I'm new to Substack but used to read your website--coming from dharma. I find you here and land on this topic, which has been a big disrupter since 2019 to my teaching and writing. I learned only at age 59 that I have hypermoble Ehlers-Danlos syndome, a complex connective tissue disorder that has comorbidities and dysfunction, although chronic pain became the main problem for me as I aged. The medical "system" was useless and usually has been most of my life for all chronic conditions.
I have made steady improvements by doing my own research via Deep Research on AI. The advantage of it has been that I can connect two completely different fields to solve a pain problem. For example, I connected anatomy, research on my hEDS condition, and shoe architecture to yield a mathematically precise set of measurements that I needed to find the best walking shoes and orthotics. I then found them and resolved much of my pain in terms of both frequency and intensity.
Also, I figured out that my severe allergies contribute to inability to lose weight and to pain, inflammation, and fatigue. Even brain fog on severe days. None of my doctors made the connections.
I also found out by chance that 3 mg of melatonin before bed works better than NSAIDS (which I can't take) for pain and inflammation. Doctors? Not a clue.
Had no idea you also struggled with chronic pain David, very sorry to hear! It can be incredibly devastating.
Have you interacted with John Sarno's work at all, or the many folks that have followed in his footsteps exploring the relationship between chronic pain and emotions?
Personally I consider almost all chronic ailments to be an emotional, or at a lower resolution, a spiritual problem.
I have, long ago, applied various bodywork systems that are also based on the premise that the causes of chronic pain are often primarily emotional, and they've worked for me. And I can feel the connection directly.
I haven't yet found someone where I live who I can work with, so I'm doing the work now on my own. But not consistently at the moment, because the pains is not currently obstructive enough to give it the attention it wants :)
Regarding the random food intolerances, I have a (crackpot) theory - I think irritants in food are normally handled well, but if the GI and immune system is inflamed, then anything that is irritating becomes temporarily un-tolerated. Pepper, papaya, cantaloupe, anything fermented. I mention it because once the system heals, those foods might become tolerable again. That was my experience. I run into many people with gluten problems who can't handle pepper or tomatoes and other random flavonoids etc. I think it's because the substances are sometimes acutely irritating in an already inflamed or injured system. Once you're healed, the substances might all be fine to consume again.
Interesting that you invented the elimination diet from first principals. I did, also, 19 years ago, even though it was a known intervention for a long time by then. It's weird that staples of medicine such as Elimination Diet can't reach people after decades of being useful. No one I knew, and no doctors I visited, thought of trying the Elimination Diet even though I later found it in an old medical manual.
My experience is that brain fog can be a symptom of inflammation and can be cured by removing the cause of the inflammation. The clouds can be blown away.
Thanks, yes, this accords with my experience, and with many conversations I've had with other people who have been through the same process! They've independently invented the extreme elimination diet as a test to see *whether* food intolerance is the cause of these symptoms, and then several of them have said that after about a year of strictly avoiding the things that cause trouble, they are able to eat whatever they like, presumably because the gut has healed itself.
not related to the podcast, but I was wondering if you see any differences between the idea of praxis as described here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxis_(process) and your own ideas.
Have been going through the book and found it very valuable :)
Not sure what you are asking. "Praxis" (so far as I understand it) means "activity" or "practice"; in a political context, it means political action. It's a quite vague and general term?
I guess I mean that reality is not predictable and reducible by thought alone, at least not the interesting or important parts of it. So while Marxism has a big, sort of eternalist theory behind it, Marx seems to stress the primacy of practical application and action over abstract theories of how change and meaningn ought to happen.
Similarly Arendt seems to have similar critiques as you do of philosophy, though admittedly I only took this from the Wikipedia entry:
> In The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt argues that Western philosophy too often has focused on the contemplative life (vita contemplativa) and has neglected the active life (vita activa). This has frequently led humanity to miss much of the relevance of philosophical ideas to real life. For Arendt, praxis is the highest and most important level of the active life. She argues that more philosophers need to engage in everyday political action or praxis, which she sees as the true realization of human freedom. According to Arendt, our capacity to analyze ideas, wrestle with them, and engage in active praxis is what makes us uniquely human.
I am just wondering if you diverge from this description or if you were aware of this term.
