New to forum- lower back pain/spasms.

Sounds like TMS to me. Shin splints are also TMS. I really think if you just perused Healing Back Pain, by John Sarno, every day for like 15 min. you would start to relax and feel confident about all your pains. You have to work at getting your health anxiety to back down.

 

Thank you! I appreciate the thoughts and recommendation. I listened to Healing back pain on tape. That’s where I identified that I’m a TMS personality through and through. I had been reviewing the Alan Gordon program after finishing it , but have been slacking for a few days. The health anxiety stuff has been with me hardcore for a long time. But it helps to be reminded that it’s BS . Thanks again

 

This is a really good interview by Dan Buglio with a guy who healed from health anxiety. I got a lot out of it. You might like it.

 

Very good video. I definitely identify with that “ loop” thinking. There was a part about half way in the video where the guy was explaining what it’s like when he realizes that a loop thought is starting- “He said something like “I’m going to be looping on this for the next 2 weeks now- fuck!”. I know that exact feeling.
He gives me some good ideas on how to proceed. Dan did a nice job too with condensing the info to the main points.

 

This guy Helmut has his own TMS healing YouTube Videos and I think he is also a TMS counselor. I really related to his personal healing method. He visualized his new happy life every day for a meditation. And wow, he overcame a lot! It gives me hope! Here’s his channel https://youtube.com/@mindful__gardener?si=IXToTH--bE6uwxli

 

I wanted to give a quick update on my TMS journey here. Overall, I’ve noticed some steady improvement in my lower back pain. I have Push myself to do more and more physical activity, especially processing firewood and things like that and, while my back will feel pretty tight for a few hours afterwards, it goes right back to feeling good right after that!
I think I made some reference in prior posts about how I’ve been dealing with a stressful situation With my elderly father. Well, that situation has been ongoing, and really came to ahead in the last couple of days. When I woke up this morning to shut off my phone alarm, I had that distinct feeling of “throwing back out”. I started having those familiar nervous feelings about just having done that and I started feeling nauseous and Distinctly, I was gonna pass out. That feeling got worse, and I decided to sit down. I then lost my vision completely for about three or four minutes. I don’t believe I’ve ever had a panic attack, but I’m pretty sure that this was one. I looked up some information online and it seems like vision changes can happen with these. I sent out a message to my doctor just to let her know and ask what she thinks. I will say, though that It does seem awfully coincidental that that had happened during a time of overall very high stress and then having the experience, just having experience a big spike in pain symptoms I think caused that to happen.
I have been really enjoying listening to Alan Gordon book on tape “the way out”, And I’m gonna be using the strategy of “outcome independence”, as I have been in the Last couple of months, In this situation with my more acute back pain and started this morning. Muscle relaxers to take the painful edge off, but I know that I’m gonna be feeling better soon and will be back at it in general.
Again, I’m gonna be talking with my doctor discuss the vision loss thing I mentioned, but for now, I’m Working off the idea that that was part of the whole stress situation. In that case, It really is an amazing thing that stress can be so intense where it literally shuts off one of your senses. It’s no wonder that stress in your brain can pretty easily turn on some annoying pain symptoms for people to freak out about.
Thank you again, everybody

 

I wanted to share what I believe to be a small success. In my Last message, I mentioned that I had “thrown back out” Two days ago. This was the first occurrence of that specific strong spasm feeling since I started learning about TMS and working on those skills and mindset. As I’ve mentioned before, probably annoying Cell, I take muscle relaxers fairly often and especially when there’s pain like this. I’m saying that because there have been times in the past where I’ve similarly “thrown my back out“ and I can recall certain patterns and timing of my recovery after that happens in the past. With all things being basically equal, With this current flareup, I was at work the next day (desk job) and Today, while I do feel some tightness and occasional blips of sharper pain, I’m noticing I’m far more mobile more quickly than in the past. And I think it’s been because of all the listening to Sarno books on tape and also Alan Gordon’s book on tape and being more mindful of the whole TMS process, I feel like I am becoming less scared of acute onset of pain, such as these back spasms recently. While I’m not gonna completely haul ass tomorrow and Sunday, my plan is to start extended my firewood rack by building a wooden rack for it. In other words, I’m going to not let fear Prevent me from at least trying that and seeing how things go with it spasms-wise this weekend.
Although I’m sure it’ll be much more work going forward with the TMS mindset, I’m very happy that I feel like I’m getting a bit of traction here. Thank you again everyone

 

You are definitely on your way! Good for you! Great news!

 

Hi all,
Want to give a quick update on how I’ve been doing and also ask question.
Well, my yardstick for how I think I’ve been doing has been my firewood production, and I have to say that I’ve been doing a lot better by leaps and bounds. I’ve been incredibly productive and I’ve been better able to dismiss tightness and pain symptoms better than before. I’m extremely pleased with this and wanted to thank everyone that has given me encouragement and insight!
A question that I’ve had is wondering about what You all have found to be the relationship between fatigue and onset of pain symptoms. In the last number of months, I’ve noticed a definite connection between Pain and increased stress. However, there’s other times where I don’t feel necessarily stressed, but I have been a bit short on sleep. Theory I’ve got for this for myself is that my body and mind start talking to one another and “read” the fatigue as being a dangerous signal for something or other and then the pain gets turned on. Just wondering what other peoples experiences with that have been.

 

Congratulations on all your progress!

My first inclination toward an answer to your question, is to not overthink it. Our TMS brains want to try and explain everything we feel in our body, and this can be a rabbit hole to fall into. But if you find you can't stop thinking about it, then try to think psychologically, as Sarno recommends. What thoughts or feelings are going on right now that might lead to an uptick in pain or impact on the quality of your sleep?

 

Steve,
Fantastic! You are doing great!!! So happy to hear it! Don’t worry too much about the fatigue. Your theory makes sense. Being tired can make pain worse. Don’t let anything discourage you.

 

Thank you again for the ongoing support and encouragement! I think you make an excellent point, the both of you, about not overthinking things in general. I remember when I first learned about TMS and personality type often associated with it, and was blown away about how much that describes my own personality and way of thinking. Thank you again everyone extremely pleased with my progress with this, even though I know there’s still a lot of progress yet to make. Thankful for you all.