Magic Mirror on the Wall, Do I Look Healthy in This Selfie?

By Madora Pennington

What if gazing into your smartphone’s camera did more than make content for your Instagram? What if it could assess your health?

By analyzing the blood flow in your face, an app claims to do just that.

Your facial blood flow says a lot about you --- whether you are at rest, concentrating, happy or sad. And thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, it can also assess the state of your health.

The Anura MagicMirror uses transdermal optical imaging technology to gage cardiac and blood flow activity. It then processes this information to assess your overall health, as well as your risk of developing chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

The app, which can be downloaded on a smartphone, records the face for thirty seconds. The facial blood flow — imperceptible to the human eye — is then compared to AI models from tens of thousands of individuals. From this data, it churns out individual health feedback. While not as accurate as having a blood pressure cuff or blood test, Anura makes an educated guess about your health indicators.

How accurate is Anura?

“All measurements have been validated using medical grade devices and following established scientific research protocols.  We have ten peer reviewed papers published in scientific journals detailing the methods and procedures used and the corresponding results,” says Marzio Pozzuoli, CEO of NuraLogix, which developed the Anura MagicMirror.

I downloaded a free version of the app – called Anura Lite -- and tried it for myself.

I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, so I have “invisible” health challenges that don’t easily fall under the gaze of this app.

Anura focuses on the main issues that affect everyone: heart health, metabolic health, and mental health — which are leading indicators for chronic conditions that can end in death: cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and stroke. 

The app collects data on 30 different health parameters, including your breathing, blood pressure, heartbeat, vascular capacity, body mass index, facial skin age, waste-to-height ratio, body shape index, and mental stress index.

With this data, it then estimates the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, fatty liver disease, and stroke over the next ten years.

The app also asked about my gender, age, weight and height, so I’m assuming it used this self-reported information to answer some of its questions about my health. Here are some of the scores the app gave my health and general wellness:

True, I don’t have a high BMI and am not overweight, so I’m not at high risk for metabolic disease. I already knew that.

I do have heart issues, but they are monitored and managed by my cardiologist -- successfully, it seems, if we believe Anura.

I felt relaxed when I used the app, and the MagicMirror reassuringly agreed.

One thing it got wrong was my skin age. It’s been a while since I was 31. I confess that to get my age lower, I put on makeup and laid on my back for the facial scan. I hope this didn’t affect the overall results. I am always risking my mental health when I focus the painfully high-definition iPhone camera on myself.

For metric junkies, Anura might be as fun as popping on the scale every morning or using a Fitbit.

The app doesn’t have a pain score, but for a patient with chronic pain or illness, it might be insightful to do a scan in times of physical or mental stress to see what, if anything, could be learned and addressed.

Currently, NeuroLogix is finding customers for its technology in the life insurance industry. Instead of accepting the assertions of an applicant at face value or requesting medical records and lab tests, an app like Anura could provide a health assessment more quickly – and cheaply — to the insurer.

It is easy to imagine a place for technology like this in telehealth, where a doctor has no opportunity to put a blood pressure cuff or pulse oximeter on a patient. Clinicians could then gather health data through a remote scan, improving the quality of remote telehealth appointments.

Telehealth is of enormous benefit to disabled people and the elderly, especially in rural areas without easy access to medical care or specialists. That is, if the technology proves reliable. For now, NeuroLogix admits its health assessments are “only estimates and are not a substitute for the judgment of the healthcare professional.”

But in the future, with more research, it might be possible to measure pain by using technology like this instead of relying on flawed methods like the pain scale. Pain is a subjective experience that currently has no objective and reliable way to measure, because it varies from person to person. MagicMirror may someday give us an alternative.

Why Are Doctors Reluctant to Recommend Mobility Aids?

By Crystal Lindell 

There’s a common thought process among doctors when it comes to opioid pain medications. 

They usually don’t prescribe them unless you specifically ask for them, because they don’t want to “encourage” you to use them. But also, if you do ask for opioids, then they label you as a drug seeker and assume you’re looking for “the easy way out” or to get high.

In short, most doctors try very hard to avoid giving patients opioids, unless they want to treat addiction with Suboxone – which ironically contains the opioid buprenorphine.

While I strongly disagree with every part of that thought process, in that situation doctors at least have the excuse that they have to worry about the DEA and losing their medical licenses. 

I’ve also noticed that many doctors have the same thought process when it comes to prescribing and/or recommending mobility aids like walking canes, crutches and wheelchairs. 

They don’t like to suggest them to patients because they don’t want to “encourage” their use. However, on the other end, if a patient does ask for them, doctors also bristle at that. They seem to think that mobility aids are, like opioids, “the easy way out.” 

Of course, there’s nothing easy about either opioids or mobility aids. If a patient has gotten to a point where they feel the need to use either one, chances are they are needed. 

I noticed these anti-mobility aid attitudes among doctors myself, when I had pain from a bone spur on my heel. My doctors never suggested crutches, and I had to figure out for myself that not using my foot was the only thing that seemed to help relieve the pain. I had some crutches at home from a previous injury, and using them allowed me to still function while also not putting weight on my foot. They also allowed my body to heal. 

Years ago, when my fiancé had a severe hip injury, he had to go out and buy his own cane because his doctors had not even suggested one, much less prescribed one – despite the very clear need. 

Online you’ll find multiple Reddit threads of patients expressing frustration at how doctors approach mobility aids. About a year ago in the “Mobility Aids” section of Subreddit, a poster asked, “Why are doctors so hesitant to let patients use mobility aids?”

“I use forearm crutches because I struggle to walk sometimes because of how much my pain hurts and my doctor thinks I have [an] autoimmune disorder that causes this pain which I'm getting more testing for but he goes ‘you're 19 you don't need mobility aids.’ But I have literally fallen over before. Laid in bed in agony barely able to move. Cried from how much it hurts and so much more yet they want to deny me what helps me get around?”

The post then has multiple responses from readers lamenting that they have had the same experience with doctors.

“I’ve had the same issues with doctors and just got mobility aids on my own, not through a doctor. I don't understand why doctors avoid it though because there’s been days at a time where I couldn’t leave my bed and it was hard to go anywhere or do anything on bad days [and] even on good days I still have troubles,” one poster wrote.

There is research that seems to confirm those fears.

A recent study in The Lancet found demographic, socioeconomic and social barriers impacted how much access people had to "mobility assistive products" or MAPs. They surveyed 12,080 people over age 50 in England and found that 42% had an unmet need for a mobility aid. 

Researchers found that women were more likely to have difficulty accessing mobility aids when they have a need for them. They also found that older patients who were unemployed or had a low education level had more trouble accessing MAPs.

