Question about starting the work

Hi all-

I am brand new to TMS and am dealing with rheumatoid arthritis. I firmly believe it began due to a lifetime of stress and being in fight or flight- in addition to something emotional I recently went through at the time.

I noticed recently, since really beginning to make the mind body connection, my symptoms have gotten MUCH worse. I was doing well and feeling hopeful regardless, believing I can heal, and then my recent blood work shows that my inflammation markers are the highest they have ever been.

Needless to say, this has greatly discouraged and depressed me. Not only that, but has created so much fear- this condition causes damage to the body and, because I can SEE the inflammation in my blood work, makes me want to just give up. Each day that goes by, I am risking damage to my body as I try to get to the root of this.

When we first begin this work, do symptoms increase, by a lot?? I noticed a big increase in pain once I started getting serious about meditating every day.

Thank you for any answers, and support. I am feeling pretty low.

 

Hi @cap23

Don’t be discouraged. Yes, symptoms often get worse when your TMS brain knows you are on to it. This free class on the wiki can provide you with a lot of the answers to your questions and give you the lay of the land. https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/

Working on healing your TMS will take time. There’s no quick fix, and ultimately you’ll get to the point where you are no longer afraid. It’s a journey! Even if you have RA, doing TMS work is all to your benefit. You have nothing to lose. Your faith in healing will build over time. Check out this video that has a healing story for someone who had RA. It’s really inspiring!

 

Thank you! I have seen Phils story and I found it to be wonderful. I'm going to listen to it again, or perhaps, every time I feel discouraged.

 

Great idea! Do you know who else is great to listen to? Always cheers me up! Nichole Sachs.
Especially these three episodes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cure-for-chronic-pain-with-nicole-sachs-lcsw/id1439580309?i=1000664102515 (S3 E100: Sending a Message of Safety to the Nervous System with "Nicole-isms" - PART 1)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cure-for-chronic-pain-with-nicole-sachs-lcsw/id1439580309?i=1000664802873 (S3 E101: Family Systems and Radical Acceptance with "Nicole-isms" - PART 2)

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cure-for-chronic-pain-with-nicole-sachs-lcsw/id1439580309?i=1000665601378 (S3 E101: The MindBody Connection, The ANSR, and Ascension with “Nicole-isms” PART 3)

Also, you can search using the little magnifying glass on the top right corner. It’s really good for looking up any topic. I did a search for you on RA. There could be something in these threads to inspire you. I’ve found the best thing I can do for when I’m discouraged is to read a lot on this wiki. Just read it like a book. Dig around! Comment and ask questions.
https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/search/4144517/?q=Rheumatoid+arthritis&o=date (Search Results for Query: Rheumatoid arthritis | TMS Forum (The Mindbody Syndrome))

 

Thank you so much! I started listening to Nichole last week and she is fantastic.