Sunday, April 27, 2014

Moving into the Month of Specific Spoonie Awareness by Celeste Cooper



As April 2014 ends, here is a recap for this month's awareness into conditions and methods of coping and re-energizing our body, mind, and spirit.

From Broken Body, Wounded Spirit: Balancing the See-Saw of Chronic Pain, Spring Devotions

"No man is great enough or wise enough for any of us to surrender our destiny to. 
The only way in which anyone can lead us is to restore to us the belief in our own guidance."
~Henry Miller


Looking Back at IBS by Celeste Cooper



As we prepare for one of the biggest awareness month, it's only fitting to share a short but important poem that will provide a bridge from April to May.

Pain Facts of an Advocate© by Celeste Cooper 

Fatigue challenges us,
Action defines us.
Collaboration empowers us,
Tenacity unveils us, 
Spirit enlightens us, 
Pain and illness unites “The Advocate”

Preparing for May...

Ribbon Colors for May Awareness:

  • Autoimmune Rare Diseases - Black or orange
  • Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) - orange
  • Fibromyalgia (FM) - Purple
  • Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue (ME/CFS) - Blue
  • Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS/RSD - Orange with yellow and red
  • Ehler's Danlos Syndrome (EDS) - Blue with Black and white stripes on one side
  • Chiari Malformation - Purple
  • Arthritis - Navy blue
  • Allergy 
    • Asthma = Gray
    • Food = Teal (I have seen varying colors)
  • Allergy-sinusitis - I could not find one ribbon for this most important reaction to environmental triggers so I am going with true green to represent the color of common triggers.
  • Lyme Disease - Lime Green
  • Osteoporosis (OP) - Blue vs white
  • Neuropathy - Purple


For everyone who knows what it's like to live with rare, autoimmune, or poorly understood conditions or disease , spoonies, my greatest hope is that you will take up arms by representing this vast community. Change your profile picture and feel free to use the spoon picture to spread the word for all who endure the many effects of chronic pain and illness. Make the choice to be visible. Support your organizations by sharing information, making a donation, encouraging others to make a donation, or offer up a few words of support. 


Whatever it is you have in your wheelhouse, USE IT!


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All answers and blogs are based on the author's opinions and writing and are not meant to replace medical advice.  

Celeste Cooper is a retired RN, educator, fibromyalgia patient, and author of books related to chronic pain and illness. You can read more about Celeste and her work on her Amazon Author Profile, here , or look to the right of this blog for direct links to her work.









3 comments:

SunnySally said...

Great post by Celeste

The Pained Ink Slayer said...

TY so much Sunny Sally. My pleasure.

Heal My Fingers said...

Nice poem by Celeste and a very innovative article. Loved reading it and expect more such great ones.

Celeste's Website

Celeste's Website
Click on the picture