An expert on caring for both children and aging parents.
She has been a delegate to the last two White Conferences...
Motivational Speaker, Author and Personal Power Expert
DeLores Pressley, Motivational Speaker and Personal Power...
Barbara Allan, at age 25, became one of the over 9.1 million people in the United States with an autoimmune-type arthritis. Her illness led her to devote 11 years of her life to systematically researching and personally testing alternative therapies until she perfected the secrets that successfully cured her own difficult disease.
After years of difficultly walking from room to room, Barbara has now completely overcome her condition and enjoys walking many miles a week and going on 30-50 mile bike rides for fun. She joined us on Monday’s show to share her journey through chronic pain.
Arthritis flare-ups, like flare-ups with other chronic illnesses, can occur as the result of certain activities and interactions during day-to-day life. Whether we are caring for someone in chronic pain or suffering from chronic pain ourselves, it’s important to understand that spending time with family, eating certain foods, and emotional stress can often increase the pain. Barbara imparted several tips for keeping pain from getting out of control and beginning the road to recovery.
Learn about your condition.
One of the first and best things you should do is learn all you can about the illness. Barbara was told by her doctor that nothing more could be done to help her, but after 11 years, she’s arthritis-free. Just because the solution isn’t in a medical doctor’s training, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Change your diet.
Many physicians don’t study nutrition and only have a basic understanding of the impact it can have on chronic illnesses. When foods trigger flare-ups, staying on a good diet is the key to preventing pain. There are different types of tests that can help determine which foods serve as triggers for you or your loved one. Typically, avoiding these foods and maintaining healthy eating habits for six months to a year will allow your body to heal. This can be difficult when spending time with friends and family, but the dedication will pay off in physical relief.
Know who you are.
Your body, mind, and spirit are all a part of you and can help lead you to healing. Use all different tools – physically, mentally, and spiritually – to find your solace from the pain. Barbara shared that one of the first things that gave her pain relief was a meditation practice called giving and receiving. She would breathe in her pain, along with the pain of every other person feeling similar pain at that moment, and then she would breathe out the remedy. This practice led her from intense levels of pain to intense levels of bliss.
Take responsibility.
Take radical personal responsibility for the things you can do to remedy your condition. Don’t blame others, because they won’t be able to fix you… Only you can fix you. Everyone else is just part of your team.
Do what you can do.
Exercising is very important for those who are or have been in a critical physical situation. Joints don’t have their own circulation, so in order to get blood flowing, you have to move. Do what you can do with whatever range of motion you have at a given time. If you can only take 10 steps today day, take 10 steps. If you are having a good day and can take 25, take 25. Don’t push yourself into a flare-up, but do what you are able.
I have read Barbara’s book, it is difficult to read from the perspective of almost feeling the pain of what she was feeling yet at the end, her health returns fully. For me, I have found it helpful to avoid negative people and don’t discuss my condition with them, because some are truly convinced that certain illnesses are ‘incurable’. Barbara’s own case and many others show that full good health is possible, it takes time, determination and belief, and it can happen!
Preventing Chronic Pain’ raises some very ininrestteg issues around this persistent/chronic pain condition.The Australian Pain Management Association Inc. (APMA) is very aware that older people with unrelenting pain are not getting the best healthcare or the best outcomes. It is very apparent through our telephone helpline that many older Australians are indeed told that their pain is a natural part of getting old and little can be done, even when they have put off seeking treatment until they could bear the pain no more and are open to hearing medical advice for treatment and pain self-management options.Moreover, public pain management clinics are in short supply and remain even more so for the elderly. Whilst not all chronic pain conditions are lifestyle related and so not as preventable, I applaud this work in adding to the evidence base for the management of osteoarthritis.