IBS Awareness - Living with IBS

April is IBS Awareness Month.

What is IBS and it’s symptoms?

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common digestive conditions. Around 1 in 5 adults in the UK have IBS. IBS is defined by belly pain such as cramps as well as wind, bloating and distension along with a change in bowel habits and changes to stools. Other symptoms include fatigue, nausea , backache and bladder problems. 1 in 3 people have IBS-C the C being constipation and another 1 in 3 have IBS-D with D being diarrhoea. Others with IBS might experience IBS-M which is a mix of experiencing both constipation and diarrhoea. Symptoms can be present daily for some people but for others symptoms can come and go over weeks or months. Symptoms can also alter over time. Symptoms often ease after a bowel movement. Symptoms can be unpredictable which can be challenging for some people.

Treatments for IBS

• Healthy eating and IBS dietary management 
• Identifying foods that trigger symptoms
• The Low FODMAP diet
• Probiotics
• Medication 
• Gut-specific behavioural treatments 

My experience of living with IBS

I’ve had IBS for many many years now. I feel that despite how common IBS is because IBS can be quite an embarrassing condition to have we don’t talk about it enough, especially for people to understand what it’s like to live with it and just how disabling it can really be. This means that IBS lacks awareness and understanding. People often think that IBS is just have bad belly cramps but there is so much more to living with IBS than that. The pain in your abdomen can be so intense that all I want to do is curl up in bed with my heat pad and moving makes the pain worse. Going to the loo with IBS is such an ordeal too and something I often dread. There’s also following my FODMAP diet to manage my IBS so there’s certain foods I can’t have or can have a little of; if I were to eat these foods it would result in my IBS flaring up. Clothing is also something that can be difficult when you have IBS. When I’m feeling bloated and uncomfortable I just want to wear something comfortable as tight clothing like jeans aren’t comfortable. I often actually wear maternity jeans, not really because of my IBS; mainly because they’re more comfortable to wear as a wheelchair user and as someone with a catheter but they’re also really comfortable when I am feeling bloated and uncomfortable. There are also extra costs to having IBS. Many people with disabilities and chronic illnesses face extra costs to buy things to help them manage their condition*.

There are many times when I’m in the bathroom or in bed hugging my heat pad to my stomach in severe pain because of my IBS. I also take medication to help with my symptoms which help. 

I also went on the low FODMAP diet a few years ago which really helped me identify my food triggers and now following the low FODMAP diet with the foods I can eat fine or a little of really has made a difference. I’d recommend the low FODMAP diet to anyone with IBS, you just have to start it under the guidance of a dietician so you’d have to ask for a referral from your GP or gastroenterologist. 

I personally like to do a lot of things alongside medication so as well as my heat pad and diet I drink plenty of fluids and I also find some herbal teas like mint tea, and I have a special digestive tea blend I drink as well to help settle my symptoms too.

Some of my symptoms can be quite difficult to live with. I find the belly cramps really painful. It doesn’t help that my Ehlers-Danlos also causes problems with my digestive system. Some symptoms are quite embarrassing so they can be hard to talk about and get help from medical professionals to sort them out so sometimes I’ve lived with symptoms for a long time before I’ve gotten help for them.

IBS is just a condition that I’ve learnt to live with. I get periods where it flares up and then I get times where it’s manageable. For me my IBS is often experienced as IBS-C so as well as medication to manage the cramps I’m prescribed laxatives which I take when needed. I also find having a healthy diet with foods that are good for digestive system help too alongside staying hydrated.

At the moment I am having some problems complicated by my Ehlers-Danlos so I’m waiting to see the gastrointestinal consultant and go from there if any tests are needed to investigate etc.

* Read about Scope’s ‘Disability Price Tag’ on extra costs here.

Things I find help my IBS

• Heat pads or microwave Warmies
• Portable single use heat pads that I can take out with me
• Wype* toilet paper gel - you just apply it to toilet paper, wipe yourself clean and pop it down the toilet - it’s much more environmentally friendly than toilet wipes
• Medication both prescribed and what you can get over the counter 
• Boot’s ‘IBS Cramps Relief’ (same medication as Buscopan)
• Boot’s ’IBS Wind & Bloating Relief’ medication
• Carrying a ‘Can’t Wait’ card in my purse to show that I need access to a toilet or Changing Places
• Keeping a RADAR key on me wherever I go - this gives me access to more public disabled toilets and Changing Places 
• Herbal teas
• Mint tea
• Happy gut tea
  
• Some yoga movements can help with my cramps - I can do these laid in bed

Resources

• Guts UK - Information on IBS
  
• Order a free ‘This Can’t Wait Card’ here
• Order an official RADAR key here
• Changing Places toilet map

Life with chronic pain

September is Pain Awareness Month.

Name a type of a pain and I feel it. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I feel different types of pain, having multiple diagnoses each coming with their own types of pain mean that I do just experience different types of pain. 

Some pain days are better than others. Some days my pain is manageable and all I need is my regular medication to keep my pain manageable. Other days I can’t settle and I feel in despair over my pain levels; when I’m throwing all my pain management tools at my pain but still nothing is giving me any respite. 

In my bullet journal for this year I have a ‘Year In Pixels’ where I colour code each day marking each day from green to yellow to orange to red for my pain and fatigue levels each day. My really good days I mark down as green, a typical day I’d mark yellow, a bit of pain where I’ve used some additional pain relief I’d mark orange and those horrendous pain days I’d mark down in red. I probably am quite positive when I mark my pixels and I try to reserve the red days for those times for when my pain is leaving me in despair.

I take different types of medications a supplements to tackle the different kinds of pain I experience. Muscle spasms that leave me rigid, nerve pain that feels like a white hot nail is being dragged down, headaches and migraines, bladder spasms, generalised pain that can leave me so hypersensitive it’s painful for anything to touch my skin or I just get “pain” especially in my legs that I find hard to describe.  

I’m generally quite hypersensitive anyway because of my severe M.E. Noise and light and sometimes touch all cause me physical pain. It’s hard to explain how things like noise and light can cause physical pain, it’s just another unexplainable ‘M.E. thing’. Just like how my legs just deeply ‘hurt’ but I can’t describe the pain other than just a deep and intense hurting pain accompanied with hypersensitivity.

I don’t like to just rely upon medication to help with my pain. I like to take a holistic approach to my care including treating my pain. I’m not a person who will just sit back and let my doctor write out prescriptions and expect that to do all the work.

