Worry Yourself Sick, Think Yourself Well!

“My problem was severe pain in both forearms for over 3 years. Nothing helped, including physical therapy, splints, and opiate medications. -, the image that came for the pain was steel rods in my arms. The CD asked me what qualities the rods had and I noticed they were rigid, cold, hard, and unyielding. It made me think of my grandfather, who I had cared for in his last years, who was just like that. The pain had started during that time. With my imagination, I asked him why he was like that, something I was never able to do in life. In my mind he answered that he was brought up to be like that, but that he loved me very much and appreciated all the help and love I gave him. I imagined that we hugged and could feel warmth from him. I cried so much I thought my heart would break. The next morning when I woke up I had about a third of the pain I’ve been having. I went to a grief counselor and had about six sessions, and continued to “talk” to my grandfather in my imagery. I now have no pain and am on no pain medications.” Dorothy W., 48, Madison, WI
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Imagery is a flow of thoughts you can see, hear, feel, smell or taste. It is the expression of dreams and daydreams; memories and reminiscence; plans, projections and possibilities. It is the language of the arts, the emotions, and most important, of the deeper self. Everyone uses imagery.

When we worry, we’re using imagery unconsciously, and often to our own detriment. Imagining possible disasters, we react with physical and psychological distress all the time we are worrying. The excessive physical toll of habitual worry, with its accompanying “fight or flight” response, may lead to symptoms such as headaches, neck or back pain, or ulcers; to self-damaging behaviors like cigarette smoking, eating disorders, alcoholism, or drug abuse; or even leave us vulnerable to serious illnesses such as heart disease, hypertension, and cancer.

The good news is that learning to use our imaginations consciously can be of great help in preventing or treating these symptoms and conditions. Using guided imagery, we can have positive effects on our heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, digestive function, sexual function and even our immune response.

“When I worry, I have trouble getting my mind off of it, even if it’s something I can’t do anything about. “Stopping” my mind is hard, but shifting my attention to imagining myself being in a beautiful, peaceful place is pretty easy, and after I do that for a few minutes, I feel much calmer and more myself. I can think more clearly again.”
Robert H., software engineer, 47, Burlingame, CA

“Guided imagery” describes a range of techniques from simple visualization and direct imagery-based suggestion, through metaphor and story-telling.Guided imagery can be used to help you learn relaxation, to relieve symptoms, to stimulate healing responses, and to help you tolerate medical procedures and treatments more easily..Using an interactive approach, guided imagery includes inner dialogues with our own imagesin order to discover the meaning of symptoms or illness, alleviate distress, and promote overall wellness.

Guided imagery processes include both active and receptive imagery. Active imagery communicates your conscious intentions, or requests, to your unconscious mind. It consists of imagining your desired goal as if it is already achieved while in a relaxed passive state of mind. Receptive imagery helps you to become aware of unconscious patterns, needs, and potential for change. Together, active and receptive imagery can help you create the healing imagery most appropriate and effective for you.

“When I was a twenty-seven year old junior executive I began having serious anxiety attacks at work. My doctor gave me a guided imagery CD, which helped me to relax and asked me to invite an image of my anxiety. To my surprise I saw a frenetic honeybee flying about in an agitated state. The bee was scattered and hectic, flying everywhere. Then the CD directed me to invite an image of healing, and what came to my mind was a beautiful rose. I imagined holding the rose out to the bee, which came over and began drinking the nectar. As the bee took in this nourishment, it seemed to become more relaxed and content, as did I. I found I could remember and use this simple visual image to calm and center myself anytime I started to feel anxious and scattered.” Matt, 34, San Carlos, CA

Imagery works through a two-way communication between the silent unconscious mind and the verbal conscious mind . It illuminates patterns that affect your health and guides you to focus energy that can change those patterns.

Using imagery, symptoms can be used to discover important needs that are not being met. Parts of ourselves that have been forgotten, unloved or neglected can come into view and be reclaimed. Emotions expressing themselves as physical symptoms can be understood, felt, and resolved, and the symptoms resolve as well.

