Recent content by bennet

Hi Abbo! You're welcome. And yes, I am so familiar with that cycle. You feel an initial fear, and then you add fear of that fear. It's gotten so much easier for me now that I practice meditation to help me recognize fear/pain and really sit with it and let it be. That allows it to pass. REALLY...

I've been thinking about this too. I'm not a psychologist or medical professional so I really can't say that I'm definitely right, but the way I think of it is that TMS is one way anxiety manifests. I can get mental/emotional anxiety, and I can get physical bodily anxiety. And I've noticed a...

Hi! Acceptance of pain is really hard, and I'm sure for some people it is harder than others. I'm not saying that to discourage you, but to affirm that you're really, really trying. I have a few ideas for you - I hope something here helps you. In my journey I feel like I am just picking up...

Hi! "Trigger points" and "muscles" can describe where you hurt, but not really *why* you hurt. Psychological distress can explain the *why*. I get neck pain. My neck muscles hurt. The key is that they hurt because of stress, not because I damaged the muscles or pinches a nerve or have some neck...

H Hi! I was away from the forum a while because I was obsessing too much about pain symptoms and I needed a break. Overall I am doing better - thanks for asking! (It looks like you asked on my birthday, too!) I'm not magically, 100%, effortlessly cured. My symptoms aren't totally gone, but...

Hi-- I've had a similar problem. A few months ago I was really stuck in this place where I was thinking about my symptoms constantly, and journaling and visiting the forum weren't actually helping me because it kept me preoccupied with them. It's possible that you, like me, have developed some...

Hi-- I relate, A LOT. I had horrible hip/back pain and a lot of my stress was triggered by family issues. I've cut off family members, and even though it feels like the best thing for me, I can feel horribly guilty about it, too. They always end up blaming me for all their problems, and now they...

I found Claire Weekes a few weeks ago-- I got an audiobook of the same book you used. It has changed everything for me, in just days. Pain still comes, but it doesn't cause me to panic any more. I basically stopped doing the recommended TMS journaling because it was keeping me too preoccupied...

Thank you. <3 I will definitely look into David Hanscom, and bookmark your thoughts to revisit. So many good resources have come to me this week!

Hi-- I was about to go out when I read your comment earlier, so I didn't have the time to respond as much as I wanted to. I want to thank you again for taking the time to write to me. I've found that your responses are some of the most comforting messages that have ever come to me. You wrote...

Thank you, so much, for writing to me and sharing that thread. Your compassion and insight is *so helpful*. I'll be coming back to this thread. :)

Thank you <3 (This thread has been a good reminder that encouragement from people is so important.)

Hi Walt-- thank you for the encouragement. I've been considering it since yesterday, and I agree, a break would really help me. I also stumbled across Claire Weeke's work, which is really resonating with me, and she mentions something very similar to what's happening with me: for some people...

I journal a lot, and I go deep, but it doesn't feel like it's helping any more. I have generally good emotional awareness-- I know what is stressing me out, I recognize triggers, I dig into the the "bad" feelings that I "shouldn't have". And I work to end journaling sessions with a positive...