What Nature and Chronic Pain Teaches Us About Resilience
I live in North Carolina. where we were recently hit with a powerful hurricane that caused a lot of damage. Many trees fell on and around my house. One tree…
I live in North Carolina. where we were recently hit with a powerful hurricane that caused a lot of damage. Many trees fell on and around my house. One tree…
This is a video presentation I created called Living Well with Dystonia. It shares some of the many things I have learned in my almost 20 years of living with…
If you have a health condition where you are misunderstood and perhaps judged by others for how you live your life to battle your symptoms, I invite you to read…
September is Dystonia Awareness Month! Dystonia is a chronic movement disorder, existing in the same family as the more well-known Parkinson’s disease. Symptoms of dystonia are defined by involuntary muscle contractions which…
If you suffer with anxiety, you know just how crippling it can be. Anxiety* is actually a natural response to our environment that is designed to protect us from danger.…
Pain is one of the most intrusive things we can experience because it impacts nearly every aspect of our lives, especially if it is chronic. As Bonnie Prudden said, “Pain,…
How someone deals with adversity is very unique to the situation and the individual. I have faced great adversity at different times in my life, some of which I handled…
Chronic pain has a sinister way of impacting practically every aspect of our lives. One major area is our social life. Since chronic pain is often misunderstood by others and…
Human beings are visual creatures, so we often associate how someone feels based on how they look and act. Sadly, this is very short sighted. Many people live with life…
According to a story from tdn.com, the radio host Jamie Dupree will soon return to work after nearly a two year absence. However, he will not be doing any announcing…
According to a story from Neuroscience News, the case of a woman with neck dystonia who was using a deep brain stimulation device called an implantable pulse generator (IPG) indicates…
According to a story from the Washington Post, avid handball player Laura Hsiung first began experiences symptoms of a mysterious illness in the middle of a game. Suddenly, without realizing…
I have lived with chronic pain from a neurological movement disorder called dystonia for nearly 20 years. It reminds me of the bully who picks on kids in the schoolyard…
London specialists at the King's College hospital believe they should take an 11-month-old baby Isaiah suffering from multiple diseases off life support to avoid any further pain, reported The Guardian.…
Carl Luepker was diagnosed with dystonia when he was 12-years-old, reported KALW. The twitching started when he was 10-years-old. This quickly started affecting his piano playing, something he loved so…
Growing up, my brother and I had a fun playhouse in our backyard with a huge slide and swings. We had the best times on that playhouse, playing games together…
“It’s all in your head.” I dare say these are words that many people living with a rare disease, including dystonia, have heard. It’s absolutely unfair, aggravating, heartbreaking, maddening. I…
I know many people who would love to go to a local support group, but there either isn’t one in your area or you are not well enough to attend.…
I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.…
Spasmodic Torticollis/Dystonia or ST/Dystonia, is a non-profit organization whose aim is to support patients suffering from ST, also referred to as cervical dystonia. Dystonia involves involuntary muscle contractions that may…
Before I tell a story (that I first read in The Globe and Mail newspaper) about Joaquin Farias and his years-long quest to unlock the mysteries of dystonia, I must…
A team of researchers at the University College of London (UCL) looking at the genome of childhood-onset dystonia patients has stumbled on a startling discovery: 28 of the patients had…
Bilateral deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been known to help with symptoms of dystonia. But for a form of tardive dyskinesia known as tardive dystonia, DBS hasn't been studied as…
When I was in my 20s and 30s, I performed in a lot of musical theater performances— “Music Man,” “Big River,” “Carousel,” “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” I was…
Welcome to Friday Patient Worthians! This week we have stories on cystinosis and super moms with sickle cell! Additionally, we have a patient story on dystonia and an upcoming event. Lastly, an…