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The mind and crohns...

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 12/7/2011 5:41 PM (GMT 0)
Our disease is one where our body reacts aggressively and uncontrollably towards what is now believed to be either a minor event, or one that is inconsequential to a healthy person that is, a non-event.
These days, when a flare comes on, I try to tell myself that I am reacting to a non-event - and try to call off 'the troops' in my mind. It is a powerful tool believe it or not..

The reason I bring this up now is because some of you may recognize that the micro world (inside our bodies) can be reflected in the macro world (our dealings outside of ourselves.) Often what is actually a very minor thing, can then create enormous drama for us. When the little messages to turn off the attack aren't heeded (inside the body there are cells which try to mediate the inflammatory response, for example) then damage can result, and the process goes on and on.

Peace and holiday well wishes.
Posted 12/7/2011 5:45 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the reminder...the brain is hugely connected to the bowels (it's no wonder cuz I know alot of people that have shart for brains LOL) seriously though, it's a huge connection and that is why we have to keep ontop of not getting overly stressed out either.
Posted 12/7/2011 6:09 PM (GMT 0)
Sometimes life brings it's own chaos and it is not within our control. My house got struck by lightning in 2009 and we had to gut it to the studs and rebuild. That was a lot of stress. I don't know of anyone who could have been through that process and not been stressed out. I tried my best to maintain my health but 6 months into the 18 month-long ordeal my gut started acting up. It wasn't until we were 6 months past it that I finally felt well again.

I told my husband in the midst of our struggle that I needed him to make decisions about our rebuild with my health in mind. The schedule was paramount to me - I wanted to get through it as quickly as humanly possible in order to minimize the duration of the stress. We tried to do that, but the builder, carpenter, insurance company, whatever - they had their own issues. You do what you can and hope for the best.
Posted 12/7/2011 6:14 PM (GMT 0)
This is exacly why I exercise regularly, the last couple of years I've gone through some hell of my own, with losing my mom last year, also selling our house last yr and having to go back to renting until we found another house to buy and then becoming the administrator of my mom's estate and dealing with 5 crazy siblings through it all and I'm still waiting for the clearance certificate on the estate so I can complete it,,,don't know about any of you but that was a ton of crap to take on in one yr not to mention the everyday life stresses and low and behold my CD did not get any worse! And I definitely owe that to the exercising and everything else listed in my sig belolw!
Posted 12/8/2011 12:11 AM (GMT 0)
It's vital not to over-react to non-events. That way, when the real issues come along you have a better chance of being able to tolerate them. The more practice you get not letting trivia set you off, the better you end up handling the real stressors. Discerning the events which are not worth your while is normally easy, but sometimes every little thing can set us off. The triggers for this illness, once it is set in motion, can be minor.
Posted 12/8/2011 8:08 AM (GMT 0)
Interesting!

I know that this was a subject of some study in Australia about three years ago, and a doctor in Melbourne had developed some sort of mindfulness training for IBD patients, to help us manage control our symptoms. I think there was a research trial on it, too.

I just did a quick Google, and it seems he's still working on it, and offering clinical therapy sessions. I think this is him, here:

IBD Group @ Swinburne University

Seeing as he studies the gut-brain connection, it might be interesting to see if he has any papers online...

*tries another Google*

Yes! He has abstracts, at least. They can be found here

Ivy.
Posted 12/8/2011 1:44 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Ivy that's a whole other fun issue. We can see from animals in nature that when one gets wounded it goes and lays down by itself - to focus all energy on healing. And particularly if it is a predator, then you don't want to go near it while it's trying to heal! It's a natural thing to need a nice safe environment when sick, and to lash out if you think that environment is threatened. And when you have a chronic long term debilitating illness, it's a wonder we don't all end up jumping off the deep end....and the thing is, it's the power of our minds, and the way we use it, that plays a big part in the way we cope.
I sometimes think about the amount of planning that goes into a simple trip to the shops - it's about as much as I used to do when heading out for a week of hiking! But I think, so what really? I didn't make this illness, and I'm doing my best.
Posted 12/8/2011 2:09 PM (GMT 0)
The brain is obviously underestimated in our decease, it can get a perfectly healthy person into a ill one with bad thoughs.
Posted 12/8/2011 2:15 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, and then there's the fun of prednisone interfering even more with your ability to cope. I called my GI yesterday to ask him to speed up my taper because I can't deal with another 4 weeks of this. So I get to step down every 5 days instead of 7. The past week at work has been so tough. I obsess and overreact to so many things and I know it's mostly because of the pred, and lack of sleep, which is also the pred.

Ivy that psychology clinic specifically for IBD is such a cool idea. I'm interested to read the doc's paper.
Posted 12/8/2011 2:57 PM (GMT 0)
So here is my story,

I was diagnosed when I was 15.  My first year wasn't bad but when I was 16 I got pnumonia which gave me the worst flare ever. I missed my junior year of school because of it.  The next year I got home school and caught up.  When I saw I would graduate on time, I started to look at my life.  CD was bringing me down mentally.  I then decided I wanted to go away to college and I couldn't do that feeling the way I felt.  I then told myself I will get better.

