At the end of my rope with sciatica / piriformis syndrome

[Diana-M]

Stress continues to grow as I tried to figure out a plan for the proposal while juggling other projects. Customer cuts my proposal timeline by 3 days so I need to be done within a week. President makes suggestions on my proposal inputs indicating that he doesn’t think I know what I’m doing.

Your job sounds super stressful. Maybe your body wants you to change jobs and rethink your life?

 

[TG957]

Some folks just need to let their mind run its course when it comes to those things..it needs to find 0 other alternatives before it can buckle down and do the work.

From my experience, finding ZERO other alternatives is usually when TMS healing begins. My thought when I see posts of people considering alternatives or not considering the ultimate solution: this person has not hit the bottom yet.
I personally was lucky with my non-TMS doctors because they were not creative enough with long, multi-part names for my symptoms to distract me with alternatives. They simply had nothing that looked remotely reasonable. Dr. Sarno was the only one who offered me something worthy of consideration. Seven years after my recovery, I still tear up at the thought that I never had a chance to thank him in person. But I still can thank my TMS doctor, Dr. Gietzen, and all others: Dr. Schubiner, Alan Gordon, Dr. Hanscom, and many more. And so I do!

 

[Recursion]

Thanks so much to all responders! I really appreciate your wisdom and time. I will definitely be trying your suggestions.

A few follow-up comments and clarifications:

@Cactusflower, thanks for the thoughts on sleep.

The idea that you “can’t use” Sarno or Weekes methods because of symptoms is essentially another symptom.

That is a misquote, as I didn't write that or mean to imply it. I am continuing with Sarno and Weekes methods as the foundation of my approach.

Seems like you are just not in the Sarno mindset right now, still chasing “fixes” from Dr. and PT.

The only fix I chased was pain meds so I could get some sleep and antibiotics for a serious infection. I did the PT evaluation to get my doctor off my back, but I am not doing the exercises and am cancelling the upcoming appointments.

My #1 is to drop day to day monitoring of your symptoms and use that time to do the work of Sarno and Weekes.

Yes, I should do that. However, I did find it therapeutic to write the recent long post, sort of like journaling. It got the toxins from the past week out of my system.

I do want to say that I fully appreciate that you can still find a glimmer of humor and insight, and you should appreciate this as well.

Thank you @JanAtheCPA, I do.

I think that the following success story is one of the best I've read at getting across what it can sometimes take to recover.

I'm going to read this tonight.

You might also consider therapy.

I'm considering it. I've done it in the past for severe OCD and depression, and while it helped, it is such a time commitment and so slow.

Your job sounds super stressful. Maybe your body wants you to change jobs and rethink your life?

@Diana-M, it can be at times, like this past week. It is also very rewarding to feel part of something important and bigger than myself, and something that I'm good at. I am paid well, and I leave well below my means, so I am close to being able to retire early if I want. It would be more stressful to change jobs at this time.

My thought when I see posts of people considering alternatives or not considering the ultimate solution: this person has not hit the bottom yet.

I wouldn't say I'm considering alternatives. I'm 97% confident that there isn't a physical issue at play. As a scientist and perfectionist, it is hard for me to be 100% confident in anything. I went to a TMS doctor from December to February, but he didn't engender full confidence. Maybe I should go to another, but there aren't any nearby.

 

[Diana-M]

@Diana-M, it can be at times, like this past week. It is also very rewarding to feel part of something important and bigger than myself, and something that I'm good at. I am paid well, and I leave well below my means, so I am close to being able to retire early if I want. It would be more stressful to change jobs at this time.

Good for you! Sounds like it’s a good job for you and you’re happy —so that’s great! Something is definitely making you mad though, for your body to be so filled with TMS. I you can figure it out and I hope you feel better soon!

Here’s a good insomnia success story by @Ellen — She’s still frequently on the forum so maybe she could give you some advice. https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/recovery-from-chronic-insomnia.16653/ (Recovery from Chronic Insomnia)

 

[Recursion]

@Diana-M, thanks, I'll check out @Ellen's post!

