The Power of Mindset

[fishy]

I was thinking about my interpretation of pain sensation a lot after listening to the "Tell me about your pain" podcast. I guess I wanted to share an analogy I came up with from my personal experiences.

For most of my life I have been a serious exerciser, sometimes a serious athlete. Pain is part of training. When I would work out long and hard, the pain I felt during and after could be intense. When I felt it, I wasn't scared by it at all - in fact I felt pleased by it. The pain was positive reinforcement that I had pushed hard and my body was adapting and getting stronger. I could feel that pain and keep going - even set it aside and forget it was there.

I continue to exercise as I head over the hill, since my volunteer job requires a level of fitness and grace I don't possess naturally. I was pulling back from it due to pain after a misdiagnosis of psoriatic arthritis. That change in mindset from earned pain to scary disease pain was crippling - my pain became enormous and threatening. When the only thing that changed was my mindset, it is astounding to me how different and intense everything felt.

Anyway, hope this helps someone.

 

[Idearealist]

Definitely. I think the fear that diseases and labels instill can make things 10 times worse. I wish I hadn't read about certain conditions associated with the types of pain/symptoms I'm having, because the biggest thing stalling me is "what if I resume normal physical activity, shift attention to the emotional world, and make myself WORSE?" Becoming more detached from the significance of symptoms feels like half the battle.