Gut Brain Glow Up

Following my post last week, I decided to ask my therapist for some wise words about EMDR and how it helps process trauma. As a result, my lovely therapist has provided these wise words for this week's update: "EMDR helps your brain process painful memories so they don't feel as upsetting or overwhelming anymore. When something traumatic happens, your brain sometimes gets "stuck." The memory may not be stored properly, so it keeps coming up—maybe through flashbacks, anxiety, or strong emotions—even when you're safe now. EMDR works by helping your brain "unstick" those memories and refile them in a healthier way.   A Simple Metaphor: Think of your brain like a big filing cabinet. Traumatic memories sometimes get thrown into the drawer crumpled and disorganized. EMDR helps your brain take that messy paper, smooth it out, and put it in the right folder. It's still there, but it's not jumping out at you anymore." So there you have it, a lit...

I've previously posted about how mental trauma is the ultimate cause of my gut brain disconnect, so this week I thought of expand a bit more on whys being doing about it. Before that though I will quickly say that this is written purely from my experience of the therapy to date and by no means an I some sort of expert on it; quick disclaimer out the way! In my case, I'm currently having EMDR therapy AKA Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Before I started this, I did actually have a small nugget of knowledge of it's existence and the fact it's used for trauma due to the parent of a very good friend being an EMDR therapist themselves, so the fact that I was told it was required came as no surprise; my issue was why on earth hadn't I been referred for it sooner instead of the many hours of counseling I have under my belt? So when I was given my diagnosis, there was some anger and frustration at having had to get to this point before someone actually pointed...

So I know that ADHD seems to be everywhere at the moment, with news outlets seemingly reporting on it regularly and the world blaming short videos from the likes of tik tok for causing the sudden rise in diagnoses. However, as many others do, I believe it's simply that it's suddenly in the public conscious as we are understanding it more and moving away from the 'naughty hyperactive school child' stereotype.  I'm the first to admit that I had no understanding of ADHD other than this stereotype until recently. It feels like all of a sudden the world has opened its eyes to the other flavours of ADHD (pre warning, the food metaphor will be used regularly!) that are out there - and i include myself in that. It was through this eye opening that I started to wonder about myself and whether I had my own particular flavour going on. I started to consider this after I learned that ADHD in women is mostly within the mind, racing thoughts and a buzzy brain not able to switch o...

Going to be a little philosophical today, so bear with!  For anyone dealing with a 'hidden illness' it can feel like you're knocking your head against a brick wall sometimes trying to get people to understand what you're experiencing. Usually it's because it's not obvious or isn't shown physically, or even one of the more well known health issues such as the big C. This is where I've found the 'its all in your head' phrase popping out quite a lot. Now for me, I guess yes technically this statement is right, my physical symptoms are a manifestation of mental pain, but that doesn't mean the statement comforts me in any way. If anything it makes it feel like what I'm experiencing is somehow lesser than a physical issue and can be easily fixed if I wake up one day with a different mind set; It also has the impact of making me feel like I'm crazy.  With physical issues and more widely known illness there appears to be a more sympathetic un...

To be completely honest with you, the idea of accupuncture used to scare me slightly because of the idea of having pins stuck into me, it also brought about a good amount of skepticism. Now though, I love it and believe it is one of the main things that has improved my condition.  Before I tried it for myself, I'd had friends and colleagues say how accupuncture has helped their migraines or their sleep issues, but I was skeptical and thought there maybe a healthy dose of placebo going on. However, now I've had it myself and know a little more about it, that skepticism is gone and replaced with a new found respect for the ancient medical practice. Accupuncture has been around for centuries and has been adopted by 'modern medicine' for use in a few different areas, including long term pain. As to how it works, I have a very limited understanding that revolves around my particular issues, but here's what I've managed to get my head around; accupuncture works by sti...