Massage therapy is one big thing that massively helps with my pain and when there’s been gap in my regular appointments I really notice it. I notice that my circulation is worse, I have more muscle  spasms and ridgitity too, I have more pain in my joints and my headaches are worse. All things and more Hollie my massage therapist targets when she does my massage therapy. My massages aren’t the ones you’d have at a spa. What Hollie does and is trained to do is to treat people with chronic health conditions and the physical symptoms. No two treatments are ever the same as Hollie always targets what’s bothering me the most each time I see her. She uses additional things to help my symptoms while treating me too, like heated mitts, hot compresses and hot stones. I can’t begin to say how much of a benefit massage therapy has been to me over the past couple of years. I honestly think it’s kept me going so well that it’s the reason why I’ve had so few increases in my medication doses over the years. I’ve had no increases in my pain relief at all which is amazing.

I always use the term ‘pain relief’ instead of ‘pain killer’ as my slow release pain relief and my breakthrough pain relief medication does just that, it gives me relief from my pain, it doesn’t kill or eradicate my pain completely (as much as I would love that to happen). Sure they help a lot and allow me to just about function each day and to have some form of quality of life, however my pain will still always be there to some degree in the background and my breakthrough pain relief will just give me som respite, some relief from the extreme pain I’m in.

As well as massage therapy I find heat really helps my pain too. I enjoy my hot baths in the morning. I also have electric heat pads and a heated blanket. I have hot water bottle and also a long hot water bottle that I find good for bladder, hip, back and shoulder pain. I have a rechargeable period heat pad that I use for bladder pain.

When I can tolerate it I really find my weighted blanket helps too.

I used to be able to tolerate my TENS machine that I found really helpful. It had a heat up part to it as well which I found helped too. I haven’t tried it in a while to see if I can still cope with it. I have my acupuncture/TENS pens that I can sometimes tolerate too so maybe I could tolerate a short session on my TENS machine on a good pain day maybe?

I find mindfulness helps too. Doing body scans (I have to find the right body scan exercise that doesn’t make me think about each part of my body for too long) I find good and have been recommended to me by pain specialists. I find visualisation meditations really effective as well as breathing exercises and soundscapes too. I use these during rest periods as I find regular rest periods help to prevent me from ‘booming and busting’ which among other symptoms makes my pain levels worse.

Pacing is important to manage my symptoms including my pain levels.

I find distraction helps as it takes my mind off my pain. Activities like colouring, crochet, iris folding, reading or listening to books or podcasts, any low-level activity that doesn’t use much energy I find helps take my mind off my pain.

I find this especially in the evening when I’m struggling to get off to sleep due to pain. I call my insomnia due to pain ‘painsomia’. My pain does affect me at night as I just lay in bed and I’m more hyper focused and hyper aware or the physical sensations and pain in my body and as a result the pain probably becomes more psychologically intense. I take breakthrough pain relief as I physically am in pain but I want to do something else to help my pain as well so I’ll put my audiobook on and lay and listen to that, or if I’m more restless I’ll do something creative or I might get myself a hot drink. Things that help my sleep problems as well as my pain.

When I can, physical movement helps too. I find it helps to keep my body active. I do my daily physio or instead I might do some yoga aimed at people with chronic illnesses. I’ll just do what I can within my restrictions and I just do 5/10 minute routines and I find this helps me mentally too to know that I’m staying active to aid my wellbeing and add to that holistic approach. If I’m in pain I find it helps to just move, stretch, wiggle etc. especially when it comes to my joint pain. I just stay mindful whenever I do yoga not to do something that would worsen my Ehlers-Danlos as that would just create more pain! I’d love to try movement in water in the form of hydrotherapy.

Another funny thing about me and living with pain is I always save my number 10 on the pain scale. Just in case I’m ever in a situation when I neeed my 10 but I’m sure even when that day comes I’ll still say 9. Stupidly my local hospital are now using a 1-4 pain sale. If I save my 4 there they won’t give me adequate pain relief. The 1-4 system really doesn’t work for people with chronic pain as when I’m asked what my pain is like usually I really don’t sound believable. I probably sound like someone seeking the best drugs they have and they have little clue about my conditions so me explaining my needs and care to them only worsens the situation. Unfortunately when you live with chronic pain you often have negative experiences in healthcare. I have had some positive experiences however but it’s hit-and-miss.

More awareness of chronic pain and how it affects individuals and listening to patients on an individual level is much needed as we’re all affected differently. We all have different medical conditions that affect us differently and the pain part of the that affects us uniquely too.

Links:

Pain UK

British Pain Society

Pain Concern

Ways I’ve found to help manage my pain

September is Pain Awareness Month.

Pain is something I’m all too familiar with. Having Ehlers-Danlos, M.E. and chronic migraines I live in a constant level of pain. My pain levels vary unpredictably throughout the day; there are times when I can tolerate my pain and other times my pain leaves me crying in despair when I’ve tried every option I have to ease my pain.

Because all of my illnesses cause me pain I experience every type of pain there is. I take lots of different medications to help relieve the different symptoms that cause the types of pain I experience, however I’m not a person who just relies upon medication alone. I’ll often try other options first as well as supplement my medication with other things to help manage my pain.

Here are some of the things I have found help to relieve my pain:

Massage

The biggest thing that I’ve found to help relieve my pain is massage therapy. I see a massage therapist called Hollie who specialises in treating people with medical conditions. I see Hollie regularly and very often no two massages are the same as Hollie treats how my symptoms including my pain has been around that time. I also find the time to relax whilst I’m having a massage good for my emotional wellbeing and that has a positive impact on my physical wellbeing including my pain levels too.

Massage therapy also doesn’t have to be painful. Such as for me Hollie works at a pressure I can tolerate and she’s careful around my joints to avoid subluxations or dislocations. As well when my back is being massaged instead of uncomfortably being laid on my stomach I lay on my side hugging a pillow. Hollie’s massage bed is also similar to a profiling bed so she can adjust the bed in a way in which I’m feeling comfortable. She’ll also play the music on a really low volume for my noise hypersensitivity.

Mindfulness & Body scanning

I find mindfulness helps me with my pain. There are lots of different types of mindfulness exercises and different people get on with different ones and I too find some work for me while others don’t.

I especially like visualisation and breathing exercise mindfulness meditations. I also got introduced to body scanning by my Pain Psychologist. Body scanning is a type of mindfulness as it’s being mindfully aware of your body. I find doing a quick body scan allows me to be self-aware of how my whole body feels without fixating on a particularly painful part of my body.

