Self-Care for Period Pain and Endometriosis

Video Transcript

00:00:00 Okay, so in this video we're going to chat about self-care for period pain and endometriosis, so chronic pain conditions. I have my own journey with this with period pain and endometriosis and other types of chronic pain and so we're going to chat about that from a mind-body perspective. So you might be somebody who has also read a lot of books, maybe you've tried lots of different diets, maybe you've tried lots of self-care practices and you feel like they're kind of working but not really and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't work um so we're going working but not really and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't work um so we're going to chat about it from a mind mind body point of view a really important thing in the field of

00:00:39 pain science is understanding our experience of fear okay i know that might sound a little bit like woo woo or a bit fluffy but hear me out when we are in a state of fear that will um put an on button to our nervous system fight or flight response when our nervous system fight or flight button to our nervous system fight or flight response when our nervous system fight or flight response is is turned on high because it's in a protective mode which is understandable if you have if you are someone who's experienced a lot of chronic pain and the problem with that is is that that is fueled by the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline and when our body has a lot of cortisol and adrenaline that it creates an environment on a biochemical point of view

00:01:21 where we are more likely to have pain signals okay so what I'm trying to say in the science is that when we have fear of pain it can it can sometimes contribute to more pain because the fear creates when we have fear of pain it can it can sometimes contribute to more pain because the fear creates an environment where we're more sensitive to pain and so um people who have a history of chronic pain and are currently journeying chronic pain it can be hard because you're kind of stuck in this cycle of of fear and self-protection and trying to get out of it okay so firstly I want to just acknowledge if you have fear of pain that is very normal that is a normal healthy response that acknowledge if you have fear of pain that is very normal that is a normal healthy response that

00:02:00 you're having because you have a history with it maybe you didn't get the right support in the past and you've had to take matters into your own hands and um and so yeah you're trying to like really be in control of that pain and then if you're anticipating pain and you're afraid of pain then you know that's again very very normal because you've really you've really suffered and your body you're just trying to protect yourself and you're trying to prevent a bad situation and you're trying to um you know you know not not have things that happened in the situation and you're trying to um you know you know not not have things that happened in the past happen to you for example if you suddenly had pain when you're in work or on the bus and

00:02:37 you felt like that was a really horrible experience maybe it was embarrassing maybe you felt super vulnerable you know your body is just trying to protect you by not having an experience like that again if you have fear so the feet what the fear does is it protects you and then it tells you don't leave the house don't eat this food don't don't wear these clothes um you know don't go to this concert because you might get pain and so you get stuck in this you know don't go to this concert because you might get pain and so you get stuck in this self-protective cycle where you're protecting yourself from pain but then the price you pay is you're protecting yourself from life itself, okay?

00:03:12 So a really important thing to do is when you notice yourself starting to have thoughts of fear because your period is due in a few days or maybe you're coming into the premenstrual phase, I want you to take a mindfulness pause. You're noticing those thoughts. You're taking a seat back and you're saying,

00:03:30 okay, I'm noticing my fear of pain. Breathe. And right now in this moment, I don't have pain. and you're really coming into relationship with the fact that you're having thoughts about the future and it's also true that right now in this moment you're not having pain so can you let yourself be in alive and not have pain for five minutes and just enjoy that moment and what that does it really helps to create space for fear and you're rewiring our we are and what that does it really helps to create space for fear and you're rewiring our we are

00:04:06 rewiring our nervous system for being with non-pain experiences and that's very very important so that's the first thing I would encourage you to do from a self-care point of view for pain the second thing is when and if you start to notice pain okay very often it's not pain very often it is we have sensations or we have tingling or we have maybe we feel lightheaded or maybe we often it is we have sensations or we have tingling or we have maybe we feel lightheaded or maybe we have a temperature change in our body. So we want to be careful with our language. We don't want to go into thinking, oh, I'm getting a massive pain attack right now. So I want you to really slow down that experience as it builds in your body and be present with sensation. So similar to the

00:04:51 non-pain mindfulness moment, you're going to pause and you're going to say, okay, breathe. and you'll say to yourself, right now in this moment, I am feeling sensations or I'm feeling, and you'll say to yourself, right now in this moment, I am feeling sensations or I'm feeling, I'm feeling discomfort. This doesn't feel comfortable. Okay. Let's stay with the discomfort and don't let that mind go and spiral. Okay. And you might notice fear and you can even acknowledge that and say, wow, I'm really feeling afraid right now without having to act on it or do anything about it and so we're really slowing down that nervous system and breathing through and that will help you to down regulate any kind of unnecessary fear and really be present with

00:05:28 will help you to down regulate any kind of unnecessary fear and really be present with your experience of pain and I would encourage you to do those two things for a few months see how you get on and um and yeah then generally you know see how that works see what happens and let me know