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?
Answer:
i'd think you'd get more bang for your buck getting your immune system looked
into than trying to draw correlations between disrupted sleep schedule and
cellulitis.
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'.
How does one do that? I asked the physician in emergency and
he searched the literature and said he couldn't find
anything. And nothing has ever turned up on any testing that
I've had done.
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.
So many things are connected to my own PTSD - migraine headaches, Irritable
Bowel, sleep problems, etc..., So many things just go hand in hand with PTSD -
both physical and mental.
actually it is quite easy-just a few blood tests but they are very expensive.
a lot of insurances just don't want to pay for it and most average people don't
have the money to get them done privately.
what's that? get your immune system checked? you can get your white cell
differential done to see if it is normal. if it is normal (and it may be) then
you move to doing quantitative levels of immunoglobulins. i'm assuming that
you've already ruled out hiv as a possibility (i'm not saying that b/c of your
lifestyle but that is often one of the first tests you do to rule
immunodeficiency).
i'm not surprised. if you are talking about testing your immune system, the er
doc probably knew how to do that but it falls under not his job. that's what
your primary care doc should be following up. er is basically a save and turf
kind of job. you assess for an immediate causes of death and treat what you
can, then tell the patient to follow up with his primary care doc. otherwise
you start treatment and turf the patient to the appropriate inpatient service.
