Story -- EFT for Sensory Overload and More

[Wayne]

Hi All,

I just had this remarkable story sent to me, and thought I would pass it along for anybody who might be interested. I've experimented with using EFT periodically and feel I've gotten some benefit from it. But I've never used this technique to the extent that Deborah Dineen has.

I experience so many of the symptoms that she shared in this story, and am now somewhat hopeful that EFT may prove to be more beneficial if I discipline myself to practice it a little more diligently.

Best, Wayne
...............................................................

The Story I Want to Share With You

Deborah Dineen was a stranger to me when she phoned my office to ask
how she could obtain some information about one of our educational
products. At that moment I was manning the phones in my assistant’s
absence and I felt drawn to talk with Deborah.

I could tell that she was a sincere, intelligent and observant woman
and with some encouragement she quietly and easily told me about the
astonishing experience she has had with EFT. She was glad to share the
story and recounted it with such thoroughness and sensitivity that I
was deeply impressed. I would not have thought these outcomes to be
possible despite all my experience with tapping – and all without the
intervention of a therapist, just through this woman’s own self-taught
use of EFT and her strong persistence.

After listening to her account and asking my many "check up"
questions, I asked Deborah if she would write down her experiences and
submit them to me so that I could pass them along to you. It is a
"must hear" story about the strength of the tapping methods we all
respect so much, and it conveys unusual information about them that it
has been very valuable for me to learn.

Here is Deborah's simply recounted story.

She began by saying that, "My skull was crushed at birth and
thereafter for six months my skull was opened and pressed on twice a
week to prevent fluid build up. I survived, and lived to find a way
out from under all of it."

This is Deborah's clear objective statement about what was a near
disaster in a newly begun life – the smashing of a baby's brain. This
trauma affected every moment of her life from that point on.

Here are only some of the debilitating symptoms she suffered from in
her childhood and later:

chronic mental confusion that caused much disorientation

extreme difficulty focusing or paying attention to tasks

prolonged emotional 'storms' that would "take her over"
a "deadness" or lack of inner responsiveness that came if she
experienced a very intense emotional situation or a memory of one –
her nervous system would, in effect, shut down.

intermittent depression

a condition known as brain "haze" or "fog"

an inability to process her daily experiences as they occurred

an inability to gauge whether what she was saying was "even coherent"

stuttering in an attempt to articulate ideas when her system was
in overload

constant head pressure and pain

These relentless symptoms were the daily ongoing results of Deborah's
Birth Brain Trauma.

As a child, Deborah's favorite time was nap time when she could escape
momentarily from the constant challenges of everyday life. Often she
did not understand what was being said to her and was unable to
distinguish whether people around her were serious or joking. There
was an ongoing experience of being an 'alien', with many things not
making sense and a feeling that she didn't belong anywhere (much later
it was explained to her that this is typical of brain injury).

Her report cards always indicated that she was "not working up to her
potential". This was a gross understatement, Deborah was a brilliant
child.

She considered that she had had a particularly "good" day if she had
not noticeably fallen asleep in class, or out of her chair. She
learned to nap with her eyes open.

During the school day when she had 'windows' of semi-clarity, she
used these to complete her school work, but felt as though she were
dragging herself up an endless hill. "In those days," she explains,
"if you were walking and talking and able to do school work at all you
were considered "normal".

Authoritative adults around her kept telling her it was "all in her
head", but she doesn't remember any person asking her what she was
actually experiencing – and she says it is doubtful if she could have
told them had they asked -- how could she put that in words?

Inspite of all her inner and outer confusion and her inability to get
clear about her experience, she nevertheless knew that something was
not right and that it was out of her control. She didn't know exactly
what this 'something' was and didn’t know how to ask for help with it,
however, because after all, it was supposed to be "all in her head".

Then came puberty and young adulthood. These are never easy times for
anyone, but "when you are trying to hide the fact that you can barely
move and that you have no idea if your emotional intensity is even
remotely appropriate to the situation" – and with emotional 'storms'
erupting and persisting for days and weeks without any awareness of
what triggered them or the capacity to process and release them, life
becomes unbearable and often was for Deborah.