Rest

I find rest really important to manage my pain as well as my other symptoms. I usually rest listening to soundscapes (a type of mindfulness). Resting just allows my body to just STOP doing anything that is physical or cognitive etc and to just switch off for a while, usually 30-60 minutes though sometimes longer. This allows me to then carry on with my day once I’m rested.

Heat and hot baths

I’m a big user of heat to help with my pain. Whatever the weather I’ll use hot water bottles, electric heat pads/blankets, microwave Warmies etc. I have a standard hot water bottle but I also have a YuYu hot water bottle which is a long hot water bottle that I can wrap around my back or stomach or over my hips or shoulders or along my leg etc.

I also find my daily hot bath helps to relieve my pain too. Sometimes I add lavender Epsom salts into my bath to help relieve my muscle pain and spasms and lavender has natural healing properties.

Distraction 

I feel like I’m often trying to distract myself from my pain. I find doing something to take my mind off my pain and other symptoms helps. Depending on my energy levels and ability I’ll do an activity that I can do in that moment from writing to a friend to doing some sort of craft activity to just distracting myself by listening to a book.

Here are a variety of distraction activities you can do in bed - these activities vary in energy usage varying from low to higher level activities 

Pacing and activity management 

Pacing is really key to learn how not to overdo it which can intensify or increase or bring on pain. There are a lot of activity management tools and this previous blog post

Some tools include:

• The traffic light system
• Green: low energy activities 
• Orange: medium level energy activities 
• Red: high energy activities 
• 20:10
• 20 minutes of activity then 10 minutes of rest 
• Creating a daily schedule 
• Creating a good day and a bad day schedule and what each day will involve you doing in terms of types of green, orange and red activities, meals, to-do jobs, meals and snacks, resting etc.

6 tips for living with limited energy

Living with an energy limiting illness can be difficult in many different ways. Each person’s experience is different and you may experience additional symptoms. Also for some people they have more cognitive energy than physical energy or whilst others experience their energy levels the other way around. As well everyone experiences a varying severity in the limit in their energy levels, so these are just some general tips that I’ve found to be helpful that I want to share with you.

1. Learn to pace out your day

Pacing and activity management are going to be your best friend. The best way to visualise it is high level energy activities medium level activities and low level activities as well as rest. I find this traffic light system great as it’s visual but also it’s flexible as what can one day be a medium level activity on a different day can become a high level activity if your energy levels are more depleted.

I use this colour code system on a day planner, or on my to-do list or I use the traffic light pacing list pad* to plan my day. 

The key to pacing and with it being so visual I can see that if there’s a red task I’ve just done I know to follow it with either a green task or a rest period therefore I’m pacing myself and I’m not going to overdo it with my limited energy. I also know to limit the time I spend on a red task and when to do it in the day. If I do an orange task I know to follow it with a green task and then to rest and so on.

*from Stickman Communications © - they have some great pacing resources in their shop including a very user friendly little book all about pacing. I got this magnetic planner set from there too.

2. Do your most energy consuming activity at the time of day when you have the most energy 

Work out when in the day you have optimal energy. This is different for everyone for me it’s early afternoon but for others it’s in an evening. Use this time when you have the most energy to do your most energy consuming activity or activities for that day but try to limit it to only one or two activities so you don’t over spend your limited energy.

3. If you’re getting tired STOP and rest

This is something I’m always not the best at doing and I’m always trying to tell myself not to do anything if I’m feeling tired. It’s easier said than done!

If you’re noticing that you’re starting to feel fatigued either don’t start to do any activity and just rest instead or if you’re in the middle of an activity and you’re starting to tire just neatly pack up (you can pack away properly another time) and just leave to go rest. You’ll perform better when you’re not feeling absolutely exhausted and if you do any activity whilst feeling utterly fatigued you’ll only make yourself feel worse.

When you rest either do a really low-level activity or what I do when I need to just stop and rest is lay in bed and listen to a soundscape. 

4. Time your activities 

When doing a high or medium level activity work out your activity limit. This is different for everyone and may vary depending on what kind of a day you’re having. For me my activity limit is 20-30 minutes usually depending on the activity.

Once you know your activity limit which will be trial and error I find it helpful to set a timer for 20 or 30 minutes to ensure I don’t overdo it and over exert myself which might impact on my fatigue levels crashing. 

Another thing that I was told to do was on my to-do list put how long each task is going to task me to do, such as: put laundry on - 5 minutes, write to pen pal (my main activity for the day) - 30 minutes, call pharmacy - 10 minutes. By putting times on my to-do list it ensures I can fit in rest periods during the day as well as factoring the time it takes me to switch from doing the laundry to calling the pharmacy.

5. Use aids, equipment and gadgets etc.

Using aids, equipment or gadgets can help share the task and help reduce fatigue or help you keep going for longer and allow you to do more.

There is so so so much out there depending on your, your medical condition and your needs. From gadgets and pieces of equipment to use around your home through to mobility aids. A few examples could be using a shower stool to reduce fatigue when showering, I have many kitchen gadgets that help me save energy like my hands free tin opener, also different mobility aids from walking sticks to rollators to wheelchairs can help reduce fatigue - if you’re unsure about mobility aids speak with an Occupational Therapist or physiotherapist for advice on what is best for you.

6. Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s actually a sign of strength. This could be asking for help from a family member, friend or even a professional.

It could be asking someone to help you change the sheets on your bedding to reduce your fatigue, or asking for someone to make your lunch for you, or a family member to wash your hair or to employ or ask social services for help and have a PA/carer to help you out. Other things could be to get a cleaner or dog walker or even if you have children give them school meals to save your energy on making packed lunches.

Making a routine for yourself

Due to my M.E. I’m mostly housebound but to manage my symptoms I have to spend most of my day in bed. This can bed hard especially when it comes to the structure of my day as days can often all blend into one. However I’ve found that giving my day routine and finding lots of different activities and doing a variety of activities that I can do in bed helps to give me the structure and stability I need to support my wellbeing. - I will do another blog post when I can on different activities that I’ve found can be be done in bed.

My routine is something I’m still working on since I’ve moved into my own home as I lost the routine I had when I was living at my Dad’s because my life looks quite a bit different now and I also need more support from PAs/carers (plus with them being here especially on PA days I have less free time in my day for doing the things I want to do on my own.)

I’ve developed a rough routine which my pain psychologist suggested I do and she suggested I create a good day and a bad day routine so I can switch between the two. Some days I can start off with the good day routine and end up using the bad day routine if my health takes a turn.

See at the bottom of this post for more about routines as like can’t always be a solid routine and sometimes we have to give ourselves and our routine a bit of flexibility.

