Archive for the ‘central nervous system’ Category

Fibromyalgia and a joyful brain!

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

“When you change the way you think, you can change the way you feel“, David D. Burns

I have been pondering of late how I can change the nature of this website from that which focusses on symptoms and instead place more emphasis on neuroplasticity in action. Now as I write this 70th blog, for the time being at least, I want to write about living the experience of actively working on changing my brain, rather than espousing the rhetoric. After all these years I am finally fed up with defining myself, to myself, that I am “fibromyalgia”. I am bored with it. I have even become fed up with the word. What kind of a label have I given myself? It has become self fulfilling. I expect pain, fatigue and flare-ups. My brain, sleepy at times, crazy at others, jumps to the old pathways and keeps up the usual harangue. “Can’t do this, it will cause a flare-up”. “Too much excitement, I will be in pain tomorrow”. ” I shouldn’t do this long walk, I will be in a state of fatigue all week”. My brain eagerly accepts these depressing messages and goes down the well worn path. Strangely, it is so well travelled that it actually feels comfortable. New journeys into unfamiliar places in my brain means taking risks and cutting through the brush. So, why haven’t I taken this road before? Why do I have a mild flirtation with going a new route while trudging back into the boring, old worn out path? I have crept onto the unexplored by occasionally meditating, taking on a new, creative, repetitious craft (quilting), trying to remember how important movement is to changing the brain, but not in any disciplined way. I have not actively sought out joy in my life. When it happens I am thrilled but suspicious! The brain has amazing capacities and neural pathways, so why not bring the pathway to joy, rather than depression and anxiety?david burns

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Fibromyalgia: The pain is in the brain

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

11463“Memory, the warder of the brain”, William Shakespeare

This is it!!! In my view this is the most significant in-sight I have had about the pain of fibromyalgia. It has been a long and interesting journey beginning with my book in which I laid the foundation about why women are more prone to developing FMS and my conclusion that it is actually caused by an over-aroused nervous system. However, while this was the first step, and the primary one, more has been revealed to me and I am very excited over the unlimited hope there could be for us all. I still don’t have all the answers and it may be that I am presenting information that is not quite accurate, but it has been a steep learning curve and requires much un-learning, which is said to be more difficult than learning. It all began with my physiotherapist, Nick Matheson who brought me to a path which I had never travelled down before, that is, to explore the relationship of pain and the brain, rather than looking simply at fibromyalgia as the result of a hyper-aroused nervous system. The journey down this path is not yet complete so I welcome comments from others who are more learned in this domain than I am.

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Fibromyalgia: Suffering With The Itch You Can’t Scratch

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

147414671“Once it is understood that sufferings cannot be compared, then it is possible to speak of different sufferings in the same story, because there is no comparison”, Arthur W. Frank

Here it is… one awful day, living with the winds and rains of Hurricane Hanna and my brain tells my body something unusual is happening. The neurotransmitters are in overdrive. The itching has returned; it is everywhere on my body and nothing relieves it…not the Epsom Salts baths nor the Aveeno Anti-Itch lotion. I can’t get comfortable and my nerve endings are on fire. Only by constant massaging of my body parts do I get some degree of relief. When the hurricane passes us by I know the itching will subside until the next stressful event or a dramatic weather change.

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