Your Symptoms are Trying to Tell You Something

Hi guys, this is Dr. Kane and today we're going to talk about the data that your symptoms are giving you in order to help you heal. And have you ever heard that quote that your symptoms are your saving grace? It's a really different way of looking at things. Right when we get symptoms, the dominant medical model's response to that is the symptom is a problem, stop the symptoms, silence it, make it go away. And I want to share with you a completely different perspective, a completely different paradigm and actually encourage you that your symptoms are a good thing and that your symptoms are in fact your saving grace. And your symptoms are providing you an opportunity for really profound, deep healing. And so let's get into that a little bit. I want to make sure that my audio is working and so hang tight. We have a couple of people on the call. And so I'm really happy that you're here. How is our sound, loves? Can you hear everything okay? It's looking good. Perfect. So today we're talking about symptoms and what are symptoms? Why are symptoms happening? And I'm going to suggest to you that the dominant medical model actually has things backwards, that symptoms are not the problem, that symptoms are opportunities for us to heal. And so let me share with you two stories. And I got these stories are addendum from a book that I read by Jerome Groatman and they're about two separate people. Oh, hi. Hi. Emma Frances, my lovely soul sister. I'm so glad you're here. We're talking about your symptoms are a good thing with sounds totally crazy. And I promise you that I'm onto something here. So don't navigate away, listen, they'll explain to you why. And so we're going to talk about two stories. And there are two stories of women who were diagnosed with cancer. And so the first woman, she's diagnosed with cancer because she had this really peculiar bloating and these symptoms in her stomach. And so the symptoms were really bothersome for her and they prompted her to go to the doctor and she got an exam and she got a very early diagnosis and she was treated and subsequently went into remission and life was great. So the symptom that she experienced prompted her to go and get more information so that she could use a treatment. Right. And the second person that was described in this book, they didn't have any symptoms. It was a form of cancer that was fairly asymptomatic until it got to the point where it was so severe and so prominent that the, the treatments, they didn't work anymore. And so we see in oncology and in chronic disease how symptoms are life saving, that having headaches can help direct us to something that's going on in the brain that can be treated, that having gut symptoms can tell us that the gut's out of balance. Symptoms. Symptoms are your body's little canaries. They're your little attempts to tell you that something's out of balance. And so with this group, with everyone that I am passionate about serving, and with all you warriors, the symptom that we're talking about here isn't cancer. The symptom is anxiety. The symptom is our body is producing all of these feelings of being completely overwhelmed, of being wired and tired, of feeling hypervigilant, of feeling panicked. And then here, Dr. Cain is getting online and telling you that that's a good thing. And I remember when I first heard that data, when I was in the midst of my anxiety, I was like, I don't care what you say, there's nothing good about anxiety. It's terrible, it feels awful. And I just need something to make it stop. And I get that, and I resonate with that part of myself. I remember feeling that way. And at the same time, I wish that somebody would have encouraged me through the process to be able to relabel that. A lot of times when we have anxiety, our brains, we feel the anxiety, the limbic system, which is your emotional brain, the emotions, the way we feel, like the amygdala, all these things are firing. And then we have the brain stuff which is helping us have all these physical symptoms of anxiety. The heart palpitations, the burning, the headaches, the gut disturbance, all of these symptoms, right? Our brainstem is jumping in, and then our logical brain is jumping in. And I wish that somebody would have told me that I'm not in danger, that my symptoms are just simply little messengers. It's just data. And I wish I would have heard that, because that is the first step to getting you better more quickly. And with anxiety, we don't want to mess around. We want you to get better as quickly as possible. And the first step is to collect that data and to use that data in order to get you your life back. And so one of the first steps of the ACT method, which is the method that I came up with, that takes everything that I've learned in counseling and everything that I've learned in integrative medicine and, and creates a framework for how to deal with anxiety so that you can get your life back and not be suppressed. By medications and drugs and supplements that you can actually heal. And the first step is to acknowledge those canaries that are coming up, to acknowledge those symptoms that are coming up. And then when we have that acknowledgement, we're going to be able to take that information and then reverse engineer that and say, okay, this is how I'm feeling. This is an indicator that something in my life isn't working, that something is out of balance, that something needs healed. And so how did we get here? So acknowledging that, acknowledging that experience, and then we can reverse engineer that and figure out, okay, what has happened in my relationships, what's happened in my job, what's happened in my health, what's happened in my circumstances, my finances, what's happened in all these different assets and areas of my life that could have contributed to an imbalance that is now manifesting in anxiety. And it's important. We don't want to spend all of our time in the past because that's done. But our brain and our bodies hold on to everything. And if we haven't given that direction, if we haven't told that where to be, how to heal, how to integrate, then