Suicidal thoughts would frequently arise and depression and fatigue
would merge and meld, and there didn't seem to be a way out…"It was
like being in a nightmare from which you can't awake and I developed
the capacity to "watch" what was happening in my mind, but was still
powerless to change any of it."

The doctors repeatedly asked if she had headaches, to which she always
replied "No" because it would be decades before the inner pressure and
pain in her head subsided long enough to experience not having a
headache even for a little while –– and with that came the
understanding that her head had continually ached for 47 years.

As an adult, Deborah's condition required her to juggle work hours so
she never had to work for too long at once. She always managed to work
creatively as an assistant teacher and in other responsible helping
positions –– an amazing accomplishment given her handicap. However,
until her discovery of EFT, her adult working life was actually
structured around being able to take naps. There was no life for her
after the work day, the need for rest was all consuming. This cocoon
of disability was what eventually became her motivation to find things
that might help making living easier.

She sought many answers, tried many healing techniques, most of them
alternative, and says that "while many of them helped me to cope with
the situation, very few made the slightest dent in my experience."

Then she discovered EFT when a little over three years ago a friend
sent her the first DVD series of Gary Craig's Emotional Freedom
Techniques. She watched and was impressed with what she saw, but she
was also cautious. Often the methods she had seen had worked
beautifully for others, or she herself had been able to share them
with others and get beautiful results, but they had no impact on her
system at all.

"At first I tapped along and felt nothing," she reports, "but I
learned the Basic Recipe, thought I had gotten the idea, downloaded
the manual, and decided I had nothing to lose by giving it a try."
(Pat's note: Notice Deborah's persistence when encountering what
might have discouraged many another person.)

Shortly thereafter, while riding in her car, one of her emotional
"storms" came up within her. These often persisted for minutes, hours,
or sometimes days. "This time there was no sense of what had triggered
this storm, as was often the case with my brain condition, so I just
started to tap on the points of the Basic Recipe, and in a round or
two not only had the emotional storm subsided, but I felt clearer than
before it had occurred and that was unheard of in my experience."

She reports that it seemed that something had finally really
positively impacted her sluggish and erratic system. She felt the
change and in her own words she "grabbed hold and started tapping" and
did so amazingly often. If she noticed even the slightest awareness of
a derangement in her system, she tapped on it. She tapped in the
morning upon waking. She tapped throughout the day, and she tapped
before going to sleep.

"Sometimes the shifts were extraordinary; sometimes nothing much
seemed to happen. When I was shopping and got disoriented and
overwhelmed I would do the finger points until I became clearer and
then could continue. I did a lot of 9 Gamut Point tapping, adding the
Alternate Nostril Breathing Technique for good brain hemispheric
integration."

Gradually over that first year, Deborah reports, her system started to
change. The tapping seemed to be retraining her responses. Instead of
waking up as tired or groggier than when she went to bed (that had
been the case for decades) she began to wake clearer and could more
easily start her day.

Emotional storms could now be managed and dissipated.

Processing emotionally charged situations that arose during the day
became easier in present time and processing emotions from the past
became easier too.

She could feel the perpetual inner heaviness start to lighten.

Focusing and paying attention became easier, and she could do this
throughout the day rather than for just a few hours.

She began sleeping less and less, from 12-14 hours down to 8-10 hours.

She could listen to herself while she was speaking and evaluate how
clearly she was presenting her point in present time.

She could actually meditate.

Her system seemed to strengthen because even when she felt heavy
emotion she could" continue to think and even speak", a feat she had
not been able to do before.

The usual "haze" or "fog" that would come upon her at unexpected
times, rarely rolled in anymore, and if it did roll in, she knew that
there was an "issue" to be revealed and worked on. "As I tapped, my
mind cleared. Rather than being held hostage by my own nervous
system, I began to feel like I was awakening into a freedom I had only
vaguely hoped possible."

This was her story to date. Incredible...Today there are still
functional hurdles Deborah would like to overcome. Yet now in her
early sixties, she can tell me that "this brain injured baby, myself,
has come a long way and I know now that it is never too late….Positive
change is always possible. Acceptance no longer means resignation and
despair, but rather is a stepping stone for moving beyond."

