No one knows how hard it is to live with your chronic pain except for you. Chronic pain is a profoundly isolating experience that touches every aspect of your life. While it is sometimes associated with a specific diagnosis, most often chronic pain is unexplained which can make it hard to hope for improvement. Because of this, chronic pain can easily lead to depression and anxiety.

My best gift ever was the nurse announcing to me that since it was Christmas Day, she would let me hold my daughter for 30 minutes. It still makes me cry to think of it. Thirty minutes of peacefully holding the tiny human that should have been inside of me.

Anxiety is unsettling by definition. It changes everything from how you digest food, the quality of your sleep, your ability to think clearly and freely, and how you relate to others. It strongly influences the decisions you make and can so easily shut down whole areas of your life.

Have you had an injury that just doesn’t seem to be healing? Sometimes there’s more going on than just tissue damage or things out of place. Here’s what can happen.