Disconnected From Allostatic Load & Stress

This is the continuation in a series on allostatic load.  In part 2, we discussed if you don't deal with stress, it will deal with you.

If you haven't seen Part 2, go there first.

In Part 3, we will be discussing being disconnected from allostatic load and stress.

At first, we find some over the counter meds to take that disconnect us a little more from what is going on.  Our body is trying to get our attention with the pain or physical issue we are experiencing, but we ignore it.  We've got no time for it.  There are work deadlines to meet, travel and meetings to take place, kids to take care of, bills to pay and so on and so forth.  There are a million reasons we come up with, and we say that tomorrow we will take a few hours and stop to rest.  Tomorrow comes and goes, but we keep pushing on so that we can get caught up.  Unfortunately we never catch up.

The body tires to hang on.  It tries hard not to adjust the set point of allostatic load, but it has no choice.  We keep pushing and pushing.  The body continues to degrade and wear down.  Our mind becomes more disconnected to what reality is and our perception becomes our new reality.

We then turn to doctors and their procedures, demanding they find the label for the condition we have.  We demand that the doctor cure us and we ignore and fail to listen to what the doctor is trying to tell us.  Often, doctors and other health practitioners don't have a good handle on how to deal with allostatic load, so in frustration and despair in between seeing many patients, they give us a prescription and a diagnosis.

We get our prescription filled and we exclaim to our friends, this label is what we have.  Our friends show sympathy and gasp at the difficulty we face.  We feel supported, and we temporarily feel like we've found help and we'll get better.  The prescription, of course, reinforces that it is best to disconnect from reality, and it reinforces what our perception is, even if it is misguided.

The body however has still not won.  It has tried to get our attention and tell us that our set point is way out of the range of normal.  It begs us to take a good hard look at our life, but we're too busy for that.  We've got too much to do.  There is just no time for self evaluation and besides, doing something like that is for those new age people, not for serious people.  That's what we tell ourselves and that's what we make ourselves believe, but there is no truth to it.

Our body continues to stay on alert because we've never allowed it to come to any other conclusion.  We've revved up the motor and kept it in neutral.  Our allostatic load continues to increase into further degradation of the mind and body, taking us dangerously close to the point of no return.  We continue to ignore it, knowing that we've got the diagnosis and prescription.  What else do we need, we ask ourselves amusingly.  There is nothing.  We've got this, we exclaim.

We interject some happy memes and positive thoughts.  We say some extra prayers.  We project to the world around us that all is okay and we're managing this.  To be strong is what this life requires us to be, we are taught.  We can't show weakness.  We must show we're strong and in control.  Again, we are feeding ourselves a false perception in life, not the reality that actually exists.

At some point, our body will get our attention.  It may be pain that is so great we can not take it any longer.  It may be some physical ailment that demands emergency care.  It may be anxiety and depression that disorients our life to the point of not being sure which way is up or down.  If we continue to ignore it, our body and our mind will keep throwing up the flares in the hope that we listen.

Picture it like a spring getting wound up more and more, tighter and tighter.  At some point, there is no more winding left.  The only thing remaining is that the spring has to unwind.  It has so much kinetic energy locked in waiting to bombard its way out.

When you get to this point, the only hope is that you'll not be past the point of no return.  Unfortunately with the health issues we are facing today, it is more common for people to push allostatic load to the outer edge of possible limits.

Most doctor visits are related to stress and studies have been done to prove that.  Doctors know it, but patients demand they help feed the disconnect between reality and perception.

There is so much more that interconnects with allostatic load, and while I'm trying to simplify it into something that's easy to understand, I know that it is more complex than this.  Yet, I know it can be as simple as what I describe.  I've been there.  I've pushed my own body past its limits and you can read more about that in my book, Hope and Possibility Through Trauma.

Make sure you check out the next part in this 5 part series.  

 Part 4 is "Stress Setpoint In The Emergency Danger Zone"

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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What More Could You Be Doing?

Our health is one of those things that we think about, know about, and act on every day, but sometimes we just don't do as much for our heath as we should.  So, my question to you is, what more could you be doing for your health?

It sounds like such a simple question but in all reality it is not.  If we all did as much for our health as we should, our country and the world would be far healthier than it is.  Health care costs would be lower and people would most likely not be as cranky because of pain.

