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sciatica only during pregnancy

Discussion in 'Support Subforum' started by crabapple, Oct 5, 2023.

  1. crabapple

    crabapple Newcomer

    Hi all,
    I've been familiar with and admiring of the principles of TMS for a long time, having known people who successfully cured themselves of various symptoms, but never thought of myself as a sufferer.
    I have no pain that would match the TMS profile--except when pregnant. During each pregnancy (I have a bunch of kids) I develop severe sciatica and hip pain at approximately the same juncture, it lasts until a couple weeks after delivery, and then subsides.
    A friend has been trying to convince me that this is TMS. While I'm very open to the possibility, I have a hard time reaching the conclusion that it's not a structural issue, because I never have other TMS pain, and never at any other time; only during this phase of my pregnancy. It seems very reasonable, based on the huge extra load I'm carrying and everything going on in my body, that there would be associated pain.
    I've read and re-read the books and have tried using the Sarno method to deal with it, but to no avail. I assume that if it's TMS, it can't work until I overcome this--I'm just not convinced it's really TMS and not structural.
    Any thoughts?
    Thanks in advance
    (I know people will talk about my sub-conscious fears of labor and child-raising. They're not subconscious, LOL--I am acutely aware of the discomforts and hardships, very open about them, and deal with all those emotions thoroughly on a regular basis)
     
  2. Cactusflower

    Cactusflower Beloved Grand Eagle

    It’s not just subconscious fears, it’s the internal stress created. That is possibly subconscious part of it. You may not realize that there is underlaying stuff under the stuff you recognize - that's the actual premise of TMS - your brain may let you think it knows what's going on, but the mechanism is deeper than that, and is actually protecting you from whatever it is, so it's not gonna give it up so easily.
    People use a variety of methods: some think about their known stressors over and over until they get some inkling of insight - this was Sarno's on personal method. He used to suffer from the occasional migraine, and knew they were generated by internal stress because of anger even though he did not feel anger. He'd sit and think it over and when he figured out who he was angry at or why he was angry, they would go away very quickly.
    Lot's of people don't even need to "dig" or figure out what the underlying emotions are that you are not recognizing. Simply that you may have hidden emotions, they cause stress (you probably don't even recognize the type of stress they create yet, even though your brain thinks it knows). Some folks meditate to relax the mind and deal with the mind's hidden stressors....

    Your own symptoms seem to stick around for awhile, and only during one period of your life (which repeats) - I'm no psychologist or TMS professional but I suspect there is something under whatever you are already aware of.
     
  3. crabapple

    crabapple Newcomer

    I totally get that that COULD be the case--there might be lots of underlying stress etc. But how would I know that it's actually TMS? As I said, I'm skeptical, and would need something compelling to convince me that its something other than pregnancy, which is altogether doing a job on my body.
    I can sit and think about my anger and so forth, but as long as I don't accept that that's what's causing it, I doubt it will help much.
     

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