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CEO of Your Health

CEO of My Health

By Advocate, Clinician, ePatient, Leader, Podcasts

I want to be a better CEO of my health and health team. Better at learning, managing, leading, and deciding. Most of us are only fair at any of it. Few are good at all of it. And our lives depend on them all. Let’s explore this further together in future podcasts. I encourage you to share your questions and thoughts with me.

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Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

By Advocate, ePatient, Podcasts

Teresa Wright-Johnson is a giant of advocacy. We stand on her shoulders; she stands on ours. “You matter” coming from Teresa is powerful and uplifting.  Teresa is a Multiple Sclerosis Warrior and Congenital Heart Disease Survivor. A retired Parole Officer, Teresa uses her life experiences to inspire and inform others. She’s careful, conscious, and confident. She sets an example and speaks for the unspoken.

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Pain: The Solution – Many Solutions

By Advocate, Caregiver, Clinician, ePatient, Podcasts, Researcher

You’re in for a treat. Amy Baxter, pediatric emergency physician, pain researcher, and device manufacturer, is the CEO and Founder of Pain Care Labs. We talked about:

  • Pain is inevitable, it’s life. Unnecessary pain is wasteful and it sucks.
  • Doctors’ superpower is writing prescriptions. While lots of research has been done about non-pharm pain, doctors aren’t familiar with it.
  • Public policy doesn’t support non-drug solutions. It funnels people to doctors and medication.
  • Attitude and attention impact pain. If you focus on life rather than pain, the pain can be more manageable. We’re in control.
  • The 1-10 pain scale has limited value unless you’re evaluating what’s not working for acute pain.
  • We could teach our kids about pain differently. Think, dancers and other athletes.
  • While cannabis may be helpful for chronic pain, it’s not a panacea, especially for young brains.

We learned about TENS units, Buzzy, the Meissner Corpusle, the thalamus (the brains CPU/microprocessor), the Schmidt Sting Pain Scale, the IKEA bias,  beta nerves and mechanoreceptors, and more. My head spins.

I think the most important lesson I’ve learned from Amy is that it’s not about the pain, it’s about what we want to do with our lives and how we manage the challenges we face that get in the way, including pain. Let’s take control. It’s the most powerful tool we have.

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Fibromyalgia. Managing Pain. Doing the Work.

By Advocate, ePatient, Podcasts

When I examine the puzzle of pain management and opioid use, I often see Melissa Reynold’s words in my mind’s eye. She lives with, struggles with pain. She’s so sensible about pain. Melissa writes about Fibromyalgia, chronic pain, and pregnancy, separately and together. I read her faithfully and comment more than I do with most. She has inspired me from the start. Please allow me to share Melissa’s wisdom with you here.

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