Imagery is one of the most powerful, yet least utilized healing resources available in medicine. Other than nature, or God, the human imagination is the most powerful force on earth. It can shape our environment, and our inner environment, more powerfully than anything else we know, if we learn how to use it.

A great deal of medical research over the last 40 years shows that imagery has a powerful influence on health, healing and well-being. It can help with a very wide range of illnesses and is compatible with any system of medicine or healing. .

Guided imagery is easy to learn, effective, safe, affordable and accessible. Programs and lessons are available in CD, MP3 and other formats. They can be used alone, in the comfort of your own home, anytime they are needed.

The Healing Mind was founded in order to make high level instruction in guided imagery for self-healing affordable and accessible. Our unique self-guided program entitled Guided Imagery for Self-Healing and 30 other guided imagery programs, along with research, commentary, and links can be found by copying and pasting the following link into your browser.

Guided Imagery for Self-Healing Book and CD Set

Easing pain through meditation illustrates mind’s role in healing
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
By Jack Kelly, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/200801/x20080130hx_pp_acupuncture_330.jpg

Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette
As part of his stroke recovery, Andrew Annibale of Elliott receives an acupuncture treatment from Jennifer Whiteside, licensed acupuncturist at Allegheny General Hospital.
That chronic pain in your lower back probably can be eased by meditation, according to a new study by researchers associated with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Drs. Natalia Morone, Carol Greco and Debra Weiner did an eight-week study of 37 Pittsburgh area seniors aged 65 or older who complained of lower back pain.

Participants were taught three meditation techniques, and were assessed on measures of pain, physical function and quality of life after eight weeks, and again after three months.

“At the conclusion of the eight-week program, those with chronic low back pain noted a decreased amount of pain and a slight improvement in physical function,” the researchers said in an article in the current issue of the journal PAIN. “At three-month followup the majority of patients were still practicing meditation, suggesting they had incorporated it into their daily lives because they had experienced an ongoing benefit associated with mindfulness meditation.”

Meditation as medicine has its origins with Buddhism in ancient India. The program the UPMC researchers taught their test subjects was developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachussetts.

“Previous studies have noted mindful meditation’s benefits to those with chronic pain but its effects had not been noted on older adults exclusively and low back pain specifically,” said Dr. Morone, a specialist in internal medicine. “With so many people seeking out alternative therapies, we felt it was our responsibility to study it scientifically.”

Dr. Greco is a psychologist who teaches mindfulness meditation at UPMC’s Center for Integrative Medicine in Shadyside. Meditation can relieve pain, she said, because meditation reduces stress and muscle tension, and “a lot of pain is exacerbated by muscle tension.”

Less remarkable than the findings of the study was the fact that it was conducted by physicians at a leading research hospital. Not so long ago, Western medicine and Eastern medicine were at loggerheads. Now many doctors and hospitals see them more as partners.

“One reason more patients and doctors are embracing integrative medicine is its reported success rate at treating ‘multisystemic’ maladies — health problems like fibromyalgia, arthritis, insomnia and high blood pressure — which affect the brain as much as the body,” said a news release from the famed Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

UPMC and Allegheny General Hospital are among the nation’s leaders in integrative medicine.

“Healing involves mind, body and spirit,” said Dr. Barbara Nagrant, a clinical psychologist who runs the mind/body/spirit psychological services program at AGH. “Our body is always trying to be healthy. There are body work techniques that really help enhance people’s natural healing ability.”

Any hospitalized patient at Allegheny General Hospital may receive, free of charge, a Reiki treatment if he or she requests it, Dr. Nagrant said.

Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that those who practice it say promotes healing. It’s based on the premise that living beings have an energy field that surrounds them. In persons who are injured or ill, that energy field is disrupted. Reiki practitioners try to restore harmony by manipulating the energy field, sometimes without ever directly touching the patient.

“Most people feel a sense of calmness after [a Reiki treatment],” Dr. Nagrant said. “There have been numerous studies which show it reduces stress, anxiety, and blood pressure, and enhances the body’s immune system.”

