All my pain is back after six months

at the end of October I started working through the online program to get rid of my pain. I have Occipital neuralgia, migraines and neck pain all on the left side (well, I have TMS but those are the doctors diagnosed). After working through the program my neck pain went completely but the head pain didn't. It did get much better though. Much much better. And I assumed eventually it would go away completely. Well last week, even though there is no added stress in my life, the entire thing has come back. I feel as though I am back to square 1. Even my bad neck pain, which in truth is completely forgotten about. I know it's TMS or it wouldn't have improved so drastically the first time.

At this moment in my life therapy isn't really a viable option, but I'm going to redo the online program. Any other thoughts, suggestions, words of wisdom, just plain encouragement that this will go away again?

 

Hi, JackeetSpud. I'm sorry you have had a setback in TMS healing, but that has happened to others. I healed from severe back pain two years ago after leaning about Dr. Sarno, TMS, and doing the Structured Educational Program. I sometimes get the back pain again, but not anywhere near as bad as it was before. I blame the relapse or setback on renewed worry, mostly about fiances.

If you mean redo the SEProgram, I urge you to do that. A second time in it has helped many others to heal.

You may think that nothing is stressful in your life now, but it could be something that is triggering a past repressed emotion. Journaling in the SEP can help you with this.

Don't lose confidence in TMS. It is often not a process that cures pain once and for all. For me, and many others posting here, it is an on-going process.
It really is a fantastic way to deal with and get rid of pain.

I also suggest you practice meditation. It is helping a lot to relieve my worried mind.

Meditation is a time-honored way of relaxing the mind and relieving anxiety, mental stress, headaches, and even physical pain. There are many ways to practice meditation but I have found the most successful to be a technique called the Relaxation Response.

A friend who is a psychiatrist says about it: “It is so good, so well established. I taught this approach to stressed out teachers, with success! It is simple, not "spiritual," and readily available. This is important: It is the practice, and becoming a habit that is powerful.”

It is done 20 minutes once or twice a day, before a meal and works best if not practiced within two hours after a meal.If 20 minutes is difficult, start with 5 minutes, then 10, and 15. It really relaxes me and at night in bed, it helps me to fall asleep and stay asleep until my regular morning get-up,

Just sit, close your eyes, don’t listen to any music, try to avoid outside noises. Let your mind think of a word such as "One " which has no real meaning or association. Say the word silently over and over. At the end of the 20 minutes, picture and feel yourself as you were when you felt your best, and in a place where you felt that way.

Follow the technique below and see how fast you calm. It is similar to Transcendental Meditation but unlike that technique which many consider to be a religion or cult, and that costs $1,000 from a trained TM coach. The Relaxation Response is not a religion or cult and costs nothing.

Here is an article about the Relaxation Response and how to practice it:

Herbert Benson, M.D. documented benefits experienced through traditional forms of Christian and Jewish prayer. Benson published his “Relaxation Response” method of stress reduction without the mysticism associated with TM. Short structured rest periods provide health benefits.
Herbert Benson, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
and founder of the
Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine
824 Boylston St.
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-2508
Phone: (617) 991-0102 Toll free: (866) 509-0732
MBMI@CareGroup.Harvard.edu


The following is the technique reprinted with permission from Dr. Herbert Benson's book
The Relaxation Response pages 162-163
1. Sit quietly in a comfortable position.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Deeply relax all your muscles,
beginning at your feet and progressing up to your face.
Keep them relaxed.
4. Breathe through your nose.
Become aware of your breathing.
As you breathe out, say the word, "one"*,
silently to yourself. For example,
breathe in ... out, "one",- in .. out, "one", etc.
Breathe easily and naturally.
5. Continue for 10 to 20 minutes.
You may open your eyes to check the time, but do not use an alarm.
When you finish, sit quietly for several minutes,
at first with your eyes closed and later with your eyes opened.
Do not stand up for a few minutes.
6. Do not worry about whether you are successful
in achieving a deep level of relaxation.
Maintain a passive attitude and permit relaxation to occur at its own pace.
When distracting thoughts occur,
try to ignore them by not dwelling upon them
and return to repeating "one."
With practice, the response should come with little effort.
Practice the technique once or twice daily,
but not within two hours after any meal,
since the digestive processes seem to interfere with
the elicitation of the Relaxation Response.

 

Thanks Walt. Yes, I did mean the SEP. I've been journaling anyway, but I think it might be good to go back to the structure and also learning aspect of the SEP (although I've still been reading Sarno books the entire time, on and off).

When I said no stress, I meant no new stress. My original stresses still existed but since Sarno discusses rage in the unconscious memory, I knew that I don't have to eliminate my stress completely for this to work, and although the pain never fully went away, it certainly went away enough to know I am on the right track. I'd have bad days, but definitely more good than bad. Right now I'm back in a period of no good days. That sucks. It's scary, I worry I can't get myself back out of this pain again, even though I know I did it before, thanks to Sarno and to you guys and the SEP. there's no really reason to think I can't do it again, except for fear.

I do mediate, but not routinely. That is something I need to work on. Thanks for the push.

 

Tyhanks for the explanation, I do find that the Relaxation Response relaxes me.

 

JacketSpud,
Don't despair! Many of us experience relapses along our road to healing. In my experience, each one gets shorter if I don't focus on it too much. Doing the SEP again is a good strategy. Just keep doing what you were doing before when you were making progress. You know it's TMS and that the pain is nothing to fear, and you know you can make it subside. Just don't get discouraged. Hang in there.

 

Thanks Ellen,

The fear of the pain not going is currently worse than the pain itself. I've had other relapses over the past few months, but none this bad. And as I say, the pain never completely went, but until this week I just knew that was ok because it would go eventually. I'll let you all know how I'm doing after the next SEP.

 

Hang in there Jacket. Yes, sometimes TMS seems cyclic, but as others have mentioned, the relapses become fewer, and the pain levels lower.
Good for you for repeating the SEP. No doubt different issues will arise from your first encounter with it. And I find that things I read resonate differently with me at different times in my life, depending on my current needs.
Blessings on your journey.

 

thanks for http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Structured_Educational_Program
I will try this program too