7 Signs of a Dysregulated Nervous System Most People Miss

[00:00:00] If your tests come back normal, if your imaging is clean,
[00:00:02] your blood work is okay or fine,
[00:00:04] but you're still in real pain and real symptoms,
[00:00:07] normal labs do not mean that nothing's happening.
[00:00:10] It just means we're looking in the wrong place.
[00:00:12] So if you have had multiple testing done
[00:00:14] and your doctors are like, pretty normal,
[00:00:17] that is the first sign that I'm thinking,
[00:00:19] yep, most likely neuroplastic.
[00:00:21] Hey there, and welcome to the Heal With Grace podcast.
[00:00:24] I'm your host, Grace Secker,
[00:00:26] and I'm a holistic licensed therapist
[00:00:29] and nervous system coach who believes
[00:00:31] that the chronic and often unseen symptoms
[00:00:34] you're living with are a sign of something deeper going on.
[00:00:37] A sign that your nervous system needs attention.
[00:00:40] In each episode, I'll share the science
[00:00:42] behind the most common chronic health disorders,
[00:00:45] plus holistic tips using mental, physical,
[00:00:48] and spiritual practices.
[00:00:49] You'll hear what I've learned in my journey
[00:00:51] and the true stories from our trusted guests
[00:00:53] so you can feel less alone in your experience
[00:00:56] and give yourself grace
[00:00:57] no matter what you're going through.
[00:00:59] So without further ado, settle in and get cozy.
[00:01:02] It's time to heal with grace.
[00:01:03] Hello, hello, everyone.
[00:01:06] Welcome back to the Heal With Grace podcast.
[00:01:09] How's everybody doing?
[00:01:10] At the time of recording this,
[00:01:12] it's towards the end of April
[00:01:14] and I'm really looking forward to summer.
[00:01:18] I love Colorado honestly so much because of the summer.
[00:01:22] I grew up in Texas where I mean,
[00:01:24] I had to move partially
[00:01:25] because I just literally couldn't handle the heat anymore.
[00:01:28] I just couldn't do it.
[00:01:29] It's miserable.
[00:01:30] You can't go outside part of the time, part of the summer
[00:01:33] and that just sucks and I can't do it anymore.
[00:01:36] Anyway, this is not an episode about leaving Texas.
[00:01:38] This is about, well, first and foremost,
[00:01:40] this intro is just kind of naming
[00:01:42] like where we are right now, right?
[00:01:44] And this episode was inspired by truly,
[00:01:48] I mean, what I talked to people about every single day
[00:01:51] but I also did a post on this on Instagram
[00:01:53] and you all loved it.
[00:01:54] If you follow me on Instagram too
[00:01:57] and then you listen to this,
[00:01:58] I hope this is another helpful reminder
[00:02:00] because we need to hear this stuff
[00:02:02] over and over and over again.
[00:02:04] And so there's a few things that I wanna set up
[00:02:06] in the beginning of this episode
[00:02:07] before we go into all this.
[00:02:10] So first and foremost, I'm gonna walk you through
[00:02:14] how to know if your symptoms,
[00:02:17] your condition, your diagnoses
[00:02:19] is coming from a dysregulated nervous system.
[00:02:22] And I wanna say this first, a couple of things first,
[00:02:24] is that one, your nervous system,
[00:02:28] your central nervous system
[00:02:29] and your autonomic nervous system
[00:02:31] pretty much impacts your whole entire body,
[00:02:34] your whole mind and body.
[00:02:35] So whenever someone asks,
[00:02:37] am I my nervous system causing this
[00:02:40] or is it having an impact on me?
[00:02:43] Every single time I say yes, because it is,
[00:02:45] your nervous system impacts you,
[00:02:47] it drives a lot of things,
[00:02:48] it creates things like anxiety, depression,
[00:02:53] it affects you when you're in a,
[00:02:55] what we call frozen state or shutdown state
[00:02:57] or fight or flight state.
[00:02:59] And that happens in every single human
[00:03:01] all throughout your life.
[00:03:03] So yes, your nervous system affects everything.
[00:03:07] But does this mind-body work,
[00:03:10] this fit for you,
[00:03:12] do you have what we call neuroplastic symptoms,
[00:03:15] which means your dysregulated nervous system
[00:03:17] and your brain response are causing those symptoms?
[00:03:20] That's more of what I'm gonna get into today.
[00:03:23] But just know that you also don't have to be 100%.
[00:03:26] Again, I was just messaging with someone who's like,
[00:03:29] well, I just don't know if I can buy into it 100%.
[00:03:32] I still don't know if my symptoms
[00:03:34] have some other physical cause
[00:03:35] that I just haven't found yet, right?
[00:03:37] Or that you haven't found yet.
[00:03:39] And two things on that.
[00:03:40] One, that is very normal.
[00:03:43] Of course you're gonna keep wanting to search
[00:03:45] for the physical treatment or physical cause
[00:03:48] so that you can find a physical treatment
[00:03:49] so that you can just get quote unquote fixed, right?
[00:03:52] Or you just take a pill or maybe it's a surgery.
[00:03:54] Maybe it's something to treat physically
[00:03:57] so that someone can help you and do that.
[00:03:59] I get that totally.
[00:04:01] But knowing that this work neuroplastic symptoms,
[00:04:06] you don't have to buy into it 100% for it
[00:04:09] to actually work.
[00:04:11] And also if you have something like hypermobility, right?
[00:04:16] Which is different than EDS,
[00:04:18] which is different than LSD and low syndrome.