 

[Bonnard]

Here is an update since I last posted on Saturday a week ago. If you don’t care about the details, just read the executive summary.


Executive Summary

My piriformis pain intensity is now manageable without pain killers, but sleep is getting worse and now I can’t sleep for more than 30-60 minutes before I have to get up and walk around, waiting for the pain to subside. Repeat 5-6 times per night, totaling about 3-4 hours of sleep. I’m not going to be able to do this much longer. Please give suggestions!

Please make the physical symptoms and work projects just a passing reference. We cannot help you there. Instead tell us about how it's going with the Sarno / Weekes approach you briefly mentioned. And, tell us about the Kevin Martillo Viner book/program.

With all due respect, you're making it hard for many of us to give suggestions here.
Your Exec. Summary and the details provided for each day do not include anything related to TMS / mindbody.

Please take another look at everything you wrote. You shared lots of surface-level detail about work stresses, but nothing deeper about the inner conflicts and turmoils--the deeper stuff that causes your brain to need to present pain symptoms as a distraction to prevent you from feeling undesirable feelings or rage or repressed trauma, etc.
You may want to just write that for yourself, and that's fine.
Just know that what you wrote could be posted on a work-stress related forum. There's some follow-up with doctors in there, but Nobody would have any idea you are struggling with TMS.

However, I did find it therapeutic to write the recent long post, sort of like journaling. It got the toxins from the past week out of my system.

This is not the type of journaling that works for TMS-related symptoms.
Check out these excellent suggestions from Nicole Sachs on journaling:
https://www.yourbreakawake.com/journalspeak (JournalSpeak | BreakAwake by Nicole Sachs)
---------

I can relate to where you're at. When I was at a similar point, it was before I realized what I was dealing with in those circumstances was TMS. I was completely focused on the external stuff. (Not saying that's where you are at--but that's what this post is reminding me about.)
I wish you well. And, in a sense, am repeating back some of the good advice others gave me, advice that helped me make progress on letting my symptoms drop away completely.

 

[TG957]

Thanks so much to all responders! I really appreciate your wisdom and time. I will definitely be trying your suggestions.

A few follow-up comments and clarifications:

@Cactusflower, thanks for the thoughts on sleep.



That is a misquote, as I didn't write that or mean to imply it. I am continuing with Sarno and Weekes methods as the foundation of my approach.



The only fix I chased was pain meds so I could get some sleep and antibiotics for a serious infection. I did the PT evaluation to get my doctor off my back, but I am not doing the exercises and am cancelling the upcoming appointments.



Yes, I should do that. However, I did find it therapeutic to write the recent long post, sort of like journaling. It got the toxins from the past week out of my system.



Thank you @JanAtheCPA, I do.



I'm going to read this tonight.



I'm considering it. I've done it in the past for severe OCD and depression, and while it helped, it is such a time commitment and so slow.



@Diana-M, it can be at times, like this past week. It is also very rewarding to feel part of something important and bigger than myself, and something that I'm good at. I am paid well, and I leave well below my means, so I am close to being able to retire early if I want. It would be more stressful to change jobs at this time.



I wouldn't say I'm considering alternatives. I'm 97% confident that there isn't a physical issue at play. As a scientist and perfectionist, it is hard for me to be 100% confident in anything. I went to a TMS doctor from December to February, but he didn't engender full confidence. Maybe I should go to another, but there aren't any nearby.

Your confidence cannot come from outside. It is very contrary to what people with a scientific or engineering background (me included) are used to. You need to believe that it is TMS. Took me a year to arrive to that point.

 

[BloodMoon]

@Diana-M, it can be (stressful) at times, like this past week. It is also very rewarding to feel part of something important and bigger than myself, and something that I'm good at. I am paid well, and I leave well below my means, so I am close to being able to retire early if I want.

