Day 3 Day 3

Hello,
Just cancelled my next appointment with my physiotherapist. I've been seeing her for 4 years about once or twice a month, but with only very limited and temporary results. Feeling a bit nervous about it, but not as much as I thought.

I'll also be doing my full workout at the gym today - with push-ups and everything! I stopped doing push-ups about 6 months ago thinking that they triggered the spasms in my neck.

Had lots of pain on Day 1, but it resolved on its own on Day 2 after I connected with my feelings of anger about having so much responsibility at home and at work. My pain episodes rarely resolve on their own, so this is pretty major for me!

One thing that helped was when I read Dr. Sarno's basic description of the syndrome and realized that the word "tension" actually refers to "mental" tension, not muscle tension, like I first assumed. This really changed my outlook and reinforced the idea that the work has to take place on the emotional rather than the physical front.

I'll be doing the list of traumatic events and experiences today. I'm very familiar with my issues, since I've been working on them for many, many years. But this is the first time I've connected my emotional issues with the physical pain. Actually understanding the link is really motivating me to work on my issues. I've known for years that I need to be more assertive, set clearer boundaries and determine a bottomline when relating with others, but now that I see that this behaviour is causing me pain, I'm more determined than ever to face my fears.

Overall, a very good experience of this program so far!

 

Blake you're really doing a great job, yes connecting the emotional or mental tension to the physical tension is awesome. Its a lot about finding out what traits you have that is causing this emotional tension and then reconditioning those areas so you can have better emotional outcomes thus lessening the symptoms till they are gone for good .
The more you can be patient and calm, relaxed and confident in all you do the more you will become aware of those traits too. Your doing great, bless you.
Keep us posted.

 

Thank you Eric! I appreciate your words of support. This forum really means a lot of me right now.

Have a great day!

 

Hi Blake,
I'm about two weeks into the program and don't remember the last time I have felt so good, both physically and emotionally. I was very resistant at first, being a nurse, but conventional treatments were no help,so... Here I am and as difficult as some things are, like the journaling, I cannot believe how positive I feel and wish for you the same! I have found that putting my thoughts and feelings on paper are very therapeutic even though it's tough. I especially like the unsent letters! Wishing you much success and good health and of course lots of support !
Terry

 

Hi Blake,

I'm on Day 12 of the program and like you, have been quite familiar with my emotional issues for many years and done quite a bit of work on them. At first this made me sceptical about TMS, because I couldn't believe I was repressing things. But journaling has, as you pointed out in your case, helped me to connect those issues to the pain and fatigue I've experienced over the past two years. It's also brought up a lot of stuff I knew about but hadn't really connected with emotionally. Things have come up and punched me in the gut, which I never expected.

Congratulations on your progress and wising you all the very best in your healing!

Porpoise

 

Blake, it's great that you remind everyone that the Tension in TMS refers to emotional, mental tension and not physical muscular tension.
We think ourselves to be in pain. With Sarno TMS knowledge we can think ourselves to be pain-free.