Part of the problem is that we see the doctors as holding the key to our health, rather than impacting our health through our daily actions and activities.  We think because we have insurance for when something goes wrong, that we can put off the little healthy activities that add up.  It is part of our human behavior to do this.

I am always amused when I hear people talk about how healthy they eat.  I worked in a fast food restaurant and people would order the salad bar and then add on fries and a milkshake.  I always sat there dumbfounded, but hey in the fast food world, its profits over health.  We weren't allowed to encourage people to think about what they eat.  We were to sell them as much as we could get them to eat.

People talk about how healthy they are...

I see people talk about how healthy they eat, but then if you go into the grocery store of certain areas, it does not match what people claim.  If you look at the overall obesity in these same areas, there is plenty of evidence that people don't eat as healthy as they think they do.  Look at how much produce is purchased versus how many soft drinks, snacks, and processed foods go through the cash registers.

How many people go and gulp down sugar-flavored coffee drinks every day.  Do you realize just how many calories are in one of those things?  If not, do a google search and you'll find the answer.

If you aren't reading the labels in the grocery store, you're eating stuff that is of questionable value and most likely full of sugar or other things that do nothing for your health.  I am constantly amazed at what is put into foods in the grocery store.  It blows my mind and if you don't read every label, you're going to get bamboozled.

Activity that gets you moving...

How many people go out and walk or take part in activity that gets them moving where they can burn some calories, move the toxins from the cells, and get those joints a rocking?  We've all got the same amount of minutes in a day and its really up to us in how we use those minutes.  Are you being effective with your minutes?  If not, what can  you do to change that?

Diabetes is fast becoming a major health issue in this country and so much of this is caused by lifestyle choices.  If you keep dumping sugar and junk into your body, sooner or later it is going to catch up.  Why not start cutting back on sugary drinks or sugar in your diet.  Add more "water" to your day.  Keep a glass of water close to your desk and see how many of those you can drink in a day.

There are so many things we can do to impact our health, but for whatever reason, we don't do them.  We talk about it.  We sometimes mock those that don't do it.  Yet, we're right in there making the same poor choices.

About medications and doctors...

Just because you're on a medication that has balanced whatever issue out in your life, it doesn't mean that this condition is okay.  It just means the medication is replacing your role in the condition.  Yes, I know that there are some medications that are needed and I'm not telling you to stop your meds.  What I am urging you to do is think about your role in the situation.  What more could you be doing?

Don't expect your doctor to have the time to hold you by the hand.  Many doctors are so overwhelmed with patient loads that they have little time to counsel you.  Many really want to help, but outside factors, including your willingness to change, often prevents them from doing what they need to do. Far too often, doctors have their own paradigms of healing, so why not learn on your own and discover how you can interact with your own health.

We all make choices on our health.  We all make decisions as to whether we're going to work to be more healthy or not.  Often, everyone waits until they are at the critical emergency state before we wake up and start to do something.

Our health is not going to improve on its own if we keep treating our mind and our body like garbage dumps.  So, I'll end with the question I started with on this blog post.   

What more could you be doing for your health?

Feel free to leave a comment of what you think you could be doing to help your own health.  See if you can come up with a plan where you take action and do something.  You may just be saving your own life from misery, pain, and expensive medical bills.

#health

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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The Crutches Don't Heal You

Writing this blog post, I realize that most likely we all know what it is I am saying.  However, it is worth repeating because too often we don't see healing in the best possible way.  We tend to look at the crutches as if this is what heals our broken leg.  The crutches are there to help, but they don't heal you.

Now, I'm really not talking about broken legs and crutches.  These are just the metaphors that I'm using to illustrate the point that the crutches don't heal you.  What you do and allow and surrender to is what heals you.

Crutches can be a label for your condition, a medication you are taking or a procedure that you are going through.  Crutches can be a belief system that does not advance your healing.  Crutches can be a new age alternative approach that is more feeling and belief than results.  Crutches are anything that keeps you thinking that whatever it is will make you better when in fact, it is taking you away from feeling in your body.

We go to doctors and healers and we take medications and supplements.  We participate in various activities and practices that are designed to take us out of our suffering and pain.  While many of these things are good and grounded in reality, there are plenty that are not.  Today is not a discussion about that part of the healing process.

The thing we do as humans is we tend to think the doctor, the healer, the medication or the supplement have the answers to end our suffering.  We think if we take part in this practice or activity, it heals us.  Unfortunately, it is not any one of these things that heal us.