Tips for creating a routine in bed

• Have a set morning routine. For me I wake up at 9am and give myself half an hour to wake up, take my morning meds and sit up. Then at 9.30am I have my morning routine to do so I’ll have a coffee, check my messages and emails etc. Or sometimes (usually - I need to get better at doing admin in the morning but I’m not a morning person) I’ll do a low-level activity to get me started.
• Pace yourself throughout your day. This is a useful blog post I wrote about pacing, activity management and rest with some different techniques.
• Work out when is best for you to do certain activities especially high energy activities like getting washed and dressed. For some people this is in the morning for others this is in the evening. It also depends on if you can get out of bed and to the bathroom to wash and whether you have the support from carers or caregivers such as family to do these activities. Aids can also help make these activities easier such as shower chairs/stools or a bath lift. You might want to bath or shower every other day and wash at the sink in between or another great alternative I find for washing are Fresh Wipes which are some really good wash wipes that I find really helpful. 
• I find with high energy and sometimes medium energy activities it can be helpful to limit how many of these activities you do in a day. - For me I have one ‘main’ activity a day (on my good days) that I do in the early afternoon when I have the most energy, what I do depends on how I’m feeling that day.
• After high energy activities and sometimes depending on what I’ve done for a medium energy activity I find it helpful to have periods of rest in my routine, usually for 30-60 minutes the latter especially after a high energy activity so my body and mind can stop and pause for a bit. I never regain energy but resting just helps my body to stop so it’s not on the go all the time. 
• Rest is different for everyone, for me I like to shut down and just lay and listen to mindfulness meditations and soundscapes. Other people prefer to do a restful activity. Here’s a blog post I wrote about rest. I find it helpful to have several rest periods a day, especially on a bad day just to help especially with my chronic fatigue.
• Alternatively after a medium energy activities you could put a low-level activity into your routine.
• Different people find different activities high energy, medium energy or low-level activity and it also depends upon how you’re feeling that day and how much energy you have for activities. One day an activity may be low-level activity another day it may be medium energy activity or vice versa.
• With high energy and medium energy activities work out your activity limit. This is different for everyone and also depends on the activities and how you’re feeling that day. Usually for me with a medium energy activity I can manage 20-30 minutes and I’d usually need a rest afterwards so I build this into my routine. It’s usually a case of trial-and error to work out your activity limit. With low-level activities I still have to remember not to overdo it and burn out so in my routine I usually schedule 30-60 minutes for a low-level activity. I find it helpful to put a timer on to ensure I don’t overdo it and go over my activity limit or I take regular breaks.
• Don’t forget to put meals and snacks into your routine too!
• It’s also good to have a set time to wind down for bed. Have a snack and a hot milky drink, do an activity that doesn’t involve screens such as reading, listening to an audiobook or podcasts, activity books etc. Then go to sleep once you’re feeling tired and ready for sleep.

Making your bedroom environment different between night and day can help with sleep as it can help your body feel like it’s in two different places even though you’re still in bed. This was a tip I was recently given during a sleep session for people with chronic pain.

Also from this session I got told that if you are able to try to get some daylight into your room during the day that will also help with sleep at night - I do know how hard this can be for those with light sensitivity and it’s something I’m personally trying working on and it’s tough going.

• If possible have a set daily routine so you’re roughly doing the same thing each day (if possible) - this helps to give your mind and body some structure.
• What I do is I have my daily routine in my bullet journal, but life changes like my agency care is at different times each day so I have my routine on my iCal so I can change it as well as colour code it.
• Another great alternative that I also have a use is the Stickman Communications pacing magnet set so I can create my day on a magnetic wipe board with different coloured magnets that I can write on. This gives me more flexibility as I can change it for how my day ahead will look as well as changing it around during the day should I find my energy levels drop and I need more rest and lower-level activities. Also some days I’ll use a green magnetic for a particular activity and other for the same activity I may use an orange or even a red one.

Link to buying the pacing routine magnet set - I personally have found buying fine liner coloured or if not just black wipe board pens great and glasses cleaning spray is great for cleaning wipe boards! You can easily buy a cheap wipe board from places like The Range, Amazon or Tesco and other similar places. (This magnet set does come with VAT exemption for those eligible.)

This is my magnetic routine for today:

Massages on prescription

I’ve been getting regular massages now for over a year. I see a lovely lady called Hollie who specialises in  complimentary therapies for people with health issues. Whenever I see Hollie no two treatments are ever the same because she tailors each treatment to how I’ve been around that time, such as if my lower back has been particularly painful, or my legs have been in spasm more or my circulation has been worse and so she’ll focus my treatment on those issues. Her treatment room is also a little more specialised especially the massage bed which is like a profiling massage bed, the head of the bed raises up and down as does the foot of the bed and the bed also raises in height so people can be made more comfortable when they’re having a massage or other treatment. Another thing I like when I’m having a massage is the fact that I don’t lay on my stomach, instead I lay on each of my sides hugging a pillow when Hollie massages my back and shoulders.

I personally feel that massages like the ones I get with Hollie and by people trained like Hollie should be more readily available and accessible such as on prescription because of the benefits massage can give to people, especially those with certain chronic health conditions that may have little other treatment options or conditions that may benefit from massage, just like you can get acupuncture through the NHS for certain health conditions.

The reason why I feel that some complementary therapies should be available are that I personally believe that care should be supplemented and that medication doesn’t work alone both for physical and mental illnesses. Other things have to be done alongside medication to treat a person’s illness for a positive holistic approach outcome and this in turn, through treating a person holistically or in a person centred way may reduce the patient’s reliance upon medication or may aid their care, recovery, or help to improve quality of life. Idealistically I feel the holistic approach would include the biopsychosocial model of care with things like complimentary therapies, allied healthcare services such as occupational therapy or physiotherapy, talking therapies and social prescribing alongside traditional medical practice care.

There are many complimentary therapies that can be beneficial and aid physical and/or emotional wellbeing such as massage, nail care, Indian head massage and reiki.

About and the benefits of complimentary therapies:

Personally these are the complimentary therapies I feel should be available to patients on something like a prescription for those with certain health conditions because of the physical and/or emotional benefits these therapies offer

Massage

Massage relaxes the muscles and soft tissue, it also increases the delivery of oxygen and blood to the area that is being treated as well as warming the area. Massage has been found to relieve pain, reduce stress, increase the sense of relaxation, reduce anxiety and generally aid a person’s wellness. In rehabilitation massage can also be used to assist with the repair of muscular injuries.

