blog and on the blogs of others who suffer from chronic and often “invisible” illnesses.
Recently I came upon this Open Letter From A Person With Chronic Pain featured on spine-health. The letter could be adapted easily to any of a number of chronic illnesses. The content of this open letter is something I am sure many of us have said to ourselves, openly to someone else, in a poem reflecting our pain or loss, or in a blog post. I am passing it along to be included with the other letters and thoughts that many of us have shared as a result of becoming chronically ill.
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This is good. Thanks for sharing the link.
I felt the need to share this story as soon as I read it.
I found both letters encouraging and insightful. I used to be a nurse until being diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, fibromyalgia, and epilepsy all in the same year. I thought I knew all the tricks of health & pain management. I was definitely wrong.
When the fibro flares up, every inch of my body aches; any place I had ever injured in my life seems to hurt a bit extra. That kind of pain I never understood until I had it. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my share of pain over the years, but it was normally short term. I had a fall in 2008 and have not been pain free since. Yes, there are times I do not hurt; but when I do anything the pain begins. I always tried to be sympathetic and empathetic to my patients, but I never truly understood. No one can until you are going through it; like the old saying, “walk a mile in my shoes”.
Standard Rx pain medication does little; one even made the pain so much worse that I walked around the house trying to get away from it. I take Ibuprofen, prescription strength, twice a day. It helps some.
I received an email about the benefits of honey and cinnamon. Honey is almost like a miracle drug; it does so much for the body. I’ve rarely used it because I never liked the flavor. It was mentioned in the email that honey & cinnamon can help with pain. I thought why not. I made some hot tea and put some in it. Sometimes I added just the honey to my coffee instead of sugar. After 2 days I noticed the pain in my hip was slightly less. Then I missed 3-4 days, and the pain worsened again. I’m trying to find ways to include honey into my diet. I love it with oatmeal, including raisins and a generous helping of flaxseed meal.
I bought some orange blossom honey and like it better than the wildflower. I’m hoping by substituting more honey for sugar it will help with weight loss also.
Honey has been said to have amazing healing properties. I had not heard of its ability to help with pain. Thank you for telling us.
We can never truly empathize with someone unless we have walked in their shoes. I have often said that I wouldn’t wish this on my enemy but I would love for them to walk in my shoes for a while.