CNN.com recently ran an article on the ways that chronic pain puts additional stress and turmoil on relationships. One couple interviewed for the piece had really struggled with their marriage after the wife was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Her husband had difficulty supporting her because he thought that the condition was not real and all in her head.
People with fibromyalgia, like anyone with chronic pain, deserve support and empathy. The pain is very real. Here's what most folks won't tell you: the pain is also, very likely, created by the mind. Fibromyalgia is an idiopathic condition, which means it has no discernible cause. At this point in time, there is no virus, pathogen, genetic mutation, or any other biological cause of this condition that has been identified. Perhaps one day they will discover one, but my instinct tells me that they won't. Why? Because I believe fibromyalgia is a manifestation of the mind's power.
We keep learning how powerful the human mind is all the time. I've had clients who have such severe anxiety that they break out in hives when that anxiety is activated. Think about how powerful your mind must be to do this. There are documented cases of people who have stage four cancer going into spontaneous remission. Their doctors have no explanation of why. There are cases and stories all over the world of people using the power of their mind to do amazing things, both good and bad, healthy and unhealthy.
We have to re-evaluate what we really mean when we say something is "just in your head." The mind's power to manifest chronic pain and other debilitating conditions should not be taken lightly or waved off. When people have these conditions, they should not be labeled crazy or selfish. Each of us deals with the circumstances of our lives differently, and illness is one of the common results of people's inability to cope in a healthy way.
People who suffer from chronic pain are at a higher risk for developing depression. People who suffer from both chronic pain and depression are more likely to be prescribed opiates, which can lead to addiction and other problems. People who suffer from fibromyalgia are highly likely to also have chronic fatigue syndrome, temporomandibular joint disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, or migraine headaches. These other disorders are also ones in which the mind plays an important role.
Here's the upside to having a condition generated by your own mind: since your mind created it, your mind can fix it! By working to discover the subconscious drivers that make the pain fulfill a function, you can help your own subconscious discover a new and better way to fulfill that function. If your mind is so powerful that it can generate real physical pain, just imagine what else it can do.
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