It's an act of forwards and backwards, sideways and a lot of down ways. It's really hard work. The less it yells, the better I feel and only then can I do more and pace up. The more I poke it, the worse it gets. The worse it gets, the deeper into the hole I go and further away from coming back out! I don't just pay with pain, I pay with time – lifetime!
(Excerpt from Neos Kosmos feature story, Chronic pain: the treacherous disease that steals the lives of thousands, MAΡΙΑ ΚΑΜΠΥΛH 25 September 2019) Η συγκλονιστική συνέντευξη – κατάθεση ψυχής της ομογενούς Σούλας Μανταλβάνου, που [...]
If you dress well - this system assumes you couldn't possibly have a health issue. If you speak well, there's no way you have suffered trauma. If you manage to stay alive through your darkest moments, they assume you can forfeit your compensation. When you are honest and remain transparent, they only abuse your information.
MEDIA RELEASE 17 June 2019 At last – A national plan for better pain management Painaustralia has today launched the new National Strategic Action Plan for Pain Management. Millions of Australians live [...]
(Image: 2012 investigator’s photo, read the full post here) ABC investigative journalist, Pat McGrath is looking into the experiences of people who have been through the workers’ compensation system – and those [...]
A few months before I decided to ease on the advocacy, I contacted my dear friend Dr John Quintner asking him if he was up for a followup interview. Ever willing to [...]
I'm finding it draining to advocate and blog my experiences. But also, I don't feel my voice is as necessary anymore. I want to be known for my creativity and where it aligned with chronic pain to influence behaviour change – specifically the structure of appointments.
It will take one whole year until stim and I get to know each other. I've done this twice before, I know! There are programs to explore, capacity to pace, and sitting to try without the aids. I want to hop in a train and a tram, and hop off in the city without an agenda and limits. I want to catch up with my dearest friends, some whom I've not seen since I left Melbourne. We've been living off parcels, emails and the phone, and that really hurts.
Where to next? (Part 2/3) I knew there was something seriously wrong with my sacral stim implant. By the time that information was confirmed, my mind had run off a few thousand [...]
Then things got even more strange. There was heat, radiating heat where the IPG is, in my face and also other strange feelings that not only added to my pain issues but it made me turn my stim off, more than on! Weird.