Interestingly, having a romantic partner also increased the chances of having an unmet need for a mobility aid, whereas being single actually made patients more likely to have them. My guess is that single people are more likely to advocate for access to mobility aids, because they don’t have a partner at home to help them with daily tasks.  

Other studies have shown a prejudice toward patients with mobility aids among doctors. 

For example, a 2023 study published in the National Library of Medicine looked at physicians' attitudes about caring for disabled patients. They interviewed doctors in focus groups and found many had medical offices that presented “physical barriers to providing health care for people with disabilities, including inaccessible buildings and equipment.”

Some doctors openly admitted the lack of accessibility in their clinics. For example, one rural primary care physician said, “I know for a fact our building is not accessible.” 

If a doctor doesn’t even offer an accessible building to patients, odds are that they don’t prioritize mobility aids for the patients either. 

It seems that doctors assume that if patients start using a mobility aid, they’ll end up using it for the rest of their lives. But in my case and my fiance’s case, that’s not what happened. We both used them short term, and stopped as soon as we were healthy enough to do so. 

Regardless, who cares if people use mobility aids for the rest of their lives? Would that be such a bad thing? Being alive and independent with mobility aids is preferable to being confined at home and/or losing your independence. 

Perhaps some doctors see patients with mobility aids as a failure on their part. After all, if a patient needs them, then the doctor must not be doing enough to treat them. 

Mobility aids are exactly what the name implies – an aid that gives people more mobility, and by extension, more independence and freedom. They can greatly improve someone’s quality of life, whether they are used long or short-term. 

There’s no reason for doctors to gate-keep mobility aids, other than their own ablest bias. If they actually want to help patients, they should be suggesting them a lot more often. 

Virtual Nature Scenes May Help Relieve Minor Pain

By Crystal Lindell

Nature scenes may help relieve minor acute pain – even if you only “see” the nature scene in a virtual reality program. That’s according to new research published this week in, appropriately, the journal Nature Communications. 

Researchers administered mild electric shocks to cause a pain response in 49 healthy volunteers, and then showed them a virtual reality scene that was either a nature scene of a lake, an urban cityscape, or an indoor office setting.  

The researchers then used both brain scans and self-reported pain reactions to analyze whether any of the scenes reduced pain. 

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

They found that areas of the brain that handle physical pain signals were less active when people saw the virtual nature scene. Self-reported pain also was lower in the nature vs. urban and indoor settings. 

I will admit that, at first, I didn’t want to believe that “virtual nature scenes” could have the same mental effect as actual, living nature. But then I quickly realized that I did enjoy virtual nature scenes, fake or not. 

Every morning, after watching the news, I open the YouTube app on my Roku and select a calming nature scene to play on the TV throughout the day. In the winter, it’s a roaring fire; in the spring, a calming rainy scene; in the summer, ocean waves; and in the fall, autumn leaves rustling. 

While I’m not sure if any of the YouTube nature scenes help my physical pain, I do think they help calm my anxiety – in the same way that watching the news usually increases my anxiety. 

Of course, the mostly Austrian research team couldn’t resist slipping in a little anti-opioid messaging, writing: 

“Besides advancing our basic knowledge, such research may have considerable importance for efforts to complement pharmaceutical treatment approaches, with their well-documented negative side effects and addictive properties.”

While I’m glad they used the word “complement” instead of “replace,” it’s their mention of “negative side effects and addictive properties” that makes it clear that they do want this research to eventually lead to non-opioid pain treatments. 

But when you actually look at the study, you’ll see that it very specifically looks only at minor, acute pain. So this research should not be used to reduce pain medications for people with chronic pain. 

I’m not accusing the authors of wanting that, since they clearly think more studies are necessary. But in our current opioid-phobia environment, I do have concerns about doctors seeing the study headline and giving patients “go look at a lake” advice to reduce medication-based pain treatments.

Ideally, research like this would be used responsibly, inspiring healthcare providers to add more natural elements to places like doctor’s offices and even nursing homes – whether those nature elements are virtual, digital or physical paintings. 

Previous research has found that patients recovering from surgery used fewer analgesics and recovered faster if their hospital window gave them a view of trees, rather than a brick wall.

However, I remain extremely doubtful that this type of research will ever result in finding a way to use nature elements as an effective pain treatment in any way that even reduces the need for pain medication.

Physical Activity Helpful for Women with Chronic Pelvic Pain

By Pat Anson

About 1 in 7 women worldwide suffer from a gynecological or chronic pelvic pain disorder (CPPD) such as endometriosis or uterine fibroids – conditions that often don’t respond well to medical treatment.

With their pain and other symptoms poorly treated or even misdiagnosed, it’s not surprising then that many women with CPPDs suffer from depression, anxiety and a poor quality of life.

A new study at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai suggests that moderate physical activity like brisk walking or aerobic exercise can improve the mental health of women who have a CPPD.

"Chronic pelvic pain disorders are incredibly complex and burdensome for those affected, yet we still have very few effective treatment strategies," says lead author Ipek Ensari, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health at the Icahn School. "Our research suggests that physical activity could be an important tool for improving mental health in these patients, offering them a proactive way to enhance their well-being."

Ensari and her colleagues followed 76 women with CPPDs over 14 weeks using mobile health technology, collecting over 4,200 days’ worth of data. The mean average age of the women was 35. Nearly half (43%) said their mental health was only fair or poor, and 28% had previously been diagnosed with anxiety or a mood disorder.

Participants self-reported their mental health, physical functioning, and pain levels weekly on an app (ehive), while Fitbit devices measured their daily physical activity.

The study findings, recently published in the Journal of Pain Research, show a strong association between physical activity and good mental health. Women who did not reach recommended levels of physical activity had higher pain levels and poorer mental health, while those who were physically active had better mental health and physical functioning.  

One key finding was that the benefits of physical activity appear to accumulate over time, rather than provide immediate relief.

"We were particularly intrigued to find that the positive effects of exercise seem to lag by a few days, meaning the mental health benefits may build up gradually," said Ensari. "This insight is vital for both patients and health care providers, as it underscores the importance of consistency in physical activity."

The study is believed to be the first to use data collected in real time on the positive effects of physical activity on the mental health of women with CPPDs. It also demonstrates the potential of artificial intelligence and mobile health technology in chronic disease management.

“By using innovative data modeling techniques, we can better understand how lifestyle factors like physical activity interact with health conditions and pave the way for more personalized treatment approaches," says Girish Nadkarni, MD, Chair of the Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health at the Icahn School.

