Living Well With Autoimmune Disease

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tex
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Post by tex »

Connie,

Been there, done that, so I definitely understand how you feel. In my case, at least, posting while frustrated, almost always leads to much more frustration. :roll:

As another ex-perfectionist, this thread makes me wonder how many of us started out as perfectionists, and learned to kick the habit, due to the limitations imposed on us by this disease.

Tex
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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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teagirl
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Post by teagirl »

well, I'm another one! Obsessed with order and tidiness.
MC has had its effect - I don't clean as much, don't put everything away as soon as someone's handled it, and no longer organise, reorganise then re-reorganise the closet. I still have a lot of perfectionist habits .. way too many ... but I'm improving.

MC helped reduce my migraines from 2-3 monthly to 2-3 a year, and now it's maybe helped my perfectionist tendencies !
Maxine
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hoosier1
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Post by hoosier1 »

Regarding being a perfectionist... I attended a week long therapy session in California a few years ago, for sufferers of chronic pelvic pain, called the Stanford Protocol (Dr. Wise). It was really a good experience. It taught me some effective methods to de-stress and de-pain, paradoxically. I also met some people/friends whom I still email daily.

Anyways, I asked the physical therapist who was treating all of us, what was common to all of us?

His answer was this, "If I were to start a company that I wanted to be successful, I would hire everyone with chronic (pelvic) pain". I learned that we were all type A personalities. Formerly, I thought this meant being aggressive, overbearing, obnoxious, etc. But I have since learned it means being a perfectionist.

I find this funny, because I don't consider myself to be a perfectionist, but ask my wife, co-workers, and friends, and you will get a different story.

I was immersed, at the Stanford Protocol, amongst a very diverse group of suffering professionals from all over the world. Some of the people you would recognize as top business celebrities. I was shocked... but also comforted. Over time, it seems that some of us have discovered the physical or organic reasons for our pain, while some were simply so tense they created nerve damage due to constant muscular tension.

I learned that with pelvic pain, as one tries to relax this specific area of the body, the result is actually increased tension. So the Paradoxical Relaxation trains one relax a part of the body that is presently not under tension or in pain, and in time, the tense of painful area of the body also relaxes. It works.

Rich
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Gabes-Apg
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Post by Gabes-Apg »

wow
sounds fantastic and makes a huge amount a sense. This is our core, all the key organs are in there and all the main arteries flow though this area....

in some aspects adjusting to life with MC has softened some of my perfectionist tenandies in some areas

then again - i am certain that it has helped me with the ability to risk manage and be so diligent with my food prep and eating.
Gabes Ryan

"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
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Gloria
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Post by Gloria »

Rich,

Every mathematics major (and probably every engineering major) has to be a perfectionist. If you weren't, you couldn't get through the tests, much less the program. :smile:

Luckily, I don't have pelvic pain.

Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
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hoosier1
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Post by hoosier1 »

Good point, Gloria!

I think I am learning to be "less perfect". Just walking around my house, one can see how I just do the bare minimum to maintain it anymore. I think that is because I don't feel well enough to waste time on things that don't matter, and, as I get older, "things" just don't mean as much to me.

I am also relaxing more in my job, but unfortunately, I have a group of associates that are, to be frank, entitled and self-centered. So that doesn't help my stress. I really don't think any of them care to be less stress producing to me, especially the 22 year old. That generation gives me fits!

Rich

P.S. Just found out that one of my friends from the stanford protocol also has LC. He just reminded me of that. Interesting. I will invite him over to the board.
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