Autoimmunity: A Relationship with Yourself

Normally, you body’s immune system protects you when you get sick.  However, if you have an autoimmune disease, you body starts to attack your body’s healthy cells.  In my practice I see a lot of people who have an autoimmune disease and here are some emotional and mental thought patterns that I’ve observed in them.  
 
Working with people who have autoimmune diseases holds a deeper meaning for me as I understand first hand what it’s like… I spent the majority of my childhood and early adulthood being extremely shy. Throughout my schooling, I had never once raised my hand in class to answer a question. I hardly ever spoke up, contributed my voice to conversations or even defended myself and was terrified of public speaking. Later on, I developed Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disorder affecting the thyroid (located in the throat area). This was a wake up call, and I looked at it as an opportunity to change my life.    

Emotional and mental patterns often observed in people with autoimmune diseases:

• there is a relationship challenge within themselves
  • what is your relationship between you and yourself?
  • are you hard on yourself?
  • do you beat yourself up?
  • do you fully embrace your imperfections and faults?
  • are you ever good enough?
  • if your body is attacking yourself, are you?
• they use vocabulary that takes ownership of the disease
  • “my Hashimoto’s, my MS, my Lupus etc”.  This is important because it is not yours and you can get rid of it
  • it is ok to talk about it, but don’t make it yours. You are not your diagnosis.
  • When you say it’s my car, my house, my kids, you are claiming that it is yours.  Same with when you say it’s my disease.  If it’s not yours, you can give it away.
• ignore it or wish it would go away
  • instead, say hello to it
  • you’ve spent so much time hating it, pushing it away and you have strong reactions to it, so it wants to push you back
  • the pain, symptom is here for a reason and it can’t be ignored
  • take a minute to be with it, ask it why it’s here.  

It is about a relationship with you and your body.  Pay attention to how you feel about your symptoms or your diagnosis.  How have they affected your life?  What are your beliefs around the diagnosis?  What are your beliefs about yourself around the diagnosis (worthless, scared, etc).  What did your doctor tell you about your diagnosis?  Do your symptoms baffle them?  Does it run in your family and do you feel doomed to have it?  
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For more help in talking to your body, give us a call.