Day 25 So far...

After 8 months of traumatic back pain after the birth of my 3rd child and pain therapy for one month with no relief, I found Dr Sarno's healing back pain and began to heal. In the first month after reading the book I had a few days 80% free and could sleep through the night lying down, which I hadn't done for months.
However, after this month, I was under a lot of pressure with my kids at home for the school holidays as we also moved whilst I was sick and I got worse again and fell into the fear-pain cycle.
I can still sleep through the night without back pain but I find the pain sometimes migrates at night to my legs, hips, and arms. The days however are full of pain.
I have also overcome conditioning over picking up my daughter and walking lifting etc as the pain is either there or not and it is not dependent on these activites. However, I still get consistent pain when I try to relax, with sitting to relax the worst and driving is awful. Any tips here would be appreciated! Has anyone else experienced, after breaking conditioning for walking for example, that the pain is not gone it is just sometimes there and sometims not?
With regards to the journalling I cannot find any specific emotion that is bringing on my pain, but I can see I am very angry about a lot (I don't feel this is suppressed) and I feel lonely despite being married with three kids. Has anyone got any tips on how I can find how my emotions and pain are connected. Being the type T, I feel like I am not doing this properly...HELP!

I also suffer from severe migraines, which have improved a bit.

 

If you are getting a lot of pain when relaxing, then can you simply be present with your pain or ask yourself what you are feeling repeatedly. Start focusing on what you are feeling emotionally. If you feel angry or anxious, ask yourself where. Usually you can feel the feeling somewhere in the body like throat or chest or back of the head or something. Then stay with the feeling while reassuring yourself that you are safe, you are ok.

I too find it difficult to relax. One thing that helped me relax is repeatedly telling myself "I'm not under attack. I'm safe. I'm not under attack. I'm safe". I found this technique today and I yawned several big yawns and after a few mins the tingling, tight sensations dissipated and I felt relaxed for the first time. Then I was able to get some work done, and wound up right back, but the relaxation was good for the 5 mins it lasted. Hope this helps.

 

Hi @edithrose I also had trouble finding the memories or events that caused anger for me. This was discouraging because I thought I would never heal if I couldn't pinpoint them so I could move on. I recently started the workbook: Unlearn Your Pain by Dr. Howard Shubiner. It's well laid out and seems to be helping me get in touch with those events. For many of them I thought I was hurt or afraid, but working through the book is helping me see that fear and emotional pain were really hiding the anger I felt. It's very freeing to be able to confront it and release it! Good luck with your continued journey. Jo

 

Thanks, I'm trying not to worry too much about finding my emotions as I get frustrated when I can't be sure what I feel. I am trying to focus on letting go of the fear and practicing on not repressing when I do get a feeling I recognize. JBG1963 Is the program in 'unlearn your pain' very different from the structured education program? Do you notice any difference in the pain when you identify one of these emotions?

 

It's quite similar to the SEP but gives a very structured way of digging deep and finding the issues and releasing. It's pretty grueling sometimes with lots of writing, but I feel like I really want to get to the bottom of my issues. I find when I release anger from very specific events, I feel lighter and have a wonderful sense of calm and peace afterwards. I'm only just beginning and am quite curious if it's just beginners luck that it's helped so much or if it will only continue to get better.