[00:04:20] And I'm only naming it,
[00:04:21] I know not everyone experiences this
[00:04:22] listening to this episode,
[00:04:23] but I've just had a lot of questions about it recently.
[00:04:26] And your nervous system does have an impact on you.
[00:04:29] Now, is this work going to quote unquote cure or fix
[00:04:33] your EDS?
[00:04:33] No, I'm not saying that.
[00:04:36] But the symptoms that you have associated
[00:04:38] with hypermobility when it comes to chronic pain
[00:04:41] and things like that can very much so be helped
[00:04:43] with brain and nervous system training.
[00:04:45] Because more often than not,
[00:04:46] your body has become more stressed out,
[00:04:50] probably for many reasons,
[00:04:52] but also for the fact that you have
[00:04:55] some type of connective tissue disorder.
[00:04:58] And so they go hand in hand, right?
[00:05:00] Is it the chicken for the egg kind of thing?
[00:05:02] Do you get, does your body get stressed out?
[00:05:03] Because you have this condition
[00:05:05] or does the condition cause the stress?
[00:05:07] Guarantee you it's probably both.
[00:05:10] So my point being is that mind body work
[00:05:12] will always help you.
[00:05:14] Nervous system regulation will always help you.
[00:05:17] It's never going to hurt you and I guarantee you
[00:05:20] it's going to help you in so many ways.
[00:05:23] Like more ways than you could ever imagine.
[00:05:26] Just listen to the people that come on my podcast
[00:05:29] that share their story,
[00:05:30] whether it's old clients of mine,
[00:05:32] other people that have healed that I've had on.
[00:05:35] It changes your life.
[00:05:37] It is 100% changed my life,
[00:05:39] how I see myself, how I see the world,
[00:05:41] how I see others.
[00:05:42] Now you don't have to go that far into it
[00:05:44] and that deep into it,
[00:05:46] but it's there and it's available
[00:05:48] and most people end up kind of going down that route
[00:05:50] as they get into this.
[00:05:53] The main point I wanted to say was that
[00:05:56] I want you to understand
[00:05:58] that nervous system regulation is for everyone.
[00:06:01] Now treating mind body neuroplastic symptoms
[00:06:05] is not necessarily for everyone
[00:06:07] because not everyone has these conditions and these symptoms.
[00:06:10] So I'm going to walk you through first and foremost
[00:06:13] what are neuroplastic symptoms
[00:06:15] and also how do you know if yours fit this?
[00:06:18] How do you know if your symptoms
[00:06:20] and what you're experiencing
[00:06:23] is actually caused by your dysregulated nervous system?
[00:06:25] So I'm going to go through that.
[00:06:27] Okay.
[00:06:29] Now I've had a lot of new people here
[00:06:31] and so I first and foremost,
[00:06:33] maybe I should have done this in the beginning
[00:06:34] but we're doing it now.
[00:06:36] I just want to introduce myself a little bit
[00:06:38] and share why I'm here and why I'm talking to you.
[00:06:43] What makes me a quote unquote expert
[00:06:47] or why are you listening to me, right?
[00:06:49] So first and foremost,
[00:06:51] if you didn't know already, obviously I'm Grace.
[00:06:53] I am a somatic trauma therapist and nervous system coach
[00:06:57] and the reason I teach this is because I have lived it.
[00:07:01] Not only have I lived it
[00:07:02] but now I professionally help clients move through it
[00:07:05] because once I started to recover
[00:07:08] from all my neuroplastic symptoms
[00:07:10] and I say all because I'm literally that person
[00:07:12] that can probably track back to like,
[00:07:15] I mean truly early childhood years
[00:07:16] but the first like set of symptoms I can remember
[00:07:21] is probably around like 11 or 12
[00:07:23] and I've had so many things
[00:07:24] and that started off with like,
[00:07:26] they didn't know what to call them.
[00:07:28] They called them stress headaches
[00:07:30] but it was so much more than a headache.
[00:07:31] It was probably more like a migraine
[00:07:32] at that young of an age.
[00:07:34] I've gone through, I am hypermobile in my body.
[00:07:37] I do not have EDS but I am hypermobile
[00:07:39] and so I experienced different types of symptoms
[00:07:43] associated that with that.
[00:07:44] I've had chronic pain.
[00:07:45] I've broken multiple bones because of that
[00:07:47] and had chronic pain from that.
[00:07:49] I've had CFS fatigue.
[00:07:51] I've had a million food sensitivities,
[00:07:53] high mold reactivity, gut issues,
[00:07:56] some bladder irritability, just,
[00:07:58] I mean those are just a few things to name
[00:08:00] and POTS-like symptoms.
[00:08:01] I tried a lot of things.
[00:08:03] I went down the diet supplement, doctor protocol route
[00:08:06] and I am never against doctors.
[00:08:08] I have a couple of amazing friends
[00:08:10] who are wonderful functional practitioners
[00:08:12] and I love them very much
[00:08:13] and I love the work that they do
[00:08:14] but after going down that route for myself,
[00:08:17] getting really stuck in it,
[00:08:19] getting stuck in trying to find the next best treatment,
[00:08:21] the next best protocol or detox or gut thing
[00:08:24] or psychedelic or whatever it was I tried,
[00:08:28] I was searching so far outside of myself to fix me,
[00:08:31] searching for other things to fix me
[00:08:33] and what I eventually found was that that's not the answer
[00:08:36] and the answer is actually me helping myself
[00:08:40] change my internal state,
[00:08:42] change how my nervous system was reacting to the world
[00:08:44] and how my brain was reacting to the world
[00:08:47] and also the old experiences and trauma
[00:08:50] that I had lived through.