Deborah then goes on to say, "Even though I have no idea if my brain
has changed physically, it is irrelevant to me. What I do know is
that functionally and experientially the difference between before and
after that first year of tapping was the difference between endless
night, and dawn of day. I am truly grateful to Gary Craig who
introduced me to EFT and to all the practitioners who have shared
their talents and insights through MTT (Meridian Tapping Techniques)."

I would like to add the comment that, when I asked her about the words
she used while tapping, Deborah told me that when she first began
tapping she used no words at all, just tapped. She had first to
address the incredible over-responsiveness of her nervous system. She
says that at that time it was very difficult for her to take an
Intensity Rating (SUDS level) because she had to take account of what
level of "deadness" or "shut down" was being experienced in her system
and often she would need to tap to bring back emotional
responsiveness. She found this overall strategy to be very helpful for
'tapping out' her neurological pattern.

Deborah's way of handling this – it was all self-devised – shows us
that the stimulation of acupuncture points alone (this was all she did
for the first 3 to 6 months) had an incredibly powerful effect on her
previously impaired brain functioning and that a form of deep healing
took place even before words were introduced with the tapping,
particularly when she also tapped directly on her protective emotional
numbness (often experienced as a physical sensation of numbness). Her
powerful intent itself, it seems, was enough at this point to effect
the healing needed at that time. So in the beginning, this healing
apparently took place due to the stimulation of the energy system
alone. Later she did use words along with the tapping – at first to
deal with the numbness, but later in a far more precise and subtle
manner, and those words proved very helpful.

The end result of Deborah's self-treatment is awesome in the true
sense of the word. It shows us clearly how self-tapping can be used to
bring about healing when it is used with true courage and persistence.

Well done, Deborah, may you continue with your inspiring progress...

 

[Lisa]

Great story Wayne, thanks for posting it!

A good friend sent it to me just a couple days ago and it was a very fascinating read! Actually, I immediately took a few things Deborah described using and employed them in some really big EFT I worked on yesterday. Got a lot of surprisingly good results with the help of them.

If you are trying to get into the habit of practicing it more frequently, try a 30 day challenge. Anything can be done (in moderation) for 30 days! Try picking one thing (for me it was horrible seasonal allergies this last month) that you are motivated to have relief from. Then just tap on it for a minute or two each day. I hate to admit this... but when you're spending some time with the commode each day - have you really got something better to be doing to kill the time? Get your daily EFT rounds in this way each day if you need to! lol

You might want to give this story a read, it is also about a woman who had major healing through EFT.

Luck and Hugs, Lisa

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EFT, CFS and autoimmune diseases, By Jo Hainsworth


Hello Gary,

I had so many emails as a result of the article about ideas for enhancing the EFT setup particularly with reference to the safety issue for autoimmune illnesses, that I thought your readers might be interested in more thoughts on this from the autoimmune angle.

I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/M.E./CFIDs) for many years, and completely healed as a result of EFT, so I know it can be done and I wrote an article about it. I did this as a result of following two leads from the EFT DVDs one a comment by Dr Carol Look that underlying most allergies is a belief that the person isnt safe, and the other along the same lines by Stephen Daniel. Initially I couldnt relate to this in my own case but fortunately EFT is through me not by me and led me to the answers, and I discovered that this belief had in fact pervaded my life for many years.

The best metaphor I have been able to come up with to help people to understand autoimmune illnesses is to imagine that the adrenals are like a burglar alarm (they alert that there is something unwanted in the body that needs to be dealt with) and the immune system like the security guards (it helps remove the unwanted intruder). When we have been through some sort of trauma, we can take on a belief that we are not safe or not able to protect ourselves. This can be as a result of one major trauma (for example a birth trauma) or it can be the outcome of a series of traumatic events, for example ongoing abuse.

When we take on this belief, we seem to unwittingly send the message to the burglar alarm that it has to be super vigilant and on guard all the time, which leads to the burglar alarm going off all the time. This results in adrenal exhaustion and serious fatigue.

This hyperactivity in the warning system also results in the immune system constantly being asked to protect our body against a perceived threat, that isnt in actual fact harmful to our body. This is commonly seen in those with autoimmune illnesses with them developing more and more allergic reactions to various foods, pollens and chemicals as time goes by.