Over time I started to feel better.  I went to school about 2 1/2 hours away from home and for me that was fine.  I was on my own.  But my CD was still with me and I told myself I want to enjoy college life and just life in general.  I told my CD LEAVE ME ALONE.  After years of talking to my brain to tell my guts to stop, I went off all meds and enjoyed many years of remission.  I probably had close to 10 years med free.

Looking back, I know that being med free probably hurt me more than anything and I can't seem to stop the problems CD is causing now...but I did enjoy those years of remission.  Looking back, the only thing I can think that caused those care free days were me telling myself I can get better.  It truely was mind over matter.

Now I am older and have more problems.  It is harder to focus on telling myself I will get better.  I feel like I am on a downward spiral and have felt this for a number of years.  But even in my darkest days, I still know....I will get better.  I still try to tell myself this and try to get my mind to jump start the healing.

The mind is very powerful.  We have to learn to recognize what it can do and what it is doing.  We only use something like 10% of our brain.  Imagine if we could tap into the rest.

Posted 12/8/2011 4:15 PM (GMT 0)
Hi 'sparkle' - I think with pred you have to have good sleep meds at the very least (I see you have ambien), Pred does not mix well with me and I avoid it as best I can. And yeah it does heighten sensations and thoughts to extreme levels! Good luck.

JavaJay, I empathize with the downward spiral feeling. It's all too common with this disease. Something needs to change....I hope you find the answer. The mind and body need to be supported in illness.
Once a korean martial arts master said to me "for big problems seek small solutions."
I found that thinking refreshing.
Posted 12/8/2011 7:12 PM (GMT 0)
Sparkleplenty,

The very first time I was put on pred my GI warned me to take it all first thing early in the morning so that it wouldn't cause any sleep issues. All the times I was on pred that's what I did and it never interfered with sleeping at night (I know that some people can be more sensitive to pred and can still have some issues at night even if they do take it all first thing in the am) for the most part, if taken early am it shouldn't affect night time sleep.

Besides that, you're right because in general pred plays with our emotions causing mood swings and such, it's such a nasty but often necessary evil....it stopped working for me all together so I haven't been on it in yrs now.
Posted 12/9/2011 1:35 AM (GMT 0)
I'm super sensitive to pred, and the taper is the worst part for me. I take it first thing in the morning, and sometimes even with ambien I only get a few hours sleep. I'm hoping the naturopath has some new ideas to alleviate the emotional roller coaster I'm on.

I read the book The Second Brain...all about how your gut is your second brain, and it just makes so much sense. I think a lot of the CD meds throw me off because they upset the serotonin etc my gut produces. I have been doing a lot of guided meditations and affirmation work lately and do find it helpful.

Thanks for starting this thread ambling. It's interesting stuff!
Posted 12/9/2011 1:51 AM (GMT 0)
I definitely agree. I find when I'm very stressed out about something even if what I'm stressed about is Crohn's itself, I feel worse.
Posted 12/9/2011 7:54 AM (GMT 0)
I was always amazed at how easily I could make myself sick. For the longest time I could not be left alone in the car. Like say my husband would run in to the bank leaving me in the car to wait. That's all it would take for my mind to start worrying about having an accident. Suddenly the cramping would start up, and I'd get D! Same when we went out to eat. I'd be sick before the food got there, and the time between after eating and paying the bill also seemed like a time I'd get stressed and find myself in the bathroom. It was for sure a mind over matter in those instances. Of course not to say it's all in our heads, but how I react to things can sure play a huge role in it. The connection between the gut and the mind is huge.

Thankfully once I started treatment and found out that I had Crohn's I was then able to find ways to relax and deal with the stress. I'm able to sit alone and wait in a car and go out to eat now. :)

Right now I am fighting myself though on just stressing about Crohn's. Tapering off, worrying about flaring back up. All that stressing I know isn't going to help me.
Posted 12/9/2011 1:31 PM (GMT 0)
Very interesting thread..."Mind over matter" ? Slainte
Posted 12/9/2011 3:44 PM (GMT 0)
Our immune system has to decide what to attack. It discerns what is friend and what is foe. Some of that we are born with (innate), and some is learned (adaptive). There is room for confusion and ultimately, errors. It can be a complete 'false alarm' that triggers an all out attack.
That is true of the mind, which also discerns what to attack, and what to accept. The patterns of the body are related to those of the mind since they are interwoven so much.
Posted 12/9/2011 5:16 PM (GMT 0)
Ambling - "for big problems seek small solutions". I love that, thank you for sharing that. That statement makes me exhale and think about small, kind and compassionate ways to move forward instead of trying to tackle everything.

I agree that our minds our powerful and can be a helpful tool, a good reminder. At the same time one of my favorite sayings that my husband always says (he has muscular dystrophy) is "problem solving cannot solve all of your problems". Isn't that so true? We can influence things, but not always change things. Crohns can be a "big problem" with no cure, but small solutions can help take the edge off...
Posted 12/9/2011 7:00 PM (GMT 0)
blueberrydecaf, I like the way your hubby thinks! I believe that the challange of problem solving is a necessary workout for our brains.
Posted 12/11/2011 12:42 AM (GMT 0)
Yep. I'm another that has to stay active, because it relieves a lot of my stress. Doesn't cancel it out, or anything, but I find coping much easier. Early on during my early flares, any emotional upset could have me doubled over in pain..
Oh, and it keeps the arthritis from making my joints "freeze up" too..

Matthew
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