I'm new to Substack but used to read your website--coming from dharma. I find you here and land on this topic, which has been a big disrupter since 2019 to my teaching and writing. I learned only at age 59 that I have hypermoble Ehlers-Danlos syndome, a complex connective tissue disorder that has comorbidities and dysfunction, although chronic pain became the main problem for me as I aged. The medical "system" was useless and usually has been most of my life for all chronic conditions.
I have made steady improvements by doing my own research via Deep Research on AI. The advantage of it has been that I can connect two completely different fields to solve a pain problem. For example, I connected anatomy, research on my hEDS condition, and shoe architecture to yield a mathematically precise set of measurements that I needed to find the best walking shoes and orthotics. I then found them and resolved much of my pain in terms of both frequency and intensity.
Also, I figured out that my severe allergies contribute to inability to lose weight and to pain, inflammation, and fatigue. Even brain fog on severe days. None of my doctors made the connections.
I also found out by chance that 3 mg of melatonin before bed works better than NSAIDS (which I can't take) for pain and inflammation. Doctors? Not a clue.
Had no idea you also struggled with chronic pain David, very sorry to hear! It can be incredibly devastating.
Have you interacted with John Sarno's work at all, or the many folks that have followed in his footsteps exploring the relationship between chronic pain and emotions?
Personally I consider almost all chronic ailments to be an emotional, or at a lower resolution, a spiritual problem.
I have read a little about Sarno's work, but not tried to apply it (yet, anyway). It was a big influence for Max Shen (with whom I did the podcast): https://essays.debugyourpain.com/p/useful-stories-and-pain-relief-on
I have, long ago, applied various bodywork systems that are also based on the premise that the causes of chronic pain are often primarily emotional, and they've worked for me. And I can feel the connection directly.
I haven't yet found someone where I live who I can work with, so I'm doing the work now on my own. But not consistently at the moment, because the pains is not currently obstructive enough to give it the attention it wants :)
Regarding the random food intolerances, I have a (crackpot) theory - I think irritants in food are normally handled well, but if the GI and immune system is inflamed, then anything that is irritating becomes temporarily un-tolerated. Pepper, papaya, cantaloupe, anything fermented. I mention it because once the system heals, those foods might become tolerable again. That was my experience. I run into many people with gluten problems who can't handle pepper or tomatoes and other random flavonoids etc. I think it's because the substances are sometimes acutely irritating in an already inflamed or injured system. Once you're healed, the substances might all be fine to consume again.
Interesting that you invented the elimination diet from first principals. I did, also, 19 years ago, even though it was a known intervention for a long time by then. It's weird that staples of medicine such as Elimination Diet can't reach people after decades of being useful. No one I knew, and no doctors I visited, thought of trying the Elimination Diet even though I later found it in an old medical manual.
My experience is that brain fog can be a symptom of inflammation and can be cured by removing the cause of the inflammation. The clouds can be blown away.
Thanks, yes, this accords with my experience, and with many conversations I've had with other people who have been through the same process! They've independently invented the extreme elimination diet as a test to see *whether* food intolerance is the cause of these symptoms, and then several of them have said that after about a year of strictly avoiding the things that cause trouble, they are able to eat whatever they like, presumably because the gut has healed itself.
Hey David,
not related to the podcast, but I was wondering if you see any differences between the idea of praxis as described here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxis_(process) and your own ideas.
Have been going through the book and found it very valuable :)
Glad you are finding it valuable!
Not sure what you are asking. "Praxis" (so far as I understand it) means "activity" or "practice"; in a political context, it means political action. It's a quite vague and general term?
I guess I mean that reality is not predictable and reducible by thought alone, at least not the interesting or important parts of it. So while Marxism has a big, sort of eternalist theory behind it, Marx seems to stress the primacy of practical application and action over abstract theories of how change and meaningn ought to happen.
Similarly Arendt seems to have similar critiques as you do of philosophy, though admittedly I only took this from the Wikipedia entry:
> In The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt argues that Western philosophy too often has focused on the contemplative life (vita contemplativa) and has neglected the active life (vita activa). This has frequently led humanity to miss much of the relevance of philosophical ideas to real life. For Arendt, praxis is the highest and most important level of the active life. She argues that more philosophers need to engage in everyday political action or praxis, which she sees as the true realization of human freedom. According to Arendt, our capacity to analyze ideas, wrestle with them, and engage in active praxis is what makes us uniquely human.
I am just wondering if you diverge from this description or if you were aware of this term.
Yes, I like Arendt's perspective.