Migrating TMS pain? Nervous system issues? Other?

Wondering about migrating TMS pain. I am experiencing a return to the worst physical and mental pain since I initially got sick decades ago, and now all the pain I’ve 'treated' with good diets, medication etc have come back all at once. My nervous system is going crazy in the last 2 weeks. and I've been feeling depressed, have insomnia and am so on edge it’s ridiculous.

If I wasn’t freaking out so much I would find this amusing. Clearly, this is not structural pain but damn.

My brain is telling me to run and hide from the world. Can doing TMS work take you back to face the worst of it all at once?

 

Oh, yes it can! You are challenging all the safety barriers your brain created, now every alarm signal is turned up to 10.
Keep steady, and find ways to try and reduce the load. Take moments to breathe calming breaths with long exhales, find time to meditate or simply chill as best you can.
A return to the worst is a huge sign you are doing the work.

 

Cactusflower has great advice here.

Challenging our safety barriers can be intense work because our brains love the "safety" of pain and symptoms because they are familiar.
So the more we push against that, the more intense our symptoms can get as our brain screams "this is dangerous".

Whenever I feel high intensity of symptoms I like to remember a Nicole Sachs saying "safe in the unsafest way" and remind myself that this is my brain trying to protect me. And then do as @Cactusflower suggested: calming breaths (I like the Paced Breathing App for this - 5.5second inhale and exhales are my go to), meditation, distraction e.g. a comedy movie or something you can find some joy in.

You are on the path to regulation but the only way is through the messiness that is symptoms, emotions, and resistance.

 

I use 4 second gentle inhale, 7 second slow exhale to trigger the calming nervous system response.

 

That's really helpful. I felt funny writing the initial post to be honest because I felt like I was being a wuss. But, at the same time, it's really good to be able to chat to others who have experienced this weird sh*t! While I like the fact I now have some perspective on the different types of pain, it's still super easy to freak out about it.

Love the advice about the long exhales, I've found out about box breathing a couple of years ago and it helps so much.

 

Cheers for that. It helps to get some reinforcement that my body / mind freaking out can be a good sign. In between the heightened anxiety, there have been some good observations about the nature of my TMS. I take it as a good sign that I have been emotionally on edge since starting SEP. I'm definitely out of my usual 'comfort' zone.

 

I'll play around with the exhale. That long exhale is magic for calming nerves.

 

Thanks for sharing this @mrefreddyg! It's amazing to me that every step along this journey it has ended up to be the case for me. Lesson I keep learning day by day!