Now, you may be saying, but when I went and did this thing or went to that person, I got better.  Yes, you did!  I'm not disputing that.  However, it was not the person, thing, or practice that did the healing.   They just helped you find that healing in yourself.  Again, some do a much better job of this than others.

Healing comes from source energy and it comes from within us.  There may be people along the way that help lift us from despair and find a different world.  If we use these people and see them as a crutch that does the healing, then we have not learned that crutches don't heal you.  Crutches help you find the healing.

I know in the early days, it may be our complete capacity to just surrender into the person, thing, or procedure, not even beginning to see that we can heal, let alone heal ourselves.  As we progress, we should begin to see that we have much more within us.  We should be able to see that our crutches are there to support the healing, not be the healing.

There are some groups and individuals out there that are truly supportive and do help people to heal, but there are many that offer you services and products that take you away from the power you have inside.  They take you out of your body and place that power upon someone or something.  In those cases, the crutches have taken over your life.

I do realize that if you have faced insurmountable odds throughout your life, that seeing yourself as holding any power to change anything is often too great.  It takes the crutches to help you support your life enough to being seeing this.

Just don't continue to believe that the crutches are what heals you.  Learn to find that place within yourself that brings you to the point of power and sensing your innermost self.  It is in that place, where you will find true healing.  The healing power comes from within your ability to feel your internal body.  Feeling is healing and healing is feeling.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 12/18/15 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Clutter In Our Life, Part 6

Clutter #6 - Health care, Doctors, and Medicine
Part 6 of 10

At one time, I thought the only way you became healthy was going to your doctor for a checkup and then running to the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions the doctor prescribed. Of course, after some life changing moments I went through, I woke up and realized that I was chasing an illusion instead of something based upon reality.

Doctors, medicine and health care do have their place. Please do not misunderstand me! However, when we fail to take care of our bodies and we fail to heal ourselves from our past, going to the doctors for answers is like jumping off the edge of a cliff and hoping we'll fly like the birds and butterflies do.

We as humans pound our bodies to death each and every day, then we wonder why we get the pains we do, the heart disease, diabetes, cholesterol problems, as well as anxiety, depression and various other conditions. Most of these things are a result of us ignoring our bodies and numbing ourselves to what we feel.

If we spent as much time taking care of ourselves as we do listening to the medication advertisements on TV, we might all be surprised at how much healthier we become. Our country is spending records amount on so called health care and in reality, we are no more healthy than we were 50 years ago.

Taking a pill or drug to treat one symptom so affects some other part of the body that the next thing we find is we are treating another system of the body. It becomes a viscious circle until one day we will find that that drugs and pills have done us in.

Come back tomorrow for part 7 of this series, Clutter In Our Life. Below are the various parts to this series that you can read as well.

Clutter In Our Life Series
- Introduction
Part 1: Spending our hours watching TV news
Part 2: Keeping Ourselves Constantly Busy
Part 3: Numbing Ourselves
Part 4: Following Blindly
Part 5: Food Choices
Part 6: Health care, Doctors, and Medicine
Part 7: Hydrating Our Bodies
Part 8: Thinking We Have The Answers
Part 9: Exercise Is For Another Day
Part 10: We Fail To Evolve
- The 30 Day Challenge


Blog Post & Images (c) 3/20/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

High Tolerance To Pain OR Numbing Out

At one time in my life, I could endure a lot of pain. It had to get to the level that was so high before I would really pay attention to it. Usually in those situations, the situation was so dire that it would require going to the emergency room or a doctor for muscle relaxants and pain pills. I remember a few times that I was barely able to drive myself to the emergency room to get medical attention. Can you imagine that?

Not too long ago, I would have thought this was all a normal and standard part of living in life. Everyone gets pain, right? Everyone learns that you just have to suck it up and move on, right? After all, our jobs, families and other responsibilities don't allow us to be down with pain and physical problems. How many times have you heard someone tell you to just "buck up" or "suck it up" and move on? I bet if we were given a nickel for every time we heard that, we'd all be rich and wealthy.