Endometriosis can have a profound impact on a person’s life. A recent study found that over two-thirds of women with endometriosis missed school or work due to pain from the condition. Women with endometriosis may struggle to keep up with their classes, friends, homework or extracurricular activities. It can also cause pain during sex, putting a strain on romantic relationships.  

Pink Tinted Glasses May Help Reduce Migraines

By Madora Pennington

To see the world through “rose-colored glasses” is to look on the bright side, ignoring the bad. This phrase is also used to describe someone who is naive or easily fooled. But real rose-colored glasses may have an actual use: reducing migraines.

Celebrity talent judge Simon Cowell recently revealed he wears them to stop his migraine attacks, which he believes are triggered by photophobia, a sensitivity to light brought on by spending long hours under bright studio lights while taping Britain’s Got Talent.

A migraine is more than just a headache. The pain can be so severe, a person cannot function. In addition to severe throbbing, often on one side of the head. Some people may have nausea, vomiting and visual disturbances, like flashes of light or a lessening of their visual field. Other migraineurs report odd tingling sensations or difficult speaking.

If you suffer from migraines, it will come as no surprise that a change in light could make a difference. More than 90% of migraine sufferers say that light can provoke a migraine attack, especially fluorescent lights.

simon cowell on ‘britain’s got talent’

There have been a few studies that suggest rose-colored glasses help migraines. A lens with a pink tint called FL-41 blocks blue and some amber and green lights on the color spectrum. This can prevent or provide relief to those who find fluorescent lights to be particularly troubling. Interestingly, one study noted that FL-41 tinted glasses also reduced eyelid twitching knows as blepharospasm and improved blinking.

Pink tinted lenses have been known as a possible migraine treatment as far back as 1991, but many patients and doctors have never heard of it. A study done then had migraineur children — kids who suffer migraines — try glasses with either a rose tint or a blue lens for 4 months. Only the children who used the pink glasses had fewer migraines. On average, the kids’ migraines were reduced from 6.2 per month to 1.6 per month.

Migraine medication is considered effective if it reduces migraines by half. So, by comparison, the pink lenses were very successful. Unlike with medication, no side effects were noted in the study on children. But one can imagine how cute those kiddos looked in their pink shades.

There is a possible explanation for why rose-colored spectacles could alleviate or prevent migraines.  It is known that migraineurs have alterations in visual signaling when suffering a migraine attack. A study using functional fMRIs showed that specially tinted lenses normalized visual activity in the brain.

A pink lens is best for reducing problematic visual stimulation. The FL-41 lens, acting as a light filter, lowers visual processing, attention and engagement. This makes a difference because it is the inappropriate increase in visual stimulation that causes or worsen migraines. I tried a pair for my last migraine and the relief was significant and immediate.

If you suffer from migraines like me, rose-tinted glasses would be an easy, inexpensive way to try to lessen your migraines. FL-41 glasses can be purchased on Amazon for as little as $25. Another option is to have an optician add an FL-41 film to your prescription glasses.

But, as always, buyer beware.

Dr. Alexander Solomon, an ophthalmologist with the Pacific Neuroscience Institute, recommends choosing a pink lens carefully. Rose-colored lenses are not the same as FL-41 lenses.

“Even among sites claiming they are selling FL-41 lenses, the quality and overall transmission of the lens may not be carefully regulated,” said Solomon.

It’s important to remember that eye strain caused by lights is only one possible cause of migraines. There can be other environmental triggers or combinations of triggers. Caffeine, stress, alcohol, skipping meals, strong smells, and even changes in weather are other known culprits. 

New Guideline Recommends Against Injections for Chronic Back Pain

By Pat Anson

An international panel of experts has released a new guideline strongly recommending against injections for chronic back pain, saying the procedures provide little or no pain relief and there is little evidence to support their use.

The guideline, published in The BMJ, covers 13 commonly used interventional procedures, including epidural injections, joint injections, intramuscular injections, nerve blocks, and radiofrequency ablation. The injections usually involve steroids, a local anesthetic, or a combination of the two.

The expert panel conducted an analysis of dozens of clinical trials and studies, and found “no high certainty evidence” of pain relief for any of the procedures. There was only low or moderate evidence that injections work better than a placebo or sham procedure.

Injections for chronic axial or radicular spine pain have become increasingly common in recent years, and are often touted as safer alternatives to opioid medication.

However, the injections also come with risks, including infections, prolonged pain and stiffness, accidental punctures of the spinal membrane, and rare but “catastrophic complications” such as paralysis. The risks are magnified because many of the procedures are performed multiple times on the same patient.

“The panel had high certainty that undergoing interventional procedures for chronic spine pain was associated with important burden (such as travel, discomfort, productivity loss), which would be recurring as these interventions are typically repeated on a regular basis, and that some patients would bear substantial out-of-pocket costs,” wrote lead author Jason Busse, DC, a professor of anesthesia at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

“The panel concluded that all or almost all informed patients would choose to avoid interventional procedures for axial or radicular chronic spine pain because all low and moderate certainty evidence suggests little to no benefit on pain relief compared with sham procedures, and these procedures are burdensome and may result in adverse events.”

Chronic back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Over 72 million U.S. adults suffer from chronic low back pain, according to a 2022 Harris Poll. About a third of those surveyed rated their pain as severe and nearly half said they experienced chronic back pain for at least five years. The vast majority (80%) rated opioids as the most effective treatment.

Pain Management Needs ‘Major Rethink’

In an editorial also published in The BMJ, Jane Ballantyne, MD, an anesthesiologist and retired professor at the University of Washington, said the new guideline raises questions about whether interventional procedures should even be used to treat chronic back pain. 

“The question this recommendation raises is whether it is reasonable to continue to offer these procedures to people with chronic back pain. Chronic back pain is highly prevalent, a great deal of money is spent on the injections, and a lot of patient hopes and expectations are vested in this type of treatment,” wrote Ballantyne. 

“One might ask how the situation arose whereby we spend so much of our healthcare capital on a treatment for a common condition that compromises the lives of so many people but seemingly does not work.”

For Ballantyne to ask that is more than a little ironic. She is a longtime anti-opioid activist, a former president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP), and was a key advisor to the CDC when it drafted guidelines that strongly recommend against opioid therapy.

With opioids increasingly difficult to obtain, many patients with chronic back pain have no alternative but to have interventional procedures, spinal surgeries, or implanted medical devices such as pain pumps and spinal cord stimulators.

Some doctors and pain clinics welcome the opportunity to bill for those expensive procedures, and refuse to give opioids to patients unless they agree to become “human pin cushions.”

“One might ask how the situation arose whereby we spend so much of our healthcare capital on a treatment for a common condition that compromises the lives of so many people but seemingly does not work.”

