Healthy Habits: OIC and Chronic Pain

Cynthia serves as Spokesperson at For Grace and has had Complex Regional Pain Syndrome for 32 years.  She later developed Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Cynthia founded For Grace in 2002 to raise awareness about CRPS and five years later expanded the organization’s mission to include all women in pain. Before becoming ill, she was an accomplished ballerina and worked professionally as a dancer, actor and singer.

John serves as Director at For Grace and was instrumental in launching the organization in April 2002 along with his partner Cynthia Toussaint, who has suffered with CRPS (and later other over-lapping auto-immune conditions) for 32 years. Garrett has been partner and caregiver to Toussaint for 34 years. He has done extensive research about the gender disparity toward women in pain, compiling a comprehensive library on that issue along with specific chronic pain conditions.

I had a chance to interview the two of them about chronic pain, and particularly a condition known as opioid induced constipation.