Dr. Ronald Glick, medical director of UPMC’s Center for Integrative Medicine, said his center doesn’t offer Reiki because of the difficulty of verifying its effectiveness through traditional research methods.

“You can’t test a placebo Reiki,” he said.

Dr. Glick, a psychiatrist, is also licensed to practice acupuncture. A staple of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture is, like Reiki, based on the concept of restoring harmony to a disrupted energy field.

Acupuncture is thought to have originated with Shen Nung, a Chinese physician who lived about 4,700 years ago. Shen Nung theorized that the body has a life force — which he called Chi — running through it. When the flow of Chi through the body is disrupted, illness results. Chi flows through channels called meridians. Acupuncture points are where meridians come to the surface of the skin. By inserting needles at the points, the flow of Chi can be restored to normal.

Acupuncture stimulates production of endorphins — pain-relieving chemicals in the body — and “seems to help for every kind of pain,” Dr. Glick said.

“I see just about any kind of pain,” said Jennifer Whiteside, the acupuncturist for Allegheny General Hospital. “Acute pain, chronic pain. I also see patients who have anxiety or emotional difficulties, and patients who are going through chemotherapy.”

Donna Anderson, 61, of Georgetown, Pa. who suffers from spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the lumbar (lower back) spinal canal that pinches the nerves to the skin and leg muscles, has been treated by Ms. Whiteside since July 2006.

“The pain was preventing me from even walking short distances,” Ms. Anderson said. My doctor and I discussed surgery. I said: ‘What about acupuncture?’ He said ‘great idea,’ and recommended Jennifer.”

Her pain receded measurably after her first session and “was pretty nearly gone” after four or five sessions, Ms. Anderson said.

Andrew Annibale, 46, of Pittsburgh, was sent to Ms. Whiteside by his doctor after he suffered a stroke a year ago. He’s seeking to regain the full range of motion in his right arm, which was crippled by the stroke.

“I’ve seen much improvement,” he said.

Benefits from acupuncture can be measured, said UPMC’s Dr. Glick.

“If you put needles along a median, you can measure a change in electrical current” running through the body, Dr. Glick said.

It’s still rare for medical doctors to refer their patients to acupuncturists and other practitioners of holistic medicine, but attitudes are changing, he said.

“A third of my patients are physician referrals,” he said. “But in general, it’s self referrals.”

Medical education, especially at UPMC, is paying more attention to the benefits holistic practitioners can offer, Dr. Glick said.

“We’re closely connected to the residency program, both internal medicine and family medicine,” he said.

But medical education still has some distance to go, Dr. Glick said.

“In general, we learn very little about diet and nutrition in medical school,” he said.

Both UPMC’s Center for Integrative Medicine at 580 S. Aiken Ave. in Shadyside and Allegheny General Hospital’s Integrated Medicine Program at 1307 Federal St. offer a wide range of services, including shiatsu and Swedish massage, reflexology (massaging the feet to improve general health), and nutritional counseling. Some are covered by insurance. For more information, contact the Center for Integrative Medicine at 412-623-3023, or the Integrated Medicine Program at 412-359-8951.

The Reiki program for hospitalized patients at AGH is run by volunteers. If you’re a Reiki practitioner and would like to help, Dr. Nagrant would like to speak to you. Her number is: 412-359-8209.

Jack Kelly can be reached at jkelly@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1476.
First published on January 30, 2008 at 12:00 am

Tags: fibromyalgia and emotions mind over body
It is no mystery to those who have been reading this blog that I fervently believe in the power of the mind body connection.

This is not to be mistaken for the “its all in your head” attitude. Studies show that fibromyalgia has very real physical symptoms such as changes in the body’s nerve endings (see earlier posts). I believe that the emotions that we have repressed since early childhood impact our bodies in very many ways – including fibromyalgia.

