Stress response and relaxation response
 

I know as a person with PCS, I am stressed out quite a bit. Recently, I have been much more mindful of my stress. In this video by Lissa Rankin, she states that the body cannot heal when in a state of stress. Only when the body is relaxed does it release healing things such as dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin. She also states a nice breathing exercise. I encourage you to listen to this video. If you cannot tolerate very long, I would start at 19:25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcai0i2tJt0&feature=kp


Best of luck on your recovery! Happy 4th!

Thank you!!

I am always in a state of anxiety it seems, trying to work on the breathing.

me too lol. I had anxiety and depression before the brain injury now forgot about it. I will try and listen to the tape above.

The mind-the placebo effect.
 

"What I focus on I increase. What I focus on I get." If you keep negative thoughts in the head, then you have much less chance of healing and vis versa. The mind is so strong! Practice gratitude, meditation, breathing exercises, pray, work your attention muscle and pay extremely close attention to nature, your partner. We are much more blessed than we think. I had a strange feeling that I was going to die a few days ago. I just had weird feelings and pain in my body. It was a rather dumb thought, but I thought it. I said if I wake up tomorrow then I will be so thankful. There have been people diagnosed with cancer, told they have 3 months to live, die on the exact date, and then the autopsy shows they have no cancer at all. There are people who have been told they have stage 4 cancer and they'll die, people with "incurable' diseases and they get rid of those sicknesses. We may not be able to heal 100%, but if we are working 100% mentally, spiritually, emotionally, I think it compensates for not being 100% physically healthy. Control what you can control. Worry about ONLY what you have in your control. Don't have unnecessary stress in the body. It doesn't help the healing process at all! Perhaps if we focused more on healing than on the damage we have, then we'll be more successful. Hope this helps!