Archive for the ‘fear’ Category
Saturday, February 20th, 2010
“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood”, Marie Curie
I recently heard a presentation from a distinguished scientist speaking about fibromyalgia. The audience seemed to be mostly comprised of people with fibromyalgia. He referred to fibromyalgia as a ‘terrible disease’. My immediate reaction was not very positive as I don’t believe that fibromyalgia is a disease, but rather a syndrome, yet he also referred to pain as a disease, which also surprised me. Language is so important to our understanding of this condition and I prefer to use the word dis-ease. If we feed into this idea of a disease, more and more researchers will continue to search for the elusive and non existent virus or bacteria or continue the search for hormonal issues, without an emphasis on psycho-social causation ! Furthermore, there was much in the presentation on what the brain looks like after prolonged pain, but it seems to me that this is a chicken and egg dilemma. I would prefer that the focus be on what caused these changes rather than to assume that people with fibromyalgia are born with genetic defects. However, the question about whether or not we are born with unusual brain wiring or we acquire it from our early socialization is one which may never be answered.
The term neuroplasticity was only briefly mentioned once.
I would have liked to know his thoughts about whether or not a person could acquire this brain defect in wiring because of socio-psychological issues. He emphasized that fear was a big factor in fibromyalgia, a point that I agree with emphatically. If this is so and the ‘fight or flight’ amygdala reaction of the brain is in constant turmoil, it seems to me that this is psycho-socially induced. But of course, once again, I am only speculating.
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Posted in cause, central sensitivities, chemicals, COMT polymorphisms, disease versus dis-ease, exaggerated startle reflex, fear, Fibromyalgia, fight or flight, gender issues, large crowds, loud noises, men are underreported, neuroticism, psycho-social causes of fibromyalgia, self doubt, sensitivity research, subjectivity of pain, syndrome, use of language, violence, worry | 19 Comments »
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
“One of the problems in understanding sensory issues is that sensory sensitivities are very variable, among individuals and within the same individual”, Temple Grandin
I have recently heard interviews on NPR with Dr.Temple Grandin, one of the leading experts in autism. Unfortunately I don’t have HBO so did not watch the movie of her life on February 6th. I have though read The Way I See It and been impressed with her theoretical analysis of Autism, which she says has many of the same characteristics as ADHD and even Dyslexia and other learning disabilities. I am astounded by the many similarities between Autism and Fibromyalgia. There appear to be so many: difficulty with sensory overload, fear as the main emotion, problems with information processing (what we with Fibromyalgia call ‘brain fog’), sensory over-stimulation, problems with too much noise, some sounds, smells and textures can bring about anxiety or even panic attacks…the list seems endless. I have taken the liberty of using some of the exact words of Dr Grandin as they reflect the kinds of words I would use (and have) to describe Fibromyalgia. It is her view that there is a deficit in brain wiring in Autism. It is highly likely that this is the cause of Fibromyalgia as well. She speaks frequently of an over aroused nervous system, as do most researchers nowadays when describing Fibromyalgia.
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Posted in body language, brain fog, brain wiring, Dr. Temple Grandin, fear, Fibromyalgia, information processing, multiple sclerosis, panic attacks, sensory overload, social cues | 19 Comments »
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
“Self development is a higher duty than self sacrifice”, Elizabeth Stanton
As I read more and more about brain mapping and how to change the pain mappings in my brain I am reminded about how intensely I wrote in my book regarding the highly sensitive person (HSP, according to Elaine Aron). This is the ‘empath’, the person who senses what other people are feeling and takes on the emotions of others as though they were her/his own( I don’t mean this in the usual sense of the ‘psychic’ person, or in any mystical way). I still stand by that description of the person with fibromyalgia. We are like a toxic sponge! Now, I believe that this type of person (mainly, but, of course not solely, women) has the personality characteristics of the self sacrificing, doing good for others (what Dr. James Rochelle calls ‘goodism’) and ‘giving yourself away’ (a term Nick Matheson coined). When I think of Florence Nightingale on this May day, her birthday month, suffering from fibromyalgia, I think of her as a primary example of self sacrificing.
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Posted in allmothering, brain mapping, CBC video, David Suzuki, dis-ease, Dr. Norma Doidge, Dr.James Rochelle, Dr.Peter Levine, emotional trauma, empath, fear, Fibromyalgia, florence nightingale, goodism, group gatherings, neuroplasticity, neuroscience, psychonuerologists, root cause of fibromyalgia, self sacrificing, self-regulation therapy, sensory input, talk therapy, The Brain that Changes Itself, The Naute of Things, ultra-sensitive person, unconscious brain, Waking the Tiger Healing Trauma | 8 Comments »
Sunday, April 12th, 2009
” Trust one who has gone through it”, Virgil
Writing those words, in fact, even thinking about the title makes me feel uncomfortable! Who wants to be labeled as one whose pain is thought to be “JUST in your head” implying it is not real? But, before we go off into a tailspin about that specific demeaning-sounding word, I should begin by saying what I now believe psychosomatic to mean. It certainly does not suggest that those of us with fibromyalgia are hysterics who malinger just to get attention. But, maybe, just maybe, our pain is caused by emotions that are unconsciously deep seated, trapped in past trauma and ARE in our head (brain). Such emotions as anger, sadness, anxiety, fear, rage and others can be kept in a closed segment of our minds without taking them out to examine and work with consciously. After all, pain perceptions come from our body’s nociceptors, funneled up to the brain. Psychosomatic does not mean the pain is not real, but that pain comes from the brain in the stored memories.
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Posted in 'emotional intelligence', amygdala, anger, anxiety, Dr. Hugo Critchley, Dr. John E. Sarno, Dr.Peter Levine, economically disadvantaged, fear, Fibromyalgia, fight or flight, highly empathetic, highly sensitive, insula, marginalized, mindbody medicine, nociceptors, psychosomatic, racism, rage, sandra and matthew blakeslee, sexism, sexual orientation, testosterone, The Body Has a Mind of Its Own, The Divided Mind The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders, unconscious emotions, Waking the Tiger Healing Trauma | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ’I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do” , Eleanor Roosevelt
So now has ended my winter of intense pain. It is spring time. A time of hope.
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Posted in bursitis, chiropractic adjustment, explain pain book, fear, Fibromyalgia, Full Catastrophe Living, hope, latent period of pain, strengthening machines, trainers, weight bearing | No Comments »
