- Joined
- Dec 2, 2016
- Messages
- 3,520
- Reason
- DX FIBRO
- Diagnosis
- 00/0000
- Country
- US
One thing I think a lot of people have difficulty understanding is how seriously negative emotional experiences can affect those of us with fibromyalgia. I strongly suspect this is true for people with different forms of chronic pain, but it is certainly true for many of us with fibromyalgia.
Case in point, yesterday morning my beloved dog was attacked by another dog. The other dog belongs to a very close friend of mine, and my dog was not badly injured even though the other dog is about 4 times my dog's size. I pulled my back rather badly by grabbing and picking the other dog up off my dog, and my dog has a bit of a sore shoulder, but basically it was a relatively minor event all around, only terrifying for several seconds, and my friend and I are working through how to prevent this happening again. It was not the fault of either dog; her dog is a good dog, it was a misunderstanding that got out of control.
But in all of that I am the one with the largest physical result. Not only to my back, but by the end of the day yesterday there was nothing in my entire body that did not register pretty high on the pain scale. The event was traumatic, even though it did not end in tragedy by any stretch, simply because I was so terrified my very important dog was being injured. All that adrenaline which allowed me to pick the other dog up went into my whole body and every muscle was tense for hours afterward. Even today, I am still experiencing the physical results of that. My dog is actually fine, and I'm still in a lot of pain throughout my body.
This is not something most people who have not experienced it can really grasp. It's hard to believe. I am not sure I would truly believe it if I did not experience it myself. It sounds purely psychological: just relax and be glad that everything is basically OK, and you'll be fine. But my body doesn't do that even when my brain is satisfied that there's nothing more to be upset about, and I am no longer emotionally affected by the event and am completely calmed down.
Maybe this kind of thing contributes to people thinking that fibro is "all in our heads", who knows. But I can feel relaxed and resolved mentally and emotionally about something that has happened, while my body continues to produce serious pain. Even though my muscles are now relaxed and normal again today, the pain remains. I wish I could find a way to shut that physical reaction down once the emotional reaction is calmed down.
I bet many of you here have experienced something similar to this.
Case in point, yesterday morning my beloved dog was attacked by another dog. The other dog belongs to a very close friend of mine, and my dog was not badly injured even though the other dog is about 4 times my dog's size. I pulled my back rather badly by grabbing and picking the other dog up off my dog, and my dog has a bit of a sore shoulder, but basically it was a relatively minor event all around, only terrifying for several seconds, and my friend and I are working through how to prevent this happening again. It was not the fault of either dog; her dog is a good dog, it was a misunderstanding that got out of control.
But in all of that I am the one with the largest physical result. Not only to my back, but by the end of the day yesterday there was nothing in my entire body that did not register pretty high on the pain scale. The event was traumatic, even though it did not end in tragedy by any stretch, simply because I was so terrified my very important dog was being injured. All that adrenaline which allowed me to pick the other dog up went into my whole body and every muscle was tense for hours afterward. Even today, I am still experiencing the physical results of that. My dog is actually fine, and I'm still in a lot of pain throughout my body.
This is not something most people who have not experienced it can really grasp. It's hard to believe. I am not sure I would truly believe it if I did not experience it myself. It sounds purely psychological: just relax and be glad that everything is basically OK, and you'll be fine. But my body doesn't do that even when my brain is satisfied that there's nothing more to be upset about, and I am no longer emotionally affected by the event and am completely calmed down.
Maybe this kind of thing contributes to people thinking that fibro is "all in our heads", who knows. But I can feel relaxed and resolved mentally and emotionally about something that has happened, while my body continues to produce serious pain. Even though my muscles are now relaxed and normal again today, the pain remains. I wish I could find a way to shut that physical reaction down once the emotional reaction is calmed down.
I bet many of you here have experienced something similar to this.
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