that's just going to hang out there and it's going to come up and inopportune moments to remind you, say, hey, I'm still here, I still need support. So that first step in the ACT method is to simply acknowledge, to change the way that we relate to our symptoms so that when the symptom comes up that we're able to say, okay, how did I get here? How did this symptom arise? What were the circumstances? Was it because I was out late five nights in a row and got like three hours of sleep? Or was it because I over exercised, or was it because I drank too much, or was it because I had a fight with my partner? Or was it because I had aversive childhood events? And so figuring out how you got to where you are now is a really important part of the ACT method because those things are still stored in your nervous system. And they're going to keep telling you that they're there until we heal them. So your homework for today is to start to notice your symptoms as they come up. And then when they come up, I want you to see, I want you to say, thank you for sharing. What do you need? What are your unmet needs? Thank you for sharing. What do you need? What are your unmet needs? And start to listen to that part. Listen to those symptoms. Start to listen to what your body and your mind and your emotions are telling you. And then I want you to write it down. And then if there are thoughts, like just brain dump, Brain dump. Journaling is such a powerful way to get all of the stuff out of our brains and onto paper so that it's workable and manageable. So when you have an anxious thought, or when you have that tightening in your throat or the racing in your heart or the burning in the back of your head, whatever it is, that's your body's data. It's all data loves. Anxiety won't hurt you. I know that. It can feel so scary. It can feel like you're gonna go insane. It could feel like you're going to die. It can feel scary, overwhelming. And the most important thing that you can do to stop anxiety from running your life is to identify it as an indicator of an opportunity to heal, to change your relationship with anxiety, to reverse engineer how you got to where you are. And then we can use the rest of the modules from the ACT method to get you where you want to be. You can get better, you can get your life back. And this is one of the first steps. So like I said, your homework today is whenever these feelings come up, physical, emotional, mental, I want you to write them down. And then I want you to ask the feeling, honor the feeling. Thank you for sharing your suffering. What is your unmet need? What can I do for you? And then start to pay attention to themes, start to pay attention to what's coming up for you. And then we're going to continue on in this process and unpacking and working with that, dealing with that. We're going to start creating new pathways in the brain and you can heal. I have a ton of free resources for you. My favorite starting point is I created a one week anxiety Freedom challenge. And you can find that in the Anxiety Freedom Warriors Facebook group. That's a free, private group that you can get in on. And I'm sharing a ton of information in there. My heart loves is to give you what I desperately needed When I was really anxious and I felt loves, I felt so alone. I went to an acupuncturist and they're like, oh, your chi is stuck. So they gave me acupuncture. I went to a psychiatrist and they're like, oh, you need more gaba. I went to a chiropractor, I went to a neurofeedback. I did all of the things and I felt like there wasn't anyone there to help me from A to Z to figure out exactly how did we get to where we are? What are all of the facets? What are my symptoms telling me? How do we honor that, unpack that and create a new strategy? And how do I create a life? That's what I want. And so my heart is to give that to you. And so if you haven't taken advantage of it, check it out. And then I have a webinar. And the webinar is also totally free. And in the webinar, it actually will teach you. It's called Somatographic Imagery. And in the webinar, it will teach you how. When you have these parts that are coming up, if you start noticing themes, like if they're similar little parts that say something throughout the day, and if you repetitively hear from that part, Somatographic Imagery is going to be the next place you're going to want to go and practice that. Every day there's a webinar. The webinar is about 45 minutes long. This matographic imagery piece, I will want you to have some time by yourself or you won't be interrupted in a quiet, calm place. And I'm going to teach you how to start to explore that part and to figure out what's going on with that. It's kind of like if you have a neighbor kid who keeps knocking on your door and running away, you're getting that knocking and you're like, what's going on? What's going on? This is an actual opportunity to find that kid, set them down in front of you and figure out what they're all about, what's going on. And so use these resources. They're here for you. Your anxiety can go away, it can get better. You can get your life back. It's just a matter of finding the right solutions for you. So I'm here for you. You can learn more about the Anxiety Freedom Warriors Group by. We'll put a link in the comments here. I'll have Haley do that for us and make sure that you dial in and use the information that will serve you the best that's possible. And then check out. I'm going to be here every Wednesday and every Friday, right around 1 o'. Clock. I am doing the Anxiety Freedom Program right now. And so I have some warriors that are in that group and that goes from noon to one. And so that's something that we'll be doing ahead of time. And then I'll be bopping on here to do a live for you, totally free live every single week, Wednesday and Friday. And so I'LL be coming and joining you there. If you have questions, if I can answer anything for you, send me a DM or leave it in the comments and I'll make sure that I'm here to serve you best I can. This has been Dr. Nicole Kane and I will see you next time. Thank you so much for watching. Loves.