Now I'm learning in life that there is another way. Of course, it took me going to the point of paralysis before I woke up a little. Yes, you heard me correctly. I was paralyzed from a Conversion Disorder, which is where you take various traumatic events in your life and just stuff them deep down inside until you can't function any more. It is rare to be in this psychological state, but unfortunately I'm living proof that it does happen. And if you want a wakeup call in life, trying being paralyzed and almost seeing your life end before your eyes. If that doesn't wake you up, not much will!

I suppose you're sitting here reading this and thinking, "what is this guy suggesting"? I'm glad you're asking that question. Then I'm assuming you're probably thinking - what's next, he's going to tell me to feel the pain? Wow, how did you hit the nail on the head so quickly? You're exactly right! And now I'm sure you're most likely sitting there reading this and probably uttering under your breath that I'm just plain nuts. Nope, this is first hand experience I am writing from here, and it isn't just a pie in the sky concept.

See, our bodies have a built in mechanism to help get our attention, and help us evolve or work through things in our lives to move us forward in life. That mechanism is "pain", "discomfort" and various other things. So often though, when the pain comes along, we say "we don't want to feel this", and we look for ways to numb it out, attempt to get rid of the pain, do surgeries to eliminate the pain and so on and so forth. However, in the end, we really didn't get rid of the pain, we just put a Band-aid on a gushing wound and thought we solved the problem. The source of the pain (the message) is still there in the body. All we've done is tried to silence the pain by applying Band-aids to it.

I know, I know - this concept may be totally foreign to you and you may be laughing so hard at me, but like I've said, I've experienced this concept over and over in my own life. If you think you have a high tolerance to pain, I would suggest that it is most likely your ability to numb out the pain - to not feel it, to act as if it doesn't exist. However, as I have learned in my own life and that of others, the more you try to numb it out or act as if it doesn't exist - the more the body says "I'll Get Your Attention". And the body will get your attention in some way or another. It doesn't give up. It keeps trying to say "hello, pay attention to me, I've got a message for you".

Most medical procedures, drugs, supplements, and many of the "feel good holistic therapies" out there just work to numb the pain. I get some information all the time in the mail about massage training that emphasizes “we get rid of pain or we eliminate pain”! I'm sorry, but that's not what is going to help anyone heal. It is by going into the pain, that we allow ourselves to heal. Yes, that is not easy to do and no, it is not comfortable, but when you connect the mind and body together as one without the fear, you can then go into the pain and find healing at the source level.

I'm not suggesting that you can do this on your own in the beginning, but I am merely trying to raise the bar of possibilities within our human culture. You may need someone that has already walked down the road, you are traveling to help show you the way. Ultimately, each of us has the ability to go past the fear, into the pain, and find healing for our lives. Healing doesn't come in some therapy, or some new age philosophy or a drug, doctor or surgery. Healing comes from within us. It is part of us and we are a part of it.

For legal purposes, please don't go stop what you are doing that was medically prescribed by your doctor after reading this. Check things out and take care of yourself in the proper way before you make a major change. There is a time and place for doctors, medications, surgeries and alternative treatments, but there is also a time and place for each of us to learn just how powerful the fears are in our lives and how much they prevent us from listening to our own bodies and our own internal health.

Learning to listen to your body and learning to go into the pain is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. It is the gift that keeps on giving. We were not put on this earth to exist in our human form. We were put on this earth to reach our full potential and to grow, learn and experience all that life has for us. Yes, many of us have been beaten down pretty bad in life. I am one of those, but the rewards of learning to be at one with your body are so much greater than the struggle through the process.

If you only remember one thing from what I’ve written, I hope you will remember that true healing comes from within - not from outside sources!

Health Care

I continue to be amazed at what our country, society and world views as "health care". If you say "health care", the first thing that comes to the mind of most people is going to a doctor for check ups, tests, medications and procedures. Ok, it might include a few other things to a few other people, but mostly that's what is portrayed in this world.

While there is a need for doctors and medicine and health care as described, that is only half of the picture. I know the medical association, the doctors, the pharmaceutical companies do not want you to think otherwise. For if you do, their corporate profits will go down.

Contrary to what 99% of the population thinks, there are so many other things that one can do to take care of their health. Yet, those things are in the minority and somewhat sampled on an occasional basis. And if you do not agree, just take a moment and look around you to see what the vast majority of people are doing for medical care. That is where the proof is to what I am saying.

In order for us to shift the paradigm that we have all fallen into, we have to examine some basic facts.

