Why High Achievers Often Develop Chronic Pain or IBS

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When working with people who struggle with chronic pain or IBS, a consistent pattern tends to emerge. Many of them are high achievers. They are disciplined, capable, responsible, and motivated. They hold themselves to high standards and often take pride in being reliable and strong, even under pressure.

These traits are usually seen as strengths, and in many environments, they are rewarded. But inside the nervous system, they can quietly create the conditions for chronic pain and gut symptoms.

This article explains how high-achieving personality traits and lifestyles can keep the nervous system in a prolonged state of stress, how pain and IBS can emerge as protective outputs, and what recovery actually requires when symptoms are neuroplastic.

High-Achieving Traits Create Constant Internal Pressure

Many people with chronic pain or IBS share a similar set of personality traits:

• Perfectionism
• People-pleasing
• Difficulty resting without guilt
• A strong sense of responsibility
• A tendency to push through discomfort

These traits help people succeed. They drive performance, reliability, and achievement. At the same time, they create constant internal pressure.

There is often a feeling of needing to do more, be better, not disappoint, or stay in control. Even when life appears stable from the outside, the nervous system may be operating under constant demand. Over time, this pressure becomes the default state of the body.

A High-Achieving Lifestyle Keeps the Nervous System Activated

High performance rarely happens in isolation. It is often paired with long working hours, ongoing evaluation and comparison, little true recovery and difficulty taking breaks or days off. Even success can become something that needs to be maintained. 

From the brain’s perspective, threat does not only mean physical danger. It also includes fear of failure, social evaluation, loss of control and falling short of internal expectations. When these pressures are constant, the nervous system remains activated. The body stays in a state of fight or flight, even when there is no immediate danger.

Pain and Gut Symptoms as Protective Outputs

When the nervous system stays in fight-or-flight mode for long periods of time, the brain looks for ways to maintain protection. Pain is one such output and gut symptoms are another.

In a chronically stressed nervous system, the brain may generate pain or digestive symptoms as a way of signaling that something is wrong and that attention is needed. These symptoms are and the pain is real. What makes them different is where they are generated.

In many cases, there is no ongoing injury, inflammation, or disease that explains the symptoms. Instead, the brain is producing them as a protective strategy. This is known as neuroplastic pain, meaning pain or physical symptoms maintained by learned neural circuits rather than ongoing tissue damage.

Why Coping Harder Can Maintain the Problem

High achievers are often very good at managing symptoms. They push through and they monitor their bodies and symptoms closely. They apply discipline, structure, and effort to cope with their pain. But from the nervous system’s perspective, this ongoing effort still signals demand.

Constant monitoring and symptom management tell the brain that something important and potentially dangerous is happening. As a result, the brain stays in protection mode, even when everything is being done “right.”

This is one reason why symptoms can persist despite strong willpower, good habits, and medical reassurance. The harder they try to control their symptoms, the harder it gets for the body to reestablish a sense of safety. 

Recovery Starts by Working With the Nervous System

When symptoms are neuroplastic, recovery does not begin by fixing the body. It begins by changing the relationship between the brain, the nervous system, and the symptoms.

The first step is always to rule out injury or illness medically. This is essential. When medical tests come back negative or inconclusive, that is often a sign that the symptoms are reversible. From there, recovery involves retraining the brain to feel safe even when symptoms are present.

As fear decreases, threat signaling decreases. As threat signaling decreases, symptoms often reduce and, in some cases, disappear completely. This process is known as neural circuit retraining.

Rest and Emotional Expression Are Not Weaknesses

Many high achievers have learned to manage emotions internally. Anger, sadness, frustration, and grief are often controlled rather than processed. Needs are minimized and boundaries are stretched too far. Over time, this emotional suppression adds to nervous system load.

Part of recovery involves allowing emotions to be felt and integrated rather than contained and overridden. Equally important is learning to rest without guilt. For many people, retraining the nervous system to experience rest as safe and necessary is more important than changing workload or productivity.

What to Do If You Are a High Achiever With Chronic Pain or IBS

If you recognize yourself in this pattern, the next steps are practical and grounded:

1. Get a proper medical assessment to rule out physical injury or illness. If results are normal or inconclusive, consider a mind-body approach
2. Take a neuroplastic pain assessment to determine whether your symptoms fit this pattern

We have created a free assessment to help you evaluate whether your symptoms are likely neuroplastic. You can find the link to the assessment here. 

If this article resonates with you, you can also find more information here about working with us.