— Jane Ballantyne, MD

One might ask Ballantyne what patients with chronic back pain are supposed to do without injections or opioids. Her editorial provides no answers.

“This (new guideline) will not be the last word on spine injections for chronic back pain, but it adds to a growing sense that chronic pain management needs a major rethink,” Ballantyne wrote.

Earlier this month, the American Academy of Neurology released a new evidence review that found epidural steroid injections have limited efficacy, and only modestly reduce chronic back pain for some patients with radiculopathy or spinal stenosis.

Could a Popular Weight Loss Drug Reduce Pain?

By Madora Pennington

“When I look around at this room, I can't help but wonder. Is Ozempic right for me?” Jimmy Kimmel quipped to his audience of beautiful people when he hosted the Academy Awards last year.

It seems like everyone is taking Ozempic or drugs like it and losing weight. That class of drugs, known as GLP-1 medications for the hormones they enhance, slow digestion and promote feelings of satiety or fullness. As a result, people eat less and lose weight without the struggle of trying to stick to a diet. You feel fuller more quickly, eat less, and shed pounds.

GLP-1s are proving to have a lot more beneficial effects on the body than just weight loss. A recently published study found that low doses of semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) reduced alcohol cravings in people diagnosed with alcohol use disorder. When taking the weight-loss drugs, their alcohol intake was less.

In addition to food and alcohol, semaglutides also seem to reduce cravings for nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines and opioids, as well as problematic behaviors like gambling and compulsive shopping. Because the drugs reduce the reward chemical dopamine in the brain, those taking them are less motivated by their own brain signals to have another drink, put another item in their cart, have a hit of a drug, and so on.

Could GLP-1s also help pain patients?

The most obvious way a GLP-1 might reduce pain is through weight loss. Carrying excess weight causes additional wear-and-tear on the back and joints in the lower body. Every extra pound translates to four pounds of force on the knees, so even a modest amount of weight loss has the potential to reduce joint damage and pain.

Excess weight also limits range of motion, restricting joints and making it difficult for a person to exercise. Losing weight can lead to more physical activity, which can lessen pain and help keep the brain, joints and body healthy.

Another benefit of GLP-1 medications is that they lessen inflammation. In a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, semaglutide provided substantial pain relief for patients with obesity and knee osteoarthritis. The exact mechanism of action is unclear, but researchers think its because the drug reduces inflammation and loss of cartilage in the knee joint.

“The findings confirm that substantial weight loss causes an often dramatic reduction in pain. If the effects shown in this trial are mediated by factors other than weight loss alone, new therapeutic avenues may be available,” David Felson, MD, a Professor of Rheumatology at Boston University School of Medicine, wrote in an editorial.

Other studies suggest that semaglutide could be a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, as it lowers neuroinflammation, reduces plaque deposits in the brain, and helps generate new neurons. However, it’s only a supposition at this point that GLP-1s could mitigate the damage that chronic pain causes to the brain.

GLP-1s might help modulate pain in other ways. Both humans and animals turn to sweets and fat rich foods when in pain. Because GLP-1s regulate hunger and digestion, it’s possible they can improve pain. Tests on mice indicate that these drugs influence a certain nerve pain receptor. While definite answers and proof are a long way off, this discovery suggests new approaches to treating pain.

Before you run out to try them, be aware that Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs carry risks. They often cause nausea and vomiting, and rare but serious problems such as pancreatitis, gastroparesis (paralysis of the stomach), and blindness.

They are also expensive. Insurance tends to limit semaglutide coverage to diabetics, so if you pay in cash without any discounts, 2 mg of Ozempic will cost about $1,050. Cheaper, generic semaglutides made overseas are available, as well as compounded versions made in-house by pharmacies. But those formulations have not been evaluated by the FDA and their quality is uncertain. 

The Best Advice I Got From My Therapist About Chronic Pain

By Crystal Lindell

I started having chronic pain at 29 years old, and the speed at which it upended my life left me with what felt like body-wide whiplash. 

I developed intercostal neuralgia seemingly overnight, which resulted in daily chronic pain in my ribs. 

At the time, I was working two jobs, maintaining an over-active social life, and living on almost no sleep. It’s a lifestyle I tried to maintain well after my body was telling me to stop.  

My mindset had not caught up with the new reality of my body yet, and I paid the price: I kept ending up in either the emergency room or immediate care. My body now had limits, and I was doing my best to ignore them. 

Because the pain was so severe and made me feel so hopeless, around this time I also asked my primary care doctor for a referral to a psychologist. The pain was making me suicidal. I needed help. 

In one of the best gifts of fate, the psychologist I was paired with had a lot of experience in helping people navigate chronic illness. She very likely saved my life. 

The first appointment I went to, I spent the entire hour sobbing about my new reality. 

Eventually, after we started meeting every other week, I came out of the fog, and her advice and guidance were what helped me finally start to see clearly. 

While I’m grateful for her tips about things like keeping a daily gratitude journal, and techniques she shared about how to communicate to my boss and my loved ones about my limitations, there was one piece of advice that helped the most. 

My therapist taught me about activity pacing. 

It sounds so obvious now that I understand the concept, but after living the first 29 years of my life at full speed and only sleeping when I physically could not stay awake a second longer -- pacing was revolutionary for me. 

The Basics of Pacing

In short, pacing is basically approaching activity levels in a more intentional way -- not doing too much and not doing too little. It also means that you don’t wait to rest until you need to. Instead, you rest proactively. 

So, rather than staying awake for 24 hours straight trying to get everything done for my two jobs, I started to stay awake for a more manageable 14 hours and then sleep for 9 hours. After waking up, I learned to slowly ease myself back into activities. 

Because I grew up in a culture where I was constantly told that working well past my limits made me a better person, pacing felt almost illegal. Until my therapist explained it to me, it had literally never occurred to me before that I could rest proactively.  

Making sure I was getting enough sleep made a drastic difference in the severity of my physical pain, and it also helped give me mental clarity for dealing with the shock and challenges of my new body. 

However, it did take me a couple years to fully understand the foundational principle of pacing: It’s not just doing too much that’s a problem, it’s also doing too little. 

Yes, therapy helped me to stop pushing myself beyond my limit, but for about a year after that, I went to the other extreme. I was so scared of aggravating my pain, that I spent every day in the house, doing work from home, and then sleeping – with little else mixed in. 

Around this time I found out that my vitamin D levels were dangerously low – the lowest my doctor had ever seen in a patient. I think it was because I was getting almost no exposure to sunlight for days on end. 

So that is what spurred me to learn that balance goes both ways. I started to understand the importance of doing some activities sometimes, and resting other times, without eliminating either one.

