How to shut down hypervigilance of chronic symptoms

Hypervigilance is a common trait in folks with chronic conditions

Pretty much everyone struggles with hypervigilance in this self-healing space, and how could we NOT? Our bodies are screaming for our attention in the form of frightening symptoms and sensations. 

The trouble comes when our nervous system is already dysregulated/activated and we are constantly checking in on our symptoms and catastrophising over every sensation we experience, we're only really adding more cortisol to our systems which acts like fuel to the symptom fire.

Folks who suffer from chronic conditions tend to be stuck in a perpetual state of survival, 'braced for impact', our body's stress switch is almost always ON and our nervous system can stuck in a fearful and fixated threat-detecting loop. We are highly sensitised to our environment and our bodies, on high alert and even a small change in bodily sensations can make us feel like we're in danger.

Hypervigilance can be a frightening and frustrating state as it not only adds to the sympathetic nervous system's survival patterns but it also produces flawed and distorted thoughts, that although very convincing, are usually incorrect. That is - what we perceive to be a threat or dangerous symptom or sensation - usually isn't.

The more we experience hypervigilance (much like any behaviour) the more ingrained it becomes and the more it becomes an "autopilot" behaviour that happens subconsciously. That is until we train ourselves to become observant of this behaviour by bringing it into consciousness.

The key is to become curious observers instead of fearfully vigilant

Let's break it down into a few simple steps. There are many ways to do this, and probably much fancier brain retraining programs you can follow to break these kind of habits, but as you know, I live for simple pragmatic ideas. This is how I did it...

1. Build mindful awareness

Cognitively notice when you find yourself scanning for threats in your body, when you fall into a fearful thought spiral, when your mind is overanalysing symptoms or expecting the worst-case scenario. Building your awareness of behaviours and patterns is such a great skill to have in healing, it's the first step of many many pieces of the recovery journey. These are such KEY moments, as each time they happens you are given a choice: a) catastrophise and worry and keep the fear-symptom cycle firing or b) practice changing the fearful pattern.

2. Pause

Slow down for a moment as you sit with the awareness of what you're doing. Breathe and acknowledge what is happening, this is a learned behaviour trying to keep you safe. Identify the hypervigilance and fear as just a survival mechanism, maybe even thank your nervous system for doing it's job so well.

3. Soothe

Reassure yourself that there's no threat present. You're OK, you're just experiencing sensations and symptoms, you're not under fire. As much as you can, work towards allowing sensations to belong in your body. Treat yourself with lots of compassion and patience, this is a tricky skill to build so really support yourself through it with a loving approach as you would a dear friend or child. Fear has no room to breathe when it's drowned in love, acceptance and surrender. You are here, you are SAFE. 

4. Interrupt

Fear that drives hypervigilance is one of our most powerfully difficult emotions, we can't just switch it off, but we can choose to respond differently by interrupting the old behaviours when we notice ourselves falling into a familiar fearful loop. Imagine it like this: you see a stop light up ahead at an intersection, you stop, and now you have a choice of turning left down a familiar road, or turning right into a new path - you get to choose. It's not easy, but it is possible.

5. Visualise

My go-to trick in these moments -after acknowledging my fear and allowing it to be with me - was to imagine closing a big black heavy curtain over my hyper-fixation on symptoms. I would notice myself looking for changes or getting frustrated by symtoms, I would pause and observe and then say NOPE! - I called GAME OVER, thanked my brain compassionately, understood and accepted the message my symptoms were trying to send me, then firmly closed the damn curtain, over and over, maybe up to 50 times a day sometimes.

6. Redirect

This is where we embed the new neuropathway, the new behaviour, the solidification of the absence of threat and a brilliant tool when used at the right time. Distraction is not avoidance, it is a powerful redirection of attention! Anything pleasant or neutral is good, I loved to put some music on, watch an uplifting video, do some meditation or self-massage, eat or drink something really tasty, go outside, have a shower, or whatever else. You'll find what works for you to repeatedly show the brain there's nothing to feel threatened by and move yourself onto something else.

7. Practice practice practice

It takes repetition and consistency to build any new behaviour. Keep repeating this process over and over and you will soon fall out of that familiar fear spiral. Also, if you do fall into the old fearful spirals, which you will, try to avoid criticising yourself for this, remember the brain does this subconsciously so the only way we can change it is when we do notice and it takes root so much quicker when we do from a devotional compassionate place rather than drill sergeant authoritarian.

Find out how to befriend mind-body symptoms here and why it matters.

And remember, it's never a bad idea to have symptoms checked out by your primary care doctor. 'Ruling out' is a great way to bring more peace of mind in these situations.

Healing through the mind-body connection

If you're new to my website, check out my other free resources including my Recovery Journey Roadmap and all the ways I can personally help you here. There are many other ways we can work together, such as my Yoga for TMS School or in any of my online courses. Let's connect on social media, I'm on Facebook or Instagram and post daily insight and inspiration over there.