Last Updated on June 10, 2025
Resolving weird body sensations
Bodies are weird.
They twitch and tingle and ache.
Often without any rhyme or reason.
Most of the time, this isn’t a problem.
But sometimes these body sensations become intense or even debilitating.
So the first thing most people do is go to a doctor.
Or we ask Dr. Google what might be going on.
“I either have 3 types of cancer, or I’m just anxious.”
Maybe we go to the doctor and they say, “Good news, your tests show there’s nothing wrong with you!”
But it doesn’t feel like good news at all.
Why do I have this pain, this brain fog, these chronic digestive issues if there’s supposedly nothing wrong with me?
This is especially common for neurodivergent, sensitive people.
We tend to have more of these types of symptoms than neurotypicals.
And this stuff can really mess with our ability to get things done easily.
What’s going on here?
This whole process can be very frustrating.
Not to mention expensive, if you live in the United States at least.
Doctors don’t know what to do, so people start trying weird stuff.
Eventually they might even try hypnosis.
While nothing is guaranteed to work, hypnosis is probably the first thing we should try, after ruling out physical, biological causes.
That’s because weird body symptoms like Irritable Bowel Syndrome, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, migraine headaches, and so on are often caused by the body’s defense mechanisms.
And hypnosis can help chill things out.
You see, the body is constantly trying to keep you safe.
It does this primarily through what we call the “fight-or-flight response,” also known as the stress response.
This is an activation of the sympathetic nervous system that beats the heart faster and prepares the body to physically fight off a predator, or run away from one.
This mechanism kept our ancestors safe for hundreds of thousands of years.
And, it’s actually got a few more elements than just fighting or fleeing.
Beyond Fight-or-Flight
There’s also the freeze response.
That’s when an animal plays dead or hides, staying totally still until a predator goes away.
Evolutionarily, the freeze response is even older than the fight-or-flight response.
Even snakes and reptiles do it.
So humans also do the freeze response, which if chronic, can start to look like burnout, low motivation, or even depression.
Chronic fatigue for example in many cases is probably a chronic freeze response.
The energy is there, it’s just that your body just won’t let you tap into it.
All of these stress responses are meant to be temporary, only while there is an immediate, physical danger.
You can’t punch taxes in the face, nor can you physically run away from them, or just play dead until they go away.
You can try, but it won’t help!
Another safety mechanism of the body is the fawn response.
That looks like people-pleasing, trying to win over the predator.
Those of us who grew up with abusive parents or bullies often learned this behavior to survive.
Bodily Distress Syndromes
But wait, there’s more!
If something gets in the nose that the body thinks shouldn’t be there, it can sneeze.
If something gets into the lungs the body thinks it dangerous, it can cough.
If something gets into the stomach, it can puke.
If something gets into the intestines, it can create diarrhea.
If something gets on the skin, it can create a rash and itching.
And so on.
So really it’s the fight-flight-freeze-please-sneeze-cough-puke-shit-itch response.
And that’s just a small summary of all the ways the body tries to keep you safe and healthy.
What a wonderful body.
The only problem is that these responses depend on your body accurately labeling things as dangerous.
And often the body overlearns, seeing something as dangerous that is actually safe.
It’s biological software that evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago, so it’s just doing the best it can.
When the body incorrectly labels safe things as dangerous (like triggering the sneeze response to animal dander for example), it creates what doctors are now calling Bodily Distress Syndrome.
Luckily, we can use things like tapping, hypnosis, and NLP to make updates.
In particular, our goal when such symptoms are running amok is to teach the body “this is safe.”
I’ll be honest, that’s not always a straightforward “just do this 5-step technique and it works every time!”
I have my own things I’m continuing to troubleshoot.
But it is possible to resolve weird body sensations with patience and persistence, working at the unconscious level.
The first key is to realize that the doctor was right.
There isn’t anything wrong with you exactly.
Your body is working perfectly.
When it detects danger, it responds.
It’s just that it needs a little updating sometimes, so that it can really know that safe things are safe.
Take care,
~Duff
(they/them)
P.S. If you have your own weird body symptoms you want to transform, you can book a free 30-minute consultation to see if we’re a good fit for working together.
