Warm Horizon

Notes from Jim

There are many well-known crisis-related disorders such as asthma, allergies, various rashes or fungal infections, Crohn’s disease, and lupus that are chronic in nature and characterized by “flare-ups.” As with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia—exemplified in Section I—these reactive conditions become prominent in times of stress and are reduced on occasion to imperceptible levels when stress levels reach their lowest points. Such problems are not unlike those involving localized chronic pain and usually must be managed in much the same way. Indeed, many with localized chronic pain also are afflicted with one or more of these other types of chronic problem. So it is a good idea to adopt and maintain an overall life-style that best manages anxiety, pain, depression, chronic inflammatory conditions, and stress in general for any of these aforementioned problems. (Stress and coping effectively with it will be considered extensively in the latter stages of the program.)

I am noticing more and more patients making reference to rebound. As I understand it, rebound refers to a tendency with problems such as chronic pain whereby pain levels are found to be greater after lengthy or high-dose use of pain medication. This phenomenon is known to occur with heavy or long-term use of common over-the-counter analgesics or with prescription pain killers. Thus, if one feels the need for such heavy or long-term use, then that individual may experience greater levels of pain should the pain return or continue. The problem has also been known to occur with treatment of depression and/or anxiety such that a return of depressive/anxiety symptoms following long-term use of antidepressant/anti-anxiety medication may prove more intense than they were prior to taking the medication. This phenomenon is suggestive, in my opinion, of something suggested in Chapter 4: That is, in the case of depression and now of pain and anxiety, the brain is asserting itself in a way it deems appropriate to attempt to protect us from some subconscious threat. In all cases, I believe that our brain is responding to some inner perception of fear.

I believe that I have experienced rebound in the case of my difficulties with plantar fascitis. I sought pain/inflammation relief from common over-the-counter analgesics. And I found more than once that when I used the heaviest allowable amounts of these medications, after the beneficial effects subsided I experienced what seemed to be greater and sharper levels of pain than I had noticed at most any point previously.

But after focusing extensively on self-treatment measures such as icing, stretching and massaging my feet, and propping them up while sitting, and minimizing my use of pain medication, my difficulty gradually subsided.

Finally, please do not interpret the above comments as indicating that you should not seek treatment, or should decline to consider the use of physician-prescribed medication of any kind. Nothing could be further from the truth. However, relying solely on medication as the solution to medical and emotional problems is unwise in almost every case. But following your doctor’s advice is the wisest policy, and one by which I am careful to abide.

Certainly in the latter stages of our lives, greater likelihood exists that permanent incapacitation or terminal illness will become a reality. Related to this subject is the rather common assumption that those who have reached the point of feeling old (and totally lacking in youth) are automatically less distressed about such pathological developments, which ostensibly serve as prominent indicators that our days are numbered. But in my experience that assumption is frequently false. And when we factor in the sense of decline and its effect on those late in life, it makes sense that our strength of mind might naturally wane with our loss of vibrancy. Therefore, debilitation—especially late in life—resulting from a stroke, a heart attack, an amputation because of poor circulation, or other ailment often serves, with its sense of loss, as an ever-present precipitant to depression. So perhaps we can conclude that the reality of terminal illness can be more conducive to depression late in life, which is perhaps further evidence of a growing sense of peril (involving the fear of death/separation) that commonly emerges with the dissipation of youth.

In considering permanent incapacitation or terminal illness, there is no doubt that being diagnosed with a terminal illness such as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, AIDS, or a lethal form of cancer “smacks” of the most pressing of life’s realities—impending death. Such a prognosis immediately evokes most of the contributory factors for depression: fear, shame (anticipatory loss), guilt (sense of punishment), anxiety, anger, possibly some form of substance abuse, likely increased problems with (sensitivity to) pain, and others.

We will consider the reality of death in Part II of the program. Until then, anyone faced with an apparent terminal condition can help himself/herself most by expanding his/her truth awareness—which this program is about. In the meantime, pursuing the help of an expert in this area is wise.