FIBROMYALGIA - TURN OFF FIGHT, FLIGHT, FREEZE CONT...
gering the stress response. It turns out that the peptide molecules that instruct our emotional state are the same molecules that store our past memories. A recent scientific discovery called Memory Reconsolidation shows how we can bring calm to our past memories, just like you experienced calm in the exercise. In this way, you can experience more and more of your life from the calm state. I developed The ICE Method as a simple way to help people live from the calm state rather than from fight/flight/freeze stress. In 2012, I completed a study with 39 people at a fibromyalgia clinic. Everyone who entered the calm state experienced significant pain reduction. In a single session, eighty percent experienced feeling zero pain. The pain of the people in the study returned after they reentered their stressful environments. First conclusion – turning off the fight/flight/freeze stress response works. Second conclusion - It’s important to keep the stress response turned off. Based on The ICE Method and the study results, I wrote Fibromyalgia Relief and created a video course and online support community to help people turn off their stress response and then keep it turned off. I thought people would line up in droves to turn off their fight/flight/freeze stress response. Instead, I’ve discovered unexpected wariness from people with fibromyalgia against trying this simple technique. Let me share my thoughts on why this is the case, and the road ahead for fibromyalgia relief.
10 • Fibro Living Magazine • www.inspiredlivingwithfibromyalgia.com
If we’re a person with our fight/flight/freeze stress response stuck in the on position, it originally turned on and stayed on for good reason. The stress response originally helped us survive one or more specific dangers, and then it got stuck on and created a pattern for our safety. Our fight/flight/freeze response is stuck ON because experiences in our life led us to perceive that the world is dangerous, or could be dangerous at any moment. Having the fight/flight/freeze stress response turned ON all the time is our best way of being prepared for whenever that danger shows up. We keep it ON all the time, even if the threat happened decades ago. We keep it on whether or not there’s an immediate physical threat. Having our stress response stuck ON is enormously taxing and wearing for the body. Eventually the body wears down and the symptoms of pain can begin, often in our twenties or thirties, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Exceptions exist, but this is a pretty standard story for people with fibromyalgia. For more on the health impacts from our stress response getting stuck, I recommend Bruce Lipton’s Biology of Belief. So, again, why don’t people line up to turn off their stress response? Because the stress response protects us from perceived danger, even if its danger from a childhood trauma decades ago. Turning off the stress response would turn off our perception of protection. That would feel dangerous. And so, we keep our stress response ON to keep ourselves safe. In the process our bodies wear down, and we suffer health issues.