Don't shoot the messenger, but if I were a betting woman, I'd place my money on there being at least something about your job that is making you very angry, and the "it's very rewarding" etc 'slogan' is the 'wallpaper' that you use to paper over the angry crack(s) and push down your emotions so that you don't process and physically feel them (because your TMSing brain sees them as being dangerous). What you are angry about may be something that you think that you 'shouldn't' be angry about, something possibly appearing to be quite minor in the great scheme of things, but is actually not at all minor to you.

 

[Recursion]

@BloodMoon, I think you are right. I know that I am angry that I was forced to take on a bunch of additional responsibility this past Fall, and when the effects started to impact me at work is right when I "strained my back" while lifting weights. I am also angry that I don't feel like I'm being utilized properly or fully. I may have other less conscious anger.

 

[Baseball65]

I may have other less conscious anger.

and when you are certain about this? The Pain will go away.

I didn't come even close to 'figuring myself out' to get better...but as I got a little better by just seeing a few obvious things, my faith in the diagnosis grew, and then I looked for more things and more pain left,etc,etc.

This is a transformational program. A Battle for ground...each little piece is a part of winning the war.

 

[Recursion]

Thank you @Baseball65.

 

[Ellen]

You've gotten excellent advice above, so I don't have much to add. I'll just emphasize what others have told you: It is fine to take medication to get through rough patches with pain or sleep. You just have to realize it isn't treating the underlying problem, which is psychological. Keep journaling about the work issues, which is the root of your current relapse. Go deep. There are self esteem and survival issues in there that are likely related to your childhood. What's going on is scaring you. Keep engaging in activities you enjoy. Play with your dog even more. Dogs know all the answers, like how to live in the eternal now.

You've got this.

 

[Recursion]

Thanks for the advice @Ellen! I do need to dig on those journaling issues, and my dog loves the Now!

 

[jhc1013]

Yikes, you've got so many conflicting things pulling you in different directions, no wonder there's a part of you that just wants to shut it all down, and I'm referring to the suicidal ideation that you brought up.

Desperation has you tightly wound up in its clutches right now, which means you might not be able to make rational decisions at the moment - I'm already getting the impression that it's preventing you from providing useful information to your peers in this struggle (that's us).

Because look, you only just got some pain meds yesterday and you only just decided to do a structured program last night, and you've got a spouse nagging you to go the traditional medical route which is bad enough - then you mentioned possibly going on disability which I have to say threw me for a loop, because that should not even be on the table for anyone who actually believes in their TMS self-diagnosis, which to me is another indication of a serious unconscious emotional conflict which is contributing to your emotional and physical suffering.

I just saw @Cactusflower's post as I was writing this, where she mentions nervous system disregulation. This is a topic frequently addressed by Nicole Sachs, whose go-to tool for re-regulating your nervous system is emotional writing, which she calls JournalSpeak, and it was going to be my next topic. I know it works for me, and for many of us.

The first thing you have to do is take a literal deep breath and take a figurative step back. Get out your pen and paper and list all of the things that are on your mind and do not hold ANYTHING back, no matter what it is, no matter how much your brain tries to convince you not to write something down - whether it's big or little, terrifying, horrifying or mortifying, slightly embarrassing, socially unacceptable, or just plain stupid or silly. Contemplate the ones that make you the most uncomfortable or that were the hardest to write down, and make a commitment to write about those things in more detail. Don't keep what you write, just destroy it. There is no topic that is off the table. It's quite astonishing how much clarity this exercise can achieve, in a very short amount of time. IF you do it with complete honesty and vulnerability.

Going back to the issue of medical attention, there comes a point when doubt must be laid to rest, so if you haven't had a proper exam for your combination of symptoms (urgent care doesn't count) maybe it's time.

However! You have to be really clear and really honest with yourself about what you want from a medical exam. Do you want to be told "We can't find anything wrong other than your anxiety" ?

Or is there a part of you that actually kinda hopes they will find something wrong?

This is a good topic for a session of emotional writing.

If you are sure that you want to hear that there's nothing wrong, I get it that we are reluctant to consult a medical system that seems to want to come up with diagnoses so it can generate more billings. As a society we are more than a bit responsible for handing over so much of our self-healing power to the medical establishment.

