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My neighbors needed to know my condition because I’m sometimes home alone for ways/weeks and they were coming in to help with cats or on call if I fell.
Like @BloodMoon I started standing by chopping vegetables. 5 mins at first -my brain wanted me to go back to bed so bad! I’d sweat and have seizures or try to faint and my blood pressure would raise and plummet (a fave TMS trick), auditory and visual symptoms, need to use the bathroom (shocky and stabbing pain on top of this) but nope, I’d stay. Sitting was just as bad. I’d cry through meals eating only tiny amounts. I was at 120lbs and I’m 6’1…
My TMS coach and psychologist would help me sitting we’d meet on Zoom and I’d sit for as long as I could and they would continue and encourage though tears and seizures they were non-judgmental (I tried a few, a few were judgemental but two were not!)
One I had seen as a life & excercise coach before I knew about TMS -we discovered it together (she has since become a TMS coach!) and so she knew that before being bed bound I could walk 3/4 of a mile. So bit by bit she encouraged me. I walked with my hubby or neighbor until I had a month with no seizures on walks then alone. I started interval training to speed up walks 10 seconds fast every minute. That got me stronger to walk a mile…
It’s now 2.5 years and I walked 3.2 miles consecutively on Wednesday and 2 yesterday with a bag of groceries (just 5 lbs, but still!) including up a 3 flight outdoor rickety stair case up the hill. Tonight we are traveling to see some bands play and driving home after (stamina and exhaustion are latest symptoms).
I still get pain (it’s way better), and deal with real (not TMS) physical pains but like is too short not to have fun! I still deal with a host of psychological triggers and anxiety going out, but I also don’t give them too much power. They are there, I deal with them and move on.
Before my pain I was lifting 75 lb and moving 150 lb boulders regularly and leg pressing 300 lbs, dancing on stage for up to 6 hours consecutively non-stop… crazy isn’t it!