I was watching “Dr. Phil” and there was a story about a guy that was allergic to his girlfriend! He claimed he would get itchy rashes every time he was around her, and he would just itch and scratch the entire time. He went to three Dermatologists, and they all gave him different advice, none of which worked. I was thinking he must be allergic to something she used - perfume, shampoo, soap, fabric softener - something.

To get to the bottom of the mystery, Dr. Phil had the guy get a massage as a “treat” for being on the show. Halfway through the massage, they secretly replaced the masseuse with his girlfriend. At the end of the massage, he said it felt great and didn’t complain at all about being itchy or having an allergic reaction.

So was the guy allergic to his girlfriend?
After the massage test, Dr. Phil concluded the guy had Somatization disorder, which as I understand it, is similar to psychosomatic symptoms. He wasn’t really allergic to his girlfriend. He was having a physical reaction to his emotional/psychological response to her. This is similar to when people break out in hives when they are nervous. Dr. Phil didn’t conclude what emotional issues were sparking the allergic reaction, but he said that the guy could be easily “cured” now that the problem was discovered. With professional help, he just needed to recondition himself to stop associating his girlfriend with being “allergic” to her!

Psychological pain cause cause physical symptoms
As crazy as it sounds, I believe Dr. Phil was probably right. When I was having problems with depression I had a host of physical ailments - horrible back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain. There was always something horribly wrong with me! The pain, of course, made me feel even worse! A few years later, I concluded that most of my pain was indeed psychosomatic. The pain was absolutely real, but it was being caused by emotional issues. It’s even been purported that acne can be psychosomatic - a physical manifestation of an emotional problem. I have no idea if this is true, although my acne and depression did coincide exactly! And of course acne is depressing, which can make it a vicious circle!

For me personally, since I have never been injured, the acknowledgement that my pain is mostly psychosomatic has helped put me at ease. Also, I have a book about trigger points (which I won’t get into because that’s a whole complicated story) but it’s helped alleviate the pain I currently do have from TMJ (jaw pain). I believe the TMJ is partially psychosomatic-related! Sheesh! Anyway, my back pain and all other pain is now gone! If you do have physical pain, but your doctor can’t find its cause, check out this Trigger Point book! It’s pretty fascinating stuff!