Black and Blue Ribbons
— Karen Del Vecchio

Last week’s column about my hip pain got me thinking. I badly injured my right hip when I was 16 or 17 years old, before my diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). I’m not sure if I had…

Sometimes I’m baffled by my body’s connections and the way it compensates for issues related to my Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Recently, I’ve been experiencing a sharp pain in the muscles along the front and sides of the bottom…

I’ve recently been tapping into a new level of body awareness — or at least trying to. I’ve previously written about my pain flares and how my proprioception — the sense of body positioning in space…

I recently wrote about a strange sensation of energy I experienced during a massage, and it’s been really neat hearing feedback from others with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) who’ve had similar experiences. One reader, a Chinese medicine practitioner, commented…

“When you’re not used to hurting all the time anymore, it really sucks when you do, doesn’t it?” Those are the paraphrased words of my massage therapist last week, and while they perhaps weren’t the most elegantly phrased, they…

I’ve been managing some unusual pain issues over the past few weeks. It’s rare that I don’t feel better after a massage, but two weeks ago, that happened. Even after a few days, my pain wasn’t improving.

I’ve been managing some funky, twisted body things recently. One of those has been manifesting in my back, and it feels bizarre. About a third to halfway down my spine, there’s an area that has a lot of…

I usually know when I’m crooked. When my body has been pulled out of alignment in a variety of ways, it’s usually pretty clear. But during my latest massage to treat the symptoms of my…

I’ve often said that chronic fatigue is the toughest part of having Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. It’s exhausting being tired all the time! As a high school teacher and post-graduate counselor, this time of year is especially draining,…

I’m pretty sure that if I were an instrument, I’d be an accordion: stretched out on one side, squinched up on the other. Sometimes as I walk along, in fact, I can actually experience myself as twisted. When standing…

As a teacher and postgraduate counselor, I’m used to going nonstop this time of year, but I still try to at least glance at a number of publications to stay on top of what’s happening in the world of…

The past few weeks have been a roller coaster ride for me: I’ve been stressed at work and home and faced a pain flare to boot. But lately, things have been trending up. I’ve been thinking, however,…