Why do symptoms come and go and change Symptom Imperitive

Hi there, welcome to— hi, hi again. I'm just saying hello for the second or third time. I think I'm live now. Welcome to the Bend and Snap Active People Getting Back on Track. Welcome to my Tuesday night live. Here I am until maybe about 5 to 8 tonight. I aim to finish a little bit early so I can join my 8 PM meeting and be all organized and ready. So welcome all of new members that have joined this week. It's a privilege to have you here. For those of you that have not met me before, I'm a neuroplastic recovery coach and I specialize in helping people with chronic pain and chronic symptoms. And I help people to work out the root cause And whether or not the cause is coming from the mind-body symptoms, or whether or not it is a physical structural cause. So tonight I wanted to talk to you all about a really relevant subject in the world of mind-body medicine, and this is why do sometimes we have symptoms that come And then we'll manage to get well from one, and then something else will pop up in its place, and so on and so on. So we managed to get rid of one thing, but then we'll have something else instead. And so the title was, why do some symptoms come and go and change? And that was the inspiration from this session, because it's, um, something that crops up a lot in this, this world, and many people will relate to that. I think I just can't seem to get rid of anything. It's like one thing after another. So that's what I'm going to talk about today, and I'm going to share some concepts with you that might help to explain what's really going on. But yeah, welcome everyone. I hope you've had a lovely week. Please use this time just to really relax and settle down and just maybe for the first time today, just relax your your body, relax your shoulders, take some nice deep breaths, breathing in and out nice and slowly, and just really just be here. I really appreciate all of you guys that show up every week to be with me on these lives. One day I will sort out my technology so that Facebook allows the messages to come in, so that I can actually say hello, but please do type in the chat during the live and say hi, ask any questions, share any insights. I really appreciate that. Yeah, so today I've just managed to do my hula hooping session, which I lead on a Tuesday. I'm not gonna lie, on Saturday I've not done a The Yorkshire Three Peaks for quite a while now. I think it might have even been a year since I've last been running up and down mountains. So I did that on Saturday. I think it's about 25 and a bit miles, and I am— I have been feeling, feeling the muscle fatigue, let's put it that way, because I'm not— it's not something that I do, like I used to do that quite regular. But the gaps between me doing ultramarathons and marathon distance have been quite big since I've sort of started to take a back step from doing events and different things. I'm more of a training buddy these days, which is what I enjoy. Shared that with you all a few months back. I said, I don't have any intentions on doing any more, like, official ultramarathons, you could say, or marathons. I just don't have any plans to do any more. But I do get invited on long training runs with friends, so I really enjoy those adventures. What did I call it a few weeks ago? I called it no agenda, joyful activities, just basically a nice adventure. So that's what we did on Saturday. So normal muscle fatigue kicked in big time over the last few days, but I've just managed to do like squats and lunges with the hula hoops, which I'm really Pleased with, because I think it's the first day where I've actually been able to bend down, almost. I struggled to get down the stairs, I'm not gonna lie, on Sunday and Monday. But anyway, here we are. So let's get into this then, what I want to share with you for today. I'll just quickly click again just to see if any comments— sorry guys, I'm not getting them, but thank you for being here. Because I know you are. Um, so the concept for today that we're going to talk about, the official term for it— I didn't put that in the title for the session because I literally think this stuff up at my lunch break on a Tuesday, and I'm like, whoops, I need to get the invite out. Um, and I didn't want you to think, what on earth is this session? I wanted it to sound a little bit appealing. So really what I'm talking about today, about symptoms That change, or you get rid of one thing and then you get another one. The official term for this is what they call the symptom imperative. Okay, so it was Dr. John Sarno who originally coined the term symptom imperative, and basically it's describing something that's really important to know about Because it's when one symptom or pain settles down, another one shows up in replacement for that. Another way that you may have heard this described is also symptom substitution, and it's Dr. Schubiner who calls that symptom substitution. It means the same thing— symptom imperative or symptom substitution. What One thing goes and another thing comes in its place. Okay, I'm going to share an example of this that's personal for me, and if I would have known at the time, I could have been like, aha! It may have saved me a lot of years of chronic back pain, let's put it that way for sure. So basically what happened is I had a car accident I was twisted. I had a neck injury, head injury, so I had neck pain for quite a lot of years, but I had some placebo treatment. I did not know at the time