Help! Minor Setback

Help! I have been pain-free for 4.5 wks and can now feel it trying to worm its way back following a particularly stressful weekend. I thought I had this under control and I'm taking on board all that Dr Sarno says in his books. Any tips or hints to help keep the pain at bay for good? I desperately don't want another relapse.

 

Keep doing the work. Refute the symptoms, do the daily reminders, do NOT expect a relapse...Make sure you budget time for wellness maintenance. You've beaten it using certain tools. Make sure you keep doing the things that worked and ignoring what didn't. We ALL have had adjustment periods and it doesn't mean anything ominous. Just means you're growing/changing. Relax in knowing it's part of the process!

 

Just recovered from a rather more major one myself. The best advice I got was to stop trying so hard. I realised that I was actually putting a lot of pressure on myself by doing all the things I thought I needed to do to recover. Once I'd realised this, I started to accept the situation and relax as much as possible. That doesn't mean I started to feel better immediately, I didn't. What it did mean though was that my internal pressure began to dissipate slowly which in turn lead to a slow reduction in physical symptoms.
The two most useful thing I did were firstly to practise being mindful throughout the day which allowed me to stop fuelling the anxiety, worry, questions etc. I kept pulling myself back into the moment every time I found myself thinking about the symptoms ( which was very frequently) and focussing instead on what I was doing in the now.
Secondly, every time my mental chatter started up I just said to myself ( in my head) 'moving on' and shut it down by practising mindfulness. I should add that I only did that about things I have already journaled about or resolved as much as possible already because I can fall into the trap of going over and over the same things when I'm very sensitised.
You will get back to where you were. Don't obsess about it and don't watch the calendar and I repeat, don't try too hard.
Hope this helps.