This is the main treatment I have with Hollie and I’ve seen a great deal of benefit physically over time. It also relaxes me reducing any emotional stress or anxiety I’ve been experiencing. Hollie works in a person centred way so she focuses on the issues I’ve been experiencing with my health at the time. I find that it does aide the relief of my pain and my circulation has been a lot better since Hollie has been working on improving that.

Reiki

This is a non-touch though it can be hands on depending upon the needs of the client; it’s a non-invasive and non-manipulative treatment which may benefit some people over having a massage. Reiki is traditional Japanese natural healing therapy that tunes into the body’s energies and chakras from therapist to client. Reiki works on both emotional and physical healing.

I’ve had reiki in the past and found it deeply relaxing and I found the lack of touch was helpful as I felt the benefit of what the therapist was doing but by not touching my body reduced my body’s hypersensitivity to touch that I was experiencing at the time I had the treatment. It’s something I’d definitely try again.

Indian head massage 

This is an ancient treatment practiced for over a thousand years; it works on the Ayurvedic system of healing. The treatment works on the the muscles, tissue and joints of the head, face, neck and shoulders. This treatment is especially good for stress, tension, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, migraines and sinusitis.

When I have my full body massage Hollie also works on my head, neck and shoulders especially to relieve my ‘migraine fog’.

Nail care

Certain illnesses or treatments for some illnesses can affect a person’s hands, feet and nails. Complimentary therapies to treat a person’s hands or feet including their nails can be beneficial cutting, filing and performing cuticle work on the nails as well as massaging the hands and arms or feet and legs can help with symptoms as well as aiding relaxation and helping clients to feel clean, refreshed, hydrated and soothed.

I think that this nail care complimentary therapy should be offered alongside allied healthcare such as podiatry as well as hand therapy, diabetes, oncology and neurology clinics etc.

Resources 

• Complimentary and Natural Healthcare Council - you can find a therapist here
• Amethyst Trust

Life with pain

September is nearly over so before it ends I’ll quickly write a post for Pain Awareness Month.

The hashtag #LifeWithPain that is being used for this year’s awareness month sums up my life really well. I’ve lived with pain to one degree or another my whole life. I can’t remember what’s it’s like to not be in pain; being in pain is my normal.

When I was a child I often complained of being in pain, especially in my back and joints. I was diagnosed with hyper lordosis, a high acute curvature of the lower spine but the vast majority of the time Drs put my complaints of pain down to just being growing pains. Looking back now I can see that these were early signs of my Ehers-Danlos Syndrome.

I find it hard to score my pain when asked because my normal daily pain would score high and I just try my best to get on with it alongside the pain. So when I’m say in the Emergency Department and I’m asked to score my pain it’s hard as I score my pain differently to someone who doesn’t experience chronic high pain levels. Another thing I do is I always save my high pain score, especially 10 in case I ever experience worse pain in the future even if I feel like 10 at that time, just in case. What I find really annoying is my local hospital now use a 1, 2, or 3 pain score - how the heck do I give a score on that?! 

When I talk to people about living with chronic pain and the pain that I live with people ask me things like ‘how do you still manage to get out of bed’ or ‘how do you still manage to function’? Often it is hard to do both of those things but I have to live and I have to have some sort of life, I’ve just learnt to live alongside my chronic pain and find ways to have a life but sometimes it does affect my quality of life as well as my mental health.

My pain varies and I do get my non-functioning days. Most days I just about manage to function due to a mixture of different medications, aids and the support and enablement from my PAs/carers. I’m also under pain specialists at UCLH which I’m really grateful about and they’ve helped me to learn to live with my pain and find ways to make it more manageable. It’s still incredibly tough and I always flop at the end of the day with growing levels of pain.

I experience a multitude of different types of pain. You name it; I feel it. From joint, nerve and musculoskeletal pain to chronic headaches and migraines I experience it. This is because all of my chronic illnesses come with chronic pain and with some illnesses the symptoms include different types of pain. The unpredictability is hard; not knowing how I will be one day to the next or how severe my pain will be as well as experiencing multiple types of pain at once.

Often medical professionals struggle to understand chronic pain especially as I have rare and/or misunderstood illnesses and this has led to many negative experiences in the past. There have been some good experiences but most medical professionals don’t experience chronic pain for themselves so how can they relate to patients who experience chronic pain and how can they empathise to give them the care they need in an understanding and compassionate way? I definitely think more training and education on chronic pain is needed for medical professionals. 

I believe that more professionals and decision makers who allocate care services need to better understand the needs of patients so we get the care we need both in hospital settings as well as at home in the community. I also think more research is needed into effective treatments and care guidelines needs to be improved.

Personally I don’t believe in medicine alone. I do a lot to supplement the medications I take for my pain. I find regular massages help, these are done by a lovely lady called Hollie who is trained in understanding chronic health conditions so the treatments so gives me are more targeted at my symptoms rather that my massages being a spa experience. I also find relaxation and mindfulness meditation helpful especially resting with soundscapes. Distraction is also a good tool as is getting enough sleep at night and staying hydrated. Also just listening to my body and what it’s telling me. Pacing and activity management is also key. I also enjoy a hot bath too. There are many things that I do daily to help me live with pain. 

Make time to rest

Rest is so important especially when you have a chronic illness or disability. Making time to rest can really help with fatigue and other symptoms such as brain fog and pain.

For some people, like myself I need to build regular rest periods into my day but others may find that they just need to rest when they've over done it or on bad days or if they haven't slept well.

Working out how best to rest my mind and body has been a journey of trial and error. For some people they rest by watching television or listening to a book but for me that's too stimulating. Those two activities for me still require a low level of attention and use of cognitive energy and I consider them to be 'low level activities'.

In my other posts you may have heard me write about my 'daily plan'. This is my schedule for me day which I developed with my Occupational Therapist and it helps me manage my M.E. It mainly consists of during the day alternating between activity (normal level and low-level) and rest periods ranging from 30-60 minutes (though my activity limit is 10-30 minutes). 

I find for me making regular time for resting really beneficial. It just allows my mind and body to pause periodically so that I'm able to keep going; if I didn't I would just crash.

The best way's in which I have found best is to listen to mindfulness meditations and soundscapes though I know this isn't for everyone. I find for me I really need to 'switch off' to allow my mind and body to just stop for a short while whilst I rest.

If this isn't for you and you find you have to still be doing something to rest some restful things I recommend include:

• Colouring
• Reading or flicking through a magazine
• Taking a hot bath or shower
• Watching easy watching TV shows or YouTube videos
• Listening to the radio, a podcast or an audiobook
• Easy to do crafts like knitting or crochet

Rest has proven health benefits including supporting mental and emotional wellbeing, easing pain, supporting the immune and cardiovascular systems and decreasing blood pressure.