[00:08:52] And so now this is what I do
[00:08:55] and I help people every day with
[00:08:57] because once I started to do that work
[00:08:59] and what I call recovered,
[00:09:01] I call myself recovered because I don't have
[00:09:03] those consistent chronic symptoms anymore.
[00:09:06] Few things pop up here and there in times of stress, yeah
[00:09:10] but I have expanded my nervous system's capacity
[00:09:13] to hold more states of difficult emotions,
[00:09:17] stress, things like that in a positive way
[00:09:20] because that's just life, right?
[00:09:21] We hold things, we go through stressful times.
[00:09:24] I've taught my nervous system to hold those times of stress
[00:09:27] and it be okay.
[00:09:30] What it used to do was anything that filled my bucket,
[00:09:33] whether it was fear or anger or grief or a breakup
[00:09:38] or a difficult financial situation,
[00:09:42] my body would say, oh my gosh, we can't handle this
[00:09:44] and would shut me down by giving me
[00:09:46] some sort of symptoms.
[00:09:47] So what now I retrained it to say,
[00:09:49] hey, hey, hey, we don't have to shut down.
[00:09:52] We can hold this and still be okay
[00:09:53] and it's okay to feel these things.
[00:09:55] So now I don't need those chronic symptoms anymore
[00:09:57] or my body doesn't, so it doesn't give him to me
[00:09:59] all the time.
[00:10:01] All right, if this is starting to sound like you,
[00:10:04] I really want you to listen and save this episode
[00:10:06] because I'm gonna walk you through how to assess
[00:10:09] whether this work is right for you.
[00:10:11] Now, if you're listening and you're nodding along
[00:10:13] and you're like, damn, that kind of sounds like me,
[00:10:16] you're probably in the right place.
[00:10:17] This is exactly what I take my clients
[00:10:19] during the first few weeks of working with me.
[00:10:21] Is this you?
[00:10:22] How do we know for sure?
[00:10:23] And now what do we do with it?
[00:10:26] So first and foremost,
[00:10:28] to understand what neuroplastic symptoms are
[00:10:31] and whether your nervous system is causing your symptoms,
[00:10:35] we first have to understand the nervous system, right?
[00:10:38] So, I mean, to be honest, this episode,
[00:10:40] I'm literally taking you through the first couple modules
[00:10:43] of my program.
[00:10:43] I'm just reteaching it to you, so here we go.
[00:10:45] Give it a little shot, a little try.
[00:10:47] So what is the nervous system
[00:10:50] that everyone talks about all the time on the internet?
[00:10:52] Well, what I, how I explain the nervous system is,
[00:10:56] your brain is the control center.
[00:10:58] Your nervous system is the information highway
[00:11:00] that goes to your brain all throughout your body.
[00:11:03] And every second signals travel from your brain
[00:11:06] to the rest of your body and back all day.
[00:11:09] I don't know the exact math on that,
[00:11:11] but a million different signals within a second, right?
[00:11:14] It signals pain, digestion, inflammation, hormones,
[00:11:19] immune function, heart rate,
[00:11:21] all of it runs throughout this highway.
[00:11:23] Emotions run here or they get stuck and they don't run.
[00:11:27] When the brain senses danger, real or perceived danger,
[00:11:30] it sends protective signals down that highway
[00:11:33] and that's normal.
[00:11:34] That's how you survive, right?
[00:11:36] I say this time and time again
[00:11:38] and I'm gonna always share this example.
[00:11:40] You put your hand on a hot stove,
[00:11:42] the hot stove gives your hand a sensation.
[00:11:46] It doesn't say anything about that sensation yet,
[00:11:48] but that sensation has been given to your hand,
[00:11:51] the heat, right?
[00:11:53] That heat, that sensation is a signal.
[00:11:56] It signals up your nervous system,
[00:11:58] up that information highway into your brain
[00:12:00] and your brain goes, okay, what is this?
[00:12:03] Is this danger or not?
[00:12:05] And hopefully, yes, our brains should always say danger
[00:12:08] in that situation.
[00:12:09] So our brain says, yes, let's categorize this as danger
[00:12:13] and then sends the signal of danger back down
[00:12:16] to the hand and the hand has a pain sensation.
[00:12:20] The problem with dysregulated nervous systems
[00:12:24] is that categorization of danger in your brain
[00:12:27] is slipped on in many, many, many scenarios
[00:12:30] where it doesn't need to be.
[00:12:32] That's what we call neuroplastic symptoms
[00:12:34] and this is anything from pain to fatigue
[00:12:37] to got issues to migraines.
[00:12:39] Like again, I will share the whole list here.
[00:12:42] This is not just, oh, you're making it up in your head.
[00:12:46] This is literally wiring in your brain
[00:12:49] and in your nervous system in your body.
[00:12:51] And the good thing is that we as humans are ever evolving
[00:12:55] and our bodies are such wise and amazing systems
[00:12:59] and we can rewire those signals
[00:13:01] because it's truly just a signal, right?
[00:13:06] So to recap, a neuroplastic symptom is a real
[00:13:10] physical symptom caused by the brain
[00:13:12] staying stuck in danger mode.
[00:13:15] Now the brain keeps sending those protective signals
[00:13:17] which keeps pain, fatigue, inflammation
[00:13:20] and other symptoms active.
[00:13:22] Digestion, oh, it's a huge one.
