Lily's Recovery Journey

Lily’s Success Story

“From 2012-2020 (age 21-29) I suffered from IBS, chronic left side of the body pain, pain, swelling, and redness in my feet, pain in my shoulder, and eventually pain in my glutes/hips. At times this would be severe – 9-10/10 pain (and of course anxiety and depression).

Below is a list of what I was diagnosed with over the years for which I tried numerous treatments, none of which prevented the ongoing recurrence and/or appearance of one symptom/condition after another.

My Diagnoses:

Hypermobility, Lyme disease, Leaky gut, Tuberculosis, Repetitive Stress Injuries, Muscle and ligament tears, 3 ER visits for severe stomach pain, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Metatarsalgia, Reactive arthritis (spondylarthritis), Parasites and bacteria overgrowths/infections

My Journey:

It took me a while to come around to neuroplastic pain/TMS/PPD diagnosis, but when I really reached rock bottom, I dove all in. I originally found this work via John Sarno. I found psychoeducation (just knowing what is going on) to be very helpful. That entailed reading and podcast listening (alan gordon’s stuff and nicole) — really binging the material constantly. I also did Nicole Sach’s journal speak process every day for a month and fully committed to it and that was what really helped me make sense of things, feel safe and hopeful, and get better. I also did my own sort of exposure to movement program that I made up for myself.

Within 3 months I would say that I was 80% better and felt fully optimistic and in the belief of what was going on — i.e. had all the evidence I needed! I had 2 significant relapses, both of which resolved in under a week with a reorientation to the work and journaling through some bigger feelings. My first relapse was 4 months into dedicating myself to the healing work, and the second relapse was 1 year later (the latter felt very obvious and not scary at all).

A big piece of what happened for me is I lost my identity as an athlete and had to grieve that at the time. I could occasionally walk and very occasionally push myself, but for the most part I was never able to depend on my body. Through this work I had to come to terms with my dependence on exercise for control of insecurity. Much of the low self-worth I eventually identified is a life long process, but I now have a different relationship to my body and being an athlete.

For me, all the neuroscience and neuropsychology was a way for me to ground in knowing what was happening and orient towards safety and trust in the process – the real healing for me came from starting to understand that I am not the enemy, the illness was not my fault, and there was a way to no longer fear myself and my sensations and emotional states.

The success:

I am now a somatic psychotherapist (practice Hakomi with my longer-term clients) and do chronic pain treatment and coaching/education. I am also a trail runner in the NH White Mountains. I run and race big mountain races out here, currently training for a 50mile trail race and I have no fear about “chronic pain” any longer”

Lily Morgan – www.bloomembodied.com – Instagram: @bloomembodied

Lily spent nearly a decade cycling through intense, shifting pain symptoms and a long list of diagnoses, none of which brought lasting relief, until she fully embraced a neuroplastic understanding of her pain and committed to emotional and mind–body work. Within months she improved dramatically, and today she’s a somatic psychotherapist and mountain trail runner, living without fear of chronic pain and with a completely renewed relationship to her body.

Join people who have found relief through the SIRPA approach to chronic pain.