[_bdog]

I was very sick as a child: I had neurodermitis (Lichen simplex chronicus) so I was constantly scratched bloody. I also had asthma and countless plant, animal and food-allergies, so I couldn't eat most things (dairy-products, sugar in every form except honey, salt, chocolate, white flour, eggs, nuts, citrus-fruits, the list goes on and on). Spent a lot of time in hospital.

When I was about 9 or 10 years old I got to a point where I was completely fed-up by all the rules I had to follow: Eat this. Don't eat this. Be careful during sports because of your asthma. There's ozone in the forest.

So I decided to ignore every single symptom until it got so strong that I'd have to go to hospital again. I also started showering cold every day and trained myself to sleep without a blanket, so I wouldn't sweat, which would irritate my skin.

I don't know when it happened, but all my problems completely disappeared over time. I'm 30 now, tests I do now and then, say my allergies and asthma are still there, but i'm more or less symptom-free.

Whenever I feel bad I consciously use the placebo-effect, for example by drinking a large glass of water and telling myself that THIS glass of water is EXACTLY what my body needed right now and will make everything better.

Note that I'm not advocating to reduce medicine: When I have a headache, I'm the first to take an aspirin. All I'm saying is that there's definitely a large cognitive component in health and feeling well, which can be trained.