Decades ago, when I was first piecing together what has now become WholeHealth Chicago, I listened to a talk by Carolyn Myss, Ph.D. author of, “Why People Don’t Heal and How They Can.” From her, I heard “your biography determines your biology.” Later, I read the works of Dr. John Sarno, a specialist in physical medicine who said that most chronic back and neck pain was created by the brain itself to distract a person from repressed emotional issues like anger, anxiety, or guilt. This meant that all fibromyalgia was psychosomatic in origin. While still practicing, Dr. Sarno provided major relief to both Howard Stern and Larry David, who had chronic pain for years and became outspoken admirers of his work.
Physicians, especially orthopedic surgeons, were not pleased with this, especially when he estimated that well over 60% of back surgeries were completely unnecessary. This number, by the way, has been confirmed in repeated studies.
When I wrote my book, “Healing Fibromyalgia” (dedicated to Dr. Myss) I had some biographical examples. It was well known then that 70-88% of ‘fibro’ patients relate some form of childhood abuse, and you can envision the protective stance of a child tightening her muscles anticipating the blow to fall. Years later, long after the abuser is gone, carrying that posture through life as fibromyalgia.
One of my patients related how his fibro had been in remission for years, decided to ‘forget and forgive’ the abusing stepfather who lived in Seattle. As he drove westward, his pain began to steadily worsen. At the city limits of Seattle, it was unbearable. He stopped, said aloud, “Haven’t I learned anything?” turned around, headed home and immediately felt his muscles loosening.
Now you might ask quite reasonably, “where did this pain come from?” “what’s the ‘root cause’”?
The ‘root cause’ is your brain, busily creating not just pleasant thoughts (like what you’ll make for dinner) or even unpleasant ones (keep those to yourself) but a slew that you are unaware of in the guise of ‘symptoms’ that might last and last and last and drive you c-r-a-z-y.
Here’s a list (brace yourselves) of what are generally recognized as Mind-Body Symptoms. Generally long-term, accompanied by ‘negative’ tests (“we can’t find anything wrong”), multiple practitioners and specialists. Sometimes the symptoms are disabling, usually not. Sometimes years are spent pursuing a wrong path (back surgery, useless meds, a wrong diagnosis <candida, mold, Lyme>.
Here we go—-
- Tension & Migraine headaches
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome & ‘Bloating’
- Neck & Back Pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Psoriasis
- Asthma
- Multiple chemical sensitivities
- Osteoarthritis (everyone has ‘wear-and-tear’ with age, most people do not need new joints)
- Chronic pelvic pain
- Heartburn/GERD
- Tinnitus
- Dizziness
- POTS (postural orthostatic hypotension syndrome)
- Muscle tics and spasm
- Non-epileptic seizures and spasms
- Brain fog
- Numbness and tingling sensations
- TMJ (temporo-mandibbular joint disorder)
- Urinary frequency/interstitial cystitis
- Palpitations
- Facial pain/trigeminal neuralgia
- Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
- Eating Disorders
- Chronic anxiety/Panic attacks/Obsessive compulsive disorder’
- Long COVID
- Mold illness
- Candidiasis (yeast overgrowth)
As you look over this (immense) list, you might feel a surge of justified anger. The amount of time and money and worry about your fibro, your fatigue, your brain fog, the mold in your home, the pain in your foot. Do you mean the loose bowel movement was not parasites?
What caused all my problems? You’re saying, “It’s all in my head??!!”
Well, yes….no.
Here’s the path of an actual illness: it starts at a certain day/week/month > gets worse fairly quickly over days/weeks. Diagnostic tests change from being ‘negative’ to ‘positive’ over weeks/months.
Path of mind/body illness: slow onset > good days and bad days often related to an extraneous factor (stress, menstrual period, diet change), tests are negative. You hear, “we can’t find anything wrong.”
WHAT IS HAPPENING?
You are experiencing what are termed neuroplastic symptoms. Remember the term as they have dominated your life.
Neuroplastic symptoms are real, physical sensations and medical complaints generated by the brain and nervous system rather than by structural tissue damage, injury, or disease.
Here is a really interesting You Tube video by an expert in the field, Dr Howard Schubiner, differentiating functional from disease symptoms.
Dr. Schubiner is also the author of the “Unlearn Your Pain Workbook,” a guided approach to extricating yourself from the Hell of neuroplastic symptoms.
If you get the workbook, you will definitely need a yellow highlighting marker and a pen.
Be well,
David Edelberg, MD