BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

As a sufferer of chronic pain myself, I know that getting adequate pain relief is a huge problem. Abusers like Pumpkin-head Limbaugh have made it hard on all of us. I am going to my second pain clinic in 11 years and I have just about given up hope. In the last 5 years my pain issues have gotten so bad I can barely function some days. Chronic pain colors my thinking and causes profound depression and hopelessness in people like me. I refuse to take anything too strong or sedating. I am single mother and refuse to be drugged up around my children. I already take an SSRI for my PTSD and valium only when my PTSD is triggered. I take my Vicodin or Robaxin only on weekends when I can and must sleep.  4 years ago, after a traumatic incident, I was hospitalized twice with a tube down my throat to stop vomitting and esophageal spasms. The choice was - do we give her something for the PTSD or the spasms? Thank goodness that stopped though it was a long, hard road. Pain often ...

by Judith Orloff, MD You can't heal your body unless you're in it. Sounds reasonable, right? Then how come the instant most of us get sick we check out, the sooner the better? We feel pain or discomfort, we get scared, we withdraw. We're out of our bodies so fast, the last thing on our minds is to rally every iota of awareness and energy to the part of us that most needs attention. You might ask, How would this help? Let me explain. Intuitive truth 1: The more love and consciousness you bring to your body when it is ill, the better chance you'll have of mending it. Intuitive truth 2: If you resist discomfort, it will persist. If you soften around it, it will lessen. Let's get specific. You have what you're going to discover is appendicitis. First signs? You're in agony, curled in the fetal position on your bed. Your body is sending out a frantic SOS. Something's really wrong. You have no choice but to listen. You head for the emergency room. You need sur...