There is a wonderful community of women here on steemit who are actively supporting each other by creating amazing content, some of it is just simply sharing experience, the good, bad, painful and ugly. Some of it is eye opening and useful information and some beautiful and creative. The main thing is the love and connection we have even though we have never met each other in the physical reality!

After reading some recent posts on mental health and finding out about @kiaraantonoviche initiative for #mentalhealthmonday I thought I'd share some of what i've been experiencing, hoping it maybe useful and help others to look for natural remedies or ways to combat pain and associated depression that comes with experiencing chronic pain.

Pineapple: contains Bromelian.
Bromelain seems to cause the body to produce substances that fight pain and swelling (inflammation). Bromelain also contains chemicals that interfere with the growth of tumor cells and slow blood clotting. More powerful than prescription drugs and no side-effects

One thing has led to another and somehow I had no Idea how I arrived here?

Barely able to wake up in the morning, extreme aches and pain, particularly in the neck, shoulders and back at its peak by the end of the day.

Dreading leaving the house because the nearest shop is a 15 minute cycle ride, and having to carry the load home on my back because my basket is broken and haven't manged to replace it yet.

Shattered after my journey, feeling like I want to go lie down straight away and hungry all the time.

Depressed because I don't know where my energy has gone, feeling like I need some strong drugs to take away the pain.

This isn't the first time I felt these symptoms that have come and gone through various points in my life.

cleansing and anti-infammatory reduce inflammation and used for arthritis, gout and fibromyalgia

I'd heard of chronic fatigue but always said no that's not me, its something extreme when you are pinned to the bed and can't move for a few years (this is what happened to a couple of my teenage friends and managed to recover into adulthood)

But then what do I have? Do I even need to Label it? I just thought maybe that's just me, maybe i'm exhausted? After all I had a very active life this time last year, studying jewellery making and working in the evenings, monday to friday 11 hours a day plus 2 hours traveling. It was a lot maybe too much to take on and maybe i'm suffering for it now, my body needs to catch up after all?

I experienced a lot of back aches growing up, I thought at first it was related to my childhood passion for drawing, hunching over with coloring pencils, then because I considered myself quite strong and i'd be lifting my heavy furniture around my room by myself because I like to redesign my space quite regularly. Then I put it down to my waitress job carrying 3 or 4 heavy plates in one go and working long hours on my feet. Then my aches and pain came from my hobby of learning silversmithing and making jewellery.

But the last year I haven't even been doing any of these things, mostly sitting at the computer and so now I put it down to not be so physically active, my posture and sitting on an inappropriate chair.

In the back of mind I could hear the niggling voice... Do yoga DO yoga DO your YOGA

Eugh I just didnt want to.....

but there was a time I was quite actively practicing Yoga when I was waitressing, I had no choice after seeing an osteopath and quite frankly their little stretches and massages only did half the job and then the pain came back. It was then I turned to kundalini yoga and my back to started to realign.

Boswellia's anti-inflammatory properties can help to reduce aching and used for arthritis and back pain treatment, said to be stronger than turmeric] (https://amazingwellnessmag.com/departments/boswellia-serrata-pain-killer)

If you feel neck, shoulder and back pain a lot of, by working on your posture, you can reduce some of the pain, if not all of it.

We 100% have to be active in the way we sit and stand!

Our lives are not passive, we live symbiotically with the nature around us and all the other organisms, muscles, bones, blood that makes our body, we have to WORK with the body...

I know its hard from my own experience when you feel pain and have no energy but once you start training yourself to do it, it will become easier and more natural to keep it up.

Shoulders need to be pulled back and down, chest out and abdominal muscles active. Every time your shoulders hunch forward again, remind yourself to pull them back, and open the chest, try and do it as much as possible, it is honestly less painful for the body to sit, stand and walk this way.

One top of that just taking 10 minutes to do some simple and gentle stretches that all it takes.....

OK OK, i'm making time in my day now to remind myself and do this simple self care routine!

Great it works temporarily but what, why am I feeling pain again????

Something else is going on here....

These symptoms I had been feeling for the past 8 months or so that were getting worse and worse by the day

I was starting to worry, I had some infection or something was wrong with me.

So, checking my symptoms online and what do I get...

fibromyalgia

WTf is this??? sounds like everything I've got except no not being able to sleep bit.

I can sleep perfectly fine, if not too much, I wake up and want to go back to sleep. I eat and want to sleep, I go to the shops and back and want to sleep.

But don't get me wrong there's been times in my life i've been buzzing with energy, unable to sleep, getting up early because there's so much going on! But still when I sleep it sacred to me.

But all the other symptoms were the same as fibromyalgia

So how do I combat it?