Pacing has become the foundation of my life these days, more than 10 years after I first started having daily chronic pain. It’s a huge factor in keeping me both physically and mentally healthy. 

You don’t have to just take my word for all this though. A small 2021 study showed how helpful pacing can be. 

According to a “Very Well Health” article about the study, the researchers taught participants – who all had chronic health issues – the basics of pacing.

The pacing framework included:

• Recognizing current unhelpful behaviors

• Finding baselines

• Practicing self-compassion

• Being flexible

• Gradually progressing activities

The study found that the pacing results happened fast. Some of the patients who attended a rehabilitation center for issues related to chronic pain and fatigue experienced the benefits of pacing after just two sessions. 

The study also included quotes from the participants talking about how it impacted them. 

“Before going to the programme I was just stuck in a situation where I'd do what work I could when I could…and then suffered for it; and I didn't really think about it the same way as when it's explained to you,” one patient said. “So, whereas I thought I was pacing myself naturally, in a sense I wasn't.”

Indeed, that’s the magic of good therapy. It gives you a new perspective, and if you’re really lucky, it gives you tools that help you live a better life. 

I’m not here to tell you that pacing in our society is easy.. As I’ve said, it took me years to truly implement it into my life. And I still struggle with days when I over do it, or even rest too much. 

Overall though, as a foundational principal, pacing is the most important thing I do to manage my chronic pain. And I think if you try it too, you’ll find out first-hand just how helpful it can be.

Medical Schools Do a Poor Job Teaching About Disability

By Crystal Lindell

Medical schools don’t teach their students well about disability, which can have negative effects for both disabled patients and disabled medical students, according to a new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Researchers found that medical school curriculum often treats disability as a problem, leading students to make negative assumptions about the health and quality of life of people with disabilities. That makes them ill-prepared for treating disabled patients.

The overall attitude also results in fewer disabled people becoming doctors.

“Doctors do not know how to care for people with disabilities because they never learned,” lead author Carol Haywood, PhD, assistant professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a press release.

“Ultimately, our work reveals how medical education may be playing a critical role in creating and perpetuating ideas that people with disabilities are uncommon and unworthy in health care.”

Haywood and her colleagues hosted virtual focus groups for both medical school faculty and students. They found four recurring themes in the discussions:

1. Disability is often neglected in medical education 

Participants said disability was only mentioned in select lectures and elective coursework, largely relegating the training to students and faculty who are already familiar with or have a personal interest in disability. 

One faculty participant said: “The fact that [disability training] is not required, and it’s not seen as a core part of the medical school curriculum … reinforces the idea that these aren’t really your patients or they’re not important enough for you to learn about.”

2. Disability is often framed as a “problem” in medical school 

Most medical schools define disability as a condition where an individual is simply diagnosed and treated, rather than something rooted in physical barriers, social bias and stigmatization. 

One student said: “Just seeing how biases can be sort of continued on through generations of doctors … whether that means that thinking of disability as a tragedy or … a medical condition.”

3. Negative ideas about disability limit diversity in medicine 

Participants described a neglect of disability training as being part of a “hidden curriculum” in medical education that teaches students that disability does not belong in society. Students with disabilities are often viewed as weak or incapable of excelling in medical practice. 

One participant said: “We're just sending the message from the get-go that you’re not welcome, which is so damaging in every possible way.”

4. There’s an over-reliance on faculty and student-led efforts to cultivate change 

When their training fell short, faculty and students sought mentorship and communities to discuss and understand disability-related healthcare. 

One student said: “It’s hard to be mad at physicians …. Because they weren’t taught how to do it or taught to ask the questions, or it wasn’t emphasized.”

Insufficient support from institutional and licensing authorities has also stymied efforts to improve disability training. Disability is often not included in studies focused on mitigating healthcare disparity — despite well-known vulnerabilities of people with disabilities.

“While we have known about physician bias and discrimination against people with disabilities in health care for some years now, this new work emphasizes the need for medical schools and regulating bodies… to take on the responsibility of educating future physicians about the care of people with disabilities,” said co-author Tara Lagu, MD, adjunct professor of medicine and medical social sciences at Feinberg.

Improving disability-related medical education will require systemic reform, such as adding a “disability-competent” to medical education to make students more aware of abelism – a tendency to think that everyone has the same mental and physical abilities.

Other remedies include having disabled guest speakers share their experiences navigating the healthcare system; having physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech language pathologists discuss their treatment of people with disabilities; and having students participate in the care of disabled patients during patient rounds, physical exams, documentation, and clinical decision making.

Got Colostrum? The Good and Bad About Bovine Milk Supplements

By Manal Mohammed

From Kourtney Kardashian Barker to Gwyneth Paltrow, wellness celebrities are extolling the benefits of taking bovine colostrum supplements. Social media influencer Sofia Richie Grainge has even launched her own bovine colostrum-laced smoothie.

The supplement, they claim, offers a wide range of health benefits, including glowing skin with increased elasticity. Some brands claim that consuming bovine colostrum can protect adult humans from cold, cough and sickness bugs, improve gut health and support weight loss.

Bovine colostrum is also popular among some athletes who claim it can help improve exercise performance, build strength and speed up recovery.

I’m no stranger to the benefits of animal colostrum – before I joined academia I worked as a veterinarian. I witnessed that newborn animals who did not receive colostrum just after birth were at a significantly increased risk of death and disease. I was emphatic to my clients, then, about the crucial role of colostrum in the early development of newborn animals, as well as their overall health later in life.

But is cow colostrum a miracle health elixir or just the latest wellness fad?

Nature’s First Vaccine

There’s no doubt that colostrum is wonderful stuff. Known as “nature’s first vaccine”, colostrum is the first milk produced by the breast of female mammals in the two to five days immediately after giving birth. It is a nutrient dense liquid rich in antibodies, antioxidants, growth factors, vitamins, minerals and nutrients that boost newborns’ immune systems and support their overall growth.

In humans, colostrum should be given to newborns as soon after birth as possible, preferably within the first hour of birth and repeated at no later than six hours after birth. Colostrum is perfectly balanced for all baby’s needs. But there is not enough rigorous scientific evidence on human colostrum’s benefits for adults.

There is, though, some evidence to suggest that bovine colostrum may help humans to fight infection, improve gut health, relieve stomach and digestive issues, reduce inflammation and lower risk of catching the flu and upper respiratory infections.

But its efficacy depends on the product: how it’s processed, manufactured and stored – and the product’s potency. Bovine colostrum supplements aren’t regulated in the same way as drugs so there’s currently no guarantee of consistent quality.

