One of the hardest things about living with dystonia is trying to explain what it feels like on the inside. People often see (not always for some) the muscle contractions, the pulling, the tension…
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When Your Brain Won’t Quiet Down: A Look at Dystonia and Anxiety
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Editor's Note: This article by Tom Seaman was originally shared by Patient Worthy on 12/15/22. I believe very strongly in the power of thoughts and words as it relates to…
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The Power of Our Inner Dialogue on Our Health
Having lived with chronic pain and involuntary muscle contractions from a neurological movement disorder called dystonia since 2001, I felt defeated many times. But I am still here battling every…
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Resilience During Adversity
Putting feelings into words does more than help you reflect. Brain imaging research shows it can shift activity inside emotional circuits. If you are someone who journals or does any…
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Health Benefits of Putting Feelings to Words
I’ve always been a nature lover. I like nothing better than going for a hike in the woods or strolling along the beach or gazing at the mountains – or…
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5 Lessons Nature Taught Me About Living with Pain and Dystonia
Most of us have heard of the fight-or-flight stress response. It becomes activated when we believe there is a chance we can outfight or outrun real or perceived danger and…
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Living in Fear of Pain Can Make Pain Worse
This is Part 3 of three articles I wrote about pain. The first 2 are entitled: Part 1- The real impact of pain that people cannot see Part 2- Life…
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How I Manage My Pain – Pain Series Part 3 of 3
Click here to see Part 1 of of this 3 part pain series. If you suffer with chronic pain, you not only live with the unrelenting sensation of pain, but probably…
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Life Impact of Pain – Pain Series Part 2 of 3
After being diagnosed with a rare disease or any other chronic health condition (in my case I have dystonia) and learning it is not a temporary problem (or if you…
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After the Diagnosis: Self-Harming Thoughts and So Many Questions
If you got past the title without rolling your eyes or getting angry (I understand if you did either or both as you will see below), I hope you will…
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The Value of Living with Tremendous Challenges
When we hear the word diet, most of us automatically think of food. But what about our thoughts? Let’s look at them in terms of consumption as well. According to…
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Is Your Mental Diet Helping Or Hurting Your Health?
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, Fall has quickly passed and Winter is upon us. The beginning of Fall is one of favorite times of the year with the…
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Seasonal Affective Disorder and What We Can Do About It
When we are faced with a limiting health issue where performing “simple” everyday activities becomes a challenge, our self-confidence and self-worth can dwindle. This can happen with any health condition…
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Tips for Healthy Living with a Chronic Health Condition
We all know that changing habits of behavior changes our life experiences, but putting this to practice is where a lot of us get stuck. Either we doubt our ability,…
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Steps We Can Make Every Day to Decrease Pain and Suffering
I have had cervical dystonia since 2001. It was very severe for many years, but over time I have been able to gain significant control over my symptoms using a…
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The Different Things That Help My Dystonia The Most – In A Nutshell
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, Fall has quickly passed, and Winter is upon us. The beginning of Fall is one of favorite times of the year with the…
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Seasonal Affective Disorder and what we can do about it
Adversity comes in all shapes and sizes and how we deal with it differs from person to person. I have faced great adversity at different times in my life, some…
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Coping with adversity when living with a rare disease
When I developed a neurological movement disorder called dystonia back in 2001, one of the first things I was told is that there is no cure. This terrified me. No…
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There is no cure: The worst words to hear and believe
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I’ve always been a nature lover. I like nothing better than going for a hike in the woods or strolling along the beach or gazing at the mountains. Since I…
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5 Lessons Nature Has Taught Me About Living with Dystonia and Pain
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Most things in life don’t always go as expected. None of us ever truly prepares for a hardship that throws our life off course. Even in the case of a…
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Thoughts About Suffering to Help Break Through Pain and Misery
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As I reflect on over 20 years living with dystonia and pain and other symptoms that changed my life in many ways, I want to share some of the things…
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Valuable Lessons Learned After Decades of Pain and Dystonia
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Living with a chronic health condition is sometimes reminiscent of the plight of Sisyphus, a king from Greek mythology. Sisyphus was king of Ephyra who was punished for chronic deceitfulness…
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Keeping Hope Alive When Living with a Chronic Health Condition
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If you have dystonia and chronic pain like I do, or one of many other thousands of health conditions, or just dealing with some tough life situations...you are not alone.…
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Making Better Choices When We Are in Pain and Suffering
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If you have read my books or articles, you have probably noticed that I talk about self-care quite a bit. I think self-care is extremely important for anyone, whether they…
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Can We Go Too Far with Self-Care?
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“You have dystonia” are three words that can be very confusing and frightening. Receiving the news that you have any chronic condition can bring out a lot of emotions. People…
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The Dystonia Diagnosis and Prognosis