The Washington Post recently ran a piece asking Is the era of the social hug over? Some people sure hope so. The author, Lavanya Ramanatan, wonders if this era of #MeToo is bringing an end to hugs not handshakes as …
Category: Treatments

Stuck in the Middle with a Few…Needles: Part 1 of Treating Pain and Trauma with Acupuncture
I’ve been getting stuck with many needles every week for five months now and I think it’s helping improve my health, although I can say goodbye forever to any clothing that exposes my midriff. Who wants to see a bubble …

Pain’s a Real Bear
This one is for all the people like me battling pain. . .again, battling pain. . .still. (Note: it’s taken me two months to write this post, probably because the pain waxes and wanes, just as my acceptance of it …

What’s Not Linked to Celiac Disease
Every week it seems I hear a new theory to explain the dramatic rise in autoimmune disease incidence in general and celiac disease in particular. I’m glad researchers are testing these theories, which seem to gain immediate traction and get …

Oh, Yes, Me, Too
The leaves finally began turning, not here, where I have rebuilt my life, but, rather, in the mountains linking North to South Carolina. Here, it’s still summer, with daily temps still well in the 80s. There’s no frost on the …

Morality and Medical Issues, Part 2
Tuesday’s post challenged the notion, debunked by gobs of science, that illness and disability somehow are the results of moral failing. After I posted, I went running–it’s my primary treatment for fibromyalgia and for guarding against a host of other …

Illness Is Not A Moral Failing
Screaming loudly from more than a corner of the quest to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act is this notion that moral, upstanding people take care of themselves and do not get sick; therefore, they do not need guaranteed …

Gut Reaction to Fashion: Choosing a Painless Gown
Twenty-one days after my reproductive organs were yanked through my birth canal, I accidentally went wedding dress shopping. I don’t recommend this. I don’t recommend any kind of shopping three weeks post surgery, unless you traverse said shopping emporium by …
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Drink This
Contrast tastes terrible. Flavor it berry, banana, vanilla, even Thanksgiving Dinner, and it tastes like, well, nothing like berry or banana or vanilla or anything remotely like food. It tastes so terrible, it makes one hate berry, banana and vanilla, …

22 Years a Survivor
The slanting of five o’clock sun through the branches of trees with turning gold and red leaves pings the bowl of my soul with hollow sadness. I love autumn with its crunchy ground and vibrant sound, the textured weaves of …