Bovine colostrum contains higher total protein content than mature milk, mainly due to higher levels of antibodies (also known as immunoglobulins) and casein – a protein that supports muscle building. As well as immune-regulatory, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, milk casein may offer a number of metabolic and protective benefits for humans.

For example, it can help to reduce appetite because it’s digested more slowly than other proteins. Research suggests that consuming casein before bed may increase metabolic rate and the protein has also been associated with improvement in brain function because of its protective effects on the nervous system.

The level of antibodies in bovine colostrum can be 100 times higher than levels in regular cow’s milk. Hyperimmune bovine colostrum is made by cows that have been vaccinated for diseases such as rotavirus. These cows produce antibodies that can help fight viruses and bacteria that cause disease and infection.

And that’s not all. Bovine colostrum also contains antimicrobials, which kill bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. Studies have also shown that these antimicrobials can help prevent common gastrointestinal infections, such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella and Helicobacter pylori. They can also act as prebiotics by stimulating growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut.

As if that isn’t enough, studies also report that taking blood colostrum supplements may help reduce flu-like episodes and upper respiratory tract infections. A 2006 study even suggested that taking bovine colostrum might help reduce diarrhoea in people with HIV/AIDS.

Miracle Milk or Frivolous Fad?

Taking bovine colostrum might sound appealing – but if you’re thinking of buying one of the expensive products on the market, bear in mind the lack of regulation and the scarcity of rigorous data on the safety and risks of the supplements.

What we do know is that people with a cow’s milk allergy should not ingest or apply bovine colostrum. Any use of bovine colostrum could result in severe side effects. In 2019 a 16-year-old boy with an allergy to cow’s milk developed anaphylaxis after a bovine colostrum-based cream was applied to a surgical wound. Even those who aren’t allergic to cow’s milk could suffer mild gastrointestinal discomfort, such as nausea and gas, while taking a bovine colostrum supplement.

So, it’s possible that bovine colostrum might offer some health benefits but the lack of product regulation and research makes buying supplements an expensive gamble. Having a healthy lifestyle with a good diet and regular exercise would undoubtedly be a much safer bet for your health – and your bank balance.

Manal Mohammed, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer of Medical Microbiology at the University of Westminster. Her research and teaching focus on infectious diseases, their diagnosis, prevention and treatment.

This article originally appeared in The Conversation and is republished with permission.

Hypnosis Can Help With Pain, Depression, Sleep and PTSD

By David Acunzo

We’ve all seen it, typically on television or on stage: A hypnotist selects a few members from the audience, and with what seems to be little more than a steely stare or a few choice words, they’re suddenly “under the spell.” Depending on what the hypnotist suggests, the participants laugh, dance and perform without inhibition.

Or perhaps you’ve experienced hypnosis another way – with a trip to a hypnotherapist for a series of sessions to help you stop smoking, lose weight, manage pain or deal with depression. This is no longer unusual; thousands of Americans have done the same thing. And many were helped.

Hypnosis has been found to be effective for treating irritable bowel syndrome, and it may be beneficial for weight reduction, sleep disorders and anxiety. For mild to moderate depression in adults, hypnotherapy is as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy, and it can help with depression in children. Hypnosis is also used to treat phobias, PTSD and to control pain during surgery and dental procedures in both adults and children.

Yet despite the evidence, its widespread use and its growing popularity, hypnosis is still viewed with skepticism by some scientists, and with curiosity by much of the public. As a researcher studying altered states from a cognitive and neuroscientific perspective, I’m happy to help pull back the curtain to show you how hypnosis works.

A Hypnotherapy Session

In simple terms, hypnosis is a procedure that helps people imagine different experiences that feel very real. When that occurs, the person can be said to be in a state of hypnosis.

Little is known about what characterizes a hypnotic state in terms of brain activity, but neuroimaging studies indicate a decrease in activity in the parts of the brain responsible for self-referential thought and daydreaming, and increased links between the parts responsible for attention and action.

These results are consistent with the idea that people who are hypnotized are in a state that inhibits internal thoughts and other distractions, such as bodily sensations or noises, that may interfere with the hypnosis.

A therapist’s first set of suggestions typically includes the “hypnotic induction,” which helps the subject increase their responsiveness to other suggestions. An induction may be like this: “I will now count from 5 to 1. At every count, you will feel even more relaxed, and that you are going deeper and deeper into hypnosis.”

When responding to suggestions, the subject’s experience feels involuntary. That is, it’s happening to them, rather than generated by them. This is known as the classical suggestion effect. Following a suggestion to move their arm, the subject may feel as though their arm rises on its own, rather than being raised of their own volition.

For perceptual suggestions, the experience can feel quite real and distinct from voluntary imagination. If I ask you to imagine hearing a dog barking outside, it requires an effort, and the experience does not feel like there’s really a dog barking outside. But through hypnotic suggestion, responsive subjects will feel like they hear a dog barking, and they won’t be cognizant of any effort to make it happen.

What Makes People Hypnotizable?

You can’t force anyone to be hypnotized. Willingness to participate, a positive attitude, motivation and expectation are hugely important. So is the ability to set aside the fact that the situation is imaginative. It’s like when you become fully absorbed with the story and characters in a movie – so absorbed you forget you’re in a theater.

Good rapport with the therapist is also critical. If you refuse to cooperate or decide hypnosis won’t work, it won’t. A good comparison may be meditation: You can listen to a meditation recording, but if you’re unwilling to follow the instructions, or if you’re unmotivated or distracted, it won’t have any effect.

Few traits predict whether someone is easily hypnotizable, but people are not equal in their ability to respond to hypnotic suggestions. Some people vividly experience a wide array of suggestions; others, not nearly as much. There are indications that women respond slightly better to hypnotic suggestions than men, and that peak hypnotizability occurs during late childhood and early teenage years.

From a neuroscientific perspective, it appears that hypnotic suggestions do not act directly on our executive functions, but rather on our self-monitoring functions. That is, hypnosis does not directly decide our behaviors for us. Rather, it modifies how the brain monitors what it’s doing. So when the hypnotist suggests that you raise your arm, you’re still the one making that decision – although your experience may seem like the arm is moving by itself.

Exposure Therapy & Self-Hypnosis

The aim of hypnotherapy is to induce changes in negative emotions, perceptions and actions. Suppose you are afraid of public speaking. Through suggestions, the therapist may make you go through the experience of talking in front of an audience. Again, it feels real – your stress level will rise, but ultimately you’ll habituate yourself and learn to cope with the stress, even as the therapist suggests increasingly challenging scenarios.

