Day 8 Questions on Pain

I'm trying to work on not fearing the pain, But it is hard. The hardest time I have is in bed at night when there are no distractions. If I am hurting (low back, groin pain) it's very hard to NOT think about the pain, I've uncovered a lot of grief and trauma that I knew I hadn't dealt with from my past. The emotions are flowing and I'm largely pretty good at questioning what's behind the pain. What do I feel and how do I feel. Nighttime is hard though. Also I'm going back to the gym soon which is where my injury started and I'll be cautious but I don't want to overthink it either.

Any tips or suggestions for not focusing on or fearing pain?

Thank you!

 

Hey! I'm also on Day 8 of the Structured Education Program, so first I want to say it's nice to know someone else is going through this at the same time. Regarding your question, have you checked out Alan Gordon's Pain Recovery Program yet? I've been doing it in parallel to the Structured Education Program, and it has helped me with practical strategies to address situations like what you describe. Day 11: Pain Reprocessing could be especially helpful for not panicking when the pain strikes.

I went swimming yesterday which was a big victory for me. The pain came at some point and I just started talking to my brain soothingly, telling it's okay and that the exercise is good for it, and that I appreciate it giving me the danger signal but that I'm actually safe, etc. which really calmed me down. Hope this helps, and good luck with your gym session. Reply here if you feel like it to let me know how it goes!

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll look at Alan Gordon's work. I notice that when I work out my pain isn't as bad but I keep waiting for the shoe to drop, so to speak. I think talking to the brain and telling it to get another plan b.c you are safe, is great. Sometimes it's hard to always know what I'm feeling. l have done a lot of journaling and therapy and crying, getting the anger out, etc. So I can't always link an emotion to the pain, But that's probably okay.

 

Oh I often can't identify the feeling either, but I've realized that I don't actually need to in order to calm myself down and be at peace with my symptoms when they hit. The way I see it is I'm learning two separate sets of tools: on one hand there's journaling and therapy and coaxing repressed emotions out to gain insight into my patterns and unlearn the neural pathways built up over years. On the other hand, cognitive soothing, somatic experiencing, and similar techniques (focused on more by Alan Gordon's program) which are effective short-term strategies for dealing with symptoms when they arise and slowly reclaiming my life.