[00:13:24] We all know by now, I hope you know by now,
[00:13:27] that for example, IBS, it is totally a brain body
[00:13:32] nervous system condition.
[00:13:35] There is no physical reason or treatment
[00:13:39] that actually helps IBS, even diet.
[00:13:43] It is truly more emotional and mental,
[00:13:45] nervous system-based, right?
[00:13:48] So your brain is sending signals to your digestion
[00:13:51] and we know the gut brain access is extremely strong.
[00:13:55] And it's saying, danger, danger, you're stressed,
[00:13:57] we don't know what to do with all this
[00:13:59] so we're just gonna send signals to your gut
[00:14:01] to dysregulate it so you have issues there.
[00:14:03] So that's another example.
[00:14:04] Two things can happen here.
[00:14:06] One, these symptoms and conditions can happen
[00:14:09] when you've done all the tests and nothing comes back, right?
[00:14:13] I hear time and time again,
[00:14:14] like something is so wrong but they're missing something
[00:14:17] because there is not a test that shows something
[00:14:19] that's really that wrong.
[00:14:20] That is one scenario where this happens.
[00:14:23] That's a huge signal of actually,
[00:14:26] in my professional opinion and where I'm coming from,
[00:14:29] that's a good sign when someone tells me that.
[00:14:31] When a client says, yeah,
[00:14:33] cause I always ask, what testing have you had?
[00:14:34] What diagnoses have you had?
[00:14:36] And a lot of times they're like, I haven't really.
[00:14:41] And my light bulb goes off and I'm like, yes, okay, good.
[00:14:44] Now we know it is neuroplastic.
[00:14:47] Now it's you starting to understand that too.
[00:14:49] And again, it doesn't mean nothing's wrong.
[00:14:51] You are having the physical sensations and the issues.
[00:14:56] But if there is no structural cause that doctors can find,
[00:15:00] then it's neuroplastic and it's great news
[00:15:02] because then you can recover.
[00:15:04] Now it can also happen even when tests show certain things.
[00:15:09] Not everything, right?
[00:15:10] If there's a true structural issue in your body or an organ,
[00:15:14] no, we're not gonna tell you, you can rewire that.
[00:15:16] But it can happen when you have things show up like
[00:15:19] a bulge disc, bursitis, inflammation, nerve damage,
[00:15:25] food sensitivities, scar tissue, mold exposure,
[00:15:29] gut issues like SIBO, H. pylori or viral remnants,
[00:15:34] things like that, those are also sure signs
[00:15:39] that it's caused more by a dysregulated nervous system.
[00:15:42] Now, obviously help yourself, right?
[00:15:44] We're not saying you learn today that
[00:15:47] you don't actually need these food sensitivities.
[00:15:49] So you go from eating 15 to like eating anything tomorrow.
[00:15:53] That's a little bit too much for your system to hold, right?
[00:15:57] But I just want you to understand that
[00:16:01] just because you do have physical things showing up on tests,
[00:16:05] those are not structural issues, diseases in the body.
[00:16:11] Those are structural abnormalities
[00:16:14] that happen in many, many bodies, many people.
[00:16:16] The same two people can have a bulge disc,
[00:16:19] one on an x-ray, right?
[00:16:21] One person has pain, one person doesn't.
[00:16:24] One person has high inflammation in their body.
[00:16:27] They both do.
[00:16:28] One person has pain and issues, the other person doesn't.
[00:16:31] This happens time and time and time again.
[00:16:34] If it is truly a structural issue,
[00:16:36] both people will be having symptoms and issues
[00:16:39] and they would need to be treated.
[00:16:41] All right, so that's really an important distinction
[00:16:44] I want you to understand and go into this with.
[00:16:46] That neuroplastic doesn't mean nothing is there.
[00:16:49] It means the symptom is being amplified,
[00:16:51] sustained or generated by the nervous system,
[00:16:55] regardless of what else is going on.
[00:16:57] Symptoms are signals, not sentences, okay?
[00:17:02] So what are the lists of symptoms here?
[00:17:05] What are the list of conditions
[00:17:07] that we see neuroplastic symptoms show up as?
[00:17:09] And by the way, this is a growing list.
[00:17:11] This mind-body symptoms
[00:17:13] have always been going on in humans.
[00:17:16] I mean, we can track back nervous system regulation
[00:17:19] and emotional healing
[00:17:21] before humans really even had modern day society.
[00:17:24] There have been healers and shamans
[00:17:27] and people helping heal people
[00:17:30] with mental and emotional treatments
[00:17:33] for physical issues for centuries.
[00:17:37] Now, in modern day where we are now,
[00:17:40] we have a lot more data and science to back some of that up,
[00:17:42] but it's still growing.
[00:17:44] It's very much so still growing.
[00:17:45] So when I read out this list, believe me,
[00:17:48] there's probably more here
[00:17:49] that I don't even fully know yet or still don't know.
[00:17:53] But these are the main ones we see often.
[00:17:55] Things like headaches and migraines,
[00:17:58] chronic pain anywhere in the body
[00:18:01] that has lasted longer than six months
[00:18:03] and does not have a true structural cause.
[00:18:09] Meaning like, for example, a few years ago,
[00:18:12] I fractured my wrist and my elbow snowboarding.
[00:18:15] It was horrible.
[00:18:16] It was like the first day I snowboarded.
[00:18:17] I will never do it again.
[00:18:18] I realize now why you shouldn't start snowboarding
[00:18:20] in your 30s.
[00:18:22] But I did and I had a lot of pain with it.