Some apps I'd recommend for mindfulness, meditation and soundscapes are:

• Calm
• Better Sleep
• Headspace
• There's also this this meditation on YouTube I love - a visualisation on colours

Tips for making activities easier

Doing any sort of activity can be difficult when you have M.E and everyone's M.E is different but here is some of my advice on how to make activities a little easier so hopefully they become more enjoyable.

Firstly listen to your body

What is your body telling you? Are you having a good or bad day, are your physically tired, cognitively tired, emotionally tired etc? All these things are important to listen to as if your physically tired and then go and do a physical activity you're just going to make yourself feel even worse.

Switch tasks

One of the things I find helpful is to switch tasks so if my last activity was more physically demanding (like getting washed and dressed) I'd switch my next task for something that is say more cognitive (like listening to an audiobook).

This just gives different aspects of my body times to be active and times to slow down.

Take rests

The amount of rest you need totally depends on you. I'd say generally rest before you flop. For some you may need just the one rest period a day but for others you may need a few rest periods to help you keep going. See my blog post of rest.

Low-level activities

Low-level activities are great for when you still want to do something but you mind and/or body aren't quite feeling up to doing something 'big'.

Low-level activities may differ from me to you but some suggestions include listening to the radio, a podcast or an audiobook, reading (a book, magazine or newspaper - I'd highly recommend The Happy Newspaper as a personal suggestion), colouring, journalling/bullet journalling, watching short YouTube videos, painting nails and doing nail art, mobile phone games or small handheld gaming devices (not ones that connect to the television) - that's as many as I can think of and I hope I've listed enough variety for everyone.

Obviously all these activities are at differ levels but most can be done laid down or if not sat up with you legs raised which is a nice restful posture which can help alleviate some M.E symptoms that you may experience like orthostatic intolerance. As a result low-level activities give you mind and body an all round break and I strongly suggest putting if possible into your day one hour or two 30 minute slots of low level activity.

The traffic light system

This is a system that I find really helpful when I'm writing out my activities and to-do list for the day. I'm quite a visual person so seeing the traffic light colours helps me to plan my day and to-do list in a balanced way for my body.

The traffic light system goes like this: Green = easy, Orange = okay, Red = challenging

Using this traffic light system it can help you plan out your day and can help you more with spreading your activities out. You can read more about pacing and activity management in this blog post which goes into more detail about the traffic light system and how to best use it.

These handy post-it notes are available from the Stickman Communications ® store.

Time yourself

It is incredibly easy to get lost in an activity and then find that you've overdone it and you're paying for it afterwards. One thing I learnt with my OT is how long I can spend on an activity before I reach my limit. This activity time limit will be different for everyone and may also differ depending on the activity. Working out your time limit is trial-an-error. The best way I worked out my activity limit was to start small and build myself up. (This was a little different for me as this time as then I was in a specialist unit for people with severe M.E). 

Generally how you work out your activity time limit is start small 5 or 10 minutes or around there (wherever your M.E is at) and what I found helpful was setting a timer (which I still do) so initially do your activity for that shorter period of time and then after a few days or when you feel comfortable and can manage that time limit. Then you increase it a little e.g. from 10 to 15 minutes and continue to do so until you find a time limit that is manageable for you and you feel comfortable with and what feels comfortable and doable. So a time limit that doesn't exhaust you, or flare up any of your symptoms etc. 

Sometimes on your bad days your activity time limit may be less and on you good days it may be a little more but try to stick within your limit so as to avoid that 'I've overdone it' feeling and exacerbating your M.E.

Break tasks up

Breaking tasking up can make them easier and less tiring. As an example when I'm blogging I don't just write a post all in one go (that would be way too much for me!) so I just write a paragraph at a time. - Behind the scenes of my blog is organised chaos of draft blogs as I get ideas and start a draft blog to complete at a later date as well as to balance my blog out so I'm not just always blogging about health related content.

Obviously not all tasks can be broken up, like cooking a meal, but where possible try to break tasks down into more manageable bits. This fits in with your activity time limit (see above).

Braces and splints

If you have hypermobility it may help to wear braces of splints. For example when I crochet I wear my hand brace as well as some splints on my fingers to give my wrist and fingers some support and stability. This means that my joints don't tire so easily so I can crochet for longer and it also reduces injury and pain.

Adapting your work space

Changing your work space can make both activities easier as well as aiding you. For example if your doing an activity in bed using extra pillows or support pillow like a V or body pillow to support you so you are more comfortable as well as supported. It may also be beneficial to invest in a fold-up bed table (link as an example) or a table that goes over your bed (you may be able to get one of these from your Occupational Therapist) so that when you are doing activities in bed you have a better set up for doing activities.

If you are working at a table adaptations that may make things easier for you include a tilt stand for your laptop, a wrist rest either for typing and/or for your mouse mat, adapted mice (such as an ergonomic mouse), adaptive software such as voice recognition software, back supports and foot rests. (Links all for examples.)

Adapting your work space makes tasks easier for lots of reasons; it may help to reduce pain, improve and support your posture and position as well as supporting your muscles and joints. This is all really important as some of these things are preventative so they help reduce and may prevent problems from happening such as muscle and joint pain.

Rest

So to start off with rest is a major component of my day. Within my daily plan I alternate between rest and some sort of activity period or the odd time for a meal/snack, or 5 minutes of physio or my AM routine etc.

I was prompted to write this post because today I didn't rest enough and that has Big consequences. Not getting enough rest means that my symptoms get markedly worse. Also on the M.E side of things you needs energy to sleep and though a huge part of having M.E involves chronic fatigue you might be surprised to know that another aspect of the condition is sleep difficulties. This is because your body needs energy to sleep and when you don't have enough energy your body can struggle to sleep. Normally I settle down to bed at 9pm but it's now 11.56pm and today I don't rest enough so I can't sleep which will mean that I'll struggle tomorrow so all can try and do tomorrow is take it easy, do more low-level activities and of course get plenty of rest.

Rest is different for different people. For me it's structural. How we rest is is also different which is something that I came across when I did my day in my life Instagram story. When I first started to have rest periods I'd say listen to a podcast but I soon realised that for me that was still too stimulating for me. Equally I can't engage in pure neurological rest and just lay there for 30 minutes or an hour. For me what I find works for me is listening to meditations especially visualisation, breathing exercises or mindfulness. Sometimes I can do body scanning meditations but it depends as some when I'm doing them magnify my pain and other physical symptoms and I find them too uncomfortable. As well as meditations I also enjoy listening to soundscapes but not the repetitive kind - I like ones in which I can tell myself a narrative.

