Chronic Migraine Sufferer with doubts and questions?

I have chronic migraine and I've been reading about TMS. It does seem like many migraine sufferers find relief but I have a lot of doubts. I can see this applying to bodily pain that becomes chronic long after an injury has healed but in most cases migraine never has a physical cause as its a neurological diseasae, they have isolated genes which cause them.

I do understand that everytime you get a migraine the pattern of migraine is reinforced and that your brain basically learns to become more sensative to any trigger and it takes less and less to trigger a migraine. I don't understand though how tms recovery helps stop this? In my experiance if my pain level is low my migraine will seem a little better if I do tracking, or eft tapping or some meditation but it will always very quickly return to its former pain level and then get worse and worse unless I take my triptan medication. If my migraine is severe then I do not get any benefit from these sort of exercises and can't even focus on them to do them properly. My triptan medications is effective for me but I only have 12 tablets a month and my pain is everyday. I feel like the exercise aren't really that goodif they only help for 5 or 10 minutes and don't fully stop the attack because if I have to take my medication later that day anyway my issue remains that I don't have enough medication for all my attacks and I've wasted a day hoping my pain will resolve with tms exercises and I've still had to use a triptan. If I just leave my migraine like if I run out of medication before I get my refill I will just have a migraine of varying intensity for the full time until I get a new triptan. I once went this way over two weeks. Painkillers do not do anything for my pain.

I can relate to some of the personality type I do have low self esteem and when I was younger I was a perfectionist (not so much anymore) and I can pin point some unhappiness in my childhood but I've had therapy in the past and worked thought a lot of that. I am not depressed and when I don't have a migraine I am a pretty happy, laid back person. I don't work, have little pressure on me, no kids by choice. I only get frustrated by having so many migrianes and i feel sad at times my life is so limited by my pain. They come on whatever I do, most often when I am asleep so I'm not thinking anything when I have them I just wake up in pain. Sometimes I get a week where I don't have any migraine (not for a while now) and when that happens I feel so happy and I forget about migraine altogether but eventually I always have one and then they come everyday.

I want this to work for me as I've tried everything and nothing works. My neurologist says I just have a heavy load of migraine genetics and I do have a family history of migraine. I can believe that emotional factors and neural pathway pain can contribute to migraine and the chronification of the disease but I can't see how these exercises can stop an acute attack and in my experiance they cannot and that seems to be a big drawback to this method. My pain is so severe and its not possible for me to just carry on normally pretending it doesn't exisit. I know the migraine will not kill me, I know its just a pain response caused by a neurological cascade, I'm not afraid I'll die, I know it will eventually pass of it but that doesn't make the pain any less.


Note: I've also read that TMS theory suggests that the pain is caused by vasoconstriction caused by negative emotions but migraine pain is due to vasodilation and the triptans treat this by causing vasoconstriction, this seems like a contradiction?

 

I understand your skepticism, but I have fully recovered from chronic migraine for about 6 years now using TMS healing techniques. I had migraines from 4 years old throughout my life. They became chronic (more than 15 per month) toward the end. I took triptans and they it made it possible for me to work, but I didn't feel very good when I took them. I have written a Success Story about this along with my recovery from fibromyalgia. You can read it by clicking on my profile. In the last section I list all the things I did as "treatment".

I've never heard of meditation, eft tapping, or somatic tracking getting rid of migraines and those techniques never worked for me. TMS healing techniques are mostly about addressing the psychological factors and beliefs that lead to chronic pain. The programs that are free on the site (the SEP and the Pain Recovery Program) help with this. The program I used is Dr. Schubiner's Unlearn Your Pain and it is excellent. It took me about a year to get rid of the migraines. I suggest looking for other success stories from migraine sufferers and reading or listening to them. Dr. Schubiner has some on his website and many of the TMS podcasts interview people who have recovered from migraines. Some people find it best to work with a TMS therapist, but I recovered on my own.

If I can do this, so can you. Keep reading and listening to TMS theory and allow your beliefs to slowly evolve as you address your psychological factors. Feel free to ask questions or ask for support. We're all here to help one another.

Congratulations, because you are in the right place. There is no reason to live with chronic pain.

 

Hi Ellen, thank you for replying, I am going to do the SEP and pain recovery program on here. I am a little worried that I will only be able to do this work when I am well enough (i.e. after I have taken medication) and if this will prevent me from seeing results. I am skeptical especially as I have tried so many things and they haven't worked. I have been trying the curable app and not having much luck but I will do the course here as I have nothing to lose and the fact it is free is great as I am fed up throwing good money after bad!

 

I don't think having a triptan in your system will adversely effect your work on the SEP or pain recovery program. If taking opioids, then it may have an effect, but I don't know this for sure.

Try to practice outcome independence as you go through the programs. In other words don't expect a reduction in symptoms. Just do the program for the exploration of how your psyche works--how your thoughts, emotions, and behavior patterns effect you. Watching your symptoms too closely will delay progress. Let it unfold. In my experience the changes happen when you aren't looking for them.

Best wishes on your journey.

 

Hi Ellen,
Thank you for the further advice. Yesterday and today I've been reading Dr Sarno's Book the Mind Body Prescription. I'm somewhat surprised to report that I've not had to use any triptan medication or stronger pain killers since Friday evening. In fact I've only used four aspirin in the past 48 hours which is the least medication I've used in months now. I actually have been feeling pretty good and got a lot housework done yesterday. Perhaps its just a coincidence but it makes me think that perhaps something psychological is going on here, so I'm going to continue with the programme and see how it goes!

 

That's great! Let us know how you're doing from time to time.

 

I will, thanks again!

 

I’m in a similar situation as you were a couple of years ago. If you feel like posting an update, I’d be interested to hear how you were doing now?