The body’s automatic response to pain

I forget what this is called but the body has this automatic response to pain. We don’t have to think about moving our hand off something hot when we touch it, we just do it. This is adaptive - it keeps us alive and moving toward situations and environments that don’t hurt us.

But what happens when the pain is inside? What happens when the pain is persistent and doesn’t have an apparent root cause? What happens when there are layers of pain? What happens when some of the pain is emotional and some of it is physical? What happens when we get so used to feeling pain inside that it becomes our normal - the more familiar setting?

Well, the automatic response of pulling away still happens. Except it is in response to the pain in our body. You will notice this if you pay attention. So, if the pain is there all the time, the automatic response stays on and in my case, it got stuck on the on setting. This causes exhaustion and fatigue as the nervous system is continuously activated. It causes all sorts of issues. These are secondary symptoms.

So, when this becomes our normal - the constant contraction in our bodies, how do we get out of it? Most practitioners will talk about ‘Pain Management.’ And there is a time and a place for pain management. But it won’t get you out of the constant automatic response.

In my experience what I wanted was healing. Not pain management. There was no way I was going to live the rest of my life with the amount, intensity of pain I was in, and the associated limitations (cognitive, social, physical). I knew the amount of pain I was feeling wasn’t ‘normal’ and when I would tell people that some of them would say ‘what is normal anyway?’ and I would assert that the pain I was feeling wasn’t typical. So, I went on a journey of healing. And this is where I discovered that my body was constantly protecting itself against the pain I was feeling internally and this automatic response to pain was always on.

I tried almost all the therapies available. I dove deep into my body and started asking a lot of questions. I talked to a lot of different people. I chose to follow my intuition and internal compass to full physical healing. And one of the things that turned ‘off’ this automatic response to pain was meditation. To sit and be with everything that is, noticing & not doing anything about anything. I would sit there and about 10-15 minutes in, after about a week and a half of practice, this automatic response to pain completely relaxed. My body fully relaxed. It felt like a reprieve. It felt glorious. I felt both exhausted and wired at the same time after the automatic response let go.

There are many things and layers to the pain I experienced, as I imagine it is with anyone that lives with any amount of pain on a daily basis. Healing does occur, given that the body is prioritized and the person is willing to heal. It takes as long as it takes.

Where I am now on my healing journey, is assisting my body with detoxing. Not moving for such a long time caused other issues, namely stagnation in my body. Detoxing does not feel ‘fun’ for me and is a full body experience, so I do a little bit every day.

I am also dealing with low mood & loss of interest and motivation. This is all related. I had an assessment done and it showed that I have short term memory issues, which also comes with it’s challenges. I can name everything that was related to this and how it impacted my daily living, but that isn’t that important here. What’s important here, is now that I have evidence of this it gives me clarity and a direction of what kind of support I need in my daily life.

When I was going through this body and pain journey, the supports I needed daily shifted and changed, depending on what I was experiencing. I say was going through the journey, because the chapter where it was really challenging to live because of the pain I was experiencing is complete. I still have a journey with my body, but it’s not as central in my life anymore.

With love,