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Comment by gerbilly | Hacker News Reader

> that the pain is real, it's just caused by processes in your brain, not the rest of your body.

I was also helped by Dr Sarno's book, and for me the news that it was "all in my head" was encouraging.

I can control my mind[1], and if my mind is the source of the problem, it's a lot easier for me to fix it that if I required surgery or medicine.

[1] At least partially, the mind is a slippery thing too.

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The more I learned the more terrifying that statement has become. The mind exerts incredible power of the body (and vice versa) and it's much harder to get rid of pain caused by a something in your brain than a cut or a broken leg.

Agree. This is kind of embarrasing as a grown up, an engineer and a soldier, but the brain can really prank some of us. (Edit: I guess it might be even worse as a doctor or nurse. My point is only that I consider myself a reasonable adult, not too easily scared.)

My brain used to have my body act up when I took a certain medication.

I was lucky: Once it got a little ahead of itself and my body started acting funny before I'd even taken the medication.

At that point I knew it was all in my head and never had any more problems with that medicine after that.

> I was lucky: Once it got a little ahead of itself and my body started acting funny before I'd even taken the medication.

This is really interesting! I have a funny reaction to spicy foods: my scalp starts itching. I've notice that the itching can start even before eating when I merely have the spicy food in front of me and I'm anticipating eating it.

I've read anecdotally this applies to drug tolerance too. If an addict uses a drug in an unfamiliar setting their body won't have steeled itself to expect it, and they can overdose more easily. It was definitely a weird idea when I first heard it.

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