BY: Felicity
Ten years ago, I hit my rock bottom with my health and was barely getting out of bed, in extreme pain, severely depressed, and barely living. I ended up going to the Mayo Clinic, mostly because my family forced me to. The Mayo Clinic has something called the Pain Rehab Center, which is for people who suffer from chronic illness. It is a three-week program where you are there for the entire day, listening to lectures, doing cardio exercises, doing physical therapy, learning biofeedback techniques, and being monitored by nurses.
Oddly, the first thing they told us to do was to stop talking about our pain, our fatigue, and all of our other symptoms. We were not allowed to talk about what conditions we had with the other people in the group, and we were not allowed to discuss or complain about any of our symptoms to our family and friends. On top of that, our family and friends had to stop talking to us about any of their painful conditions.
They explained about research studies where functional MRIs were done on people who were not in pain, and all they had to do was just think about the pain they used to have, and the pain centers would light up in the brain. Basically, they were telling us that even just thinking about your pain and worrying about your symptoms can simulate actual pain signals in the brain.
My mind was blown! I can tell you that it was a heck of a lot easier for me to stop talking about my issues than it was for all of my family and friends! I even had to stop talking to certain friends for a while because they just didn’t understand what I was trying to explain to them. It made perfect sense to me, though, because as soon as I stopped working and was home all day alone with my thoughts and my misery, my symptoms got worse and worse. After a year, I was in an extremely hopeless condition.
We’ve all been told before to just try to think positively, and I’m sure we’ve all been extremely annoyed by all the people who say this! I was extremely angry when I was made to go to the Mayo Clinic program, but after the first day of learning about what was going on with me, I was so excited to be there. The more they lectured, the more I learned and understood what was going on in my body. I had severe GI pain for two years, with diagnostics showing no disease and no medications helping the pain, and within a few days of learning about this, all of my GI pain disappeared and never returned.
This was my first lesson in how powerful your own brain is and how much control it has over your body. There had never even been any actual GI disease; my brain had just been so overloaded with pain signals that it was telling me that I had severe GI pain. I have Central Sensitization Syndrome, so this is an extreme example of course, but it absolutely proves how powerful (and destructive) the brain can be.
Think about the first time you drove to a new place. You probably had to use Google Maps a few times or more if you’re like me. The more you drove it and practiced it, though, the more ingrained it was into your memory. All of a sudden, you could drive there without even really thinking about it. Our thoughts have the same effect on the brain and work in the same way.
The more you think about something, the stronger those neural pathways are formed in your brain. So if you’re constantly thinking negative thoughts and constantly thinking about every painful thing in your body, those thoughts become so hardwired into your brain, they literally cause your body to feel more painful. Then you think about your pain even more, and it becomes a vicious cycle. But luckily, the opposite is true as well; the more positive thoughts you have, the more positive responses your brain will show.
It’s been proven that positive thinking can release serotonin and dopamine in the brain and can reduce stress and cortisol levels. It enhances coping strategies, helps social relationships, improves self-esteem, improves your quality of life, and most importantly, gives you better health outcomes. The ways to improve positive thinking aren’t difficult to learn, but they must be done consistently to have an effect, and this is the hardest part for people, I think. Being happy and feeling positive isn’t easy; it’s a choice that you have to make every single day, even when you feel awful.
The most common methods to promote positive thinking are practicing gratitude by writing in a gratitude journal, practicing mindfulness with deep breathing and meditation, surrounding yourself with positive people, focusing on the present moment, repeating positive affirmations, doing visualization techniques, and, most importantly, challenging your negative thoughts with cognitive restructuring.
You don’t have to jump right in and do all of these techniques every day; you can start by just trying not to think negatively about your pain and trying to stop talking about and focusing on your pain, fatigue, and other symptoms. Ask your friends and family to do the same. Every time you catch yourself ruminating on one of your issues or thinking things like “I just feel like crap”, stop yourself and try to restructure your thoughts. The first part is just realizing that you are thinking negatively and focusing on your symptoms. Once you notice how often you do that, you can be more cognizant about interrupting that pattern of thinking.
Try to stop the thought and then try to focus on the present moment for 30 seconds. Take notice of everything around you, the sights and smells, and take a few deep belly breaths. You can try to do some mindful movements like somatic or vagal stimulation exercises (you can find videos of these on YouTube). You can listen to your favorite song, or you can even just snap a rubber band on your wrist.
After stopping the thought, you want to challenge your negative thoughts and ask yourself ‘Is this helpful in this moment?’ You can think about ways to restate it in a more positive way. Instead of saying, “I’m in so much pain right now”, you can just say that “I’m not as comfortable as I would like to be right now, and that’s OK”. Keeping your brain occupied with other things besides the pain is key.
I had gotten off track in the past few years, and my health started to decline again. So in March, I was determined to change my life around again by changing my thoughts and my habits as I had done before. I started doing a lot of research and doing webinars on neuroplasticity and brain retraining/rewiring. I restarted my diaphragmatic breathing exercises and learned other breathwork techniques. I learned to practice mindfulness and be in the present moment without dwelling on the past or worrying about the future (which is still a daily struggle). I began writing down things that I was grateful for every morning. I even cut two negative people out of my life completely. I listen to the same positive affirmations on YouTube every single morning while walking my dog, and I try to visualize myself being healthy and happy.
I didn’t even realize that I had stopped thinking every day, “Oh my God, I’m so tired. I don’t think I can get out of bed today.“ I just slowly started to feel happier and more hopeful about my health issues. Most importantly, I try to be compassionate with myself, and I don’t stress out about not doing all of these modalities every single day. I practice consistency over perfection. Every day for people like us is a battle… but it’s a bit easier to fight it if you have helpful tools and a hopeful, positive attitude.
Felicity was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis when she was just 18. When she was first diagnosed, they did not have biologic medications as they do now. She has had it for 32 years and continues to fight. She was on methotrexate and Prednisone. She participated in the trials for Humira. She also lives with Central Sensitivity Syndrome as well. Formerly a veterinarian, she is now a stay-at-home dog mom! Learn more about Felicity in the Our Contributors section!