I suggest that you approach a medical exam by stating up front that you sincerely hope that your symptoms are stress-based. You never know - maybe you could end up with a referral for psychotherapy rather than physical therapy, so that you can get some professional help with these inner conflicts that are causing you so much pain.

Am I the only one who has been at the TMS program for 10 years or more who is a bit amazed that Alan Gordon has now distilled TMS down to “neuroplastic pain” and, according to Gordon, it is all about fear. His Pain Reprocessing technique doesn’t deal at all with repressed emotions, the “5 years-old child” rage, etc. Just fear. He teaches “somatic tracking” as the way to deal with this. I personally find that technique fairly useless as it just makes me focus on the pain. I will give him credit for helping lots of people (apparently) get rid of their chronic pain. I just don’t understand how it got simplified to that degree. And YMMV, Jan, but the planet earth has always been a pretty violent, horrible and divisive place - it didn’t just happen with the current president or immigration issue. The Romans fed Christians to wild animals….and I could go on for pages. As humans we have always had to deal with bullies, despots, dictators and….partisan politics. Just sayin. I appreciate your input and read it regularly

 

[TG957]

Am I the only one who has been at the TMS program for 10 years or more who is a bit amazed that Alan Gordon has now distilled TMS down to “neuroplastic pain” and, according to Gordon, it is all about fear. His Pain Reprocessing technique doesn’t deal at all with repressed emotions, the “5 years-old child” rage, etc. Just fear. He teaches “somatic tracking” as the way to deal with this. I personally find that technique fairly useless as it just makes me focus on the pain. I will give him credit for helping lots of people (apparently) get rid of their chronic pain. I just don’t understand how it got simplified to that degree. And YMMV, Jan, but the planet earth has always been a pretty violent, horrible and divisive place - it didn’t just happen with the current president or immigration issue. The Romans fed Christians to wild animals….and I could go on for pages. As humans we have always had to deal with bullies, despots, dictators and….partisan politics. Just sayin. I appreciate your input and read it regularly

From my observations over past 10 years, there are three general paths to recovery:
1. Classic Sarno, based on Freudian idea of the inner child, repressed emotions and rage
2. More neuroscientific approach, the idea of re-wiring the brain, with one variation being somatic reprocessing. Mostly amounts to calming down an overstressed nervous system and retraining the brain out of overdrive. See Alan Gordon, Dr. Schubiner, and many others under different names and variations.
3. Brute force. Telling the pain to shut up and push through it.

For me, #1 never truly worked, so I used a combo of #2 and #3. But many people swear by #1, because it worked for them. I think most people use some mix of the three above.

 

[jhc1013]

I’m 72 years old. When I w

Here is an update since I last posted on Saturday a week ago. If you don’t care about the details, just read the executive summary.


Executive Summary

My piriformis pain intensity is now manageable without pain killers, but sleep is getting worse and now I can’t sleep for more than 30-60 minutes before I have to get up and walk around, waiting for the pain to subside. Repeat 5-6 times per night, totaling about 3-4 hours of sleep. I’m not going to be able to do this much longer. Please give suggestions!


Saturday & Sunday (April 26-27)

I had gone to urgent care on Thursday for my pain and they gave me an antibiotic because based on my urine test they thought I might have a UTI. On Sunday they said test came back negative and I should stop the antibiotic.

With pain meds from primary care doc, I stabilized my pain and sleep enough to face work on Monday. Got 4-5 hours of sleep each night in 3-4 chunks since I can’t sleep more than 1-2 hours without pain making me get up and walk around.


Monday

I have a lot on my plate. I lead two teams and have several projects of my own.

I come into work to find that while I was out, I was given an urgent high-priority task from the company President to write a key part of a proposal for a new contract. This is the sort of task I hate. It needs to be done by the end of the following week and requires me to drop everything else that is not critical. I get really stressed-out because I have to figure out what I am going to write while catching up from being on PTO on Friday. I can’t just abandon my teams for a week. They have critical tasks that need my input.

