Healing the mind....

I do not want to trivialize the physical and neurological aspects of Lyme as they are REAL and devastating at times. But, I think we sufferers sometimes can subconsciously adopt a victim mentality or something to that effect - keeping us from fully healing. I have been exploring this aspect of my own journey for a few months now and I attribute reframing my mindset to helping me along with healing. THEN I found this article on "The Better Health Guy" facebook site this morning: http://amybscher.com/the-upside-to-your-illness/

Amy was a Lyme sufferer and this article tells me a lot. I have been contemplating my own situation. I have indeed found myself falling into "victim mode" at times and that mindset is not conducive to getting better.  The mind is a powerful mechanism and can even cause physical ailments on its own - or make physical ailments worse and/or last longer. To me, this is fascinating subject matter. Again, we Lyme folk do indeed need to treat the disease with the proper physical means - abx, herbals, detox, exercise, diet, etc. But, I think there's this whole aspect of emotional toxins that get left by the wayside. And, coming in-line with the article above, we may even subconciously sabotage our body's physical ability to heal with suppressed emotions and/or "benefiting" from being sick. And, BTW, this is just not targeting us Lyme sufferers but all people - cancer and other illnesses included!  I'd be interested in hearing other's opinions on this.

Again, the theory is that the body has the ability to heal ANYTHING if we just support it physically/mentally and then get the heck out of its way.

No, you are right B/L - "faking" a positive attitude is not a positive attitude at all. AND, a "positive" attitude does NOT necessarily mean a "happy times" attitude. A positive attitude, to me, is one that realizes the challenge at hand and faces it in a positive or constructive way...that's much different than being a pollyanna and pretending that everything is wines-and-roses. Crying/grieving are POSITIVE parts of an attitude that is CONSTRUCTIVE. It took me a long time to learn this. Being a man, I was always urged to suppress "negative" emotins and gut it out no matter how sorrowful the situation. I lost a son to SIDS when he was 15 weeks old and buried those emotions and kept working and going about my life. This turned out to be a huge mistake as, no matter what, that grief will manifest in other ways if you don't let it flow at the time. That suppressed grief attacked my body and caused (what I now know is) a Lyme flare back in 1993.

So, you are most definitely on to something about the real definition of a positive attitude. It's not a fake smile and a superficial cheery persona. In fact, it's just accepting the challenges of life as they come along and having faith in the universe that the things that happen are all part of a grander scheme. As I meditate and pursue my "positive" self, I am bombarded with all kinds of feelings and such that have stayed buried within my psyche for YEARS. I just try and acknowledge them and let them float by as I observe them drift away. Being a passive observer of one's condition and just being in the moment is many times the bast medicine to calm the body and spirit so that it can heal.

Plus, like the article above, I try and see if there is somehow some type of "benefit" that my subconscious is receiving by being in the state of illness. Do I want attention? Am I simply just burned out and need rest? Is there any kind of potential pay-off that keeps me ill? This seems very strange when I think of it because, you know, we ALL WANT TO HEAL. But, there are subconscious emotional under currents in all of us that could potential make it harder and more difficult to reach that goal. And those emotional under currents can and do affect our physical body and it's ability to heal or not. There's even a LOT of literature how things like cancer may even be caused by emotionally-based issues rather that physical/environmental triggers.

It's a fascinating subject to me. Snd I think it holds a BIG part of the key to healing from chronic illness. I have a great friend, a woman who had stage 4 blood cancer when she was 30. Her prognosis was not good and she was not expected to make it past her 35th birthday. Yet, today, at age 40, she's been free of cancer for 9 years. Sure, she needed the chemo and stuff to help her body fight off the invader but she attributes her getting well to just being with and living life. Her mantra is "Life is Good" and she says it many times a day - I am just amazed at her attitude. She is a triathlete and eats healthy as well but still can drink a glass of wine or five on the weekends.

Anyway, it's just someting to think about. I know when in the midst of the dark days of my Lyme suffering, I tended to live the disease 24/7 and obsessed with serching the internet for various ways to be cured. I worried myself sick over it and tended to blame everything from inadequate doctors to bad luck being bitten to bad genes causing me to be more susceptible to the illness. Only when I started to accept my OWN responsibility to get better and change my victim-based obsession to one that is healing based did I begin to improve. So, now when I cry, I tell myself this is GOOD as I am dumping emotinal toxins where, before I'd be thinking something likee "poor me, Lyme has caused me to be depressed". LOL...thanks for being a good sounding board on a very interesting subject...now, out to run a few miles on this gorgeous early Spring day!

WWWJD - me too about fightling this forever. I am 52 and have had Lyme since at LEAST age 17. I get a flare about every 5 years, have it for a year and then wash, rinse and repeat! I am hoping that now that I finally know what it is (as of this past June), I never have to deal with it again - at least as ssevere a level as before. I have been beaten to the pits of Hell at times but always, ALWAYS just know and see a glimmer of light at the end of that long tunnel that tells me to keep going and keep getting back up! What other choice do I really have?! LOL!

Thanks +Lyme!

I do think that coming to terms with an illness can bring some peace. I know for me once I accepted and convinced myself I could get well, I started heading in the right direction. I attribute the acceptance to a reduction in stress and thence a more well enabled body to heal. While we all know it would be nice if it were that simple, it certainly can't hurt to make thinking positive the only way to go.

This has been a subject on the board a few times......love this subject.

When I was in therapy when I was really ill, I thought the whole mind/body connection was hogwash. Then I met some seriously ill cancer patients who along with good living, had the most positive attitudes.

I then grasped the whole idea of the spirit of my illness as well. At the time I got sick, I was deathly unhappy in my life. Slowly I started to look for answer. Like they say "when you're ready, the teacher will come"

Well once I was ready, I started to meet many different people that guided me to spiritual and mental health. I was suggested books to read, books that changed my thinking.

My theory now is, healing is 10% physical and 90% mental. Your body will heal once you get your mind in order.

This is not to say illness is only psychological, but illness is mind, body and soul. You cannot ignore the mind and soul when treating the body. You will never heal just working on one

Great topic