A great book which I just finished reading is “The Drama of the Gifted Child – the search for the true self” by Alice Miller. Here is an excerpt frominside the cover: “Far too many adults today had to learn as children to hide feelings, needs and memories in order to meet their parents’ expectations and win their love”. Alice Miller first wrote this book in 1979 and has since written many others . She has gotten world wide recognition for her work as a psychotherapist. I think that most people will be able to relate to the things she describes throughout this book. The good news is that she knows how people with repressed emotions (most of us) need to deal with it in order to free themselves (from emotional and the physical hurts that come from it).

Here is a video a found online that is by Alice Miller. It was on her website.

I found the following article so powerful that I included it in the entirety rather than paraphrasing. This article applies to fibromyalgia but it also applies to everything that humans do. This is what makes it so compelling. It cannot be dismissed. Best to you all!

The accumulating scientific evidence regarding the connections between hope, well-being, and physical health is reviewed briefly in the subsequent sections.

HOPELESSNESS AND HOPE

Although there are numerous ways of conceptualizing hopelessness, there is a common underlying theme: Being hopeless means expecting an undesirable future. This negative expectation, which stems from the perception that any further effort is futile, depletes people of the necessary energy to strive toward their life goals. Over the past decades, science has started to uncover the dire consequences of such hopelessness.

In contrast, researchers also have begun to study the positive roles of hope in human functioning. By examining both hopelessness and hope, a clearer picture may be attained as to how these variables influence our mental well-being and physical health. On this point, physician Leonard Sagan (1987) concluded that the recent improvements in overall world health are due to more than just advances in technology: Specifically, he stated that the decline of hopelessness and the rise in hope were the reasons for the declines in worldwide despair and death.

HOPE AND HEALTH MAINTENANCE

Research has shown that hopelessness is related significantly to a number of important health markers. It has been implicated in the development of breast cancer, cervical cancer, myocardial infarction, and shorter overall life span. For example, in studies of women predisposed to cervical cancer, Arthur Schmale and Howard Iker (1971) discovered that hopelessness predicted the presence of cancer in 82% of the participants. There also is compelling evidence that hope has long-term consequences for physical health. In this regard, Susan Everson and her colleagues (1996) found that higher levels of hope were related to fewer biological and behavioral risk factors.

One reason that hope is important in maintaining health is that it leads to more healthy behaviors such as physical exercise; conversely, higher hope is related to the decreased likelihood of unhealthy behaviors such as high-risk sexual activities. C. R. Snyder and his colleagues (Irving, Snyder, & Crowson, 1998) have found that women with higher levels of hope scored higher on a cancer facts test, they were more knowledgeable about their health, and these woman reported a greater willingness to do things to improve their health. In addition, if people believe they have the power to influence their health status, they are more likely to take the steps to remain healthy. For example, women who believe in the effectiveness of breast cancer screening procedures are more likely to get screening for themselves. Hence, having hope results in people taking responsibility for their own well-being.

Hopelessness also appears to affect the immune system. The experience of hopelessness has been shown to decrease cortisol levels in the body, thereby impairing the immune system functioning. Thus, with hopelessness compromising their immune systems, people are increasingly likely to develop a host of illnesses.

HOPE AND HEALTH RECOVERY

Once a person succumbs to illness, hopelessness plays an important part in the recovery process. This relationship has long been known to practicing health care professionals, and the field is replete with stories of how hope made all the difference in the recovery of particular patients. For example, William M. Buchholz (1988) recounted the story of how an oncologist increased the effectiveness of a treatment for metastatic lung cancer merely by arranging the acronym for the drug cocktail to spell H-O-P-E. One possible interpretation for this and other placebo effects in medicine is that they give people hope.

Recently, empirical research has supported what physicians and nurses have long understood regarding hopelessness and health recovery. Susan Swindells and her colleagues (1999) found that hopelessness correlated with poorer physical functioning in HIV-positive patients. Because it reduces the desire to live, hopelessness can make disease treatment nearly impossible as it leads to a desire for a quick death, especially in terminally ill patients. This lack of will to survive also results in patients being less likely to follow their treatment regimens. In a study of 295 ill patients, for example, A. Srikumar Menon and colleagues (Menon, Campbell, Ruskin, & Hebel, 2000) found that patients with greater levels of hopelessness were less likely to desire life-saving treatments for their illness—hopeless patients being 5 times more likely to refuse required CPR procedures.