[00:18:26] Even after like the, you know,
[00:18:29] six months or so being in the cast,
[00:18:31] doing physical therapy, all the things.
[00:18:33] I had an MRI, X-ray done it again.
[00:18:35] Actually a lot seemed pretty normal,
[00:18:37] but I was having pain.
[00:18:39] I honestly for almost two years after.
[00:18:42] Now I knew it was neuroplastic.
[00:18:43] Like I knew, all right,
[00:18:45] my brain is sending more danger signals.
[00:18:47] So I worked with it.
[00:18:48] But my point being here, is that fracture?
[00:18:50] Can we heal that with my body?
[00:18:52] No, did I help myself be less symptomatic?
[00:18:55] Oh yeah.
[00:18:56] But chronic pain that's outside
[00:18:58] of something like a fracture, fibromyalgia,
[00:19:00] ME-CFS, chronic fatigue, long COVID,
[00:19:03] Lyme, POTS, MCAS, IBS,
[00:19:06] and any of the other type of gut trouble,
[00:19:09] gut dysfunction, back pain,
[00:19:11] that pain, dizziness and vertigo.
[00:19:14] Any kind of like dizziness conditions.
[00:19:16] A lot of pelvic pain issues,
[00:19:18] bulbidinia, IC and OAB, brain fog,
[00:19:22] and also hypermobility, chronic pain, right?
[00:19:25] Again, I'm not saying you can change the fact
[00:19:28] that there's a connective tissue disorder, disorder.
[00:19:31] But I am saying that you can reduce
[00:19:34] the symptoms associated with that.
[00:19:36] And I myself have done that for me.
[00:19:38] The good news again, is that we can change this.
[00:19:42] We can change the brain and the nervous system.
[00:19:45] Even though you've been given these labels,
[00:19:47] it does not mean it has to be a life sentence.
[00:19:49] Actually, I want you to really solidify that.
[00:19:52] Because a lot of times when we get labels,
[00:19:55] we can be really helpful, right?
[00:19:57] We get put into this box, if you will,
[00:20:00] of understanding something.
[00:20:01] And awareness is huge, it's really, really helpful.
[00:20:04] Like, oh yeah, that fits me.
[00:20:06] Oh my gosh, I feel seen and heard and that makes sense.
[00:20:09] But I don't want you to keep identifying with that label.
[00:20:13] Because what happens when you do that,
[00:20:15] is that your brain then picks up onto,
[00:20:17] oh yeah, this is me, this is our body, okay, this is it.
[00:20:21] And it has a harder time thinking outside the box
[00:20:24] and rewiring those signals.
[00:20:26] So to be honest, one of the best things
[00:20:29] I didn't realize I was doing at the time,
[00:20:31] but I did in some of my early days
[00:20:34] of issues and conditions,
[00:20:38] was that I very thankfully kind of got hooked
[00:20:42] on the holistic, more functional medical route
[00:20:46] somewhat early.
[00:20:47] And part of that was because my parents went down that route
[00:20:49] and so I'm very grateful that I was introduced to it.
[00:20:52] And part of that, I just kind of inherently knew
[00:20:55] I didn't really want to put a lot of labels on things.
[00:20:58] Actually, as I'm saying this,
[00:20:59] a big part of that was because at age like 11 or 12,
[00:21:03] I actually was given a major depressive diagnoses
[00:21:06] and anxiety and learning disabilities,
[00:21:08] like a lot of things.
[00:21:10] I feel strongly about diagnosing
[00:21:11] because that really, I don't wanna be dramatic,
[00:21:15] but kind of like it kind of ruined me.
[00:21:17] Giving a 12 year old an MDD diagnosis
[00:21:20] and not helping her understand that it can change
[00:21:22] because at that time in psychology and psychiatry,
[00:21:25] it was told that your brain was chemically challenged
[00:21:28] and that's just how it was gonna be
[00:21:29] and you just have to take this pill
[00:21:31] for the rest of your life
[00:21:33] because that's just how your brain is.
[00:21:35] Y'all tell that to a 12 year old.
[00:21:37] I got way more depressed thinking
[00:21:39] that that was gonna be the rest of my life
[00:21:41] and I had this like disease of depression.
[00:21:44] I just feel really strongly about
[00:21:45] especially giving kids diagnoses like that.
[00:21:47] And so as I started to grow and heal,
[00:21:49] especially my early 20s,
[00:21:50] I really let go of that diagnoses
[00:21:53] and realized I don't need that,
[00:21:54] I don't have to be this the rest of my life.
[00:21:57] Then when I went into any other kind of medical situation,
[00:22:00] they would say something to me
[00:22:02] and sometimes I'd kind of take it on and understand it
[00:22:05] and it would help me,
[00:22:06] but a lot of the times
[00:22:08] I just didn't wanna give too much weight to a label.
[00:22:11] So my point being is that I kind of did that just inherently
[00:22:15] but I want you to see diagnoses and labels
[00:22:18] a little more flexibly instead of like, this is it,
[00:22:21] this is you, this is the rest of your life
[00:22:22] because that's not helpful, right?
[00:22:25] Again, it's super helpful to understand something.
[00:22:28] I just don't want you to attach so much to it.
[00:22:30] Okay, I'm going down a lot of tangents today
[00:22:32] before even getting in all of the information.
