Do extinction bursts occur closer together or am I getting worse?

So, I’ve been dead set on doing the work since October of last year and so far so good! My mental health is a lot better, I have stronger boundaries, I don’t care about my symptoms being present or not, I do whatever I want regardless of what my mind or body tries to tell me I can or can’t do.

I want to preface the rest of my post by saying I know 100% that my symptoms are TMS. Back in 2022, I had an “allergic reaction” to an antifungal cream on my nethers that catapulted me into pelvic pain that turned chronic after doctors couldn’t help or figure out what happened. Honestly, I feel like if I had just waited, I would have healed and been fine but no, I went to see doctors who scared the crap out of me and introduced me to vulvodynia, IC and Pudendal Neuralgia and it messed me up.

Before this happened to me, I was 100% healthy and “normal”. No one can convince me that I went from being a healthy, athletic young woman to destined to be in chronic pain for the rest of my life overnight. It doesn’t make sense. IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE. Okay, rant over haha

Anyhoo! Presently, my symptoms have been happening more frequently lately. At first I thought this new increase in pelvic symptoms might be extinction bursts but I’m not so sure. I started a new job recently and though it is rather stressful, I have been allowing myself needed breaks and moments to check in with myself throughout my day. So, I’m not sure if maybe these just are a cluster of extinction bursts (although my symptoms stay localized to my pelvic floor and never really moves elsewhere) going on or if maybe my nervous system is becoming dysregulated due to life stuff. Every time my symptoms arise, I smile and say “hi” to them and then I proceed to tell myself out loud that I am okay and everything okay. That I’m safe.

I must note now that right after I wrote that my symptoms never move, my scalp started itching in random places haha

anyway! Has anyone ever experienced a cluster of extinction bursts before? I’m curious about your experiences!

 

I have had upticks in my main symptoms on and off again. They are less close together and it takes more stress to increase them. It’s not always outside stress that triggers them. Usually it’s things like managing or finding new ways to separate from thoughts (I enjoy very basic Taichi/qigong and meditation), maybe journal (because it often has to do with thoughts about ourselves and our need to express things that we aren’t always consciously aware of)…and just living life.
For me, things can pass in minutes (usually new symptoms) or slowly fade in a week or two. I get more symptoms when I do things that challenge them, mentally or physically. I don’t worry about it because over the long term, I see things easing slowly.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with things that help balance the nervous system. Keep that self-pressure from adding fuel to the fire.
Congrats on the new job!

 

You know! It wasn’t until you mentioned going out with like minded people that it dawned on me that I have been going out a lot more than I ever have in my life due to fear! I’ve made a lot of new friends at work and they have been inviting me to go to different activities outside of/after work and in the past I would always decline out of anxiety. These days, I always say yes and I have a lot of fun. When I am alone at home, my symptoms flare up and now that I think about it, that’s probably why they’ve been a lot more frequent. I’m not hiding myself away in my “safe space” at home anymore. I used to be really scared to leave my house even before I developed chronic symptoms so this is a whole new world for me. Thanks, Jan! You helped me have a break through lol

 

Oh! I have been realizing over this past week that my attention definitely plays a role in a way that I never noticed before! In the past, I used to monitor my symptoms all day, every day. At that time, because my symptoms dominated my brain space, I never saw any changes in my symptoms as they were always there. These days, I notice my symptoms come on if I look for them/think of them/remember them but they’re gone when I’m completely distracted. This past week, I played with that occurrence where I would stop, look for the symptoms to see if they’d fire up and when they did, I’d go do something to distract myself and I’d forget, they’d go away. I’d notice they’re gone and then think about them on purpose again to see if they’d start up, they would and then I’d go distract myself again with an activity and they’d vanish haha I’ve been doing this yo-yo game to help me fully release the fear and find humor in my symptoms as well as continuously proving to myself that this is TMS.