Figuring out Fibromyalgia: Current Science and the Most Effective Treatments by Liptan Ginevra

Author:Liptan, Ginevra [Liptan, Ginevra]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Tags: Health & Fitness, General
ISBN: 9780982833971
Publisher: Visceral Books
Published: 2011-01-30T16:00:00+00:00

12

Reducing the Fight-or-Flight Response

People with fibromyalgia often startle easily, practically jumping out of their skin with any loud noise. One patient described how she felt like she was a combat veteran, even though she had never seen combat.

When the autonomic nervous system is stuck in the fight-or-flight response, the brain is priming the body to instantly respond to any danger. This can translate into an intense awareness of your surroundings. A friend with fibromyalgia described herself as a “heavy receiver,” and I notice my own body tensing when I watch a stranger struggling to find bus change or arguing with someone. I have to remind myself, That is not my stress.

The constant fight-or-flight response in the body makes it very difficult to fall asleep or have sex, both bodily functions that requires the brain to let down its guard and allow the rest-and-digest nervous system to take over. In fibromyalgia, in order to get into the rest-and-digest mode we have to overcome the incredible dominance of the fight-or-flight response. It sometimes feels like I cannot take a deep enough breath to relax my body. One person with fibromyalgia told me: “Every time I check in with my body, I am aware of muscle tightness. I consciously try to relax my body, but as soon as I am not thinking about it anymore, my body goes right back to clenching.”

We have not yet found a way to reverse fight-or-flight dominance in fibromyalgia permanently. Once we find that, I think we will have discovered the cure to fibromyalgia. The best we can do now is treat the problems caused by fight-or-flight dominance and try to encourage the nervous system to shift into rest-and-digest mode as frequently as possible, even if just for short periods of time.

Due to the strong fight-or-flight dominance in fibromyalgia, it can be harder to get into the relaxation response, but it can be done. Anything you can do to induce more of a parasympathetic state, even temporarily, will help. The parasympathetic state is where your body does its very important rest-and-digest functions, and in fibromyalgia, the goal is to give your body as much time in the parasympathetic state as possible. Even if it is only temporary, it can still be beneficial.

I have found it is possible to get into the rest-and-digest mode, but it is a battle requiring continued and repeated effort on my part. It will take me almost an hour of a massage until I feel any shift into relaxation in my body, and almost as soon as the massage is over I find myself back in the tensed fight-or-flight mode. It takes me a long time to relax enough to sleep. In fibromyalgia, it takes significant effort to reduce the effects if the fight-or-flight response even temporarily. The challenge here is that the parts of the brain running the stress response are not under conscious control.

I want to emphasize here that you did not “think” your way into the fight-or-flight response, and you can’t think your way out of it.

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