I start to notice the lymph node on the right side of my neck hurting. Piriformis pain isn’t too bad during the day, but spikes when I try to sleep. I get 4 hours of sleep in 3 chunks.


Tuesday

Stress continues to grow as I tried to figure out a plan for the proposal while juggling other projects. Customer cuts my proposal timeline by 3 days so I need to be done within a week. President makes suggestions on my proposal inputs indicating that he doesn’t think I know what I’m doing.

By the end of the day, I feel that I have a decent plan and sources for writing. The lymph node is hurting worse. Piriformis pain and sleep same as Monday except I’m very stressed that I haven’t started writing. In the middle of the night I decide my writing plan needs to be overhauled.


Wednesday

I go to physical therapy evaluation for my piriformis just so I can tell my primary care doc that I went. I haven’t done any of the exercises and am going to cancel the follow-up appointments.

Inside of throat is very red and swollen. I don’t have any symptoms suggesting contagion. I’m worried that I may be reacting to the new meds. My wife calls my doc and they have availability but I tell her I don’t have time to go.

Finally some good news: I make tremendous progress on the proposal!

I feel much more relaxed at night, but sleep is unchanged.


Thursday

Wake up in a bit of a panic because I can barely swallow due to swelling and pain. Feeling very run-down but no other symptoms. Go to work and make progress on writing. At lunch I have to take a 20-minute nap in the car because I can’t stay awake.

I have to address my throat so wife meets me at doctor for afternoon appointment. Doctor is in such a rush that he confuses the timeline with my piriformis and says “You know you have a herniated disk, right?” I tell him I went to PT, so he is appeased. I get him to focus on the throat and he says it is not the meds, I have tonsilitis, probably from a previous strep throat (perhaps the minor cold I had a couple weeks ago?). Unrelated to my back, just bad luck. Not contagious.

I go back to work. By the end of work, I feel almost delirious with pain and fatigue. Wife says the doctor is closed but didn’t send antibiotic prescription to pharmacy. Fortunately, it shows up before pharmacy closes at 8 pm, and I take it. I have a rapidly climbing fever. Pretty confident I’ll be calling in sick for Friday but resist texting my deputy at home.


Friday

Wake up feeling dramatically better. Vow to stop taking all pain killers so I can be in touch with my body. Go to work and get my proposal almost complete.


Friday Night – Now

Starting to stress about a meeting with President and VP on Tuesday where we are going to talk about my role in the company. On the one hand, I don’t think I am being leveraged well and would like to be more involved in some projects, but on the other hand, I’m unraveling due to my pain & sleep and don’t want them to know. The meeting has already been rescheduled 4 times because they are so busy. I hope we just get it over with.

Friday & Saturday nights, I sleep about 3-4 hours in 5-6 chunks. I’m not going to be able to do this much longer. Please give suggestions!

Hopefully this will help some of my fellow sufferers think, “well, I’m glad I’m not him”

. I’m 72 years old. When I was 50 I was President of a building materials company with 40 lumberyards in 5 Western states. I was away from home 2 weeks out of every month. I spent countless nights sleeping in airports due to canceled flights. I had 28 direct-reports. The stress was out-of-control. I quit at age 50 and found I was interviewing with 35-40 year olds who thought I was a dinosaur. So I started selling real estate. Had you asked me at the time if I would ever sell real estate I would have told you that there was a greater chance of me becoming a lion tamer at Ringling Bros. But I moved to a small ski town with 50,000 full-time residents and found myself sitting in a cubicle in a real estate office - totally understanding Dilbert. I made $90K my first year in a new town - not knowing a soul. By year 3 I was making $200k per year and never looked back. In year 5 my wife and I opened our own real estate company and I started selling farms and ranches (8,000-20,000 acres). When I started that I didn’t know which end of a cow you feed. My point is this: You sound like you hate your job (don’t blame you) and/or it causes you more stress than anyone should have to deal with. A job doesn’t define you - it’s just a way to make enough money to support your family and allow you to do what you really like to do. There was a LOT I didn’t like about selling real estate (like being thought or below used car salesmen or lawyers) but it allowed me to do whatever I wanted and spend time with my wife, kids and now, grandkids. IMHO you need to rethink your current lifestyle while you are working the Sarno/TMS programs. Your life is a mess. And you are making your wife’s life a mess. On top of dealing with TMS issues (although mostly under control) I have been dealing with Parkinson’s Disease for 12 years. Sleep interruption is part or PD - so I haven’t slept more than 4 hours for years. And I don’t nap because that just makes it worse. So…if I were you (and I know I’m not) I would begin talking with your best friend/wife and make plans to get off the out of control merry go round and change your life. Just my 2 cents and worth every penny. I wish you the very best. I’ve been where you are. Jim