anything about mind-body syndrome. I knew nothing. So I believed what I'd been told by doctors, that I had a lifelong neck injury, that I would need to have No. Radiofrequency nerve ablations or steroid injections or treatment basically to help to settle the pain. So at the time I had that done. So I go in, have the neck treatment done. It's a surgical procedure. It's quite a painful procedure, but I have a lot of trust, a lot of expectations. I've got a lot of confidence that this is going to be really helpful for me. I'm going to have this done and I'm going to come away and the pain is going to be eliminated and I'm going to feel so much better for around about 18 months to 2 years, which is what I was told by the doctors doing the procedure. And I'd had some trial injections that I'd had a good— that had been really helpful, so they gave me even more confidence that this procedure was going to be what this is the next best thing because if you can have the steroid injections and that'll last 3 to 4 months, have this other treatment done and that's going to last you a couple of years. I was like, brilliant, I'm really grateful for that. So I go and I have that done and yeah, it hurts at first, but then as time went on, that pain settled down. But little did I know that I was having a symptom imperative. Because after that happened, when I connect the dots up looking back, I then began with some lower back pain, which literally I do not know what was the cause of that. I don't know where it came from. I now know that this was a symptom imperative. So one thing was sorted and another thing came in its place. Which is the perfect example of symptom imperative. So I treat one area, I feel like, brilliant, the pain switches off in that now that it's got a lot less messages of danger going towards it. There's a lot less fear attached to that. There's a lot less concern. But ultimately, I still have a brain at the time that is Perceiving a lot of danger in my life. I still have a hypervigilant brain that is scanning, looking for anything and everything, what's going on. And so because I've got to a point where I'm really confident about that everything's fine with the neck, that there's no danger there anymore, everything's okay in that department, even though I've managed to create a lot less fear in that department and my brain is no longer perceiving this neck to be a massive issue, unfortunately what's still happening in these cases where a person would develop a different symptom, and it could be a reflux, it could be knee pain, it could have been hip pain, it could have been anything, it could have been any one of a massive amount of different symptoms that it could have been, it could have been eye IBS, migraines, all the other things that I had. Many, many symptom substitutions over the years. Because ultimately, if the brain is still in high alert and it's still in a protective state and it doesn't understand the concept of a symptom's imperative, it goes on. It goes on and on and on sometimes. And some people end up with, in their double figures, of symptoms, which is, which is a massive shame because if we understand this stuff, then it really can be prevented and eliminated. So next thing it's my back, next thing it's my leg, next thing it's my calf, and there's just new symptoms that seem to be multiplying. Everybody's journey is very different and unique. There's no one pattern, some similarities for some people, but again, Um, I solve one issue and then have another one. Um, and so I, I'm with you, you guys, if any of you are having this where you're thinking, well, that's me, I relate to that, because it can feel like such a scary place to be. Um, but the important part of this is understanding that your brain will always have One job and one job only, which is to protect you. The bias is to protection. If, if there's something that's perceived as dangerous, even though it can get it wrong, it'll take the quickest path. It doesn't always get it right. It can get it wrong. It can think there's a danger and get it wrong. It'd rather get it wrong and you have a whole load of back pain than not get it wrong and you're in a real danger. And it doesn't alarm you and notify you, because what we understand is that all pain, all symptoms, all created in the brain. And pain is not a really, really accurate way to assess the condition of the body, to assess the condition of the structures, the structural Of the body. I've got a weird action needed on my livestream, so I'm hoping that everything's working. I'm going to continue regardless, and I'm sure everything will be fine. So the brain is always trying to protect you. So if it perceives a danger, so even though you may have done really well to no longer be worrying, for me it was I was no longer worried about the neck pain, I thought there's some hope here. I can have these in, uh, this treatment done every couple of years, and if I have to do that forever, I'm not bothered anymore. I can handle it. Everything felt good in that area, but clearly my hypervigilant brain was still in that mode and it needed to alarm me, and it could no longer use my neck pain as a way of alarming me. It decided it was gonna move down the back and it was gonna do, do other symptoms like eye pain. insomnia, you name it, there was lots of symptoms to go along with that. Um, let me think, so yeah, many reasons, but some of the key areas that the brain can perceive that there is a lack of safety in are if we've got a concern about our