The chronic illness resources in this post are about everyday little things that support healing the nervous system and patterns in our physiology that affect symptoms. Without much effort and without us ever quite realizing it. Making time for them is not a frivolous act but one of self love, ...
Working with Symptoms
Healing IBS: Art, Therapy and Unexpected Outcomes
Last summer I focused some more on healing IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and long-standing severe constipation from a trauma perspective. This is an update to the process of following my impulses and using art as an approach to listening, which I first wrote about in October. I'll tell you about ...
Treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome And Subtle Trauma By Listening To Your Inner Voice
With no improvement in my longstanding symptoms of constipation despite daily walks, almost 2 years on the strictest version of the GAPS diet, stress reduction, mindfulness practices, and more I have started rooting into the role of trauma with greater focus and intention. I see my gut symptoms and ...
IBS: When Nothing Else Works For Chronic Symptoms
What do you do when medical and alternative treatments, natural products, folk remedies and other great-sounding approaches fail to help you recover or reduce painful, debilitating and chronic symptoms? How do you respond when you receive detailed diagnoses for which effective treatments seem to ...
Anniversary Celebrations and Chronic Illness: How We Have Fun in Our Getaways
2018 Update We've been figuring out how to combine our wedding anniversary celebrations and chronic illness experiences over the years. David got sick for more than a year himself recently and has gotten to know what the underbelly of chronic illness feels like. As hard as it's been, it's also ...
Constipation, Metaphor and Symptoms of Childhood Trauma
I've had increasing symptoms of constipation for 10 years or more, and in retrospect it's been there in more subtle ways for most of my life. It's common to have gastrointestinal symptoms in chronic fatigue and I've tried many therapies, from dietary fiber, psyllium and mineral oil; to ...
Treating Chronic Illness #3: Making Dietary Changes took 10 Years
As I described in 11 Under-utilized Tools for Treating Chronic Illness, dietary changes can be an important component for working with chronic disease. Changing how we eat tends to be underestimated and can also feel daunting and unclear. The process that lead me to make a drastic and proactive ...
Treating Chronic Illness #9: Intuition, and Why I Left Medicine
Intuition has helped me learn to trust the wisdom of my body and, ultimately, to begin to better understand and trust myself. By following my intuition through the doubts and fears, hanging out with the lack of clarity when I often see only one step ahead of me, I have found ways of working with and ...