 

[Adam Coloretti (coach)]

Am I the only one who has been at the TMS program for 10 years or more who is a bit amazed that Alan Gordon has now distilled TMS down to “neuroplastic pain” and, according to Gordon, it is all about fear. His Pain Reprocessing technique doesn’t deal at all with repressed emotions, the “5 years-old child” rage, etc. Just fear. He teaches “somatic tracking” as the way to deal with this. I personally find that technique fairly useless as it just makes me focus on the pain. I will give him credit for helping lots of people (apparently) get rid of their chronic pain. I just don’t understand how it got simplified to that degree. And YMMV, Jan, but the planet earth has always been a pretty violent, horrible and divisive place - it didn’t just happen with the current president or immigration issue. The Romans fed Christians to wild animals….and I could go on for pages. As humans we have always had to deal with bullies, despots, dictators and….partisan politics. Just sayin. I appreciate your input and read it regularly

I just wanted to firstly validate what you said, you're not the only one who has such reflections! (more referring to the first part of what you wrote). Having done the PRT training course, there is an appreciation of the fact that other danger signals may need to be addressed (which includes fear of emotions). Is this part of it particularly visible and associated enough with PRT and somatic tracking? Perhaps not. I don't want to put words in her mouth, but @JanAtheCPA made a comment about this and maybe how it is easier to stomach for the general population which resonated with me (forgive me Jan if that was a poor paraphrasing and feel free to correct me). I am more of a Sarno purist if I can describe it like that. I also didn't use somatic tracking to heal as, like you said, I was focusing enough on my symptoms and needed to go the other way.

Feel free to message me and we can discuss it more - I am hesitant to go too far on here (and get too theoretical) as I wouldn't want to risk confusing anyone on here (especially if they are new and one path is really resonating with them) - but to an extent yes different strokes for different folks with this work .

 

[JanAtheCPA]

[late note: I tried to post this earlier but the site was lagging too much - I wrote it before Adam's response]

Am I the only one who has been at the TMS program for 10 years or more who is a bit amazed that Alan Gordon has now distilled TMS down to “neuroplastic pain” and, according to Gordon, it is all about fear

@jhc1013, I'm with you regarding Alan's diversion to non-emotional "techniques", although in his early years here he was all about addressing emotions. In the resources I list after my profile story I have links to the recordings of two webinars he did for us a long time ago - they were really influential for me - and nothing like what he now does.

He may be focusing on people with what one might call "mild" TMS who can often be helped pretty quickly with pretty basic mindfulness exercises. For those with more serious emotional dysfunction. it ain't gonna be enough. But maybe it's a start.

And YMMV, Jan, but the planet earth has always been a pretty violent, horrible and divisive place

Aaah, nobody acknowledges this more than I do. I turned 70 in 2021 and found myself pretty f*ing discouraged by the radical reversal of hopes I'd been trying to nurture all those decades (in spite of inherent cynicism about the human species from a shockingly early age). Thankfully, I've always been able to offset the cynicism by cherishing many individual humans in my life - including the ones on this forum - and I've devoted many decades to service, which provides purpose.

