Are you wondering if you have mind-body syndrome?
There are two steps to collecting personal evidence that you have Mind Body Syndome (MBS).
Step 1: Rule Out Major bodily injury or disease
Has at least one doctor suggested they can’t find anything wrong?
If a doctor can’t find anything physically causing the pain, it is often because the pain is real, but the answer isn’t in fixing the body.
Did your labs come back fairly normal?
Labs are a snapshot of our insides & our insides change constantly. It is normal for individuals to have lab abnormalities without them being the cause of ongoing symptoms.Did your doctor explain to you that disc bulges, degenerative disc disease and other age-related findings exist in non-pain individuals?
Updated pain research is suggesting that normal abnormalites are not responsible for chronic pain.Was your neurological exam normal?
Having mind body syndrome does not indicate your brain is broken, but rather that your brain is in a hypervigilant state.
Was your specialist visit inconclusive?
If a doctor and a specialist have not found a good explanation for your pain, it’s more likely you are expereincing mind body symptoms.
Are you still experiencing symptoms despite treatment?
Diagnosis are a label given to a set of symptoms. When the treatments for those diagnosis are ineffective it is often because the cure is in addressing the brain, not in the physical treatment.
STep 2: Rule IN Mind-Body Syndrome
The following FIT criteria is an assessment that can help you collect experiential evidence that your symptoms are MBS. The F.I.T criteria was written by Howard Schubiner, MD and answers the following questions:
Do your symptoms function in a way that evidences a mind-body cause?
Are your symptoms inconsistent, showing they are neuroplastic?
Are your symptoms activated by triggers that are conditioned rather than disease?
Function: Do the symptoms act in a way that indicates mind-body syndrome?
Did your symptoms begin without a physical precipitation?
Symptoms that came on randomly are often a bi-product of overlooked stress, not injury.Have your symptoms persisted after an injury has healed (3-6 mo)?
The body knows how to heal itself. When an injury has healed but the pain remains, imaging shows the brain has learned pain.Are your symptoms symmetrical?
It is possible to injure both sides of the body in the exact way, but improbable.Do symptoms occur on one whole side of the body or occur on half of the face, head, or torso?
Nerves end in one part of the body (arm or leg) but rarely the whole thing.Do symptoms spread over time to different areas of the body?
Damage doesn’t spread, but brain-generated symptoms do move around.Do symptoms radiate to the opposite side of the body or down a whole leg or arm?
Nerves don’t go from the right shoulder to the left arm.Do you experience a variety of symptom types (headaches, pain, fatigue, insomnia, depression, ibs symptoms, etc)?
A variety of symptoms often indicate a nervous system in high alert.Do you have symptoms that have the quality of tingling, electric, burning, numb, hot or cold?
How do you know there is no nerve damage? If you can move your arm or leg, it is likely that it is brain-generated and not damaged.
Inconsistent: Do your symptoms ebb & flow, indicating mind-body syndrome?
Do your symptoms shift from one location in the body to another?
Your [brain] is expressing stress in one part of your body, and later expressing it in another part. Structural problems don’t do that.Are your symptoms more or less intense depending on the time of day? For example they occur first thing in the morning or in the middle of the night.
There is no disease that is there in the morning and gone in the afternoon.Do your symptoms occur after, but not during, an activity or exercise?
If you have a structural problem, it would hurt while you are walking/ exercising.Do your symptoms increase when you think about them or when someone asks about them?
This is evidence that symptoms are generated by neural circuits.Are your symptoms increased by anticipation of stress, such as an exam, answering emails, work, medical test, or a social visit? Or do they intensify in response to real-time stress such as someone’s tone, feeling trapped, etc.?
Anticipation of stress doesn’t increase structural damage, but it does intensify mind-body symptoms.Do your symptoms decrease or disappear when you are engaged in joyful or distracting activities (such as on vacation)?
Pain is an experience. If the symptom isn’t noticed, the brain isn’t generating it. This is evidence that neural circuits are responsible for your pain.Are your symptoms reduced or become non-existent after therapies (physical therapy, massage, chiropractic, Reiki, acupuncture, herbal or vitamin supplements, etc) but eventually return?
These therapies can soothe the mind and create perceived safety. This can cause short-term placebo relief of symptoms.
Triggered: Are your symptoms triggered indicating mind-body syndrome?
Are your symptoms triggered by unrelated factors like foods, smells, sounds, light, computer screens, menses, or changes in the weather?
This often indicates that the brain has learned the pain through associative learning, where it forms connections between triggers and the sensation of pain, rather than structural damage or disease being the underlying cause.Does your symptom trigger have exceptions?
Example #1: It is painful when I lean over, except when playing my favorite sport.
Example #2: I have a food sensitivity to tomatoes, but not on pizza!
Summary: If there are exceptions, it’s solid evidence it’s not structural.
Are your symptoms triggered by imagining the triggering activity (bending over, turning the neck, sitting or standing)?
If mentally rehearsing the trigger causes pain, it’s your brain.Are your symptoms triggered by light touch or harmless stimuli, such as the wind or cold, but not by regular pressure?
If it was structural, pressure would cause pain.
Other Evidence your symptoms might be mind-body syndrome
You have seen multiple doctors?
Doctors care and they will try (and try and try) to find what is wrong. If multiple doctors have referred you to other doctors, it is a hint your symptoms are not structural.
You have developed learned protective personality traits that cause internal pressure.
This includes but is not limited to:
Highly Self-Critical/ Low Self Esteem
People-Pleasing
Repressing Emotions
Controlling
Perfectionistic
Your symptoms showed up during a time of change in your life - good or bad?
Such changes may be financial, college, vocational, moving, marriage or divorce, relational loss or gain, rejection, physical injury. etc.
You think about your symptoms often?
This tends to fuel the fear -pain cycle causing symptoms to be chronic.
You have Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES)?
This includes abuse (physical, sexual, or emotional), neglect (physical or emotional), or witnessing household dysfunction(divorce, abuse, substance abuse, mental illness, incarceration, etc.). Trauma can cause the brain to become on high alert, triggering perceived danger pain easily.