bodies, if we're worried about our, the body, the structure, the ability of the body, the physical, if I've got some fear or doubt about, about that. Um, just got a little list here. We've got activities themselves, so another example of a symptom imperative. And bearing in mind, we're all human, we're never gonna eliminate these things entirely. The chronic things we can, but being a human and experiencing, um, physical symptoms as a result of your brain perceiving a danger is something that we'll all have, all people. So even this Saturday, I told you that I went and did the Yorkshire Three Peaks, and I've not done something like that for quite a while. In the run-up that week, what day was it? I think it was on the Tuesday. In fact, it might have been after I'd done my live, the Wednesday and the Thursday. I had some very strange sensations, but I now recognise them for what they are, and I kind of get quite excited about it because I'm like, oh, because I kind of, I know what it is, and I don't get scared or worried. But I had some really strange sensations in the top of my left glute, bum cheek, and I knew what it was, and I knew that my brain was perceiving, I hope I'm going to be okay on Saturday, I hope I'm going to make it, because I've not done anything like that for a long while. But yeah, that was another example. So the actual doing the activities themselves, if we're having some Um, fear, whether that's unconscious or conscious, that, um, am I going to be capable of this? Is my body going to be able to do this activity? Um, or for some people it could just be that, like for me, I used to have sitting as an issue. I couldn't, I didn't, I avoided sitting. So there's an example of, um, um, a potential, my brain perceiving an activity like sitting down as a danger. And then we've got the actual symptoms and the pain themselves. So again, frustration, anger towards those symptoms themselves, anything like that, again, a message of danger. And the last sort of section here, just to split it into simple areas, are emotions. So feeling miserable, feeling sad, feeling Angry, feeling frustrated, again, the brain can really deem those emotions as— especially if we're avoiding them, not feeling them, sort of like trying to do anything and everything we can to get away from them— again, the brain can deem that as an alarm, a threat of a real danger. So emotions again can cause the cycle to continue. So sometimes if you just kind of got a little bit of an insight and an understanding, it's good to be curious and look out for that. I think most people can come up with an example where they may have experienced something similar to this, but ultimately It doesn't mean that you're going to be stuck there, like in this game of whack-a-mole forever, where you get fixed one thing, then another thing, and so on and so on. And you're just dealing with one symptom at a time, then another one. Because if, if you understand that ultimately they're all coming from the same cause, that's a really, really useful piece of information that I wish I knew. Because it makes things so simple, and there's so much less to do because you don't need to do anything different. It's just about knowing that if you can create enough safety for yourself, enough evidence, enough reassurance, and get the balance there, With any symptom, all symptoms that's happening, then everything can shift. That changes everything because it's not just about eliminating the fear and getting the balance right just for one symptom and one only. We're doing the same with all of them. We're treating them all in the same way because they're all coming from the same cause, and not one is more dangerous than another. and so on. So it's just about teaching our own brain that we are safe, um, and that our body is healthy and strong and capable. Um, and but the only way really to get to that point is to really rule out physical, really, really know for yourself, like with clarity, um, that you've done that, that you're Um, symptom is not anything physical. Once that's been ruled out, that can be so helpful. Um, and how you're responding in the moment, you know, to whatever it is that's coming up. So for me, I can laugh now because whatever bizarre symptom could be happening, this really strange sensation I've never felt before, I've had it before in other random areas of the body. Um, But I now know what exactly what that is, and I know, not because it can be, it's something completely unusual that I might have never experienced before, that I get all the, like, from time to time, and I'm beginning to now realize that it does tend to be in the running, in the days leading up to me doing something that I might not have done before, or not done for a long while, so some sort of potential fear. going on, and it's always doing something really random that I might not have experienced before, that I think, gosh, that's a new one. But because I'm so aware of this stuff, I recognize it straight away for what it is, and it disappears within days, so quickly. I actually felt really good getting up at 5 o'clock on Saturday morning because I'd got myself to a point where the messages of safety were outweighing the danger and the scales were on my, um, to my advantage, you could say. Um, so yeah, when something new pops up, instead of panicking, it's just about going back to the understanding. I actually know what this is now. I've got an explanation for it. Symptom imperative. I remember the first time I got a symptom imperative, I