Good Days…Bad Days With Maureen Pratt

Good Days…Bad Days With Maureen Pratt

Chronic Pain and Illness Archives

Chronic Illness: Taking Charge

posted by mpratt

The first book about chronic illness that I wrote, with rheumatologist David Hallegua, MD, was called “Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your Life.” This was not the book’s original title; I’d [...]

Chronic Illness: When the Future Is Unclear

posted by mpratt

When you’ve lived through the sharp flares and relative calms of chronic illness, you begin to understand that nothing is guaranteed. As I’ve experienced recently, sometimes the medications we take to keep some symptoms under control suddenly stop working or [...]

Chronic Pain, Depression, and the Suicide of Pastor Rick Warren’s Son, Matthew

posted by mpratt

I am not an expert on depression. Lupus can cause it, or a lupus patient can certainly become depressed. But depression is not one of the conditions from which I have suffered throughout my life with serious illness. However, I [...]

Chronic Illness: Finding “Peace in the Storm”

posted by mpratt

My book, “Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness” will celebrate 8 years in print this month! It’s been wonderful to see the book still find its audience: those who live with chronic pain and illness and [...]

Previous Posts

Chronic Illness: Setting Boundaries or Building a Wall?
Fatigue is one of the most difficult things to cope with when living with chronic illness or pain. It can make even the most mundane activities seem impossible, and sometimes it can come on so suddenly that it stops you in mid-sentence. To better manage life with ongoing fatigue, many of us try t

posted 7:50:05pm May. 23, 2013 | read full post »

Moore, Oklahoma, and Beyond
As many of us watched in real-time as the two-mile-wide behemoth of a tornado bore down on Moore, Oklahoma, yesterday, I was reminded of another night many years ago when I, a small child, my brother and parents hunkered down in our basement as two tornadoes hit our neighborhood within 5 minutes of

posted 1:00:01am May. 22, 2013 | read full post »

Chronic Illness: What Do You Do with the Fatigue?
Premission to sleep! Chronic illness, whether lupus, fibromyalgia, MS, or another culprit, can bring on fatigue. Not just the "normal" kind brought on by a busy night or day, or strenuous exercise. No, our fatigue is usually called "unrestorative," that is, no matter how much we sleep, we awaken

posted 7:43:08pm May. 20, 2013 | read full post »

Lupus: Coping Skill # 3
The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear it if the spirit is crushed?                  Proverbs 18:14, New Living Translation These few words from Proverbs say it all about the importance of a strong spirit when faced with any kind of illness or pain. We can see

posted 7:24:22pm May. 18, 2013 | read full post »

Struggling to Have a Good Day?
Everybody's happy! Everybody's active! Everybody's...NOT! When you don't feel well, the struggle to make something, anything, good of a day can be exhausting and frustrating and, well, quite frankly, impossible. And yet, between those who say, "You have to have a positive attitude," and those who

posted 10:11:20am May. 17, 2013 | read full post »


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