Counting Your Spoons - A Pacing Practice 2018-04-10

Counting Your Spoons is a practice devised by lupus sufferer Christine Miserandino to contextualise her illness for able-bodied audiences, and to help her pace more effectively.

She used 12 spoons to indicate her energy levels at the beginning of a typical day and would withdraw one or more spoons for each everyday task such as taking a shower, getting dressed or making breakfast. Her spoon count was almost zero by evening time, by which stage dinner still had to be eaten.

Since then, the Spoon Theory has been adopted worldwide by chronic illness patients to help healthy people understand their plight and to pace more effectively and avoid worsening their symptoms.

Thanks to Victoria Abbott-Fleming - the founder of a chronic pain charity for people with CRPS/RSD called Burning Nights - for sharing her wonderful Counting Your Spoons infographic.

You can upload Victoria's infographic using the Download Now button on the upper right.