Body Wisdom: Ignore it at your own peril

“Breath is Life”.  I didn’t know just how true this saying was until I recently had my first (and I hope my last) asthma attack at age 43.  In late November 2010, I developed a cough with post-nasal drip. Normally very healthy, I thought nothing of it and attributed my symptoms to either a cold or allergies. Each time my mother suggested I pay a visit to my doctor, I brushed her concerns aside – adamant that it was nothing serious and would go away on its own. When the cough lingered for months I resorted to throat gargling, popping cough drops many times a day, and trying out different cough medicines – I may have tried just about every brand at my local drugstore.

Three months later, the cough was still there and I also noticed a slight twinge of pain on both sides of my upper back.  “Oh boy,” I thought, “I must not be practicing proper body mechanics when I do massages.”  Looking back, I notice now that all the signs were there: periodic shortness of breath, chronic coughing especially at night, wheezing when I breathed, difficulty breathing and chest tightness.  Earlier this week, the pain in my back and the tightness in my chest became so intense that I had no choice but to flee to my doctor’s office. She took one listen at my wheezing and labored breathing and immediately sent for a steroid breathing treatment to open my airways. “You have asthma” she stated matter-of-factly, “And you will need to take two inhalers plus a nasal spray until your symptoms are under control”.  I listened half in disbelief as she ran down my treatment plan.

She certainly didn’t need to show me how to use my new inhalers because I am quite familiar with them already. My son had moderate to severe asthma from the ages of 3 through 9, and my husband has had it since childhood. Thankfully, my son has almost grown out of his asthma. He occasionally needs to use an inhaler when he plays sports and over exerts himself; however, he has not had an attack in almost 5 years. Thank God!  Given his history with asthma, I am always vigilant about his breathing, and at the merest sign of wheezing I am reaching for his inhaler. It’s strange that I failed to notice the same signs in myself.

As a bodyworker accustomed to treating chronic pain in others as well as helping others to be present in their own bodies, I should have known better than to ignore my own body’s warning signals. Whether it was the simple fear of actually knowing or that I thought I could ignore my symptoms out of existence (i.e. mind over matter), I am not certain. I do know that part of me ignored the symptoms because my mindset is I just don’t have time to be sick, darn it!

The lesson I take from this recent scary event is to never again overlook my body’s warning signals. When something is not right within, the body signals this through pain. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), nothing within the human body functions independently.  Pain is your body’s alarm. It tells you when something is wrong. If you ignore your body’s alarm, similarly to the fire alarm in your house, severe problems can take shape.

As I sit, cooped up in my house, recuperating from my recent asthma bout and struggling at times to take a breath, if I didn’t know then, I certainly know now that my body has it own wisdom. It knows when something is out of balance. Unfortunately, I deliberately chose to shut my ears to that wisdom and now I am suffering the consequences. Don’t make the same mistake that I did. Learn to listen to your body’s wisdom. A ‘self-help’ book that I am planning to put on my Must Read list is “Full Body Presence: Learning to Listen to Your Body’s Wisdom” by Suzanne Scurlock-Durana.

I will definitely try to never again ignore the language of my own body. My most recent experience showed me the peril of doing so!

Yours in Health and Wellness,

Tonya