If your body is a boombox, and the nervous system is music…
Think of the nervous system like a boombox up on your shoulder, 80’s style, playing sweet jams at all times. When the body is healthy, balanced, and running smoothly, the music playing from your system’s radio station are your favorite hits at the perfect volume, and your drop-in harmonies are totally on point.
When the nervous system is out of sync, those beats flowing from your station are tragic- like the song you hate most, on the loudest setting, playing over and over again. You can’t change the station, no matter what lengths you go to!
When you have a chronic neurological condition like Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, or Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome for example, it’s as though someone traded out your cool retro stereo system for an old broken down radio. You can play records on it sometimes, and it’s AMAZING to listen to any music again when you’re not in a flare or a relapse, but even then, all the records have scratches on them, so the music is constantly skipping and warped. The stereo’s wiring gets so bad over time that the record player doesn’t work anymore, and your radio only receives static.
A chronically malfunctioning nervous system is like listening to a broken radio stuck on static at full volume constantly.
When the “music” or the nervous system’s wiring is flowing properly from the brain throughout the body, pain receptors react to appropriate painful stimuli, telling us when there is a problem, and the pain subsides when the problem is resolved. When we have “faulty wiring” we may experience hypersensitivity to touch, sound, light or even smells so intense that it can cause a severely painful reaction. Think of raw wires on the end of electronics sparking and flaming just to the slightest touch.
The malfunctioning nervous system might react to normal stimulus with severe increased pain, increased stress may cause a seizure, or in others severe tremors and body spasms may occur. For some with POTS, (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), a loud noise or changing positions can cause the body to completely check out, going into fight or flight mode, and beginning to pass out, or passing out completely.
Going back to the stereo analogy, imagine being invited to a party where the DJ had a broken stereo system, playing static on blast or his stereo catching fire in front of everyone. That’s exactly what it’s like to live with a chronic neurological disease…well, sort of.
Meditation, spirituality, organized religion, trying to improve sleep, and other stress reducing efforts are ways we try to turn down the knob on the stereo. Medications, alternative therapies, eating well, surrounding ourselves with positive support are all ways we can continue turning the knob down little by little. The static kicks out on full blast each day, and we use our tools to adjust or manage the incoming noise levels. We may not have the ability to turn the station away from the blaring static and back to music, but we can attempt to turn the volume down so it isn’t blasting constantly every day.
Invasive and surgical approaches to treating neurological diseases are like kicking the side of your stereo to try to get it to work again. Jolting it hard enough may coax the system to finally play music once again, or you might kick it so hard that you completely break your stereo. For many, surgery and invasive treatments are worth a risk of causing additional problems for the possibility of returning to good health and functioning.
That’s my super-scientific explanation of the nervous system, and how it’s exactly like a boom box. So…. this analogy might not end up in a medical school text book, but if it helped anyone better understand an aspect of neurological disease, or put a smile on your face, then virtual high fives all around!
Posted on September 2, 2016, in Chronic Pain, Music, Uncategorized and tagged Chronic Illness, chronic migraine, Chronic pain, comparing music to the nervous system, crps, Dysautonomia, EDS, fibromyalgia, humor, migraine, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, multiple sensitivities, music, music and pain, Nervember, neurological, neuropathic pain, pain, Parkinson's, POTS, rsd, RSD/CRPS, Spoonie, spoonie humor. Bookmark the permalink. 20 Comments.
That is exactly what it feels like!!!!
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Thanks so much for your comment! I’m thankful you understand!
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High fives indeed!! Thank you!
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Thanks Deb! High five back to you! 🙂
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Your explanation was super-awesome!!
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Haha! Thanks Vic!
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LIke I said on FB, that analogy works so well!!! With chronic fatigue, I explain it to people as an old cell phone which you never know when the battery is going to lose its charge while you’re using it. At any moment it may go from 90% to 10% and you have to hang up ( go to bed). People understand more with that. However, that analogy doesn’t cover as much as the radio one here with pain, nervous system disturbances and all the static your brain is overloaded with. So it’s going to be a great tool to use 😀
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Oh yes, your cell phone analogy is awesome for CFS! I like that! Electronics and the nervous system just relate well 🙂
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Love your explanation, will share it with my friends! 😊
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Thank you for sharing with your friends, Nancy! That means the world! I’m so glad you related!
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Oh, I so understand & relate to this analogy…thank you, Mary!
On a somewhat related note:
(I used to help some parents understand their child, who exhibited behaviors like ADHD. It was as if their child were tuned into a radio station that was filled with static, that they were trying to listen & understand the teacher, but needed something to clear the static so they could hear the music they were trying to hear)
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Oh wow, I just came across your wonderful comment and see I didn’t reply to you ages ago! I’m so sorry!
I went through a long desert of communication this past year, and that’s my only reason but it’s not an excuse.
I love the static and music analogy for ADHD as well! Especially for explaining simply to parents- I imagine that worked well.
I hope you continue to check in and visit! I’m still writing even if I’m not the best at responding, lol
I hope you are having a good day,
Hugs
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High five . I’m feeling it, sounds like me. So hard to explain you did it well.
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Thanks for the high five, Amanda! I’m happy to hear you feel like a broken boombox, too 😉 I’m not the only one!
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This analogy is absolutely fantastic-easy to understand and can also make me chuckle(love your gifs!!) Brought me back to my high school days! My record has been playing scratches for a while so hopefully I can skip to a new song soon 🙂 Sending you a big gentle hug ❤
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I hope you’re back so some smooth music soon, Kathleen!
I’m glad you like those gifs 🙂 Sometimes gifs can make you feel a little anxious, so I tried to stay away from the crazy ones.
Thank you for the sweet hug! Sending a big one back to you ❤
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Thank you. Definitely alittle smoother this week 🙂 hope you have some smooth tunes this week ❤
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That’s some good news! Virtual high five to that! 🙂 What did you do on your good week?
I’m on pretty crackly static over here for the last couple weeks, unfortunately. Today the volume isn’t so loud at least. It’s good not to be in “zombie pain mode” (I feel another blog coming on, lol) haha! You’re my muse 😉
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I have my SCBWI Carolinas conference this weekend and will be signing my book there,am so excited for it😊 I’m sorry you’re having more static, than smooth music. I’m praying you’ll be back to easy listening music soon😊 Yes! Definitely do a blog about zombie pain!!😊
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Sending gentle hug ❤
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