Alex B. Feeling discouraged

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Question

Hi I am on day 15 of the Structured Education Program and I am becoming frustrated & discouraged. I've read many posts & have never read or heard of anyone that has such severe pain with the slightest touch. The pain is so severe it goes through my entire nervous system, mostly my thoracic & ribcage area. Is this unheard of? I've found no information on it. It's been 4 years, everyday constant. It does stop when I lie down, but as soon as I am up it starts. What can cause this? It's constant.

 

Answer

Hi and thanks for your question. First and foremost I would remind you that it is very important for you to get physical causes ruled out by a doctor that is familiar with the concepts that underlie TMS. From your question it seems as though you are facing serious doubts about whether or not your pain is the result of TMS. While I have seen clients with very similar problems, I remind them as I am reminding you now that the first step towards working with TMS is accumulating as much evidence as you can that the symptoms do not have a structural genesis.

Assuming you have done that, I think it's important for you to address the issue of preoccupation and reinforcement. From your post it seems as though your life has become centered around your pain: you are reading about it, doing work-books, thinking about it non-stop. Will it be bad today? When will it come on? These kinds of questions are running through your mind constantly. In other words you are totally preoccupied with your symptoms. The issues here is that such preoccupation is the exact purpose of the pain. TMS symptoms exist to keep your anxious, preoccupied and in fear. By obsessing over them day in and day out you are actually reinforcing them. What you can begin to do is disrupt this cycle by not allowing the pain to generate the kind of fear and preoccupation that it is currently.

I understand that this is of course easier said than done. It is important to realize it is a process. You not going to suddenly turn on a switch and stop being preoccupied with pain; you've been training yourself to do it for years, so you have to have patience and take it one step at a time. Begin by observing the process: really begin to observe the symptom's capacity to generate fear and anxiety, to take you out of the here and now and into anxious prjections about the future. You can begin to counter this by trying to remain present, to calm yourself in the moment and remind yourself that, in fact, the pain can't do damage or hurt you, and that it is the fear that is creating the problem.

This of course ties back to why it is so important for you to start on a solid foundation of evidence. It allows you to really begin to trust yourself as you practice calming your fears and anxiety in the face of the symptoms.

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Hi, Winterhaven.
I couldn't give you any better advice than Alex gave you.
If your pain is from TMS and is not structural, you need to believe in TMS 100 percent.
It can take effort and time, but belief is essential.

Degrees of pain are deceptive... one person may feel their pain is worse than another's.
Any pain can cause a person to be discouraged. Just tell yourself you are not going to give in to it.
And try doing things and thinking things that take your mind off of it.