New Program Day 4: Breaking the Pain Cycle

I get the whole TMS thing, I know I have it, but what in the world do you do with the intense pain while it's happening? I'm not having much luck talking myself out of it, even though I go right to the "okay brain, what the hell is bothering you?"

 

Nele, Fearing certain foods is very common for TMS. I'm going to talk more about overcoming fearful associations in the associate learning section. Sometimes it's helpful to try and challenge these fears gradually, as opposed to all at once.

Ellen, that was a beautiful post. Buddha talks about resistance as the source of all suffering. All resistance is actually driven by fear, the fear of sitting with what is.

Lily Rose, that is a great point. Overcoming fear is a process. I'll be focusing a lot on how to go about achieving this goal.

 

Sorry, but daft question. Which link are you referring to? I can't see a link.

 

Alan, thank you for sharing this programme with us all. It is helping me enormously and I am so grateful to you and Forest and everyone who has helped build this website - it is an invaluable support network.

I found this video moving and it really resonated with me too. I have been struggling with RSI in both arms for over a year. The pain turned my life on its head - I've been on sick leave on and off for a total of 4 months since and I became fearful that I would need to change careers because I couldn't type without being in pain.

Since discovering Sarno's books and this website about 3 months ago I have turned a corner. I am now coming to understand how fear drove my pain over the first 10 months or so, when I was being misinformed about the cause of the pain (I was told my back muscles needed strengthening and that it was the repetitive nature of my typing which I now understand is false). I still feel pain when I type but it does not rule my life anymore and I know I can get rid of it over time.

Thank you so much again

 

That may be true for me, too. My initial neck pain that started me off on this 12-year nightmare started at the same time as the strangest emotional experience of my life. In an attempt to cure the neck pain I worked with (among others) a Feldenkrais practitioner who proceeded to "train my brain" to sit, lie down, and move the "right" way to avoid pain. The process involved constant mental monitoring of my position, balance, and which muscles I was using.

Before I started the Feldenkrais program I could plop myself down in a chair or on the bed any old way and be comfortable. A couple weeks into the program my mental monitoring had me constantly wondering if I was sitting, lying, or moving in a "balanced" way. I started to notice subtle "imbalances" I would have overlooked before and that would make me fidget and adjust myself to find the "right" balance. The more I did this the more difficult it became to sit, lie down, or move comfortably. Now I can't get comfortable no matter what I do. I think this process locked in a fear of sitting, lying down, or moving the "wrong" way and trained my brain to avoid pretty much every position because I can't label it as the "right" way.

I feel a little like Anakin Skywalker who turned to the dark side to prevent a certain bad result only to find that by turning to the dark side I brought upon myself the very result I was trying to avoid.

 

Helpful! Me too. Was wondering why I can climb a mountain but can't sit for too long....the more involved, present I am the less I fear. You can't worry about the future and be present at the same time.

 

http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/A_Word_About_Outcome_Independence,_by_Alan_Gordon,_LCSW (A Word About Outcome Independence, by Alan Gordon, LCSW)

 

Hi
One question please :
Are we trying to live a pain-free life, or "fear of pain"-free life??

 

Good questions indeed?
I am confused as why is it that our fear of pain causes pain?

 

The symptoms are a vicious circle for me. I have no fear that there is nothing physically wrong with me but fear the symptoms when they come on. Like my mind becomes preoccupied by them and i worry how long they are going to persist.

I realise this is the minds strategy.

I will be giving Outcome Independence a good try and focus on the present.

 

I think TMS is all of the above! It is most certainly a warning signal that something is going on emotionally for you. It can, as a result, provide a distraction from those emotions while you worry about the pain (though this might be something of a side effect of it). It can also be fueled by anxiety and fear over the pain itself or fear of structural damage. Multiple factors contribute to persistent pain...TMS is not one thing.

 

Thanks Plum. Don't know why I couldn't see the link. Read it now. Excellent.

 

You are perfect just as you are. I am perfect despite my pain. Will you start being compassionate to yourself? When? How can you show loving kindness to yourself?

 

Actually I feel similarly (though I think of the analogy more like jumping out of the frying pan, into the fire) as I had a back operation because I couldn't handle the pain, and then the back operation made my back about 100x worse than it was before the operation! I wish there was a one-use time machine in life, where we could retract a decision - just once! But maybe all this suffering is here to lead us on a particular journey – I can think that on the good days. Your Feldenkrais experience reminded me a bit of my experience in a pain management group, where they taught us the concept of 'pacing', which is was I use now for sitting, standing and walking, but before I did this, I used to be able to sit for much longer. It wasn't until we were told to pay attention to the pain and note the time when it starts to hurt (so as to change position before this), that my sitting time went down by quite a lot, and now if I go over that time, I get a lot worse for a few days. It seems very easy to make our bodies more sensitive, especially having a highly strung nervous system. But pacing can be a good way to get going again, if you are finding it hart to sit at all.

 

These posts make me cry in a good way. Since learning about all this, i've been crying at the smallest things. When something resonates with me, i instantly well up. I think i'm purging all these repressed feelings

 

As

I have been diagnosed with IC since it was "discovered" or "invented".
I feel tremendous sadness that I still fear tomatoes. I did the IC diet perfectly. Fear of those razor blades in the bladder terrified me.
I now eat tangerines and have lemon water. That took years to trust.
My vision is to be off the 20mg baclofen that has been part of my life for 25 years. Slowly, slowly.
Maybe this workshop I will have a piece of pizza?!

 

This may be the greatest analogy I've ever heard.

 

I totally relate to this so you're not on your own. Heck, we went to see the musical Buddy last week and I was seriously welling up when it announced his death. And I'm a guy so crying at the theatre isn't the done thing

 

"Change your definition of success. Work on it. Success is no longer measured by whether or not you have a good walk. Success is measured by how little you care." --Alan Gordon
I loved this. I call it "failing up" but it's the same thing. It's the try that counts, that helps continuing the retiring of our brain's pathways.
Discouragement was one of my favorite drugs for a long time. Defeated by anxiety, depression and somatic complaints I could finally rest.
Now I Just Rest. Whether I need to or not.

 

For me, this brings up that for one person, IBS is TMS, and for another, it is not. Most of my pain issues are TMS. But not all. This is true for a great many people. Nothing in life is 'absolute'.

I have spent nearly ten years experimenting with my IBS. I have had it most of my life, but only in the last ten years did I begin actively seeking 'natural' solutions. For the last year or so I have been symptom free. I am a vegetarian, but most raw vegetables (which I really really really really really really love) tear through me. Some cooked vegetables do not. Root vegetables are fine. All fruit is perfect, especially apples. Rice and yogurt are good. Beans in any form are agony.

My method was to try eliminations first. Once I found this 'safe place' where pain was not going to overwhelm me, I now sometimes venture outside of my safe zone to see if some other vegetables are available to me. Broccoli persists in causing pain, but broccolini, which is like broccoli does not hurt me at all.

As for "poor English", if English is not your primary language, my view is that you are far ahead of me, as I can only speak one language

Be patient, and most of all, be compassionate towards yourself.
You can do anything you set your mind to do.

.... with Love and Gratitude <3