Is it the trigger? Or is it your brain?
If you’ve ever felt like certain environments—like moldy buildings, changes in air
pressure, or exposure to chemicals—directly cause your migraines, pain, fatigue, or other symptoms, you’re not alone. Many people develop strong associations between environmental triggers and their discomfort. It makes sense—if something seems to cause you harm repeatedly, wouldn’t you want to avoid it?
But what if the connection isn’t as straightforward as it seems?
The Brain’s Role in Sensitivity to Triggers
For years, conditions like Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), mold toxicity, and electromagnetic hypersensitivity have been surrounded by fear and confusion. People report real, distressing symptoms when exposed to certain triggers, and naturally, they assume those external factors must be the root cause. But research suggests something different: these symptoms may actually be a result of neuroplasticity—meaning the brain has learned to react to these stimuli as if they are threats, even when they are not.
This is similar to what happens in some chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and other neuroplastic conditions. The nervous system becomes hypersensitive, interpreting neutral stimuli as dangerous and overreacting with pain, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, or other distressing symptoms. It’s not “all in your head”—it’s in your brain’s learned response.
Conditioned Responses: When the Brain Gets It Wrong
Imagine you once ate a bad oyster and got violently sick. The next time you see an
oyster, even if it’s perfectly safe, your stomach might churn, and you might feel nauseous—your brain is trying to protect you from getting sick again. This is a conditioned response, and it happens with environmental sensitivities, too.
For example, if you experience headaches in a building with mold, your brain might start linking mold exposure to headaches to recirculated office building air. Over time, even a tiny exposure could trigger symptoms—not because of direct toxicity, but because your brain has learned to anticipate danger.
Breaking the Pain-Fear Cycle
The more we fear and avoid triggers, the stronger the brain’s association becomes. This is known as the pain-fear cycle—the body reacts, we become hypervigilant, and the reaction intensifies. But here’s the good news: because these responses are learned, they can also be unlearned.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) and other brain-based recovery methods work by helping people rewire their nervous system. Instead of reinforcing fear and avoidance, we teach the brain to interpret neutral stimuli as safe. Over time, these conditioned responses weaken, symptoms fade, and freedom is restored.
Reclaiming Your Health
If environmental triggers feel like they control your life, it may be time to consider a different approach—one that doesn’t just focus on avoidance, but on retraining your brain to respond differently.
You are not broken, and your body is not doomed to react this way forever. Neuroplastic conditions can change, and with the right tools, you can find relief.
Curious about how Pain Reprocessing Therapy can help?
Samantha is a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, a Noom Certified Health Coach, and founder of Davidson Yoga Therapy and Health Coaching.
She has held complimentary healthcare positions at The Blanchard Institute, Atrium
Hospital, Levine Cancer Institute, Sanger Heart Clinic, and Davidson College. She has presented for Fortune 500 companies and major Universities, both public and professional audiences, on this thing called yoga therapy and what it can do when it is unpeeled, revealed, and adapted to meet the needs and the abilities of the person doing it.
She leverages her three decades of yoga therapy, and health coaching experience with the following therapeutic models:
Breathing Technology
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
Jungian Psychology
Jungian Dream Interpretation
Somatic Cognition
Internal Family Systems
Interfaith Perspectives
Spiritual Technologies
Trauma Healing
Polyvagal Somatics
Ayurvedic Lifestyle Coaching
Compassionate Inquiry
Pain Reprocessing Therapy
The Neurosequential Model
All this is to say, there are many doorways to use on the path to healing and self-discovery, and Samantha’s breadth of experience allows for vast creativity on which approach is right for you!
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