1step2life: For those living with chronic pain and the people who love them.

When your child is hurting, all you want to do is wrap them in cotton wool and protect them in every way you can. But what if that's not what they need?

Many people who live with persistent pain, chronic illness, long COVID or other medically complex conditions have strong feelings about doctors. Some of those feelings are good.  Others . . . . not so much.  This episode talks about some of the things doctors do to help build trust and why it's so important.  

From How Doctors Build Trust, published by 1step2life.com

Believing your child in pain builds your relationships and helps them keep going because they know you have their back.  Discusses the importance of trust for building and maintaining your relationship, gaslighting, how doubt forces kids to act out their pain to be taken seriously, and attachment style.

You can check out the original essay and many other resources for people in pain and their parents here.

The 1step2life app was designed by me - a developmental psychologist whose son lives with severe chronic pain. Even though I'm an international expert on parenting, I knew that everything I was doing was undermining my relationship with my son. Ironic, no?  

You can read the original blog on our website.

Kids thrive when they experience the maximum of challenge and the maximum of support and feel your unconditional love.  

In this podcast, I talk about psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner and findings on what really helps kids thrive.  

Sometimes our distress at our child's pain is so overwhelming that it can drown out theirs.  When that happens, we can increase their distress because we do the wrong thing and doing 'meet their needs.  

This is a podcast of an essay first published on the 1step2life website for people living with chronic pain and those who love them.

When our child is sick or in pain, our first instinct can be to rush in and help.  Short term, that may be great.  Some days, that may be great. But long term, it's not good for you, not good for them, and not good for your relationship.  

Following any special diet is hard.  With tyramine it is particularly hard, because it involves not only finding and cooking the right foods, but also handling the foods you buy in particular ways.

You can find the original post on our blog on 1step2life. You can also download a handout summarizing basic facts about tyramine and how to live with tyramine sensitivity in your life.

Tyramine is an amino acid present in most foods.  It gets higher in aged foods like cheese, yogurt, deli means, and leftovers and in soy, snow peas, and dried beans.

People who have wheat allergies, gluten sensitivities, and celiac disease all avoid bread and other grains with gluten. The three conditions are different, however, each with a different symptom profile.  

Want to learn more? Read the original blog and related information at 1step2life.com.