Interestingly enough, there are times when pleasurable activities really cause us pain. There are of course many instances of this, but let me go over a really clear pleasure/pain case study with you today.

I know a nice lady in her mid 70’s who is very healthy, except for a couple of chronic illnesses, stomach problems and persistent cough. She’s been to doctor after doctor. Gastroenterologists and pulmonary specialists have put her through dozens of tests for a long time. After a couple of years of this, without much relief, and scores of dire possibilities that have scared her to death (like the possibilities of a rare form of stomach cancer, or severe uncurable asthma) she’s at a loss of what to do next.

I asked her if she has GERD, gastro-esophageal reflux disease, or simply “reflux.” So many hundreds of thousands of people have this, especially Americans. She confirmed that she has an awful case of it. One of the symptoms, other than chronic indigestion and stomach burning and pain, is a persistent cough. Those are her symptoms. While on medication for the reflux, she’s simply not doing what else is required. Such as limiting consumption of acidic foods and drink for starters.

She eats a ton of chocolate every night, is the truth of the matter. While sweet and delicious, it’s also known to make reflux really bad. Especially right before bed. You eat all that acid and lay horizontally; the somach just churns and churns acid and it floats up. Yuck! Ouch! She has a glass of red wine, too, every night. Wine also is a reflux no-no. “But I just can’t give up my chocolates and wine,” she cries! “No way, Jose,” but the acids in those are likely causing her pain.

The nightly pleasure is causing her 24 hours of pain of stomach and digestion burning, coughing, phlegm, and hacking. The excess stomach acid is likely erupting up her espophagus and leaking back into her lungs and causing the coughing. Now I’m not a medical doctor, but I am someone who did suffer for a very long time myself with acid reflux. Giving up things that were pleasurable but causing problems solved the problem. Eating less helped too.

Once i realized that my little bit of pleasure had very huge negative side effects, it was easy to make the right choice for ultimate joy, satisfaction and health — ending the behavior that caused my pain. But, I was addicted to overeating and consuming a lot of acid-causing foods, and fatty foods. I couldn’t recover on my own. I prayed to God for help. I got the power to stop my self-destructive behaviors then, and keep getting it now.

What pleasurable activity is really causing you pain? Overeating? Smoking? Chocolate? Too much alcohol consumption? PLEASE COMMENT BELOW. YOU HELP US ALL BY SHARING YOUR LIFE STRUGGLES AND SOLUTIONS!

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