Words from the Heart

Photo from Bing   Do you think you could ever get comfortable on a cactus couch?  I saw this on a post a friend put up talking about chronic pain.  The minute I read the caption, I knew this was a great analogy for sharing just what it is like to live with chronic pain. I have been blessed to be able to control the pain I have from arthritis and fibromyalgia for many years now without prescription medication. Unfortunately, the last thirteen months has increased my stress levels to the point that I am out of remission. This means, I hurt...all...day...long. I cannot take pain meds. I react badly to them. I take extra strength Tylenol and sleep.  Usually, that gives me the edge I need to keep going forward. The past two weeks, this isn't working well, so I have returned to what I did almost 15 years ago, now, and that is cut back, regroup, rest, and try to be gentle with myself.  A lot easier said than done! Thing that really causes people with chronic pain, or i...

(c) 2018 "Pain" Photo by L. M. Neas In this blog, we have explored the meaning of many words. We have discussed how words touch us; how they can heal and hurt. We have even looked at the power of words; their use and popularity. Sometimes, words that were once powerful, become almost inert. They simply sit in the consciousness, failing to trigger the correct synapsis for a reaction. Or, should I say, for the reaction that is typical to the words. Two such words are "chronic pain."  Let's look at their meaning and origin, first. Chronic comes to us from, as many words used in the realm of science, the Greek language. Khronos,  which means "time," is the root to words such as chronical, chronology, and chronically. In English, the word "chronic" means repetitive, occurring constantly. Pain has a dual nationality, coming from both Latin and Greek - poena/poine, respectively - both meaning "penalty ."   (Is it any...