Hi Helcat,

I found it affirming to learn that very physical physiological changes occur in the body due to stress. The mind body connection is very unique!

Yeah, I knew about it before, but now, with this particular condition, which involves chronic pain, it really hit home. It was incredibly helpful to learn that physical pain can be exacerbated by how we think about it. If we view it as catastrophic, if we believe we are in danger (e.g. of a greater injury, of surgery, of becoming disabled etc), then every pain signal will activate the stress response and we will become hyper sensitive, leading to even more pain sensations.

Learning that I am not completely helpless when it comes to my pain – that I can in fact view it differently – was a great help.

It doesn’t help that stress is an inherent part of life. It would be nice to just magic away sometimes. Unfortunately, there is only so much we have control over.

Yeah, nowadays I need to consciously remind myself, when I have a flare-up, not to go down the catastrophizing/panicking route, but to calm myself down. This condition taught me the need for emotional regulation, which before I only knew in theory 🙂 So that’s kind of a silver lining…