Steve ozanich book

What did you learn from steve ozanichs book?

 

You have to read it to believe it! He has the most extreme case of TMS anyone’s ever heard of and he just fought like a bulldog until he won. It’s such a motivating and inspiring story. He definitely makes you feel like if you don’t give up you have a chance. I think I’m gonna start rereading his book today

 

I have read it. It is very inspiring. I'm just not entirely sure HOW he did it

 

I could be wrong, but my impression was that he refused to let his pain control his life. He kept doing things despite it. Finally, his brain just let go and stopped giving him symptoms.

 

Yeah maybe.
I don't know if I understand how he did he buckong night thing? Like what was the process there? Why would the brain give it up?

 

When your brain realizes it’s not succeeding in distracting you from your feelings, it gives up. We need to read Steve’s book again. He explains everything he did.

 

"he refused to let his pain control his life. He kept doing things despite it." - absolutely right @Diana-M

He did this by dealing truthfully about his innermost self and feelings, and then his sheer will by conquering his fear. He refused to believe that the pain will somehow "hurt" him - and began to learn that emotions that "hurt" are a normal part of humanity, and that just feeling them was so much easier and ultimately less painful than the physical pain he was in.
But he had to deal with massive amounts of physical pain, and not let it get to him. If you read some things he's written since, he says he's not sure he'd do it exactly the same way he initially did, but eventually they worked for him.
He also gave himself much grace and compassion about his emotions and feelings, acknowledged when sh*t was really hard even though he pushed through it, he pushed through with a completely new and different mindset than he'd had previously.
He also took time to take care of himself.
You'll read the story of his playing golf, and afterwards having to literally lay on the hood of his car for an hour before he could painfully drive home ... and of course at home he'd take it easy. He had a lot of self-compassion for how hard that was but he also knew he needed to train his brain to recognize things like golf, which he loved, wasn't going to hurt him.

It's pretty much exactly what all other practitioners do and suggest their patients also do.
Believe it's temporary and believe you can get better.
Sit with the emotions and the sensations knowing they are both benign and temporary.
Deal with your inner conflicts, recognize them, recognize the triggers and know you can handle it all.
Move, even if it hurts, move. Re-train your brain (some call it neural circuit retraining) to recognize that movement is safe and won't hurt you even if it feels painful.
Live your life, love your life. Do the things you love to do, learn not to sweat stuff so much by taking care of your fear and anxiety (in general, it's not just about the symptoms). Don't let the TMS keep you small and afraid.

 

Thsnk you. Whst I remember of the book is mainly the repetitive nature of what he did. Which I understand.
I don't believe he comments on how whst emotional work he did.
And I don't understand the brain mechanism behind when his wife kept hitting his legs. Why did his brain give up the sitting pain?

 

I think this might apply to chronic pain, but not for chronic fatigue syndrome? If I'd push through I'd end up way worse, even with a different mindset, but if I try to expand my activity levels carefully, I usually improve a little. I know that Dr. Sarno recommends resuming all physical activity but in the case of severe autonomic dysfunction going slow is better in my opinion. At least that's what I'm trying at the moment. Nevertheless I'm also trying to not let my symptoms define me.

 

@Lalaland123 - for you, that’s pushing through the fog and doing it. You aren’t just laying around waiting for some sort of magic to poof, make you all better. For you, the words “pushing through” might have always meant forcing and being hard on yourself -all of the “shoulds”. Think more about being in the clouds: swirling foggy mists. Your hands are reaching out in front of you, pushing the mists away so you can move forward in your healing.

@CalmIsTheCure I think the beating of his legs was his attempt at proving to his brain that the pain was harmless and that, although it seemed horrific in the moment, it was far less painful than having his legs beaten. He distracted his pain by more pain. It was a form of brain retraining, and it is not a method anyone has ever since recommended.
Perhaps you may have experienced this in another way. I have. At one point I cut my finger pretty deeply. It was really painful for a moment - worse than my symptoms. I had a moment of perspective, a flash that has helped me recognize how much worse focusing and fixing on the symptoms creates amplified symptoms. My REAL injury was more painful.. for a few hours. I stopped thinking about my cut. Never worried about it because all of my other cuts have healed. Sure I had fleeting sensations as it healed but I paid no
mind to it, and it never bothered me.
“bothered me” being the key.

Claire Weekes often says “you must turn your attention”.

 

The condioned response seems a toughie to break

 

I'm going to write this down as a pithy reminder.

 

Yes, it is.
As you are able to expand your awareness beyond the hypervigilance to symptoms, you’ll begin to notice when it’s happening. The difference between that knee-jerk reaction to wanting to freak out (when it happens, just pause and feel what that actually feels like! Racing mind, sweaty palms, desiring escape from the moment…whatever it is) and when you begin to respond by being able to take a pause before you react and choose how you are going to respond to your inner sensations.
That first time can feel like the biggest win! You’ve done it!! Don’t worry if it takes time to repeat that process.. you are learning.

 

I’m loving this conversation! Really good insight!