From when I did my Instagram story I know some people commented that resting in this way would make them nod off (there's a difference between napping and resting) and they preferred what I would class as more active rest or low-level activity. Activities such as colouring, reading, listening to a podcast the radio or an audiobook, flicking through a magazine, completing puzzles in a puzzle book, diamond painting, doing a jigsaw puzzle as a few examples.

However you rest if you're unwell wether it be temporarily or more chronic I suggest building time into your day to rest, preferably a time when you start to tire and your body is saying to you 'STOP I need time out!' - this may be before the time your body is screaming for a nap because it's so overtired. For some people this may just be once a day and for others having a rest may be several times a day, there's no such thing as too much rest. 

Low Level Activities

When you have a limited supply of energy it can be difficult at times because you want something to do to occupy yourself but you may lack physical or cognitive energy to do certain activities. I find myself in tis situation a lot as well as building low level activities into my daily plan so I'm doing more restful low level activities alongside actives that take up more of my energy.

So here are some low level activities I find help to fill my day.

Audiobooks

I find reading a little more challenging as it requires more concentration so audiobooks have opened up a whole new world to me and made me fall in love with books again. There is a lot of audiobooks out there in a wide range of genres and I find it really enjoyable to lay in bed listening to a book.

If you struggle to access books because of you're disability you may be consider to have a 'print disability' alongside those who are blind and visually impaired. This may give you access to the RNIB Library and Calibre audiobook library though an app called Easy Reader. This is how I get my audiobooks and it's great that I can access audiobooks for free. Alternatively there are lots of different audiobook subscription services out there now with more people wanting to access audiobooks. 

Reading

If books are accessible to you this is another low level activity and depending on your ability you could just put 10 minutes aside to read. I find trying to get a variety of different activities in my day helps me as my mind and body aren't overdoing in on one type of activity. But if you love books you can spend as much time as you wish reading.

Some areas may offer a home library service and volunteers can find the sort of books you like and bring them to your home for you if you are not able to visit the library yourself and this can help bring down the cost of buying books as well as finding room for your books.

Podcasts

Podcasts I quite enjoy listening to as I find them so informative and I like the wide variety of podcasts that are out there. There is such a wide variety of podcasts out there on a wide verity of genres, for documentaries, educational, mini fiction series, current affairs and chatty style podcasts and everything in between! There really is a podcast for everyone.

I get my podcasts from BBC Sounds and Apple Podcasts and currently I'm subscribed to Audible so there's podcasts on there too.

Colouring

Colouring is a good low key energy as you can break the activity down and just spend small amounts of time and finish the image bit-by-it. There's also such a wide range of colouring books out there; some with more complex images than others. You can also get colour-in stickers or postcards.

Activity books

There's a wide range of activity books out there from word search books, criss cross, sudoko to more creative activity books like sticker-by-numbers. Like colouring you can break the activity down and just do one word search puzzle or part of a sticker-by-numbers image. 

Jigsaw puzzles

If you're able to jigsaw puzzles are a great low level activity and like with some of the other activities mentioned above you can slowly work on jigsaw puzzles until it is completed. You can also get a range of difficulties from 100 piece jigsaw puzzle to ones with 1,000 pieces.

I'd recommend to start small and to work your way up. If you find you enjoy jigsaw puzzles it might be worth getting a puzzle board so you can store the jigsaw puzzle you're in the middle of working on.

Pinterest

I would personally consider Pinterest a low level activity. You can build boards on different topics based on your interests. One activity I'd defiantly recommend doing on Pinterest is building your dream home with no limitations or restrictions. As a suggestion you can create your 'Dream Home' board and have a section for each room of your dream home and you can spend ages designing all the things you'd love to have.

Living with chronic pain - Pain Awareness Month

I've lived with being in pain for so long now that for me being in pain is normal and I've forgotten what it feels like to not be in pain. Pain as a symptom is a key component in all of my physical chronic illnesses. I experience many different types of pain including joint pain, neuropathic/nerve pain, muscle pain, headaches and migraines, bladder pain and gastrointestinal pain. Then there are different types of pain that I feel - a dull ache, spasms, cramps, tingling pins and needles, a sharp stabbing sensation, griping, throbbing, and crushing, head pain during a migraine to name a few. Sometimes my pain is just there in the background other times it can be an acute onset of pain for example due to a joint dislocating.

Living with chronic pain can be hard especially on my bad days as I'm wanting to distract myself from the pain but I'm unable to do so. As well as that often when I've over done it or 'done a big thing' this will trigger my PEM/PENE* which will flare-up my pain along with my other symptoms.

©yourachingart_me

Chronic pain can also be pretty unpredictable and I can never plan for when I'll be in pain beyond my baseline everyday level of pain. The question of how much pain I'll be in and for how long I'll be in pain is something I will never know. I take various different medications to help manage my pain. I prefer to use the term 'pain relief' as that is what medication does, it doesn't kill or eradicate my pain, only bringing me a level of relief so that I am to a certain degree able to function and get through the day and the pain despite being in pain. 

It's hard to try and comprehend to explain to others including medical professionals, even those in my pain management team what it is like to constantly be in pain. Constantly being in pain affects me a lot, not just the physicality of being in pain or waking up at 3am with a raging migraine or having my bladder spasming so bad that I'm double bent and curled up crying struggling to syringe up some pain relief and turn on my heat pad. It's the emotional impact of being constantly in pain that I feel wears me down the most because the pain is so relentless and you become 'sick and tired of being sick and tired'. Those are the difficult days when you know you're 28 and you wonder if this is it for the rest of you life. Other days I feel more hopeful and able to cope with my health problems and associated pain.

I've found my appointments with the hypermobility pain team helpful and what I've learnt in these sessions I can apply to my other illness a little and hopefully (or one day) I'll see a neurologist from the migraine clinic which I'm really will happen (my referral is somewhere in space due to the pandemic). In the past I was under a local pain management service but they were as helpful as a chocolate teapot! My other symptomatic pain from my other illness and co-morbidities are also slowly getting sorted.

I know the pain will always be there to some degree but it's learning to live with an manage it. I know I will have my difficult days when I feel like I can't cope. Planing, pacing, activity management and regular rests help me to keep on top of my symptoms including my pain but it's journey to learn how to live alongside chronic pain.

