REMEDY
Welcome to Remedy, a blog by U.S. Pain Foundation. Remedy features information about promising treatments, tips and strategies for self-management, unique perspectives from patients, clinicians, and caregivers–and much more. To submit an article idea, email us.
Please note: U.S. Pain Foundation does not endorse any specific treatment options; blog posts are educational only. Views expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the organization.
Can We Be Kinder After the Pandemic?
Ellen Lenox Smith shares her hope that we can come out of the pandemic as kinder, more compassionate people.
The Barking Cat: Being a Father with Cluster Headaches
Contributor Mark Odlum shares what it’s like to be a father while dealing with crippling cluster headaches on a regular basis.
Use Your Voice: Advocating
Co-Director of U.S. Pain Foundation’s Medical Cannabis Advocacy program Ellen Lenox Smith shares how you can use your voice to be an advocate for causes that matter to you.
New Pain Connection Group for Veterans and Active Military Launching with Specialized Support
Veterans support group leader Kate Benson shares her story and how she hopes to help veterans across the country.
My son suffered in pain for years: The signs I missed and the ones I saw
U.S. Pain ambassador Brandy Garcia shares what she learned when her son was diagnosed with migraines.
The emotional trauma from enduring the pandemic
By: Ellen Lenox Smith My family is so lucky, we are all here today! My husband and I are fully vaccinated, and our four sons are eligible to receive theirs. We have kept connected for months from our homes by Zoom, Facetime, or phone calls. Our conversations tended to be upbeat, but as we are...
A letter to healthcare providers: Help complicated patients
By: Ellen Lenox Smith I would like to make some suggestions for the doctors and nurses out there that are frequently meeting complicated patients like me. I hope you consider these suggestions so you can better learn how to help us. None of us asked for these conditions that are inflicting our...
Life after vaccination
By: Ellen Lenox Smith As my husband and I get closer to receiving our second of our two-dose COVID-19 vaccination, we are beginning to accept that we might just have been the lucky ones to return to living a “new” normal. Over 500,000 have lost their lives, but I can’t help but feel grateful along...
Let’s reconsider how we evaluate nontraditional therapies
By: Malcolm Herman The National Institutes of Health is comprised of 27 institutes, all of which deal with specific disease conditions and general health. There is no institute for chronic pain. One of the institutes is the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). NCCIH...
Service dog separations
By: Ellen Lenox Smith We were recently enjoying watching the new show “Transplant” when in one scene, my heart sank and tears began to flow. They showed a scene in the hospital with a young man and his parents getting the news that he was nearing the end of his life due to cystic fibrosis. And if...
Support groups and feeling understood
Support group leader Mary Beth Lewis shares how chronic pain support groups helped her find a supporting community.
The athlete
By: Sheila Borgman The rollerblades were not to blame. It’s true they played a key role in my injury, but it was hardly their fault. They’d been buried in our garage for nearly three decades. In October of 2018, I was on vacation in Borrego Springs, California, where my husband, John, and I had...