I am finding myself really ultrasensitive to noise, more so than usual. Like, I don’t want the radio or TV on, even if it’s light stuff.
I want to be in the cool, darkness. I don’t know if I’m trying to hide or heal.
even the sun and heat is too much for me.
Beautifully said, @bluebelle. And, here, let me hold onto some of that with you. ❤️ ?
I relate to your recent difficulties. It feels as though we're going through a Dark Night of the Collective Soul as much as any personal one. The good news is that this archetypal journey is ancient and universal, and whatever the details or circumstances, always ends in redemption and illumination. Eventually.
@pacosurfer This is completely understandable, in light of everything.
For me, YEARS of extreme auditory- and photosensitivity were symptoms of an undiagnosed autoimmune condition. After certain key lifestyle interventions (going on an anti-inflammatory diet, for one), it went away. I can't tell you how incredible it felt just being able to adore the sunlight again. Or not feeling stabbed in the face by the subtle sound of someone chewing! I have to be in a migraine state for these sensitivities to resurface, and that never lasts too long, thank goodness.
Bluebelle and Vestralux, So much wisdom in your posts. Thank you.
We can't go forward as a country until we face the truth about our past and ourselves.
That's quite a sobering and humbling thought. But it is the essential truth that will unshackle us.
I resonate with many of your challenges, Bluebelle. No wonder you’ve had the energy of a zucchini (I would assume, cooked?). That’s a lot to deal with in a year. I found it inspiring that you’ve embraced these challenges as part of your life’s journey. And you’ve reminded me that, although we’re living in a “orange dystopian hellscape” (love it!), a time of energy renewal and healing will come. It’s so easy to get caught up in the “I can’t stand this” mindset, especially when we’re bone-weary exhausted. But the fact is, we can stand this. We’re already doing that. And this too shall pass.
It feels as though we're going through a Dark Night of the Collective Soul as much as any personal one.
I think those of us who are particularly sensitive are mirroring the current disequilibrium (in nature and culture) in our bodies. And I think this serves an evolutionary function: By literally taking it on, we become intimate with it, which makes us more equipped to help heal it. [emphasis mine]
God I love that! I hadn’t looked at my current disequilibrium through that particular lens, but it makes total sense to me. Not that I want to suffer (the young Catholic girl in me gave that up a long time ago), but suffering is part of the human condition. The key for me is to not wallow in the drama. If I do, then I realize that my ego is running the show. It’s equally important that I acknowledge the joy of life.
Vestralux, when you shared about your autoimmune challenges, I thought you were talking about me. I have/am experiencing everything you described. It began almost 20 years ago, but the bizarre autoimmune symptoms have gotten worse over time, especially during the past 3 years. Severe autonomic dysfunction, among other things. Plus my body is an older model (67), so there’s that piece. A practical question: you mentioned how an anti-inflammatory diet helped you. I eat well, but I do eat meat, which I know contributes to inflammation. Is there a particular anti-inflammatory diet you would recommend, or are they all pretty much the same?
@pacosurfer, I too have problems with auditory and photo sensitivity. Ear plugs and sunglasses are my friend. I love moonlight. I avoid the busiest times in restaurants. Because I have such sensitivities and can’t always avoid a situation, I sometimes ask for what I need. My hair salon is located in a large shopping mall -- talk about sensory overload -- so I frequently ask the salon to turn down or change the music they are playing. I feel that I don’t owe them an explanation. One of the many gifts of being an old gal.
First, let me acknowledge again for a second how much I love this community and all its wise and beautiful souls. It's so good to feel connected to others who are walking such similar paths. ❤️
@deetoo, I laughed at your comment to Bluebelle: "No wonder you’ve had the energy of a zucchini (I would assume, cooked?)." Boy, howdy.
Many in the chronic illness/autoimmune communities refer to themselves as "spoonies," after having adopted the metaphor of "being low on spoons" when they're facing fatigue. Most of us with autoimmune conditions also have chronic fatigue syndrome, so when we have to do anything out in the world—even as simple as grocery shopping or running errands (and certainly after time spent in crowds)—we can be completely wiped out the next day, or the next week.
