About Soula Mantalvanos

“I felt I had lost my independence, I could not communicate and express my personal experience and that no one understood me.” Soula combines her many years of chronic pain with her professional design experience to advocate about misdiagnosis and injured Victorian workers. Soula founded pudendalnerve.com.au and PainTrain My Health Summary to help raise the quality of care for those enduring and treating chronic pain.
November 29th, 2011 2:24 am

Depressed? You have to be, you just have to!

By |2013-10-14T11:07:48+11:00November 29th, 2011|Categories: About, Manage, My treatment|Tags: |

I remember friends, family, practitioners asking me how I was... "how am I?", I didn't know who I was let alone how I was!!!!!!!! I couldn't cross the street, had to turn spell check on my computer, couldn't speak from the piercing sound of my own voice bouncing in my own ears, couldn't go out, couldn't coordinate myself, I thought everyone who drove was going to kill themselves I was so disorientated all the time, and I couldn't choose between three apples if you asked me to! I slept like a dead person, had no energy, I took a huge dive into the deepest of caves. Actually to sum it up folks, I was depressed... yes, on the anti depressants. That was enough for me to see I didn't need that sort of medication. There had to be another way and I found it.

November 28th, 2011 10:57 pm

Express yourself

By |2017-12-11T09:33:36+11:00November 28th, 2011|Categories: Funnies, Learn, Manage, Personal resources|Tags: , , |

I often don't feel like talking or explaining the same boring chronic pain story over and over. And I'm thinking there may be a few people out there who feel the same. So, here's some artwork for you folks. Feel free to use it to order caps, t shirts, mugs, honestly, do whatever you want with it, just don't take my name off or manipulate the artwork. Oh, and pop me a message of thanks. Perhaps even come back with some images and I'll create a pain gallery!!!

November 28th, 2011 10:59 am

The system… it’s a circus!

By |2017-12-11T16:14:02+11:00November 28th, 2011|Categories: Workcover|Tags: |

I believe getting better and getting back to work is my priority, my 'job' pardon the pun, and there hasn't been a day I haven't tried to do this. What makes me write this article however, is the disappointment when I get a ticket in the mail and have to attend the circus. It's a boulder in my way to recovery, a performance I don't need to watch, nor is it good for me, in fact the performers don't care about me, never really look into my eyes and focus on my path so I can speed up to my mission. No, they slow me down in fact, add more and more performances for me to watch, they even get me to perform at some!!!!

November 28th, 2011 6:10 am

Poor excuses

By |2017-12-11T09:39:15+11:00November 28th, 2011|Categories: Funnies|Tags: |

Oh go on, let's have some fun. What's the poorest excuse you've heard from your insurer (or related body) and don't name names, but let's have a laugh... at their expense for a change.

November 26th, 2011 5:12 am

Why a flower?

By |2022-09-05T11:26:10+10:00November 26th, 2011|Categories: About, Creativity, Living, Manage, The pain|Tags: , |

Chronic pain is a waste of life’s precious time, its a huge hold up. But if you have to deal with it then you have to find a way to cope through the awful journey and survive it. Before my precious implant (Professor Teddy I love you!!), I couldn’t move much without pain, everything hurt and it hurt all the time. And yet, my gorgeous friends and family kept telling me ‘but you look so good for someone who’s in pain all day!’ (Uum… thanks??).

November 25th, 2011 1:00 am

Down the hole: a descent into painful isolation

By |2021-02-24T10:28:34+11:00November 25th, 2011|Categories: Advocacy, Creativity|Tags: , |

Chia Moan's painting Shrinking World aims to shed light on the effects of living with severe and persistent pain. Moan was among artists who spoke to pain sufferers and says she remembers one patient who said she felt like Alice disappearing down the rabbit hole, with the opening at the top growing smaller and smaller.

November 24th, 2011 6:33 am

Women’s Health and Research Institute of Australia (WHRIA)

By |2017-12-11T09:30:20+11:00November 24th, 2011|Categories: Help, Learn, Professional, Professional Resources|Tags: , |

Your symptoms & history indicate that the nerve in the pelvis, the pudendal nerve, may be responsible for all or some of your pain and other symptoms. The pudendal nerve runs from the lower back, then passes between 2 ligaments, then runs along the top of the pelvic floor muscles, then through to the base of the pelvis the pelvis and out to the perineum. Adjacent to the ligaments are muscles: the pelvic floor muscles (PFM) at the front and the obturator and piriformis at the back.

November 24th, 2011 4:29 am

Pain as an Art Form

By |2021-02-24T10:28:43+11:00November 24th, 2011|Categories: Learn, Manage, Personal resources|Tags: , , |

Mr. Collen said the main goal of the exhibit is to raise awareness about the problem of chronic pain. However, he said he hopes one day to find a sponsor to take the exhibit on tour. “People don’t believe what they can’t see,” Mr. Collen said. “But they see a piece of art an individual created about their pain and everything changes.”

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