Question:
I'm trying to decide what time to go to emergency. In the
meantime, I'm wondering about the mind-body connection.
Almost annually I have major infections that require
treatment at the hospital. No one has been able to explain
why this keeps happening, and thinking back about other
people's stories about how their bodies are affected I am
wondering if this just another symptom/connection. The
infection has tripled in size since my doctor's appointment
Wednesday afternoon -- roughly 1/4 of my face is engulfed
now. My sleep schedule was unexpectedly disrupted a few
weeks ago, and I am wondering how coincidental this is.
Has anyone else experience this type of mind-body
connection? Anyway, it's IV time.
Answer:
While I believe totally in the mind-body connection, I do NOT advocate the
Christian Scientist methodology of using my mind to heal my body.
I do believe that if/when I am 'sick' more often than usual, or if I have an
auto-immune disease, that the 'cause' _may_ be my body's defenses not
working properly because they are distracted by my mind's conundrums.
When my body's defenses are not working properly, it is my job to get myself
to a doctor to help my body's defenses work better physically.
When my body's defenses have been assisted adequately by physical medicine,
then it is my job to work on the 'emotional cause'.
That would seem to be the most logical way to manage the mind-body connection.
Unfortunately, I think most new-age/metaphysical types believe they just have
to rearrange energy patterns, or carry the right combination of rocks and their
physical problems will go away. I just have never understood that sort of
thinking. Glad to see there's someone here who thinks a little more toward the
moderate end of the spectrum.
Evidence that prolonged and severe stress is linked to
people's ability to fend off and recover from illness is now
incontrovertible, psychologists were told.
Prof Phil Evans, of the University of Westminster, said
science could show how stress was implicated in infections like
coughs and colds, recurring viral problems like herpes, the rate at
which wounds heal and possibly with the body's ability to
deal with cancer as well.
Studies showed how raised stress hormones were associated
with poor immune response. Research in America had shown it could
take wounds 20 to 40 per cent longer to heal in people suffering
chronic stress.
Recently, scientists have suggested that asthma is linked to
stress.
Prof Evans said: "This is not talking about a hard day at
the office, but the stress suffered by the carer or someone with
Alzheimer's disease, or someone going through a divorce or
bereavement.
"These are situations when people find themselves facing
events they can't control and are overwhelmed. The links are
getting stronger between stress and illness."