You have so many "spoons" in the drawer, and you know you're going to need some for tomorrow's tea, so you have to stay mindful. (You probably know all about this.) But the term is pretty much insider baseball for the chronically ill. Unless an able-bodied person has learned the phrase, it's unlikely to help them understand us, and that's one of the more fatiguing problems we face. (Most of us look perfectly healthy on the surface, right?) So, I make a motion to replace "low on spoons" with "feeling like an over-cooked zucchini." Who wouldn't understand that?
You asked about anti-inflammatory diet and meat. What's bizarre is that I was a vegetarian most of adult life, but the most credibly researched anti-inflammatory diets I've found require meat (hormone free, grass fed only) while cutting out a LOT of things we wouldn't expect, like nuts, seeds, nightshades (tomatoes), and legumes, but also things we would, like dairy and gluten. The diet that's worked wonders for me is an "elimination diet" called the Autoimmune Protocol, which is paleo. And super clean.
Elimination means you go off all inflammatory foods for an extended period and one-at-a-time, slowly reintroduce a food to see what your body's response is. One of the more overriding commonalities among multiple autoimmune illnesses is the fact that they create food sensitivities and allergies, even late in life. Often, we don't realize we've acquired them.
It turned out that I'd racked up some pretty awful sensitivities to all of these foods, but after a year (some only go 60 or 90 days), I was able to reintroduce everything in moderation, except gluten. (Dairy causes me immediate sinusitis, so I generally don't eat it, but it's not going to kill me.) You'd be surprised what your body stops craving after 3-4 weeks. I would have NEVER thought I could live without regular bread or dairy, but I don't even miss them. I thought I ate well before, but since AIP, I've become so much more aware of precisely how a given food or fragrance or chemical, etc., is impacting me. Today, I can tell you with absolute certainty when a so-called organic strawberry has pesticides. And far too often, I can literally taste plastic particles in prepared/restaurant foods (where a lot of microwaving happens). It ain't pleasant.
There's lots of good info online, but if you're interested, here's a great little space to learn about AIP.
I realize this has been a derail, so I do want to state here my working theory that these kinds of issues may be more common among people with psychic sensitivity. The body and mind are an integrated system, after all.
I also have an autoimmune disease, Psoriasis. Maybe there is a correlation with intuitive and psychic people. Interesting indeed.
I believe what you have said about diet. I have gone through times of illuminating night shades with some degree of help. I know I need to work of the other items as well. What I have noticed which has helped to some degree is taking curcumin. Less joint pain and inflammation. Also getting rid of sugar. It takes a few weeks to not feel the addiction of sugar for me, but only a short time of exposing myself to it again before I feel the desire to keep having it.
@vestralux, I've been viewing this website for about 2 years, and am amazed by the number of community members who have comparable health challenges. I agree with you that it is connected to our empathic/psychic sensitivities. My autoimmune issues began when I was a small child, and I would venture to guess that many of you have similar stories.
I was diagnosed with CFS 20 years ago, but I've never heard of the term "spoonies." My CFS doc speak more in terms of an energy bank account -- if you withdraw too much, you're in trouble. Too much could mean going to the grocery store and cooking a big dinner. The challenge is knowing when you're overdoing it, because the effect isn't always immediate. When I'm feeling better, I always seem to overdo it. And you're right -- we look perfectly healthy on the surface. Anyway, in my case I've always suspected that the CFS label is more of a catch-all diagnosis when they couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong with me. And since that time, other unusual diagnoses that have popped up. What's interesting is that my sister is 4 years older and vibrantly healthy. She never understood my health condition until she was hired to work in marketing for a CFS clinic. Only when she witnessed some patients coming in wearing their pajamas, did she understand how chronic this condition could be.
About the food sensitivities -- for me, it's not a food allergy, but rather a mast cell disorder. So either histamine-containing, or histamine-producing foods can create allergic symptoms. My histamine response really depends on the amount I eat of the particular food, how often, and the time of year.
Vestralux, thank you for the info and link to the AIP protocol. I do eat some dairy, lots of nuts, beans, and gluten-free steel cut oats. Oh -- and 85% dark chocolate! That's quite interesting about the meat. It's really worth a shot for me to try the AIP diet. I'll try anything healthy to get more gas in my engine.
@lovendures I'm close to a couple of people who struggle with psoriasis, and one of them had a lot of success with AIP. Like you, sugar (and gluten) was a big trigger for him.