*PEM - Post Exertion Malaise or PENE - Post Exertion Neuro-immune Exhaustion

Living with limited energy

When you have a chronic illness like M.E which limits how much energy you have it does have a massive affect on your life and how you adapt your life to live in the slow lane. How much energy you do or don't have is very individual from person-to-person depending on their illness. For me my M.E is classed as being severe so generally because of this I have to make the most of what little energy I do have each day and this varies day-to-day depending on if I'm having a good or bad day and other factors such payback from something I've done. What little energy I do have is very precious to me so I have to be very careful and cautious as to where I spend and spread out my limited levels of energy. Since I became ill over this time I've learnt how to live with limited energy and how to best manage the energy I have each day.

What many people don't realise is that everything takes up energy from getting dressed, brushing your teeth, washing, watching a TV program, reading,  listening to music, playing a game on your phone, any form of exercise. It isn't just physical activities that take up energy but mental activities too, even maybe something that brings up strong emotions may exhaust you.

Like for most people with chronic illness/disabilities including myself my days are ever fluctuating and I experience good and and bad days. Depending on if I'm have a good or bad day this dictates how much energy I have and even within that I don't have a definitive good/bad day. I have great good days and okay-ish good days then I have my better bad days then my bad days where I'm crashed out in bed and really struggling. As a result I never know how much energy I'm going to have on any given day though my better days I will have more energy compared to my bad days where my energy levels will be depleted. 

This makes life pretty difficult as I don't know what kind of a day I'm going to have. Sometimes I can predict that tomorrow won't be so great if I'd done something that day that pushed my energy levels to it's limit but how bad the next day will be is a total unknown so it's hard to prepare for dealing with the following day.

Life with limited energy, whatever has caused that, is a challenge. Energy becomes something precious that you want to hold on to and you have to spend it wisely. This links in with Spoon Theory if you've ever hear of that?

I've found that regular rest periods throughout the day help keep my levels in check. Unfortunately reseting doesn't restore or restock my energy levels but it gives my body and mind opportunities an opportunity to pause which I find is much needed and I find the routine of alternating activity and rest periods help keep my energy levels in check, this is what I call my Daily Plan. Each day I have one main activity which I use my energy on doing; yesterday wasn't such a great day so my main activity yesterday was watching an episode of a boxset I'm enjoying. On a good day however I have more energy to do a bigger main activity. - I hope that makes sense? 

As well as my main activity I have low-level activity periods where I do activities that don't take up as much energy as well as spending my energy on washing, getting dressed, brushing my teeth, doing my hair - all the basics really which I do with the help from one of my PA's which make tasks easier and reduce my energy levels from crashing.

It's a very careful balance. Some other tools I've found helpful is pacing and activity management which is where my Daily Plan come in. Finding your own personal baseline is really important too, this generally involves working out how long you can do an activity for before you're energy levels drop and other symptoms flare-up. This baseline is different for everyone and may vary depending on the activity as well as if you're having a good or bad day.

My main advice to conclude this post is to see if you could do some work with an Occupational Therapist as I did to help you put together something like a Daily Plan. Take regular rest breaks; stop before you flop aka don't overdo it. Work out your baseline and put on a timer when you do an activity so you know when to stop. Learn about pacing and activity management including the traffic light system - Sickman Communications © have a great Pacing Pack which I have and I've found it so helpful including the traffic light post-it notes to plan my day and the Pacing book which taught me everything I needed to know about pacing. Write to-do list, this could be on your traffic light post-it notes, or on a list pad or on your phone (I love the reminders app on my phone). Also break tasks down so if you have laundry to put away do it in small stages, or ask for help - it's okay to ask for help; a helping hand can often save you some precious energy. Prioritise where to spend your days energy; if you're having a bad day it's okay to do very little - listen to your body. Finally since I've become ill I've learnt that things can be left to do the next day or week (unless it's super urgent and important).

Mindfulness & meditation

Mindfulness meditations is something that I do several times a day; it's something that I've built into my rest periods within my Daily Plan.

I find practicing mindfulness meditations during my rest periods helpful as it's not too stimulating and I've found learning mindfulness helps me to stay and feel more grounded which in turn benefits my mental wellbeing. I've listened to different types of mindfulness meditations such as visualisation, breathing exercises, hypnosis and body scanning to name a few. Some types of mindfulness meditations I get on better with than others and often it's a case of trying different types of meditations out to find what works best and it's something that is very individual. I also find that on different days I prefer one type of mindfulness meditation activity over another.

As well as the type of mindfulness meditations I engaged in I've also listened to mindfulness meditations on different subjects such as pain management, anxiety, happiness, gratitude, stress, trauma and fear of the future. Some of these have been mindfulness meditation courses whilst others have been single mindfulness meditations.  I've even listened to crisis mindfulness meditations which are short exercises to help me deal with a particular problem.

There are plenty of mindfulness apps out there; this year I decided to sign up to two apps: Headspace and Relax Melodies (this one you can find my review of here). My Apple Watch also gives me free access to the daily mindfulness mediation by Calm - I personally would recommend all three of these but there are plenty of other apps out there too; these are just the apps that I've found I get on best with for myself. You can also find free mindfulness exercises/meditations on YouTube, though some on there I've found get interrupted by adverts which isn't what you want when you're trying to relax!

What exactly is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the quality of being present and fully engaged with whatever we’re doing at the moment — free from distraction or judgment, and aware of our thoughts and feelings without getting caught up in them. - Headspace

Meditation is the exercise which leads onto becoming more mind-full this leads onto a state of living mindfully in our daily lives and being present in the moment. This is a skill that I'm still very much learning and trying to be more aware and conscious of and it takes a lot of time and practise.

The benefits of mindfulness

Emotionally mindfulness helps us to feel a greater appreciation and gratitude of the world around us. Mindfulness also helps us to better understand our own selves in terms of our needs and what emotions we may be feeling and maybe how to improve our own wellbeing.

"Mindfulness also allows us to become more aware of the stream of thoughts and feelings that we experience... and to see how we can become entangled in that stream in ways that are not helpful... This lets us stand back from our thoughts and start to see their patterns. Gradually, we can train ourselves to notice when our thoughts are taking over and realise that thoughts are simply 'mental events' that do not have to control us." - Professor Williams, Mindfulness, NHS

Mindfulness helps people better deal with stress, anxiety and depression but it not only benefits people's mental health it can also improve people's physical wellbeing. In one research study mindfulness was found to improve patient's cardiac health. It's also been shown to help with the immune system and with pain. - mindful.org "Mindfulness Meditation Is Good for Your Health"