[00:22:35] So the checklist of how to know
[00:22:39] if it's your nervous system, one more thing,
[00:22:41] I just wanna let you know for a second
[00:22:43] that if you're already hearing this
[00:22:45] and you're sounding like so much of this sounds
[00:22:46] like me already on May 13th,
[00:22:50] I am hosting a free live master class
[00:22:54] and it's the same nervous system work
[00:22:56] that I'm walking you through now,
[00:22:57] but live with me and built in tools to help you
[00:23:02] start this work and get out of these labels at your end.
[00:23:06] I haven't done this in a while
[00:23:08] and I don't know when I'm gonna do it again,
[00:23:10] but my point is to just get this information out there
[00:23:13] and live calls like that are just more helpful, right?
[00:23:16] Like I talk to you every week on here
[00:23:18] but this is where I'm gonna go deeper.
[00:23:20] I'm gonna really help you understand all of this
[00:23:23] and then tell you what to do with it
[00:23:25] and how to start moving forward,
[00:23:28] giving you some skills and some tools, right?
[00:23:30] Because if you've been listening to this
[00:23:32] and you're nodding along and you're like,
[00:23:33] yeah, that's me, that's me,
[00:23:35] but like where do I start and what do I do with this?
[00:23:38] That's why I'm creating this master class
[00:23:39] is I'm gonna walk you through
[00:23:41] what nervous system dysregulation actually looks like,
[00:23:44] why your symptoms haven't fully cleared
[00:23:46] even though you're doing everything right
[00:23:48] and the first three things to do
[00:23:50] that begin to shift this pattern.
[00:23:52] It's totally free, it's live.
[00:23:55] You will get the recording if you can't show up.
[00:23:57] So I highly recommend just signing up
[00:23:59] so you can get the recording
[00:24:01] and it's the most direct way to start working with me
[00:24:04] before deciding on doing any kind of like individual work
[00:24:08] or group work with my team.
[00:24:10] So to grab your spot,
[00:24:13] find the link below to sign up for the free master class
[00:24:17] on Wednesday, May 13th and I will see you there.
[00:24:22] Okay, back to the checklist.
[00:24:24] So versions foremost,
[00:24:26] if most of these fit you,
[00:24:30] you have neuroplastic symptoms,
[00:24:32] you do not need to check all the boxes here,
[00:24:36] you just need to see yourself in enough of them.
[00:24:39] And I know that's a little vague and kind of annoying,
[00:24:42] it's just true, like this is how it works
[00:24:44] and also if you are hearing one
[00:24:47] and you're like, no, that's not me at all,
[00:24:50] but you fit other ones, again, it's still you.
[00:24:54] You do not have to meet all of this
[00:24:56] because we're all a little bit different, right?
[00:24:58] But our nervous systems
[00:24:59] and our mental and emotional health affect everything.
[00:25:03] All right, so number one,
[00:25:05] if your symptoms lack clear physical evidence,
[00:25:07] kind of like what I talked about earlier, right?
[00:25:09] If your tests come back normal,
[00:25:11] if your imaging is clean, your blood work is okay or fine,
[00:25:14] but you're still in real pain and real symptoms,
[00:25:18] normal labs do not mean that nothing's happening,
[00:25:21] it just means we're looking in the wrong place.
[00:25:24] So if you have had multiple testing done
[00:25:26] and your doctors are like, pretty normal,
[00:25:29] that is literally the first sign that I'm thinking,
[00:25:32] yep, most likely neuroplastic.
[00:25:34] Number two is that your symptoms are inconsistent,
[00:25:37] maybe they move around the body,
[00:25:39] maybe they come and go at odd times
[00:25:41] or they're triggered by random things,
[00:25:43] smells, sounds, seasons, weather, people, work, home.
[00:25:49] If you notice that, like maybe you have IBS
[00:25:53] and IBS clears for a little bit,
[00:25:54] but you also have a migraine and then maybe you get dizzy.
[00:25:57] And by the way,
[00:25:58] I'm not talking about all of this happening in one day.
[00:26:01] For a lot of people, not everyone,
[00:26:03] but a lot of people this shows up as,
[00:26:05] when I ask them about their history,
[00:26:07] first and foremost today,
[00:26:08] like someone saying, oh yeah, I have IC or OAB
[00:26:11] or I have pelvic pain.
[00:26:13] And that's the only symptom and it's every single day.
[00:26:15] It doesn't change.
[00:26:17] And that's fine, that's neuroplastic too.
[00:26:20] But then I ask,
[00:26:21] have you ever had any other kind of symptoms in your life?
[00:26:23] Any other health issues, diagnoses?
[00:26:26] Most often they'll be like, oh yeah, well, I mean,
[00:26:28] like when I was a teenager,
[00:26:29] I had pretty bad IBS and like gut issues.
[00:26:32] Or oh yeah, in my early 20s, I had migraines.
[00:26:35] But then they just went away and now I have this.
[00:26:38] That is so common.
[00:26:39] That just means that your brain is choosing something else
[00:26:41] to give you a focus.
[00:26:44] Okay, number three is conventional treatments
[00:26:47] have failed to provide relief.
[00:26:50] Maybe you've tried PT, meds, supplements,
[00:26:53] elimination diets, protocols, detoxes,
[00:26:56] psych meds, psychedelics, anything like that.
[00:27:00] Some helped a little, probably,
[00:27:02] maybe gave you a little bit of hope at first
[00:27:04] when you felt better,
[00:27:06] but then everything started to come back
[00:27:08] and nothing fully really helped that well.
[00:27:11] It's not that it was the treatment
[00:27:13] that just isn't a good treatment.
[00:27:15] It's not about that.
[00:27:16] It's not that the doctor or the therapist
[00:27:18] didn't wanna help you or wasn't doing their best.
