In ALPIMS, your baseline is your body and mind’s default level of function when you’re not in crisis, flare, or shutdown. It’s your starting point—the level at which you can reliably operate each day, both physically and emotionally, without triggering a symptom crash or needing significant recovery.
🔸 Why Baseline Matters in ALPIMS
Because ALPIMS involves overlapping systems—nervous, immune, connective tissue, and sensory processing—your baseline is often:
- Lower than average due to system dysregulation
- Variable (changes day to day or hour to hour)
- Easily disrupted by small triggers (noise, light, food, emotional stress)
Improving baseline means your everyday capacity becomes more stable, more predictable, and slightly more resilient—so you’re less likely to crash, flare, spiral, or shut down in response to stress, exertion, or stimulation.
🔺 Baseline in the ALPIMS Domains
| ALPIMS Domain | What Low Baseline Looks Like | What Improved Baseline Looks Like |
|---|---|---|
| Anxiety | Constant hypervigilance, panic | Calm periods increase, fewer startle responses |
| Laxity | Frequent subluxations, instability | Joints hold better, less pain after activity |
| Pain | Persistent, flaring pain | Less intensity, improved recovery |
| Immune | Frequent flares/allergies | More tolerance to minor exposures |
| Mood | Irritability, depression, hopelessness | Emotion regulation improves, fewer dips |
| Sensory | Overwhelm from lights, noise, texture | Increased tolerance, better self-protection |
🔹 Key Features of a Stronger Baseline
- Wider Window of Tolerance
You can feel stress, sadness, or pain without fully decompensating. - Shorter Recovery Time
When you do flare or crash, it takes hours—not days or weeks—to stabilize. - Greater Predictability
You begin to understand what you can tolerate and what your limits are. - Improved Resilience
You can engage in daily life tasks or gentle joy-building activities more often. - Fewer Compounding Flares
Baseline holds even when one domain (e.g., pain or emotion) is tested.
🌀 What Keeps Baseline Low?
- Chronic stress or trauma without relief
- Sensory overload
- Overexertion (“pushing through”)
- Nutrient depletion (especially B12, magnesium, iron, sodium)
- Unstable sleep/wake rhythms
- Unresolved infections or inflammation
- Medical or social invalidation
- Guilt and grief loops
🧭 What Helps Lift Baseline?
- Restorative pacing (using zones)
- Trigger reduction (internal + external)
- Nervous system regulation (vagal tone, breath, grounding)
- Nutrition and hydration support
- Safe connection (trauma-informed, low-demand socializing)
- Stabilizing routines (anchors, rituals)
- Meaning-making and values-based living