Another subject we need to talk about is: What is a symptom?
We often say we have 5 sensory inputs: touch, taste, smell, hearing, and seeing.
You can call them the dashboard of your body. They give a lot of signals to you all day long. Just sit down with a cup of coffee and start to tune in to these, e.g. try sensing where your clothes touch your skin, sensing the humidity in the air, if there is any wind, temperature, shadows, and sounds. etc.
But it is only part of the signals your body delivers constantly.
All day long you are bombarded with sensory input, not only from the outside via the 5 senses, but also a lot of senses from inside your body.
We name it our “interoception” [for internal, as opposed to external “exteroception” of the 5 senses], the ability to feel your inner world of tissues, muscles, tendons, and organs.
How many of these additional senses can be discussed? I found a source saying +50 but I am pretty sure there are a lot more. If you are hungry or full, thirsty or not, if you have your head up or down, pain, or overload of muscles, if you are freezing if your hairs on the arm are erected or not (goosebumps), and numerous others.
A fun example of one of our overlooked but sophisticated sensors: The sense if your rectum contains nothing, gas, fluid or fecal, or a mix.
So to let go of a fart is a complicated instruction of sensory messages for you to take informed consent. Does it comes with a risk or is it safe?
If any of the sensory signals from your body is prolonged or repeated in a way we find painful or unfamiliar we call it a symptom, but it is nothing but the interoception that continuously tells you that something is wrong.
Due to the complexity, it might remind you more of a cockpit in airplane with numerous warning lamps and status signals.
As nobody teaches you how to interpret these signals, and as we have been told to take a painkiller, instead of reflecting on why this part of the dashboard is becoming red, most of us just continue doing our usual routines.
But what if all these signals are nothing but natural signals from a body in long-term stress? The stressors of your job, your relationship, and your childhood dramas are on repeat. Push your body into fight-flight and freeze for longer and longer periods until the dashboard is red in extended areas.
By addressing each symptom as an important gateway to knowledge about the source of stress, I can help people with chronic diseases.
Most diagnoses are nothing but a human grouping of long-term stress signals from your body:
With this statement in hand, you can investigate a new world of possibilities.
Reduction of symptoms via trauma therapy
Below you see the graph of Gary Sharpe’s symptoms and the slow reduction of these. (doctors diagnosed him with Parkinson’s disease).
We met in person in early August 2022, where I introduced him to my techniques, and later we continued over Zoom. He is the reason why I am here on substack, as he thinks, it is important for the whole globe to absorb and understand this natural view of symptoms and diagnosis. So he help us to reach more people get out of diseases.
If you like my nerdy and argumentative form of knowledge, you can help us forward with our mission by getting more knowledge yourself (and a way forward towards your own healing) by buying my online course:
In a therapy session, a symptom is used as a path/clue to get into contact with an underlying problem.
We started with childhood dramas, then went to adult job stress, and have now started to resolve traumas (=body memories) related to the stress of having a disease. Slowly the tension in the body relaxes and symptoms diminish.
10 on a scale means the time when Gary Sharpe was the worst, close to immobile he so symptomatic.
He did a lot of things himself and reduce around 50% of his symptoms. Via this work he by trial and error reached similar conclusions as I did and that is why we joined forces to help more people.
Are you ready to learn how to navigate your dashboard of signals and sensory input?
Yes, so listen to the symptoms - the faster the better! No need to wait for a fatal heart attack!
I have wondered how ones rearend figures out gas from solid.