Negative emotions and self-talk, from fear to disappointment to anxiety, tend to impact us more and last longer than positive emotions. Our brains get hard-wired from infancy and early development through adulthood to become immersed in negative talk and actions.
The negative self-talk or internal dialogue impacts your body’s ability to heal. Negative self-talk is the biggest obstacle in healing for most of our patients, which is why we need to address it for anyone battling neuropathy.
How Negative Self-Talk Impacts Nerve Recovery
Thoughts have energy, and different types of thoughts emit different vibrational frequencies, also known as energy signatures. Clinical studies prove this principle.
Positive thoughts are measured at high vibrational frequencies, which exert a powerful influence on our immune system. They can encourage healing and stimulate healthy cell regeneration. Negative thoughts are measured at low vibrational frequencies, impeding the body’s healing ability.
As a culture, we are immersed in an environment that perpetuates negative thinking.
Negative Self-Talk: The Endless Cycle
When your inner voice is negative, you spend your time and focus primarily on the bad. These thoughts are repetitive, causing a cycle of the same negative thoughts again and again throughout the day.
The Role of Media and News in Negative Thinking
The next source of negative thinking comes from watching media and the news, including TV and documentaries, newspapers, websites, social media, radio, and podcasts.
Constantly watching negative news distorts your pattern of thinking.
Research from Dr. Graham Davey demonstrates that people exposed to negatively skewed news programs are more likely to experience negative moods such as anxiety, anger, sadness, worry, and fear than those who watch positive or neutral news.
Dr. Davey stated, “Negative news causes us to be more pessimistic about our own lives and prospects for the future.”
Research also shows that constantly dialing into negative media can result in physical tension in your body and depressive symptoms like loneliness and hopelessness.
Toxic People and Their Influence
Influence from toxic people affects your thinking. There is a type of person called “The Psychic Vampire.”
These people always have something negative or pessimistic to say and never see the positive in anything. They suck the positivity out of you until you are bone dry. These vampires can be family members, spouses, or friends.
The Medical Feedback Loop of Negativity
Medical professionals can also perpetuate the negative feedback loop, creating negative self-talk.
In many cases, patients walk into our clinic with one common thread, and it is not their symptoms. They lost hope in ever recovering. These patients went to multiple doctors, including neurologists, who told them that neuropathy is permanent. They were told the only thing they could do was manage the symptoms and learn to live with them.
The negativity gets louder when combined with suffering from symptoms like numbness, burning, pins and needles, sharp pain, or muscle cramps and weakness. They continue to lose function and quality of life.
It becomes increasingly difficult for them to walk, drive, or do activities they love the most. While their health continues to decline,
“This is permanent. Just live with it. There is no cure. I’ll never be the same. I’ll never enjoy life again. I won’t be able to work and support my family. I deserve this for abusing my body,” rings in their heads.
We often hear these statements and many more from our patients.
Why Negative Self-Talk Affects Healing
Negative thoughts can directly impact your health.
Our thoughts have profound physiological effects on the body, helping or hindering the healing process. Thinking about a negative experience can set off a cascade of physiological events in the body as if it were happening right there.
The pessimistic inner dialogue elevates stress hormones, especially cortisol, which damages the immune system over time.
When discussing the immune system, we first think about infections like colds, the flu, or COVID. But your immune system is strongly involved in tissue healing, including nerve repair. Anything suppressing your immune function also suppresses your nerve repair and tissue healing.
Stress hormones also cause a steady, perpetual stream of inflammation. This inflammation further deteriotes already damaged peripheral nerves.
Negative self-talk heavily impacts our physiology and depletes brain chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and other endorphins required for happiness.
Sources of Negative Self-Talk
It is important to know the various causes of negative self-talk.
- Mental filtering
- Polarized thinking
- Overgeneralization
- Magnifying
- Blaming
Polarized thinking is one of the hardest to overcome. It arises from black-and-white thinking with no shades of gray. Many of our patients come into our clinic seeking help. After a few months, they tell us they have experienced no relief.
But, often, there are some minor changes. For example, one patient could only sleep for two hours at a time but could sleep for three to four hours after three months.
Understandably, they believe no change is happening. However, nerves take 1-2 years to recover from neuropathy, so it takes time and small changes before reaching their final result.
Let’s tackle our negative thinking for New Year and replace it with hopeful cheer!
Struggling with Neuropathy?
Dr. Coppola and Dr. Monteiro’s dedication to combating neuropathy is deeply personal, stemming from Dr. Monteiro’s experience with her mother’s severe chemo-induced neuropathy. This personal journey fueled their commitment to develop a systematic, drug-free approach to reversing neuropathy.
They founded the San Antonio Neuropathy Center, where they’ve successfully treated over 18,000 patients over the past two decades. Their acclaimed book, “Defeat Neuropathy Now in Spite of Your Doctor,” along with their neuropathy product line, stands as a testament to their expertise and innovative solutions.
Recognized as leading neuropathy specialists in America, Dr. Coppola and Dr. Monteiro offer a beacon of hope for those diagnosed with this challenging condition. If you or a loved one is seeking relief from neuropathy, reach out to us at 844 400-0101 or email us through our contact page – Click here.
Your path to healing can start today.
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