Please note, I’m not a medical practitioner. Consult with your doctor for diagnostic and treatment options related to any health conditions. That being said, suppose you’ve been on an endless pain relief scavenger hunt. Despite concerted efforts, you’re no further with symptom abatement. Maybe it’s time to step outside conventional boxes. Physical and/or psychological incapacitation keeps us stuck. You’re unable to do the things you need to accomplish or wish to do. What if there is potential for a reprieve, no matter how slight, at no cost to you except for a few minutes of time? Would that be life-altering? If nothing else, the data that you gather from this blog series might offer possibilities for a more informed, comprehensive understanding. Use the information for future conversations with your well-care practitioner(s). Best wishes along your healing journey.
Before starting this month’s blog, I heartily encourage you to (re)read September’s series edition, “Emotional Experiences & Symbolic Expressions” for context and caveats.
I’ve been led from the green room at ABC affiliate KATU. Now I wait. Retracing tracks alone through a cavernous, chilly, barely lit, mostly sound-proof prop warehouse. Pacing helps pacify my sizzling nerves. A way to pass the slow-ticking minutes until my chaperone welcomes me beyond the stage door into the starkly luminescent simulated kitchen inside the TV studio.
My 7-minute script loops through my mind. I’m so ready for this. Another lap zigging around the warehouse props. The green room TV, down the corridor, indicates Afternoon Live has gone to commercial. That cue triggers frenzied stomach butterflies and douses of perspiration. My neck and shoulders muscles grip a smidge tighter. My heart accelerates a few beats faster. The urge to run back to the restroom consumes my thoughts. It’s not that I fear public speaking. Toastmasters escorted me over that hump. I simply don’t know what to expect.
Despite my initial mental maelstrom, I was invited back to KATU 3 more times. I guess I did ok. And kudos to then host Tre Renee Chambers whose laughter and ebullient style made me feel immediately at ease. January 2018.
Welcome to the mental maelstrom before my first KATU appearance in January 2018. I was invited back for 3 more times. I guess I did ok. Each time the stomach flutters and tense muscles came along, fortunately with progressively less intensity by show #4.
What was the point of reliving those tense and exciting moments with you? Seriously it wasn’t to brag or reveal that I was nearly a basketcase. It’s times like those and so many others that have, for me, illuminated a world of fascinating insights into the connections between the mind and body. Connections we otherwise miss or dismiss. Connections that could hold the keys to relief.
Running with Electrifying Curiosity
Now that I’m attuned to stories often lurking behind chronic organizing and day-to-day physical and emotional living challenges, the frequency and potential connections between and within the stories and how they influence the body are electrifying my curiosity. It’s like before my family moved to Oregon, I never saw Oregon license plates in Texas. After the relo deal was signed, nearly everyday another Oregon plate whizzed by. Once you notice something relevant, you'll be more aware of coincidental reoccurences. Those reminders will carry more meaning.
Headlining Afflictions
Revisiting last month’s metaphor exercise, suppose you were asked to write a headline to succinctly describe what’s ailing you. For instance, your headline might read, “A Giant Pain in the Neck.” What’s behind the pain? If you slept wrong, crick discomfort is a reasonable result. The same with accident caused whiplash and a host of other reasons for neck pain. Days, weeks, months go by, and the once acute pain is lasting well beyond it’s expiration date, and there is no structural explanation for the pain, it’s time to consider other possibilities. Like what? The giant pains in the neck.
Interpreting Symbolic Butterflies et. al.
How do you understand the butterflies, fast heartbeat, sweating, and pain? How do you interpret what your body is expressing when it's in distress? How do you read the signs in order to keep moving forward? First we need to figure out what it’s saying and why?
Image by unknownuserpanama from Pixabay
How can metaphorical or symbolic data give deeper insights into the language our body is using to communicate? How do you interpret the butterflies or other pain? How do you read the language your body is using to communicate distress? Think about the butterflies, sweating, bathroom urgency, perspiration, racing heart I experienced before facing the cameras. Or imagine you’re in any of the following scenarios…
How do you suspect your body would react? How has it reacted in the past to tense situations? What if you're prone to perfectionist tendencies? Or you're a people pleaser? Do those traits intensify physical sensations or anxiousness? How does your body interpret and exhibit anxiousness physically and emotionally?