• #1 Much of our life experiences including our past, influence our present moments. If we do not deal with the past, it will deal with us. That is a plain, pure and simple and a proveable fact!
• #2 We often ignore the true message of the pain or health condition we are facing because it is easier to pop a pill, than to deal in the nitty gritty stuff of our life. Sometimes pills are needed in certain situations but they should not be the first thing we turn to.
• #3 We often make much more out of the situation then we need to because often (I'm not going to say always or 100% of the time) but often there is some emotional, mental or spiritual side to whatever medical situation we are facing. There is more to the picture than meets the eye.
• #4 We often feel solace and comfort in placing a label on the condition we have. However, the danger in this is that now we live up to that label after we find out all we can about it. We may not realize we do this but often labels we put on ourselves or our conditions hold us back more than they help us.
• #5 The mind is extremely powerful in healing our body if we allow it to do this. The placebo effect is now being found through research to do as much healing in physical ailments as the actual drugs themselves.
• #6 As a culture, we have relied on research to provide us with the answers and solutions that we need to either help treat ourselves or our loved ones. Yet, research is a big business with many dollars being thrown around and in order to evaluate the research, we need to follow the money trail. In following the money trail, analysis of the research results can be evaluated more accurately. Research and statistics do not necessarily mean that the conclusions are 100% accurate.
  
• #7 Fear is one of the most common culprits for making seeing eyes blind and by that, fear rules this world in so many ways and it blinds us to what is really and truly going on. Fear is valid when you are running from the tiger but fear has no place when you are trying to discover the intricacies of your body, the world around you and the universe.
  
• #8 Being with pain is very difficult whether it is your own or someone very close to you. As humans (especially when we have allowed fear to come into our lives), we struggle to be with someone or our self that is in pain. It is a natural part of our biological lives but when it becomes the sole arbitrator of our life or our loved ones, than we have lost site of the possibilities that exist.
  
• #9 Supplements and health drinks and potions and snake oil are widely used in the world by people who believe they will work. Often they cost so much money and while there is much science and research to back up the claims, these products fail to live up to the expectations. Remember the placebo effect? Remember to, that even in these so called "alternative health" means, you need to follow the money trail and evaluate them accordingly. Even with expensive price tags and miraculous claims, these things are not always what they seem to be. Look at them and evaluate them through open eyes that do not close.
  
• #10 Possibilities are endless! Let me repeat that. Possibilities are endless! Be careful, locking yourself into one paradigm thinking that this holds all the answers for you. For when you are thinking this way, you have given up on the possibilities that exist.
  
• #11 The answers we need are within us. In our society we fail to listen to ourselves, our bodies and our thoughts. We fail to connect to that which is within us. Within each one of us is a master healer. When was the last time, you listened to yourself and I mean truly listened to yourself? For when we do not listen to ourselves (to thine own self be true), we give our power up to someone else and we lose so much of the potential that is right within our bodies, our minds and our spirits.
• #12 Consider what is going on in your life the next time you get an ache or a pain or something seems off. Often what is happening in your life will show up in some physical way within your body. Have you ever heard someone say, "my back is killing me" as they over exert themselves without rest, or maybe my "legs are tired/hurt to move" when they are struggling to make a decision of their path in life? Do I need to say any more or is the picture clear?
  

Each one of us needs to evaluate what is best for our lives. If we do not take the time each day to listen to our bodies, to go in and clean out the closets of our lives and to give ourselves rest, than how can we expect to be healthy inhabitants of our own bodies?

Health care is not about procedures and taking pills. Health care is about getting to know your body in every way possible and then listening to your inner self in finding the most potential for your life that you can. There is so much more out there than the advertisements show us each and every day. We've become people with eyes that are closed when we so badly need to open our eyes and claim everything we can.

The potential exists and the possibilities are endless. How much will you close your eyes to? How much will you allow yourself to open your eyes and see?

Music As Medicine

MSNBC recently reported in an article titled, "Music As Medicine" how Doctors are using music to help their patients heal. From heart surgeries to brain disorders and cancer, music is being played to help heal their patients.

This article of course touches me deeply because of the music I create on the piano. I classify it as "relaxing piano music from the heart", for it is truly music that comes from my heart. It is healing and life changing for many people who have heard it. If you get a chance, check out the music sound clips on my website at www.donshetterly.com or you can also check out my CD, "Relaxing Spa Music" at Amazon or iTunes.