Stress, emotional upset and flares

The past few months have been a roller-coaster for me. Probably like many others experiencing the world at the current time. So many things have changed in my life and this has definitely caused a mini flare in my AS symptoms. I am really lucky that I now have a good extensive tool kit and a good support network that I can call upon to help myself. As a therapist I understand only too well the impact emotional upset has on the physical. The major trigger for me several months ago was the breakdown of my relationship. This as you can imagine has been very difficult to deal with. The emotional trauma of this led to a flare in my thoracic spine. Interestingly the thoracic area around my heart was affected. As a therapist when I treat clients I work with them to establish where there symptoms might be originating from. Disease nearly always has an origin in the emotional. Symptoms are a clue to where we need to look. Obviously my AS was triggered due to emotional turbulence and trauma. My body couldn't cope and broke down causing the flare. My approach in treating myself for this flare was two fold: 1. Calm the symptoms Calming the symptoms obviously helped me restore some level of balance to my body and helped put me back into a more comfortable state. My symptoms were pain and inflammation. I calmed these by using several remedies, homeopathic and natural. My go to homeopathic remedies when I have a flare are either Arnica or Ruta depending on where the flare is and it's severity. I also use high dose Magnesium and Turmeric which are both natural anti-inflammatory. Using these twice a day for around two weeks helped to calm the flare significantly. 2. Treat the trauma Once I had started treating the symptoms I started to look at how to deal with the trauma trapped in the body. As a Bowen therapist myself Bowen is generally my go to therapy for dealing with trauma trapped in the body. The therapy is very gentle form of body work that has a big impact upon the autonomic nervous system restoring a state of balance to the whole body. I find it incredibly efficient and effective in dealing with residual trauma trapped in a body. It works at a somatic level and helps to restore a state of equilibrium quickly. I also used homeopathic remedies that were relevant for the emotional upset specifically Ignatia and Pulsatilla. Having a good support network of friends, family therapists and professionals is also important in dealing with physical flares, trauma and emotional ups and downs. For more information concerning anything I have written about here please do get in touch. Helen 😊