It’s my PN anniversary, eight years (if I don’t subtract the 4.5 years it took me to find out it was in fact PN)! Obviously time brings on reflection which in turn [...]
As usual, I was waiting for a lead. Waiting to hear that someone with chronic pain had found a way out of it and was cured. Mrs Gleeson, I could have bet you were going to say you were fine, after all, you looked it! And so did Lesley Brydon, Pain Australia's CEO... how could she be in any pain?
John Quintner, Professor Milton Cohen and Dr Geoffrey Bove recently published a very controversial review – A critical evaluation of the trigger point phenomenon. Their article aims to show the hypothesis – [...]
Permission granted and now it's back to reality! Or is it possible I never really left my reality? As if anyone can leave chronic pain behind and really have time off! I'm going to post my brain's two conflicting versions: 1. Crap thinking out-of-the-way first version..
Or should I say, looking forward to 2015? Looking forward is more my tune but the changeover of another year, especially with chronic pain, calls me to reflect and to ponder my [...]
The following story was published in support of the current National campaign: Nerve Pain is Different. Please help us raise awareness for those with debilitating invisible pain. If you think you have [...]
I don’t think I need to write an introduction for Dr Echenberg or Bridge for Pelvic Pain. The only explanation I feel I need to give is that I was drawn (pardon [...]
APS: How important are support groups for both you and your close family/community? Soula: I can’t say I feel there is much support for my husband and family/community. It’s difficult with invisible pain, it’s a similar scenario with depression, we still don’t get it. Society seems to have been given an immense right to provide their opinion (e.g. with social media platforms) and this has opened up some kind of authority to encourage opinions and much judgment. Not many tread carefully or really think from someone else’s perspective. Although we have more information accessible to us, we seem to be learning less.
I must sound like a broken record by now, but once again, I am left bewildered by my chronic pain journey and the contrasting experiences that go from excruciating pain to exhilaration. Above all, I feel incredibly privileged at the opportunities presented to me and so happy to be able to help others by communicating my story. I could not have done this without Theo, my family and of course Peter Lamont and Jacinta Cashen.
Very chuffed to be selected as a semi finalist regardless of the outcome. The portrait was flown up to Sydney for a second round of judging. She didn't make the final cut of 30 finalists but I feel so content that Ms Soula is going to great lengths to create awareness for invisible pain.