Do more exercise? OK I know that already but like I said i'm exhausted after that too,

What else? Get diagnosed by a doctor and take their drugs. HELL NO!

approximately 10 million people in the US are suffering with this and no one knows why?

except that some people are just more sensitive

Right on, I agree some people are more sensitive that's true! And our sensitive bodies are battling against all kinds of chemical attacks on our bodies everyday.

Papaya: Contains an enzyme that is so potent at fighting pain that doctors have isolated it to use as injections for those suffering from back pain.It also reduces fluid retention following trauma and surgery.

So I said....

F--k mainstream science and the labeling

What is going on with me?

Firstly food is what we fuel ourselves with and as a foodie / vegan many of you already know I care a lot about what I eat but where have I slipped...

GLUTEN Gluten Gluten??? wtf why am I hearing this in the back of my head

Note to self: listen to your instinct?

O.k so there have been times when i've been like all carbs are bad. No bread, no pasta no nadda

I looked into Paleo Diet, I got the principles of that and tried that out too.

Have I felt better for it maybe, not sure because I was probably letting myself eat other crap like coffee and chocolate

Gluten gluten.....

Okay okay already, i'm looking it up!

hmmm woa symptoms looks surprising similar to gluten intolerance.

I never knew that gluten intolerance can actually cause aches and pain too!

image source:

I'd been eating spelt bread, pasta a lot recently, being at home and just wanting a quick snack meant i'd just go and grab a piece of toast and the amount of it was increasing to the times when I didnt have these same frimpbologia symptoms.

I always thought spelt was kosha because my partner would tell me about his mums gluten intolerance and she could eat 100% spelt, its gluten free... right?

Well no apparently not and many people with gluten intolerance and celiac disease cant eat this grain.

Okay so I've gone gluten free 2 days and done more exercise than I've done all year

No joke my symptoms have been greatly reduced already!

Tumeric/Curcumin has been proven to be more effective than celecoxib (Celebrex) in treating arthritis pain, for example. It has antioxidant, antiviral, and antifungal properties and it inhibits the function of molecules that play a role in inflammation because it contains high levels of natural pain-relieving COX-2 inhibitors.

Sometimes we have a build up of gluten and once cutting it out, it can be slowly reintroduced again.

If you have fibromyalgia and you are eating gluten foods I would recommend cutting them down or out altogether. It might not be the root cause for you but I'm pretty sure its going to help a little with your symptoms and that's a positive action right?

There are percentages out that ranging 5 / 6 % of people being gluten intolerant but these are diagnosed cases, I know many people who have had gluten sensitivity and who are undiagnosed. I would imagine the percentages to be a lot higher than this.

If my words don't convince you enough, please watch this video, it explains how our body responds to some foods we eat and why we feel pain because of it, especially if you have arthritis...

https://securessl.naturalhealthreports.net/products/136/sp-worst-foods

I considered myself to be a sensitive person way before I knew this fibromyalgia thing existed

And if fibromyalgia is because these people are more 'sensitive' then everything should be checked...

• down to the deodorant you wear,
• the wash soap you use to clean your dishes and your body
• the water you drink,
• the food you eat,
• the way you sit,
• the environment you live in.
• put the over counter painkillers, aspirin, ibuprofen in the bin
• look to plants and foods to heal your body

Check Everything! because you are sensitive to your environment! to everything around you, the body is not a lonely island, its affected by everything!

Avoid products with nasty chemicals, they are attacking your body

Buy a good quality water filter or and when you buy bottled water check the ingredients, is there chlorine and added fluoride in there.

I prefer to go for natural spring water.

Water is life.

image source:

Note to self: keep drinking more water when i'm hungry or tired

Wake up: water first. Hydrate

I got into a bad habit of eating breakfast straight away when I got up with my partner but we are not the same people and our metabolisms are different.

Even tho I might feel hungry straight away I noticed I feel more energize if I wait half an hour to an hour before eating. but not only that since giving up gluten, I feel less hungry when I wake up and less hungry in general!

So make sure you do what works for you, try out different routines , til you find one that works and if you need to change it, change it. Your body is a fluid thing!

And because my pain now is starting to reduce, all these depressive thought patterns are diminishing too!

Step by step each day at a time!

Ginger: blocks the formation of the inflammatory compounds-prostaglandins and leukotrienes-and also has antioxidant effects that break down existing inflammation and acidity in the fluid within the joints.

Let me know if you feel pain and inflammation and the depression that is related to that

+What do you do to reduce the pain?
+Do you eat gluten? If so are you interested in going gluten free?
+Do you use any of the plants and supplements pictures in this post? Do they work for you?
+Are you already Gluten free, how has it changed your life?

Please leave your answers in comments below

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For more health, nutrition, spirituality, general rants check out @celestialcow....

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Thanks for reading