Provoking a Highly Dysregulated Nervous System
This morning’s freneticism hedged high on the overwhelm scale. Guests checking out of Casa Curley before noon. Another set checking in this afternoon. In fact, since August, Casa Curley has been a revolving door BnB. In between guests, we’ve been out of town ourselves. Little time to play catch up. Now’s a chance during my October ‘Get it Done’ event. Before I log on, I will try to tackle as many chores as I can. Juggling bedlinen and towel laundry; cleaning up my furry grandchild’s scattered litter, jumpstarting vacuuming and counterwiping. When my visiting daughter asked what she could do to help, my brain spun too fast to parse where she could step in beyond emptying and washing out the litterbox and cat food bowls. Everything else would either be too complex to explain or take too much time for me to determine where it would make sense for her support me. Her husband was assigned to minding the cat to keep her from creating any new messes or scurry underfoot as I tore from room to room. With all that, I noticed a dense neural fog inhibiting clear thought processing. My neck and shoulder muscles tensed with each new demand and anticipating sorrowful goodbye hugs. Irritation inched upward as I encountered unanticipated snags. My body responded to my mental processing upheaval. Time to take a breath.
All that is to say that a dysregulated nervous system is a powerfully detrimental thing. As I dive deeper into chronic conditions, I’m acutely aware that my highly attuned body is a highly demonstrative archetype of the undeniable body/mind connection.
I grew up like many in the US believing that doctors, pills, surgery, injections, are the only way to relieve what ails us. No doubt, accurate diagnoses are imperative for charting the course when facing acute injuries, structural impairments, serious health maladies. More importantly, a “thumb’s up, all’s good” by your trusted practitioner can offer the safety that your brain needs to settle down. Follow your doctor’s guidance and your own instincts to make next step choices.
What happens when you’re experiencing chronic pain, skin conditions, or illness that your team of doctors can’t correlate to any reason? What if one doctor says the cause is ‘X’, another says it’s ‘Y’, and another swears it’s ‘Z’? You’ve tried a slew of prescriptive measures to no avail. I’ve been there multiple times. It’s discouraging, disheartening, and increases the anxiety levels. You find yourself in a circular pattern of fear, pain, fear, pain, on and on. This is not to suggest that the pain is imagined. I’ve been told by numerous doctors that ailments have been in my head. There’s no arguing that the pain, the suffering have all been excruciatingly real. I would never suggest otherwise.
You may have been told that your disorder is psychosomatic. Unfortunately, that term has been commandeered to suggest that your pain is imagined. Your illness may very well be psychosomatic. According to the Oxford dictionary, psychosomatic is “(of a physical illness or other condition) caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as internal conflict or stress”. Before your britches get in a twist, think about my morning example or standing on the stage or presenting to the execs. Those physical reactions were in response to nervous system triggering. None of this is derogatory or “woo woo.” In fact, the neuroscience leads us to understand that this is the job of the most primitive part of our brains. Our limbic systems are programmed to observe and respond to threats to our safety, real or perceived. Some scientists contend that those parts of our brain don’t necessarily distinguish between actual or interpreted threats. My brain was perceiving threats beyond that stage door or if I didn’t accomplish all my chores before the next set of guests arrived. Was there a real threat to my safety? Not at all. Normally, our brains don’t have time to peel apart a situation like whether you need to stroll away from a swerving, oncoming car or get you quickly away to safety. The faster the reaction, the better chance of staying safe. It lets you know, sometimes in unhelpful ways (i.e., stomach churning, perspiration, urgent bathroom needs, migraines, etc.) that a dangerous situation is coming.
I’m going to leave it here for now. That’s a lot of information to process. Next month, we’ll continue to plunge deeper into other aspects of what’s lurking behind some of these on-going challenges. Stay tuned.
*Chronic Pain Among Adults — United States, 2019–2021, CDC.gov, Weekly April 14, 2023
