Subject: Re: SUFFERERS of RA could help ease their condition by

Colin, Cognitive Behaviour therapy is what I have been using unknown to me for the last few years, it was only through searching for some sort of answers to my problems and how to tackle them that I found myself on a Cogitive Behaviour sight and learnt that I had been using the very same techniques but I didn't have a fancy name attached to it... we can give this form of technique 10 different names but it comes down to one thing and that is YOU!!!...It is just using the God given gifts of intelligence, clear reasoning, love and empathy, coupled with a motivation to do something about your life...To look at life from another angle...

We are the sum product of all our thinking whether negative or positive...As children we are conditioned to behave in certain ways...some habits we aquire through our own experiences of life...regardless of what situation you are dealing with, we have it in within us all to look at things objectivley if we wanted...our fears of not being good enough or strong enough is usually the catalyst to almost all of our miseries...Remember if we can aquire habits we can choose to break them too if we wanted...but nothing can happen until we can see the realities of our lives without blinkers, face what needs changing without blaming others around us and our circumstances, there always comes a time when we are free to make those changes if we wish... It is important to have a will to want to change and summon the strength from deep within us to take action and move through our man made restrctions and our own walls of limitation...We are capeable of so much yet we choose to give up at each step, hoping someone else will pull us through...I realised after years of making excuses and wasting precious time and energy, there is no-one who can wave a magic wand and change my life for me...It had to be ME...It started with me it had to end with me...I placed myself in this state, not using my power of choice affectivley...I didn't care about myself, I didn't love or respect myself or my body why should anyone else...I allowed people to treat me like a door mat, take advantage of my generousity of spirit...I allowed others to put me down each time they felt a little intimidated by me...I gave up my dreams in order to put others minds at rest...I ended up filled with sadness, envy, anger, frutration, hate and feeling unworthy...I became a shell of the person I once was...filled with self pity, weak and mierable...When I remember those days not too far in the past it makes me shudder!...What I had become freaked me out...I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror, I hated the person who was looking back at me...I decided to change that and go back to the basics of who I was, what was important to me, what defined me...If God had wasted his time creating me why?...Was I really worth creating, for what purpose?...Today I know my Purpose:)

Sorry Colin;)p...I kinda get carried away sometimes, I am very passionate about the fact that we can change our environment and the way people treat us simply by changing our own thought structure, this in itself helps to change the way others think and beahve around us and gives us the strength and stamina to cope and manage anything that comes our way...maybe we won't be able to get rid of whatever we're physically suffering from 100% but it we become stronger and more positive about the small changes we can create to make us enjoy life that little bit better... The human spirit is the most wonderous creation, each one of us is precious beyond our imaginations...So I would conclude Cognitive Therapy really works;)!!!!....x

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Subject: Re: SUFFERERS of RA could help ease their condition by

Hi All
I saw that in the paper yesterday too Colin and agree to an extent. I agree with Yasmin that we are quite unique and our thought patterns can define us - or another is - it's not the situation you are in but how you deal with it - now it's all fine for me to say that just now because although I have pain in left hand fingers and feet and ankles very stiff so I'm shuffling about :) oh and the other bits that hurt lol but.... my head is clearer today so I can deal with things better. When the pain takes over - like you Marlene - my head is gone too and I cannot see the woods for the trees and i find it hard to stay motivated to win anything.
What's for one isn't for the other etc. We all have to try find what works for us but boy the journey is a nightmare at times.
I think I'm at the pont now in my RA since diagnoses of I'll try anything and this week it's Acupuncture and I can't believe the difference in how I feel.
Marlene, CBT is for everyone - as yasmin says, it's a thought process -almost cleansing yourself from the brain to your body.
For anyone that gives it a go, good luck, keep trying, don't give up
hope you all have a good day.
hugs to all
xxxx

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Subject: Re: SUFFERERS of RA could help ease their condition by

I read about this and whilst i do think that a postive mental attitude can have a beneficial affect on our health. I find it hard to believe that CBT can make that much difference.
My daughter is having CBT for OCD which is an anxiety disorder. CBT is the recommended treatment for OCD. So far it has had very little effect on her.
There's also an implication in this that i dislike. Wasn't it once thought that RA was all in the mind until they found physical evidence. It seems this is a backward step. I would rather they looked for the causes of RA so they can cure it.

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Subject: Re: SUFFERERS of RA could help ease their condition by

THANKS BSK, I WILL ASK MY GP HE WAS TALKING ABOUT MEDITATION BEFORE SENDING ME TO PAIN MANAGEMENT AND BEING PUT ON MORPHINE.MAYBE THIS IS WHAT HE MEANT. tHANKS AGAIN AND THE FREE BIT IS WHAT I WILL BE TALKING TO HIM ABOUT I HAVE SPENT SO MUCH MONEY WITH SELF HELP. LOL WOULD LOVE IT ALL BACK. I HAVE TO SAY I WILL GIVE ANYTHING A GO. take care all. xx

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Subject: Re: SUFFERERS of RA could help ease their condition by

http://www.breathworks-mindfulness.org.uk/

This is a good place to read up about the mindfulness/CBT techniques.

Yasmin i think you are inspirational the way you have turned things around.

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