[00:27:21] They all totally were.
[00:27:22] It's just that they weren't addressing the root cause.
[00:27:25] And the root cause is your brain and nervous system.
[00:27:29] So if you've been kind of stuck in the same things,
[00:27:31] like you go to this treatment every single week,
[00:27:34] you go to X, Y, and Z every other week, whatever.
[00:27:37] And usually I talk to people and they're like,
[00:27:40] yeah, I'm doing this and like, I mean, yeah,
[00:27:42] it helps, but I have to keep doing it.
[00:27:44] I have to keep going.
[00:27:46] More often than not, that's not a treatment
[00:27:48] that's just management, right?
[00:27:50] You're just managing something.
[00:27:52] And that's not actual recovery.
[00:27:55] That's just management.
[00:27:56] What I'm talking about here
[00:27:57] is getting you to a place of recovery.
[00:28:00] That's what we can do with neuroplastic symptoms.
[00:28:03] Number four is you have multiple
[00:28:05] physically unrelated symptoms
[00:28:08] or a history of multiple chronic symptoms.
[00:28:10] Kind of like I mentioned in the beginning, right?
[00:28:12] You don't just have one thing.
[00:28:13] Maybe you have five or you have one right now,
[00:28:15] but you've had multiple in the past.
[00:28:17] You have IBS migraines and skin reactions and anxiety.
[00:28:22] And by the way, if you have anxiety associated
[00:28:25] with anything health related, I feel for you.
[00:28:28] And yeah, of course you do.
[00:28:29] Like how could you not,
[00:28:31] after going through what you've been through?
[00:28:33] But that is a tall tail sign
[00:28:36] that this is neuroplastic and nervous system,
[00:28:38] like associated nervous system.
[00:28:40] You know, I don't think I've met one person
[00:28:42] that has chronic symptoms,
[00:28:44] but has had zero anxiety ever.
[00:28:48] That just doesn't happen.
[00:28:50] So if you also experience anxiety with your health,
[00:28:53] that's definitely a sign.
[00:28:55] Number five, you have personality traits
[00:28:58] or characteristics that you start to notice
[00:29:01] that include things like being highly driven,
[00:29:04] hard or critical on yourself.
[00:29:06] You always feel ultra responsible for yourself
[00:29:09] and everyone else around you.
[00:29:11] Maybe you have some all or nothing tendencies, right?
[00:29:14] Like when you get into something, you're all in it.
[00:29:16] You know, you gotta be full force on something
[00:29:19] or you're not gonna do it at all.
[00:29:21] Maybe you have perfectionistic tendencies.
[00:29:23] Maybe you have more of a need to feel in control
[00:29:25] or you constantly put other people's needs above your own.
[00:29:28] Most of the time you're the one keeping it all together.
[00:29:31] You don't often drop the ball,
[00:29:33] but now that you have these health things,
[00:29:35] you are dropping the ball and it sucks.
[00:29:38] And it feels horrible because you have lived a life
[00:29:41] where you've had everything together and felt in control
[00:29:45] or maybe you were like a competitive athlete
[00:29:47] and you were really strong in your sport,
[00:29:49] really strong in what you were doing.
[00:29:51] And now all of a sudden you can't do that thing.
[00:29:55] Ugh, I see that a lot and that's hard,
[00:29:57] but there's a reason for that
[00:29:59] and that's a whole other episode,
[00:30:00] but there's a reason why I see time and time again,
[00:30:04] especially, I mean, I live in Boulder
[00:30:05] and I see so many like high achieving athletes
[00:30:11] in this position where they were really engaged
[00:30:14] and like into what they were doing,
[00:30:16] but then their body was like, no, not anymore.
[00:30:18] We're shutting you down for a little bit
[00:30:20] cause you need to learn these things.
[00:30:21] That is common.
[00:30:22] Number six, your life has been marked by high levels
[00:30:26] of stress at certain periods of time.
[00:30:28] Now, if you're listening to this,
[00:30:29] some of you are gonna say, yeah, that's me
[00:30:31] and some of you are gonna say,
[00:30:32] I don't really think so.
[00:30:33] I don't think I've had much stress in my life.
[00:30:36] Stress looks different for every single person.
[00:30:39] Stress really just means your nervous system
[00:30:41] was no longer able to keep everything okay.
[00:30:45] Your nervous system was pushed past its capacity
[00:30:48] and that capacity is different for each person.
[00:30:50] Basically, your body's kind of been keeping the score
[00:30:54] and it's not making it up, it's just keeping track
[00:30:56] and the more levels of stress you have with job,
[00:30:59] family, relationally, socially,
[00:31:02] it just adds up over time.
[00:31:05] Number seven is if you've learned that a child,
[00:31:09] I wanna say this one with a lot of importance.
[00:31:12] I want you to remember this and ask yourself,
[00:31:15] if you learned that a child, someone you don't know
[00:31:19] but a child or maybe someone you know,
[00:31:21] maybe it's an Eastern Fee or something,
[00:31:22] a child was experiencing what you experienced as a child,
[00:31:28] would you feel sad or angry or disappointed?
[00:31:32] A lot of people don't realize
[00:31:34] their childhood had hard times in it
[00:31:38] until they imagine someone else going through it.
[00:31:40] And so that's why I really want you to pause
[00:31:43] and think about this and again,
[00:31:45] it doesn't mean you have to have
[00:31:46] some huge crazy trauma in your life.
[00:31:49] It also doesn't have to mean that you're blaming
[00:31:51] your parents or caregivers for everything.
