How Reversing Negative Thinking can Help Pelvic Pain

[paininla]

By Guest Blogger Lorraine Faehndrich

You may know that negative thinking is hard on your body and contributes to pain and illness. You may even have a doctor or other health care provider who recommends that you “reduce stress” and try to think more positively in order to heal your body. If so, and you’ve tried to think more positively, you probably also know that this is much easier said than done!

Nothing triggers stressful, negative, fearful thinking like pain and illness.

When your health is compromised and you’re experiencing pain or other symptoms that you don’t understand, that hurt a lot, that isolate you and limit your ability to do the things you want to do, and you haven’t found a doctor that can help, it can send your amygdala (or what I like to call your inner lizard) into a tail spin.

The amygdala is the oldest part of the brain, and is often referred to as the reptilian brain (hence inner lizard). It is the part of our brain that stores emotional memory and it is wired to keep us safe. The way it does this is to constantly scan the environment for potential dangers. When it finds one, it triggers the sympathetic nervous system (aka the fight or flight response) to prepare the body to run or fight (or freeze – like a bunny).

This system is very effective when the dangers in your environment come in the form of something you need to run from, or fight with, to stay safe – say a tiger or a bear.

When activated, the fight or flight response causes the release of “stress hormones” from your adrenal glands, including cortisol and epinephrine. It increases you heart rate and blood pressure, increases muscle tension, and decreases blood flow to your skin, digestive and reproductive tracts. All things that help you deal with an immediate, present, and real threat to your current safety.

The problem is that in today’s day and age, for the vast majority of us, there is nothing to run from or physically fight with. So most of the things that your brain registers as dangerous are not real, present, or immediate threats to your safety. On the contrary, they are thoughts about what could happen or has happened, and at the moment, they exist only in your mind.

If you’re experiencing pelvic pain, the dangers your inner lizard is registering may sound something like this:...

To read this blog post in its entirety, please click the following link: pelvicpainrehab.com/blog/20...

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I totally agree. Our bodies are wasting precious energy creating this pain, and if we think negatively we are wasting a lot more energy and creating more pain using up even more energy. No wonder we are all tired.

This is exactly how meditation works on the brain. Clears the bad thoughts and helps create good thoughts.

I have gone a step further and given my aches and pains names, the latest one being Selena the sciatica. When I am about to do something I know will worsen tbe pain, I talk to it and give it permission to do so - eg car's away getting fixed, only way into town is to walk down and then back up a steep hill. So I say something like, OK Selena, I'm getting ready to walk down the hill. That's not so tough, but please try and wait until I'm nearly back up again before you start complaining. Then we can have a lie down and read a magazine while we recover. It doesn't really matter when the pain kicks in because I know it will do so at some point during the walk. What matters is giving it permission to do so and letting it happen.

I'm so switched on to being positive and arranging my life in as positive way as possible, that I get really annoyed when I come accross someone who is negative.

[dknees4]

I too have been practicing mind control on my inner thoughts to help my pelvic muscles relax. I get temporary relief but as soon as I get busy at work or driving, my muscles tighten back up and start pinching nerves again. I will continue with the belief that my "stress thinking" behavior will gradually become non stressful. I have so had it with these doctors over the years that the sooner I can relieve my own pelvic pain and be done with them, the more content I'll be. At 67 years of age I would like to enjoy the remaining years of my life. Dealing with medical staff that would rather you curl up in pain on the floor for weeks until they can get you in for a botox injection, that may or may not be successful is more stressful than the dailey stress. In 2006 when I had my first encounter with CPP the doctor would at least give you a pain script until he could administer the trigger point injection. They no longer feel a pain script necessary. May they never have to suffer from this disorder. I'm on to retraining my brain..Haven't named the negative thoughts though....lol

Denise