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My question about laughter was narrow and excluded other outlets for the frustration we all feel when, despite all of our efforts and medications, we still have days laced with cruel, writhing pain or insurmountable fatigue. I find that , once humor has provided all that it can, I seek...

One of the few pleasures I have left is watching great comedy. Not the sitcoms that broadcast television networks hype with every new season, but comedy featuring irony, satire, and/or British humor. I like smart comedy, produced with writers understanding that their audience isn't stupid...

A friend suffered from COPD. Her Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease required steroid treatments and, after a lifetime of steroids, her doctor discovered stage 4 lung cancer. The doctor says the use of steroids led to her cancer. She passed about 2 weeks ago. Doctors had tried talking me...

I have noticed that, over the 20 years I have been dealing with chronic pain, I have become less likely to tolerate other pain. The dentist has to knock me out to work on my teeth, if the procedure will take more than a couple of minutes because sitting in the chair is painful. I get really...

I really try to avoid Mother's day because my first born died on that day. I had named her "Octavia Augusta". She was born suffering with Ductus Arteriosus Syndrome. She had 2 surgeries, then died on the following Sunday...that was Mother's Day. Now, you would think that, since it happened...

Most of us have spent years in an ongoing battle. At first, family, friends and doctors do not take our complaints seriously. Then doctors try running all sorts of tests, many of them making very little sense at all, only to send us to physical therapy where we are supposed to plunk down 1/2...

I find my concentration extremely compromised when the arthritic aspect of my pain asserts itself during the winter months, and rainy days. Thing is, it even happens when my medications are working well! I assume that the unstable atmosphere overloads the part of my brain that sends out the...

There are days and even weeks where moving my head sounds like someone firing a rifle. I can feel the vertebrae shifting in the back of my throat. My doctor does not seem all that worried, but it is scary, just the same. Every once in a while my husband gets this horrified look on his face...

I finally found a great pain specialist after dealing with Kaiser primary care physicians. The pain specialist deals with his own chronic pain, so he can identify with his patients. My PCP's (primary care physicians) at Kaiser didn't really care about my situation. They were disrespectful. When...

I only work part time outside of the home, because cannot predict how well I will fee from day to day. I just know you can all identify with that! I have not applied for disability and probably won't, so I need to create income from work I can do at home. I ran a chain mail booth at the local...