[00:31:53] That's definitely not what I'm saying either.
[00:31:56] We just have to look at it
[00:31:57] from a little bit more of an outsider's view.
[00:32:01] If you experienced what you did as a child,
[00:32:04] if someone else was experiencing that same life,
[00:32:07] how would you feel about it?
[00:32:08] Would there be some sadness or anger or grief
[00:32:11] or disappointment going on?
[00:32:12] That's a sign that your nervous system has had stress.
[00:32:15] And then it's been building up over time.
[00:32:17] Now, if you do know that you've had trauma
[00:32:20] or some type of adverse childhood experience,
[00:32:23] we call them ACEs,
[00:32:24] if you know that for sure,
[00:32:26] you're like, yep, I have this trauma
[00:32:27] and that trauma and that.
[00:32:28] That is like almost a direct cause
[00:32:30] to knowing that this is neuroplastic for you
[00:32:32] and this is my body
[00:32:34] because it is shown time and time again.
[00:32:36] The more people have ACEs,
[00:32:39] it is directly correlated
[00:32:41] with having chronic symptoms.
[00:32:45] Now, if you've also suffered from anxiety or depression,
[00:32:48] there's a mental and emotional component here.
[00:32:51] And over time, your body physically manifests
[00:32:55] those emotional states in chronic symptoms.
[00:32:59] So if you've checked a few of these off,
[00:33:01] if you're like, yeah, that sounds like me,
[00:33:03] your symptoms are to likely neuroplastic.
[00:33:06] If you checked most of them, yes, this is you,
[00:33:11] but it doesn't have to be a bad thing.
[00:33:12] It's a good thing
[00:33:14] because neuroplastic means changeable.
[00:33:15] We can change it.
[00:33:18] So this means that we can recognize the pattern
[00:33:21] and start to shift it
[00:33:23] because you can't change what you can't see, right?
[00:33:25] So awareness is huge.
[00:33:27] Education in this work is a big part of it.
[00:33:30] You need to understand what's going on within you
[00:33:32] so that then you can help heal you.
[00:33:34] So I want you to pick the item from the checklist
[00:33:38] that landed the hardest for you
[00:33:40] and notice it, maybe journal about it, reflect on it,
[00:33:43] see how that's affected you,
[00:33:44] see how it hits you, how it lands with you
[00:33:48] about how this is happening or what's going on
[00:33:50] and how now this understanding for you
[00:33:53] has this impact to do.
[00:33:55] Does it bring you hope?
[00:33:56] I hope so.
[00:33:57] Is it bring you this kind of like, okay, cool,
[00:33:59] but like I don't know what to do now?
[00:34:01] Well, great.
[00:34:02] That's why you're here.
[00:34:03] That's why I'm hosting the free master class.
[00:34:05] So sign up below
[00:34:06] if you want to learn more about what to do.
[00:34:07] So the reason why this work works
[00:34:09] is because the brain starts remapping
[00:34:12] the second you bring something into awareness
[00:34:14] and that's neuroplasticity in action, right?
[00:34:17] There's usually a reduction in fear and anxiety
[00:34:20] which reduces the brain and nervous system response.
[00:34:24] So I hope this leaves you with hope.
[00:34:27] And before we wrap up,
[00:34:28] I just want to say that if you saw yourself
[00:34:31] in any of these signs, in any of these conditions
[00:34:33] and any of the items on the checklist,
[00:34:36] I see you, I hear you
[00:34:38] and I don't know you, maybe I do know you
[00:34:40] but I can only imagine you've probably been through a lot
[00:34:43] by the time you get to this podcast
[00:34:45] and so I just really hope that this brings you some hope
[00:34:48] and know, really, really know that it's okay.
[00:34:51] It's possible.
[00:34:51] It's possible to change even if you're hesitant
[00:34:54] and it doesn't mean it happens overnight.
[00:34:56] I'm not gonna sugarcoat it for you.
[00:34:58] I'm not gonna say that, yeah,
[00:34:59] you'll be healed in a month of doing this.
[00:35:03] I mean, some people are, but that's pretty rare.
[00:35:05] So it does take work, but like the work works.
[00:35:09] Okay.
[00:35:11] Okay, if you want to keep going,
[00:35:14] sign up for the masterclass below.
[00:35:15] I will see you on May 13th.
[00:35:17] And if you know someone in your life
[00:35:19] who would benefit from this, share it.
[00:35:22] Send them this episode.
[00:35:23] Just kind of poke them.
[00:35:24] Be like, hey, I thought of you when I listened to this.
[00:35:28] There you go.
[00:35:29] Okay.
[00:35:30] I hope that you have a great rest of your day,
[00:35:33] whatever that looks like
[00:35:34] and I will talk to you all next week.
[00:35:36] Keep healing with grace.
[00:35:39] If this podcast means something to you,
[00:35:40] it would mean so much to me
[00:35:42] if you could do these couple things.
[00:35:44] One, go to the heal with grace show page
[00:35:46] wherever you listen and tap the plus sign
[00:35:48] or click on the follow button
[00:35:49] so you don't miss an episode.
[00:35:51] It helps both of us out.
[00:35:53] While you're there,
[00:35:54] if you could give a five-star review
[00:35:56] so that this podcast can reach more people,
[00:35:59] it would mean so much to me
[00:36:00] so I can continue sharing episodes
[00:36:02] that help you as well as others.
[00:36:04] Thanks for listening
[00:36:05] and I hope this brings you hope on your journey.