I’m Janine Monty, a disabled Australian writer and pain patient advocate. I founded Pain Patient Advocacy Australia because people living with severe pain deserve to be heard in decisions about their care.
Arthritic Chick began as a personal record of living with rheumatoid arthritis and other chronic illness. Over the years, my diagnoses, treatments and life have changed. The site now brings together that history with my current work on pain care, evidence and the loss of function that can follow inadequate relief.
I am pro pain relief. That means taking both the benefits and risks of treatment seriously, listening to individual patients, and measuring outcomes that matter in their lives. Pain scores alone cannot tell you whether someone can work, move, sleep, care for their family or participate in the world.
In “Does This Look Like Success?” I document my own experience before and after a reduction in opioid treatment. In “Correcting the Record” I examine the studies, headlines and guidance used to shape public opinion and clinical decisions. I distinguish what the evidence shows from what an author or institution claims it shows, and seek corrections when the two diverge.
My older posts remain a record of what I experienced and understood at the time. I’m reviewing them, updating material that needs context, and removing material that no longer belongs on this site.
Read my current writing at arthriticchick.substack.com.
