Healing Mind-Body Pain
Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy for Physical Symptoms
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After struggling with POTS for many years, I finally achieved a functional state of being thanks to nutrition, acupuncture, brain retraining and therapy. But one day, after a long drive, I started having severe lower back pain. I was on the couch for a few days, and then I returned to normal. The pain came back many times in the next few years, once taking me out for a week.
I was convinced the lower back pain was structural. Besides, when I was in severe pain, my hip on one side looked much higher than the other side. “I am physically out of balance,” I thought. “How could it not be structural pain?” I went to chiropractors, PT and did lots of ab exercises. “If you strengthen your core, your back will feel better,” they said. Maybe it helped a little, but I still had debilitating episodes of pain. I was convinced I had a tumor. Something must be happening in my body.
But then I remembered the brain retraining I learned with POTS. We can feel pain or symptoms when there is no structural damage in our bodies. Physical or emotional stress can cause our brain to create pain as a warning sign. “Stop what you’re doing, something is wrong,” our brain says. Naturally, we may freak out about the pain and/or obsessively try to minimize it. This only confirms the brain’s DANGER signal and keeps us in a perpetual cycle of fear and pain.
“While many people with mind-body pain begin to feel that their brain has betrayed them by giving them such pain, in actuality, their brain is trying to protect them from what the brain perceives to be a dangerous situation in their body or their life,” writes Dr. Howard Schubiner in Psychology Today.
To break the fear-pain cycle, we have to tell ourselves that we are okay, we are safe, there is nothing wrong with us. We can gradually return to avoided activities to show our brain they are not dangerous. We can also address the emotions and stress that underlie the pain. I know it can feel scary, but I strongly recommend exploring the emotional realm for long-term relief from pain and symptoms.
I found that when I am out of balance physically, it usually means I am out of balance…