actually got really excited. And it was a really, really difficult one to deal with. I'm not, I'm not going to play it, play it down, it was a very difficult one to deal with. There were a little bit of uncertainty inside of me, but fortunately my intuition was correct and it was nothing dangerous or catastrophic. So yes, obviously if there is a fear that there is something dangerous or catastrophic, You know, use your intuition and go get checked. Obviously, we're not gonna be careless with this stuff. We're not saying everything that you'll ever experience and every symptom, because there are real genuine legitimate physical things that do need checking. You know, we do have medicine and doctors for that. So yeah, don't be careless with this stuff, but when you know, you know, and you can really help yourselves by Um, taking a sensible step, doing the, the symptoms, checking through, does this meet the criteria for a mind-body symptom? And then you can, instead of panicking, you can give yourself those messages. My brain's being protective. I'm okay. I'm not concerned. Um, just clear my throat. Keep getting a little bit of a cough this week. And you can do that the best way that you can, because even like when I think back to being out running with different people over different occasions, I've had this myself as well where you'll set off and you might have one part of your body that starts You know, playing up. And then you'll, you'll kind of like think, oh, that's fine, that's nothing, it's gonna go. And then the next thing it's moved to another part of your body. And then you're like, ah! And it can really, really be confusing and difficult to deal with. And an example that's just popping up for me was because it's been the Chester 100-mile ultramarathon, the GB Ultras Chester, has been this weekend as well. And I've been seeing lots of posts online popping up, and it reminded me of when I did that same ultramarathon. I think it was in 2023. I think it was 3 years ago now. And at the very beginning, like literally within the first 6 miles, I started with this really, really, really colourful symptom in my back, lower back. Never had it before, right in the middle. Oh, no. Never felt anything like it. And it was right near the beginning. And, um, but this is before I even knew about symptoms imperative or anything, um, back then. But luckily, I'd just been so used to having to keep going with different symptoms that it wasn't unfamiliar to me to have to do that. Um, but again, now I look back on that and it makes perfect sense that my brain Was like, what are you doing, Jo? You're going to do 100 miles, it's really warm, the weather is like 30-odd degrees. And I had all, all these thoughts going through my mind, like, what are you doing? And my brain must have been in such high alert, the alarm bells were ringing like mad, and it, it couldn't give me my normal sensations because they're not gonna— I'm not gonna pay attention to that. So it did everything it could To stop me. It did everything that it could to stop me. Unfortunately, I just caught— like, I actually didn't know back then about this stuff, but ultimately I behaved in the way that we would be recommending. Little attention, nothing serious, call it out, you know, like it's either gonna come or go, and I just keep going, and eventually it gave up. It gave up and went away, which is incredible because I would have never believed that. I'm glad it did because I would have never achieved that ultramarathon that day. I'd have never made it to the finish line. And some people will have like pain in one side, one knee, and then it'll move over to the other knee and you're like, how on earth can it— can that happen? It's another giveaway. But you can actually get to a point where you really call it out for what it is and you just end up having a giggle. having a little laugh because you're thinking, no way, this is just crazy the way that this stuff works. Um, and it can be really helpful to just look out for these things. Um, but just remember that if a new symptom's popping up, it's not because you're never going to get well, it's just because your brain is still perceiving something as dangerous. It's still in high alert. Um, but little fear, little attention, Because the more that we focus on it and the more we worry about it, the louder it'll get. So difficult to do, I'm not saying this stuff is easy, but it is possible eventually if you work towards being more calm, being more curious, giving yourself more reassurance, just bit by bit working towards, you will get the evidence, you will see these things, and you will be able to call it out for what it truly is for yourselves, like I now do. Um, you can respond more calmly, more confidently, less fear. If you're struggling, you can always get in touch and get help. Um, but thank you for listening today, and thank you for being here. I'm going to leave it at that, and I'm just going to share with you that once you've had anything physical, structural, medical ruled out, you really can— once you've ruled in mind-body symptoms, you can Reassure yourself that you're not broken. Your body is not against you. The brain would never do that. It'd only ever want to protect you. That's the only reason why it would be doing that. So you can get ahead of the game, and when you know what's happening, it's so much easier and you can get well so much quicker. So good luck, and I'll see you all next week. Thank you for being here. Have a lovely week. Bye. Bye.