In my own case prior to doing the EFT I was convinced that my reactions were a result of long term damage to my immune system by the drugs I had been prescribed over the years, but the EFT helped me to see that in actual fact the things I was reacting to were benign, and it was the alarm system that was faulty. Since using EFT to recalibrate the alarm system, I havent reacted to a single substance in 18 months (after reacting to many, many substances for more than 10 years.)

Autoimmune illnesses often start as issues with digestion for those with pre-birth and birth trauma this can manifest as reflux, colic or inability to digest the milk right from the start. For some it manifests later as sinus infections due to lots of mucus, or food intolerances. It can be difficult to see the link between these digestive malfunctions and the immune system the easiest way to look at it is that if there is a burglar in the house, there are higher priorities than sitting at the table and eating your dinner! The digestive system is sacrificed in times of high stress, and living with a burglar alarm constantly going off is high stress. I believe that this is at least partly why so many of us with autoimmune challenges find our ill health starts as trouble with digesting our food.

If you are supporting someone who has an autoimmune illness (and I include in this category anything that results in a malfunctioning immune system, which includes: chronic fatigue syndrome/ME, MS, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple food or chemical sensitivities or allergies, AIDs, recurrent thrush, systemic candidiasis, chronic sinusitis, cancer etc), you may find that some exploration of the Im not safe theme very useful. An approach that can help is to first identify when the symptoms started, and look to see if there was anything going on in the persons life in the year or so leading up to the symptoms.

However Ive found that this on its own is not always enough, as sometimes the event that resulted in the start of the immune symptoms was simply a trigger for the unresolved emotional conflict from an earlier trauma, usually in the first 7 years of life. Ive worked with a number of people who have autoimmune conditions who had traumatic births and have taken on the belief that they are unsafe. A traumatic birth is not limited to only those where the delivery is traumatic I worked with one woman whose birth was uncomplicated but her mother developed complications 24 hours after the birth and was rushed to intensive care. While the woman in question felt that it was unlikely to be an issue for her, when we tapped on it a thought popped up that as a one day old baby she was afraid that her mother was never going to come back and that she would die. This left her feeling unsafe, unprotected and vulnerable, despite the constant company of her Grandmother who never left her side.

For others the feeling of being unsafe starts even before birth, as a result of their mother being afraid -- for example someone close to her being diagnosed with a terminal illness and her fearing the death of that person, or a conflict arising due to the pregnancy being unplanned, with termination considered as a possibility. We pick so much up while in the womb, these sorts of situations can result in us feeling unsafe and unable to protect ourselves.

And for others still the trauma may come later in life, from parents divorcing and feeling unsafe and unprotected as a result of the way it was handled, or a sudden death of someone close, or other trauma that could result in them taking on a point of view that they are vulnerable and cant protect themselves.

EFT is such an incredibly powerful tool that it is really only limited by our beliefs about how much we can heal. Many people with autoimmune illnesses have been told by the medical profession that there is nothing they can do about it, and that they need to change their lifestyle to manage the symptoms.

Its important for us to remember that incurable simply means curable from within. We are so incredibly fortunate to have this incredible tool of EFT to help us to gently go inside and clear the specific events that could have resulted in us taking on the belief that we are unsafe and cannot protect ourselves. If you are working with someone with an autoimmune illness, or have one yourself, this sort of exploration could result in them or you being freed from the prison of the Im not safe belief, if its an issue for them or you.

From my own experience I know that there can be few more liberating things in the world, and I will forever be thankful for having been able to heal the Im not safe beliefs and go on to live the active and healthy life that I do, with no traces whatsoever of the 20+ years I was seriously ill with CFS.

Jo Hainsworth

 

[Cort]

Thanks, Lisa and Wayne - incredible stories! Interesting how similar to a CFS patient that person with brain trauma sounded like. This

She had first to address the incredible over-responsiveness of her nervous system.

is truly what I think CFS is all about for me. I talked to Elke Van Hoofe (Hoofe?) at the Reno Conference; she said she had been getting good results with EFT with some of her ME/CFS patients.

It intriguing how these different techniques (EFT, Amygdala, Lightning Process, meditation, NLP) all seem to try to turn down an overactive nervous system.

 

[Wayne]

Here's a recent article by Cort Johnson. Sensory overload is such a big thing for me, so I'm always interested in trying to understand it better, and/or learn how to cope with it.

Sensory Distress: The Other Side of Fibromyalgia