In addition, there seems to be a direct link between hopelessness and the ability to survive. For example, in a study of 74 men diagnosed with AIDS, Geoffrey Reed and his colleagues (1994) discovered that the men who realistically accepted the imminence of their deaths lived significantly shorter lives than those who did not have such a realistic view of their condition. Thus, the realistically hopeless men were less likely to survive their illnesses. Furthermore, hopelessness consistently emerges as the strongest predictor of suicide in both children and adults (e.g., Beck & Steer, 1989).

With their positive expectations for the future, higher-hope people are more likely to engage in active coping behaviors, including the adherence to their treatment regimens. Moreover, hope has been beneficial to patients who were being treated for a wide variety of illnesses and injuries such as burns, spinal cord injuries, blindness, and fibromyalgia. In addition, arthritis patients with higher levels of hope have manifested better upper and lower extremity functioning; moreover, higher levels of hope enable people to handle higher levels of distress, including physical pain.

What are the mechanisms by which hopelessness and hope affect the recovery process? One answer to this question pertains to the fact that more hopeful people are more willing to deal directly with their problems. Thus, the belief that one can improve the situation leads to more healthy behaviors. This type of active coping leads to a fighting spirit that, in turn, is related to better adjustment and longer survival periods when dealing with illness.

ETIOLOGY OF HOPELESSNESS

Given that hope is such a crucial part of our lives, how is it that some people come to lose it? According to C. R. Snyder (1994), hopelessness is a psychological state in which people arrive at an enduring sense of apathy toward their life goals. Snyder posited that people regress from being hopeful to being hopeless in a series of steps. The catalysts for this demise of hope are profound goal blockages. In other words, when important goals are unattainable for prolonged periods of time, this undermines hope. These goal blockages lead from thoughts of hope to feelings of rage. With time, the rage degenerates into despair, which eventually turns into apathy. Once people no longer care about achieving their life goals, they have reached a state of hopelessness. This hopelessness may appear as depression in some individuals, or as a total lack of emotion in others. Although Snyder argued that hopelessness can occur at any stage in life, from infancy through adulthood, little research has been conducted on this aspect of his theory. Most of the evidence for the various avenues of hopelessness comes from case studies. More research on a wider range of populations is needed.

INSTILLING HOPE

There is a long history in the medical field of attempting to give hope to patients. Health care providers have used many strategies to elevate the hopes of their patients, ranging from framing things in the best possible light to outright deception. Having hope is considered to be so important that physicians sometimes use deception in order to increase the levels of this powerful motive in their patients. For example, physicians may perform unnecessary procedures to provide the patient with hope for improvement.

Based on his theory of hope, Snyder and his colleagues have developed specific measures to tap the levels of hope in people (see Snyder, 1994), as well as treatment interventions that are aimed at improving the level of hope. This hope therapy is intended to help people to develop clearer goals, to generate many strategies for reaching these goals, to muster the requisite energy to pursue goals, and to interpret goal barriers as challenges rather than threats. Although the theoretical foundation for such interventions is strong, more research is warranted to understand the role of hope in improving physical health.

—C. R. Snyder and Kevin L. Rand

Further Readings
Entry Citation:

Snyder, C. R., and Kevin L. Rand. “Hopelessness and Health.” Encyclopedia of Health and Behavior. 2004. SAGE Publications. 3 May. 2009. .

Biofeedback first became popular in the 1970s. It is still used today but it’s recognition glory days were in the 1970s. The thrust of biofeedback was to have your mind learn how to control your body’s reactions to things – e.g getting your muscles to relax and therefore helping one to relax.

Neurofeedback developed as a result of the biofeedback movement. It however is opposite to biofeedback in that it is structured to allow the body to “reprogram” a person’s brainwaves. Now that may sound a bit freaky, sci-fi and a lot like mind control – but it is not. The person who undergoes neurofeedback uses it as a tool to change patterns that are undesirable – e.g. depression, PTSD etc. Neurofeedback is being heralded by some as a viable way to keep ADHD children off of the usually prescribed drugs (although keep in mind since neurofeedback is still new in the research world, the medical world recommends that it be used in conjunction with the drugs – this is a touchy call for parents and professionals involved).

