Nice to meet you!
I’m Erin Mercedes
Raised in small-town Ontario, it was normal to trudge to school in waist deep snow, and to come home when the street lights came on. Being born to parents who owned a Colour Your World paint store probably enthralled me to catch the creative gene. I would usually create by doodling, and I’d read my writing aloud to my makeshift classroom (my bedroom) of dolls and stuffed animals.
During my youth and my teen years I was devoted to playing soccer mostly at the provincial level –I briefly dipped into playing at the international level. My sport-related injuries set me back farther than I could look ahead. It was clear that I’d need to reconsider how I thought my life was going to be.
Though difficult, I’d accepted that soccer wasn’t the safest path for my well-being; it was the unexplained chronic pain that poured into my life starting in my 20s that sent me spiralling for answers. I was already a hobby-creative outside of sports. I had that to look forward to.
Between my brother and I, I was the child who grew into pain. He hucks himself down mountain faces as a ski guide for a living.
Then:
2019:
it was through navigating a physically and emotionally painful struggle when I fell back in love with myself…
I live with a Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMD) called Internal Derangement Wilkes III…
My jaw’s discs are stuck forward (anteriorly displaced). They don’t pop back into place (reduce) with mouth opening, leading to significant pain, stiffness, and limited jaw movement (a "closed lock"). The pain and inflammation can be debilitating. Learning to manage TMD will be ongoing for the remainder of my life. Talking hurts, and so does not talking.
There’s no rhyme or reason to TMD. As it stands, I’ll never return to full jaw opening.
I’m eternally grateful for an endless array of smoothie flavours!
Now:
I relocated from Northern Alberta to the West Kootenays of British Columbia, Canada in September 2023 following my second jaw surgery. My mother had been through a recent divorce which had rocked our family. It made the most sense at this point in my life to be closer to her, nestled between the Selkirk and Purcell mountain ranges. I wouldn’t change it. It’s stunning here!
While it’s not suspected that my jaw pain and my unexplained abdominal pain (often full-body pain) are linked, the body is still one connective system. Boy, am I ever learning that! Especially with each number number two, for openness’s sake.
Next to falling madly in love with my Derek, our two dogs, cats and many chickens, my finest achievement is actually understanding my pain —it’s as if I’ve lived several lifetimes.
I’m not sure that where I’ve landed now would’ve worked out if I hadn’t experienced the ups and downs that have come my way. Settling down in the Kootenays brings a pristine form of peace. You know, that deep inner peace that some people only read about in books. I’ve learned to cherish the moments of infuriating grief; these moments have taught me the most.
My content, crafted from somewhere between tormenting bodily pain and self-compassion, is built to uplift you in finding capacity for comfort through your own pain (and fear). I’m delighted to share my journey with you so that you can rethink what well-being means, and how it differs from “health and wellness” in a conventional “try this” and “try that” sense.
Get to know me a little bit more
That Unexplained Abdominal Pain
Sharing my pain journey is how I’ve made most peace with life and all that life’s pursuits cost, good and bad.
Of course we don’t plan for heartache, but as humans we’re designed to absorb it. There was no reason to believe I’d encounter more pain in other areas of my body at my considerably young age. This time though, my pain isn’t obvious. I mean, you can’t see my jaw pain, but it’s noticeable when I’m eating that I can’t bite into a hamburger that’s taller than about 30 millimeters –soft diet club for life!
For the last half of 2025 I’ve functioned (often barely) with unexplained abdominal pain. While I’m drawn to humour, this aspect of my health and wellness journey has not always come easy —wearing adult diapers at 32 years young has helped, haha!
While I was coming up with some sort of public presence to perhaps one day help other women, the abdominal aches kicked in… no it wasn’t period pain!
I said to myself sarcastically with a blasé smirk,
“Ugh, here’s that unexplained abdominal pain again!”
It’s bittersweet to find irony in my pain, and the journey that comes with it. That Unexplained Abdominal Pain is a space for me to share with you exactly what that pain comes with:
Costs beyond just monetary
Systemic gaslighting, direct and/or indirect
Being unheard despite constantly retelling
One step forward and two steps back (or umpteenth steps back)
Going back to the drawing board
Missing out on life’s happenings
Relationship challenges
Self-doubt
Loneliness, despite an impeccable hand-picked support system
Muddiness of conventional medicine, especially in women’s health
What if:
You don’t have unexplained abdominal pain?
Your pain is diagnosed?
That’s okay; this is for you too!
This platform acts as my journal where it chronicles my own experiences of channeling life-altering bodily pain (and the heartbreak) into somethingness. You’re probably here because you and I carry similar weight —I’m still on the path of discovering the root cause of my abdominal pain. Together let’s shoulder the moving parts of seeking answers.
I encourage anyone with any type of chronic pain, unexplained or diagnosed, to follow along with the heartbreaks of navigating Canada’s healthcare through my direct lens. Someone has to say it, right? I’m with you.
It’s equally as important to protect personal aspects of our lives while we advocate. I help women find the balance between the two. Patience, my friend.
There’s the what am I advocating for? Then there’s the why? This comes later. I’m somewhere in between the two.
There comes a time though, that rock bottom doesn’t feel like rock bottom anymore…
That’s what That Unexplained Abdominal Pain is for me. I’ve created this space as a guide to letting go of what isn’t working.
No one, no doctor, and no “no” for an answer can dim the light you’ve allowed yourself to explore the world with. I’ll help you build capacity for allowing those no’s or negative test results to reposition you for those “fuck yes!” moments. I promise you, there will be some if you listen to yourself first.