 

[Adam Coloretti (coach)]

[late note: I tried to post this earlier but the site was lagging too much - I wrote it before Adam's response]


@jhc1013, I'm with you regarding Alan's diversion to non-emotional "techniques", although in his early years here he was all about addressing emotions. In the resources I list after my profile story I have links to the recordings of two webinars he did for us a long time ago - they were really influential for me - and nothing like what he now does.

He may be focusing on people with what one might call "mild" TMS who can often be helped pretty quickly with pretty basic mindfulness exercises. For those with more serious emotional dysfunction. it ain't gonna be enough. But maybe it's a start.


Aaah, nobody acknowledges this more than I do. I turned 70 in 2021 and found myself pretty f*ing discouraged by the radical reversal of hopes I'd been trying to nurture all those decades (in spite of inherent cynicism about the human species from a shockingly early age). Thankfully, I've always been able to offset the cynicism by cherishing many individual humans in my life - including the ones on this forum - and I've devoted many decades to service, which provides purpose.

@JanAtheCPA thank you very much for the insight with regards to the first part. I agree with that. If what is underlying is fear of the symptoms and little else, then it can be quite quick. I had one lady who came to me (very rare case) who confused me as she did not have the TMS personality (99% of people I speak with who have TMS, myself included, have similar personality traits). I was jealous of her calm! She seemed very comfortable in her emotions and expression; I couldn't sense any suppression. Needless to say, she recovered in 3 sessions after simply being introduced to the TMS concepts and applying them (akin to a book cure). She didn't have the emotional dysfunction operating below the surface.

Once she knew it was TMS and the body wasn't damaged, it was over and the fear dissipated. The way I look at it, the brain was sending pain purely to protect her body from what she thought was damage/an injury. Once that reasoning died, the pain was no longer needed and it turned off. For most people with TMS, however, it's a mix of that protection as well as a protection/distraction from emotions under the surface.

If the latter isn't addressed, then you may overcome specific fear around one symptom, but another one may very well pop up as the need to protect against emotions is still there. You've got to address the root. In a way, the brain wants you to react. If it's looked too much as just conditioning and programming (in my opinion), then you risk missing the point of the symptoms. They always happen for a reason initially.

 

[jhc1013]

[late note: I tried to post this earlier but the site was lagging too much - I wrote it before Adam's response]


@jhc1013, I'm with you regarding Alan's diversion to non-emotional "techniques", although in his early years here he was all about addressing emotions. In the resources I list after my profile story I have links to the recordings of two webinars he did for us a long time ago - they were really influential for me - and nothing like what he now does.

He may be focusing on people with what one might call "mild" TMS who can often be helped pretty quickly with pretty basic mindfulness exercises. For those with more serious emotional dysfunction. it ain't gonna be enough. But maybe it's a start.


Aaah, nobody acknowledges this more than I do. I turned 70 in 2021 and found myself pretty f*ing discouraged by the radical reversal of hopes I'd been trying to nurture all those decades (in spite of inherent cynicism about the human species from a shockingly early age). Thankfully, I've always been able to offset the cynicism by cherishing many individual humans in my life - including the ones on this forum - and I've devoted many decades to service, which provides purpose.

I think you hit the proverbial nail on the head with your thoughts about Alan and how he has distilled TMS to a point that it is “easier to understand”. I had not thought about it that way. I have been very quiet on this forum in terms of posting here. But I have followed you for years and should have stated to you years ago how much your insight, experience and wisdom have helped me. Thanks for that, Jan. On another note, I have wondered, almost daily, if my Parkinson’s Disease is yet another way that TMS can attack. I think many people believe that Michael J Fox is the poster child for Parkinson’s. They don’t realize that many of us with the disease look/act nothing like Mr. Fox. We deal with what they call non-motor symptoms that includes anxiety, depression, apathy and fatigue. Many also suffer intense limb pain. So I deal with my Parkinson’s as part of my wrestling match with TMS. Sorry to write War and Peace here. And thank you again for being so generous with your time and knowledge. Jim