I swear by curcumin as an anti-inflammatory (really helps my joint pain too), and cook with turmeric as often as possible. I've also discovered the right brand of CBD oil for me, another natural anti-inflammatory. Interestingly, the lower dose (250mg) is more helpful for relieving headaches (fast!), and the higher dose (1000mg) relieves painful muscle knotting and joint inflammation. CBD is also wonderful for anxiety, though I haven't tended to struggle with that since I stopped taking the prescription pain medications I'd been given for years. I was fortunate not to struggle with addiction, but the body certainly becomes dependent to such powerful substances, and the primary reason is that those drugs potentiate far more pain in the long run than they soothe.
I titrated myself off them over two years ago because I was absolutely desperate to see what else I could do to improve my energy (and Spirit was really encouraging me to make the leap). And honestly, detoxing my system from medications has been the single most impactful lifestyle change in reducing my symptom flares, pain, and fatigue. Of course, it took time for my body and brain to readjust, but it has been well-worth any initial discomfort. (I'm convinced those medications had become disruptive to my dopamine production/reuptake.)
My sister was recently diagnosed with "medication-induced" Lupus. The med list for that doesn't include opiates and the like, but I'm fairly convinced that it should. ...I'm sharing all this here on the off chance someone could benefit.
@deetoo I've been amazed to see the high number of posters here who talk about autoimmune issues and the like, too! No doubt, we're all sensitive in multiple ways. Makes sense.
And my heart goes out to you regarding your mast cell condition. SO MANY foods contain histamines or trigger its production. Yikes. I'm glad you're able to eat some in moderation.
It was initially difficult for me to reincorporate meat into my diet. Cooking with it was unpleasant, to say the least, and as a former veg, I still struggle with guilt. But when I go without it too long, I notice the difference. Just a little improves my energy and stamina immediately and for several days. I prepare a lot of uncured turkey bacon just to keep it on hand for when I'm flagging.
P.S.
I love cashews more than most things, and used to eat them daily by the handful. No one could have convinced me that I was sensitive to nuts of any kind, much less cashews, if I hadn't committed to AIP full stop and realized their effect when I tried to reintroduce them a year later. Same with chia seeds. Man, I miss those guys.
My twin and i both have some form of auto immune disorder too! When my twin was 11 she was hospitalized for a few weeks over it, the doctors thought it was leukemia at first, or some kind of childhood cancer, (thankfully it was not) but we never truly got to the bottom of it. My aunt also suffers from lupus and my mom has thyroid issues and is recovering from thyroid cancer currently. Not sure if that means much, but it really is only the women in my family with these types of illness. Interesting indeed.
So I wasn’t sure where to add this, but i had something really amazing happen last night and i wanted to share it here. I have never had any kind of auditory messages during my meditation/ channeling, its mostly visions and intuitive feelings... but last night i did for the first time. I often get messages in the form of pictures or semi-dreams right before i fall asleep.
Last night i remember kindly asking my spirit guides for help or an answer- i was going to ask about something personal, but to “warm up” i asked what was going to happen with this “trump thing”, where was our country going? In the loudest most clear male voice i heard a booming “LEFT WING”.
I shot up out of bed. It was so startling! It was like the tv had been turned on in my head and a newscaster had said it. I had never heard this before, or anything like it honestly. It was clearly not my own voice/ internal voice and so unexpected. It was an older male forsure.. it sounded like someone strong, or wise, if that makes sense. I was a bit nervous.
For those with experience with things like this- does this sound familiar to you? I am never totally sure if this is coming from my own mind or “elsewhere”. It really did scare me because it was very clearly not my voice, and it came out of a silence and after a period of relaxing/ focusing in for me. I definitely have an internal dialogue (as do we all) but this felt genuinely like someone speaking to me.
I also asked (nervously- I was a little scared!) “okay... thankyou.. so how will he (trump) go?” I heard a quieter, female seeming voice, that again just did not feel like my own, saying, “follow the money. Its all in the money”
I was so grateful, i thanked whoever it was up there and felt so excited.
If it was what my gut was telling me, I am feeling proud of myself! I am lucky to have all of you lovely people on here who will listen to me and learn from. Thankyou all