Hypnosis can also be used as a preparation or replacement for exposure therapy, which is a method to treat phobias or anxiety related to specific situations by progressively exposing the patient to increasingly challenging situations. If you’re afraid of birds, the therapist may suggest you imagine holding a feather; then imagine getting near a bird in a cage; then imagine going to the park and feeding pigeons. This is more effective, and feels more real, than mere visualization.

The hypnotherapist can also teach self-hypnosis techniques. Subjects can learn to induce a state of relaxation that’s associated with a gesture, such as closing the left hand.

Hypnotic suggestions like this decrease anxiety by promoting activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, which stimulates bodily functions during times of rest, such as digestion and sexual arousal, and deactivates the sympathetic nervous system, which stimulates the fight-or-flight response.

Progress can occur after less than 10 sessions with some disorders, such as insomnia in children. But it may take longer for others, such as depression. And just as hypnosis is not suitable for everyone, it’s also not suitable for everything.

What’s more, not all hypnotherapy products on the market are backed by scientific evidence. It is safer to go to a hypnotherapist who’s licensed in your state. You should ask whether they are affiliated with or certified by a professional association of hypnotherapists. You can then confirm their affiliation on the association’s website. For instance, the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis allows you to search members by name.

Although Medicare does not cover hypnotherapy, some private insurance partially covers the costs for some conditions, provided the treatment is performed by a licensed clinical mental health professional. One session will typically cost between US$100 and $250.

David J. Acunzo, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. His current research interests include abnormal perceptions, response to hypnotic suggestion, and extraordinary experiences including mystical and psi experiences.

This article originally appeared in The Conversation and is republished with permission.

VA Tweet Recommends Spinal Cord Stimulators While Spreading Opioid Phobia

By Crystal Lindell

A recent post on X (formerly Twitter) from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs inadvertently highlights one of the ways that opioid phobia is actively causing a lot of harm. 

On Dec. 31, 2024 the VA made this post on X: 

“Spinal cord stimulation implantation helps Veterans suffering from chronic pain improve their quality of life without narcotics.”

The post links to a VA News article headlined: "Columbia VA performs first spinal cord stimulation implantation."

About 50,000 stimulators are implanted every year in the U.S., but this was the first time the VA hospital in Columbia, South Carolina had done one. There are two major problems with the VA’s post and the related article: 

1. Spinal cord stimulators are often ineffective and sometimes so dangerous they have to be removed. 

2. Recommending them as a method of treatment that can be done “without narcotics” serves to demonize prescription opioids, which are both relatively safe and effective. The use of the word “narcotics” rather than “opioids” also feels intentional, as narcotics is commonly used by law enforcement. 

Overall, the VA’s post and the related linked article are emblematic of a now pervasive attitude among medical professionals: Any treatment that reduces opioids must be good. And if that treatment is bad, well, it’s still good.  

Before we go further into the research about why spinal cord stimulators (SCSs) are so problematic, it's important to explain what they actually are. 

Stimulators are surgically placed near the spine, with a small battery also placed under the skin, usually near the buttocks or abdomen. Patients with back, hip or leg pain then use a remote control to send mild electric signals into their spinal nerves to block pain signals to the brain. 

A quick tip as someone who has a lot of experience with medical interventions: Anytime a doctor says they want to start messing with your spine, you should be wary. 

‘Potential for Serious Harm’

Don’t take my word for it though. There’s tons of research highlighting the negative effects of SCSs. 

As an Associated Press investigation in 2018 found, spinal cord stimulators account for the third-highest number of medical device injury reports to the FDA, with over 80,000 incidents flagged over the previous decade. The AP also found that the FDA had more than 500 reports of people with stimulators who died.

In 2022, a study published in the Journal of Patient Safety analyzed adverse effects involving SCSs reported to the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. That research found 520 adverse events, with most rated as severe (79%) or life-threatening (13%).

“Spinal cords stimulators have the potential for serious harm, and each year in Australia, many are removed. In view of the low certainty evidence of their long-term safety and effectiveness, our results raise questions about their role in providing long-term management of intractable pain,” researchers concluded.

Additionally, a January 2024 article from the American Academy of Family Physicians headlined: "Despite Weak Evidence, Spinal Cord Stimulators Are Big Business” also highlights their shortcomings. 

In it, author Kenny Lin, MD, writes: "These devices come with a high price tag ($30,000) and potential complications that include electrode migration, hematoma formation, infection, spinal cord injury, and cerebrospinal fluid leak."

Lin also notes that in a 2020 letter to health care providers, the FDA reported that over a four year period, it received nearly 108,000 reports involving SCSs, including 428 deaths, nearly 78,000 injuries, and over 29,000 instances of a device malfunction. 

That seems like an unacceptably high rate of unintended effects for a device with modest benefits.

It’s disappointing, but not surprising, to see the VA perpetuate dangerous medical information promoting spinal cord stimulators, especially as some sort of magical alternative to “narcotics.” 

Messaging from government agencies holds power and needs to be used responsibly. I would hate for a veteran to see that post on X, decide to get a spinal cord stimulator, and then end up with adverse effects. I’d also hate for any VA doctors to see that post and conclude that they should be pushing the stimulators over something like hydrocodone. 

The whole situation reinforces how far we have strayed from rational opioid policy, and how far we have to go if we ever want to have one. At this point, I’m not sure I’ll live long enough to see that happen. 

Brain Stimulation May Prevent Chronic Pain Before It Starts

By Pat Anson

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate nerve cells in the brain. TMS is typically used to treat depression, but is increasingly used off-label to relieve chronic pain conditions such as migraine, fibromyalgia and peripheral neuropathy.

Research recently published in the journal PAIN suggests that TMS may also be useful in preventing pain before it even starts.

A team of international researchers gave 41 healthy volunteers a 5-day course of either repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) or sham treatment. Both targeted the left primary motor cortex, a part of the brain that controls movement.

After the fifth and final session, all of the volunteers had an injection of nerve growth factor into their cheeks to induce prolonged pain. For the next two weeks, participants kept diaries of their jaw pain, jaw function and muscle soreness.

“We found that a five-day course of rTMS before pain onset has the potential to interrupt the transition to chronic pain,” said lead author Nahian Chowdhury, PhD, Head of Neurostimulation at the NeuroRecovery Research Hub at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

“We were looking to see what the experience was for participants who had received the rTMS, versus what happened for those who had received the sham. Those people who had received active rTMS experienced lower pain on chewing and yawning than those who received the sham.”

Chowdhury and his colleagues also found that two measurements of brain activity -- Peak Alpha Frequency (PAF) and corticomotor excitability (CME) – seemed to moderate pain whether participants received rTMS or not. This suggests that monitoring PAF and CME may be useful in predicting each individual’s pain resilience.