Remember, neurofeedback is the new kid on the block but researchers are very excited about the potential applications for which it can be used. Some practitioners have already tried it out with fibromyalgia patients. Even if it does not lead to a cure (and neither does lyrica) – relief and possibly long term relief would be phenomenal. Some ADHD patients after being treated have had very long term results without having to repeat treatment or take drugs.

Does this all sound to good to be true – well, there is a catch (sorry). Neurofeedback does not come cheap ($100/session average). It may or may not be covered by insurance. The sessions required for ADHD patients may be as many as 40 (ouch) – but if it indeed does give relief – this cost in terms of what it means to the quality of one’s life is nothing.

Here is a directory so that you can locate a neurofeedback practitioner near you :

http://directory.eeginfo.com/

Renaissance Alternative Health has found that people are able to be more deeply relaxed in the privacy and comfort of their own homes.

Now there is no longer any need to travel to get the relief that others in SWFL have been achieving.

Call today to discuss how effective telephone sessions can be. You receive personalized attention without the hassle of travel or any of the embarrassment that some people feel in an office setting.

Preparation for the home session includes getting a telephone headset and listening to the appropriate CDs for a predetermined time before the session.

You have tried everything else with minimal results. You have nothing to lose by trying this except lots of pain.

http://www.fibromyalgiapr.com

Call: 941-627-3100

clipped from www.prohealth.com
Mental Health

Many FM patients find that support groups offer them the encouragement and support they need. Search for a support group in your area in ProHealth’s Support Group Listing. If you don’t find a group there, try calling local hospitals and your local newspaper to see if they know of any groups in your area.

If you’re not able to physically attend a support group, there are lots of online groups available. In fact, you can start interacting with other FM patients right now in ProHealth’s FM Chat Room or the FM Message Board.

If your insurance doesn’t cover mental health treatment and you cannot afford it, check with your local mental health center. They usually offer treatment on a sliding scale based on your income.

Fibromyalgia affects approximately 2% of the population(mainly women). Here are some interesting findings that suggest a strong mind/body connection with the occurrence of fibromyalgia in this group:

· Approximately half of the women with fibromyalgia have a history of traumatic events (in either childhood or adulthood).
· Anxiety, depression and mood disorders are prevalent before and after the diagnosis of fibromyalgia.
· 40-60% of women diagnosed with fibromyalgia reported that there was sexual abuse during childhood or adulthood.
· 70% of women with fibromyalgia report other types of physical or emotional trauma.
· Major depression is combined with fibromyalgia in 20% of the cases studied.
· To a lesser degree (than major depression),anxiety disorders, phobias (e.g. panic attacks) and dysthymia (another type of depression) are reported.
· There is no “fibromyalgia personality”.

Source: European Psychiatry, Jan. 2009 Property of Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Inc.

I am a strong believer in the mind/body connection. My recent studies have led me to realize that our CEOs (i.e. our brains) may be injured during the course of our lives in a number of ways: physical injury, environmental injury (i.e. pollutants), nutritional (inadequate or unbalanced diet) and emotional trauma. These injuries lead the brain to function at less than optimal levels…it is not a case of blame…anymore than you can blame yourself for spraining an ankle.

When the brain sustains any of the injuries described above it will not function at the brainwaves necessary for optimal body functioning. This means there will be body fatigue, hormone imbalances, body aches and pains etc.

Neurofeedback has been shown to train the brain to get back on track and resolve the injury once and for all. It is non-invasive and it does not hurt. It is actually interesting and even fun to participate in neurofeedback. The only drawback is that since it is new (developing over the last 30 years) and leading edge (the knowledge base is growing rapidly), most insurance companies will not cover treatments. However, what price can you put on your well being and quality of life? It seems that the cost (probably equivalent to the cost of wearing dental braces) would be well worth it.

Best to you all.