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Trouble with a concept

Discussion in 'General Discussion Subforum' started by Bk1959, Oct 22, 2022.

  1. Bk1959

    Bk1959 Peer Supporter

    I have been doing a lot of reading and listening on this site, but struggling with this concept - “Whenever you have a flare-up of pain avoid asking yourself 'what physical activity did I do that injured me?' Instead ask yourself 'what stressful events may be causing this?'. ”
    My flare ups tend to coincide with my physical activity. I know that standing for a period of time will aggravate my hip and back. I know that walking for more than 10 minutes will aggravate my hip and back. All of this, whether or not there is something stressful going on.
    I have recently started to reincorporate many of these type of activities back into my life, and not being scared of them. When the pain comes, I try to acknowledge the pain, but not be afraid of it.
    Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions about coming to terms with this. Am I interpreting this incorrectly, will it just take time, am I missing something?

    thanks for any insights.
     
    Bk1959, Oct 22, 2022
    #1
  2. JanAtheCPA

    JanAtheCPA Beloved Grand Eagle

    This is what caught my eye immediately. Many people have a hard time with this concept. The question doesn't really have to do with obviously stressful stuff "going on" in the immediate moment, in the world or in your life. Rather, it's referring to the thoughts that your conscious brain wants to ruminate about, but which your fearful brain is trying to repress.

    The skill you need to develop is to ignore what's going on around you, and listen to the chatter in your head. If you can do this, you may realize that you had a brief interaction with someone that left you feeling annoyed and unsatisfied, and that you're unconsciously still ruminating about it. Or maybe you did something slightly embarrassing, or encountered a situation that you could have handled better - and, again, your unconscious brain is still ruminating about it even though your primitive survival brain is trying to repress it so that you stay alert for danger. We all ruminate over this kind of thing all day long, even if we ultimately get over it due to lack of importance - but sometimes a thing will bother us more, for whatever reason.

    Someone else brought up a great analogy the other day. Do you remember how Dr Sarno’s first example of a mindbody reaction is blushing? Someone with disabling TMS is physiologically just experiencing the same thing - except that the physical response is on steroids, and has become chronic.
     
    JanAtheCPA, Oct 22, 2022
    #2
  3. TG957

    TG957 Beloved Grand Eagle

    You need to understand that learned behavior is very hard to unlearn. Regardless of what brought about your pain or the stress levels that you are experiencing, your brain already developed a habit of sending the pain signal to your back. It may take months before you are able to reverse the habitual pain pathway in your brain and overcome your fear. You need to continue with your plan and be patient.
     
    TG957, Oct 22, 2022
    #3

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