“Regardless of whether people received the active treatment or sham, our analysis showed that those with faster PAF and higher CME on Day 4 had lower intensity future pain,” Chowdhury said in a news release from NeuRA, an Australian medical institute where he is a research fellow.

This is the first study to show that rTMS can have a protective effect against chronic pain. More research is needed, but the findings open the door for preventative treatments for those at high risk of developing chronic pain.

​“Whilst chronic pain is a significant problem, the current interventions are usually only applied once the pain is chronic,” Chowdhury said. “This research shows in some situations – such as for people undergoing a surgery known to be painful or often leading to chronic pain – there is promise from preventative treatments that may be able to stop chronic pain before it begins.”

PNN Columnist Madora Pennington, who has Ehler-Danlos syndrome, tried TMS therapy and found it eased her pain, depression and anxiety.

“Since having TMS, I notice that my body is less sensitive to touch,” she wrote. “It does not hurt as much to be poked at or pressed on. The extra comfort TMS has given me, both mentally and physically, is a lot for someone with medical problems like mine that are so difficult to treat.”

Should We Diagnose Random Strangers on the Internet?

By Crystal Lindell

I need to say something that is considered controversial in the online chronic illness community: I actually think that we should diagnose random strangers on the internet.

At least sometimes. 

I know, I know. This is the kind of thing most people in the chronic illness community rally against. It’s frowned upon and quickly policed anytime it comes up. 

If you so much as hint that someone with overextended elbows in an Instagram Reel video could have Ehlers-Danlo syndrome (EDS), you’ll get swarmed with comments along the lines of “Don’t diagnose random strangers on the internet!”

But I’m coming to this topic from my own personal experience of being correctly diagnosed by random strangers on the internet. 

After I started writing about my health issues online, readers emailed me to say that they thought I might have EDS. I then took that information to my doctors, who eventually diagnosed me. 

Despite the fact that all of my joints very clearly overextend and that multiple doctors had commented on this to me, none of them even mentioned EDS until I brought it up. So, without the random strangers on the internet, there’s a good chance I never would have known that I have EDS. 

It doesn’t stop there though. Because of that chain of events, many of my family members were also diagnosed with EDS. And someday, future generations might be as well. 

That’s a whole family of people finally knowing what has been afflicting us for generations, and finally understanding that all the chronic health issues we’ve experienced are related. 

There’s power in that, but more importantly there are tangible benefits to it. Knowing that we have EDS and that we are likely to pass it on to our children helps us make more informed decisions about our health in countless ways. 

And it’s all because random strangers on the internet diagnosed me. 

I understand that actively writing about my health issues is not the same thing as people posting random videos on all sorts of topics on TikTok. I get that my content was much more open to the idea of health input from strangers. 

But I would argue that this aversion to diagnosing random strangers online can be harmful to patients. It leads to fewer people knowing what’s wrong with them – and more people thinking that whatever is wrong is some kind of moral failing. 

I do get that EDS, especially the hypermobile type, stands out in this conversation because there are very clear visual markers of the disease. But I don’t think we should stop at EDS, especially in the United States where healthcare is a for-profit industry. I’ll even go so far as to say that I consider it mutual aid to offer free medical advice to others online.

It’s not like we as online commenters are doctors who can prescribe medications to people we’ve diagnosed. Merely mentioning to someone that they may have an illness just opens the door for them to look into that diagnosis themselves and to then bring it up with their doctor. Millions of people have done that after consulting with “Dr. Google” online – usually to the chagrin of their actual doctors.

The idea that it is bad to even comment on a public post about health also serves to continue stigmatizing many illnesses. After all, it’s not a bad thing to have EDS, so why would it be a bad thing to mention to someone online that they could have it? 

Many doctors miss very obvious diagnoses because our for-profit healthcare system mandates that they rush patients through appointments. Their egos also tend to dismiss their patients’ descriptions of their health issues. 

Sometimes the best chance we have is actually random strangers on the internet. 

Now obviously, I need to add an important disclaimer here. If someone specifically says that they do not want medical input, you should listen to them. 

But I would also tell people that refusing medical input could be a bad idea. There is a lot of power in crowdsourcing information. And who knows, random strangers on the internet may just figure out what’s going on with your health before your doctor does. 

A Healthy Diet May Ease Chronic Pain

By Pat Anson

We’ve all been told that eating a healthy diet and watching our weight are essential to good health.

What you may not know is that healthy eating can also reduce the severity of chronic pain, even if you are overweight or obese.

That’s one of the key findings from an Australian study that found a healthy diet was linked to less pain, especially among women, regardless of body weight.

"It's common knowledge that eating well is good for your health and well-being. But knowing that simple changes to your diet could offset chronic pain, could be life changing," said Sue Ward, PhD, a researcher at the University of South Australia and lead author of the study published in the journal Nutrition Research.

"Knowing that food choices and the overall quality of a person's diet will not only make a person healthier, but also help reduce their pain levels, is extremely valuable."

Warn and her colleagues analyzed data from 654 Australians who were surveyed about their health, fitness and eating habits. Over two-thirds were considered overweight (36%) or obese (35%), and had high levels of body fat (adipose tissue).

The participants’ diets were then compared with the Australian Dietary Guideline, which emphasizes the consumption of vegetables, fruit, lean meat, fish, legumes/beans, and low fat dairy products.

The researchers found that diet quality works differently in men and women. Women with better diets had lower pain levels and better physical function, an association that was much weaker for men.

Why Healthy Food Reduces Pain

It’s the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties of healthy food that appear to reduce pain.

"In our study, higher consumption of core foods — which are your vegetables, fruits, grains, lean meats, dairy and alternatives — was related to less pain, and this was regardless of body weight,” said Ward. "This is important because being overweight or obese is a known risk factor for chronic pain.

The findings are good news for people with pain who may struggle with their weight but are sedentary and unable to exercise. Having a few extra pounds will not inhibit the pain-reducing effect of a healthy diet.

“Despite high levels of adiposity in the study population, and the potential for excess adipose tissue to contribute to inflammation, risk for pain, and impact on physical function, there was limited evidence for adiposity mediating relationships between diet quality and pain or physical function,” researchers concluded.

“Recognizing dietary intake as a relevant aspect in assessing and managing pain holds importance in the context of overweight and obesity. In situations where long-term weight loss may not be feasible, attainable, or even desirable, people may show a greater inclination to adopt healthful dietary modifications that could potentially impact their pain.”

The research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that high fat Western diets can make pain worse. A recent study found that foods high in saturated fat and low in fiber can trigger an immune system response that can lead to rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

High fiber diets reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, while promoting the growth of healthy bacteria that slow the progression of RA and reduce joint pain.