Healing journey

Hi,

I've been following the TMS program for about 8 months now as part of healing back, hip and foot pain.

TMS has been helpful in terms of avoiding the fear-based pain and the anxiety associated with it (how long will it last? will it be like this from now on?) etc.

However, I've found over the course of the past couple of months that my pain is very volatile: I might be doing ok with bearable levels of pain for a couple of days and then something supposedly benign as crossing the legs for a minute might cause pain that lasts for a day. Things will calm down a bit after that and then another trigger sets off the pain. I can't avoid these kinds of triggers forever, so I know I need to strengthen myself, mentally and physically.

If I don't push myself in any way, my pain levels are bearable. But I do want to pick up things that I like doing - spending time outdoors, hiking, walking etc - and I know that unless I keep actively strengthening myself, my pain might continue to be so volatile.

For example, I recently started doing gentle Feldenkrais hip exercises. I find that I reach my threshold soon and the pain that was hiding underneath starts again. Then I become anxious: I thought the pain was gone all along and didn't realize that it was latent. I don't want to just stop doing Feldenkrais as I know it will help me build up strength and flexibility, but at the same time, I feel like avoiding the pain and so feel afraid to do it.

How do you draw the line between wanting to actively continue to heal vs. avoiding the pain that often comes with it?

Thanks.

 

Conditioned response ! Try reading what Jan suggested as she is extremely tuned in.....that way you will learn so much more. Another is to listen to podcasts by Eddy Lindenstein. He has interviewed ppl like Steve Ozanich, Arlene Feinblatt Ph.D (she worked with Sarno for over 30 years), Dr. A. Batson & Nicole Sachs MSW (both TMS survivors), & so many more interesting ppl.

 

Thanks for your note, Jan. I did the SEP program last summer.