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At what point is it best to give up?

Lee222

Peer Supporter
Ive been doing mind body therapy (including Sarno's) since 2003 got cfs and it's not helped me one bit.

I feel I've wasted so much time and money, every therapist has been happy to take my money and offer so much promises but it's never been helpful.

I tried on here a while ago and I got nowhere with that, this must happen to a lot of people, does anyone have any advice?

Thanks
 
Telling us about your life usually reveals a lot about why you contracted mind body syndrome.

I personally know why i got tms, i just dont yet know how to cure it. Life feels hopeless. I have moments of tremendous sadness. I dont go outside, i can no longer speak. Trust me when i say im suffering greatly. Just tell us your story. What got you here, what have you done to change?
 
When I do more activity I find it stressful and I crash for a week or so afterwards, had it since I was a kid
 
Cfs is a mind body condition as far as I know
Indeed, but you dont just get it out of nowhere. This is why its useful to tell us a little about yourself. If you dont have an idea why you got TMS, its likely you arent aware of the things youre currently doing upholding it.
 
I was diagnosed with cfs at 16, 2 years after parents divorce but in hindsight I had cfs ten years before that, ice been doing various mind body healing therapies for the last 25 years but still not been able to deal with it
 
I was diagnosed with cfs at 16, 2 years after parents divorce but in hindsight I had cfs ten years before that, ice been doing various mind body healing therapies for the last 25 years but still not been able to deal with it
Personality traits?
 
Ive been doing mind body therapy (including Sarno's) since 2003 got cfs and it's not helped me one bit.

I feel I've wasted so much time and money, every therapist has been happy to take my money and offer so much promises but it's never been helpful.

I tried on here a while ago and I got nowhere with that, this must happen to a lot of people, does anyone have any advice?

Thanks

Curious -- Flip the roles here. How would you respond if someone you really care about shared this and asked you this question?


--wishing you well, there are amazing results reported here on the forum on a regular basis. This stuff really works; it's a bit different for everybody, but with open-mindedness, persistence, honesty, and vulnerability, most find results.
 
Curious -- Flip the roles here. How would you respond if someone you really care about shared this and asked you this question?


--wishing you well, there are amazing results reported here on the forum on a regular basis. This stuff really works; it's a bit different for everybody, but with open-mindedness, persistence, honesty, and vulnerability, most find results.

I'd feel ok about it, why would I not?

I wouldn't know how to help them but nothing about someone asking a question like this would offend me, I don't quite understand why it would.
 
I'd feel ok about it, why would I not?

I wouldn't know how to help them but nothing about someone asking a question like this would offend me, I don't quite understand why it would.
I think the point is, would you tell your loved one they should give up?
 
I think it's OK to take a break. Experience what that feels like. All the TMS resources and this Forum will be here if you decide to return. At that time something may have shifted in you that will help you engage with the recovery tools in a new way.

No one can convince you to engage with TMS recovery. It has to come from within you.
 
I think it's OK to take a break. Experience what that feels like. All the TMS resources and this Forum will be here if you decide to return. At that time something may have shifted in you that will help you engage with the recovery tools in a new way.

No one can convince you to engage with TMS recovery. It has to come from within you.

I feel all my emotions but It just makes me more tired, I've spent years and not sure what to do
 
I tried on here a while ago and I got nowhere with that, this must happen to a lot of people, does anyone have any advice?
I get why it feels like giving up might be tempting after trying things here without success. But Prof Michael Hyland, one of the authors of this booklet, recovered from CFS himself: https://www.somersetpain.co.uk/SiteUploads/18/Uploads/Body programming PatientGuide.pdf

As the booklet says, in mind-body/TMS terms, CFS stems from a fearful brain blocking activities it perceives as being dangerous. What got me from bedridden/housebound with disabling symptoms (including profound CFS) to functioning pretty normally was steadily helping my brain feel safe by doing most of what's advised in the booklet.
 
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I get why it feels like giving up might be tempting after trying things here without success. But Prof Michael Hyland, one of the authors of this booklet, recovered from CFS himself: https://www.somersetpain.co.uk/SiteUploads/18/Uploads/Body programming PatientGuide.pdf

As the booklet says, in mind-body/TMS terms, CFS stems from a fearful brain blocking activities it perceives as being dangerous. What got me from bedridden/housebound with disabling symptoms (including profound CFS) to functioning pretty normally was steadily helping my brain feel safe by doing most of what's advised in the booklet.

Okay thanks, it seems everytime I leave my comfort zone I need a week in bed to recover, it's madness
 
Okay thanks, it seems everytime I leave my comfort zone I need a week in bed to recover, it's madness
It sounds to me like, even with doing the work, you may be only focusing on doing the work just to get out of pain and not truly finding the repressed emotions that need to be expressed. Also, it’s obvious that youre still very in fear of the symptoms which is what a TMS brain feeds off of to keep the symptoms going. Learning to overcome the fear of symptoms is a challenging thing to navigate but not impossible! It takes time and consistent effort to work through it. What’s helped me is reminding myself when I am in a flare or having symptoms that the pain isnt structurally caused, it’s my brain making sensations to get my attention or warning me that I need to slow down and check in with my emotional state. You need to keep reminding yourself that and try not to let the symptoms cause you to retreat. Do little movement while having symptoms, feel them and observe them without judgement, try not to freak out when they begin to come on, allow them to be. Your brain isn’t trying to hurt you, it’s trying to protect you. It just doesn’t know that in its effort to keep you safe, it’s causing you discomfort.
 
It just doesn’t know that in its effort to keep you safe, it’s causing you discomfort.
That's an interesting angle—it got me thinking. I'd previously seen the brain as prioritizing physical discomfort over the risks of expressing buried anger (or facing modern stressors it misreads as life-threatening dangers, like traffic jams or deadlines). But you're right: as a purely automatic mechanism, it operates on cause and effect. Symptoms arise and persist simply because they succeed at diverting attention from those deeper threats, keeping the system feeling "safer".
 
It sounds to me like, even with doing the work, you may be only focusing on doing the work just to get out of pain and not truly finding the repressed emotions that need to be expressed. Also, it’s obvious that youre still very in fear of the symptoms which is what a TMS brain feeds off of to keep the symptoms going. Learning to overcome the fear of symptoms is a challenging thing to navigate but not impossible! It takes time and consistent effort to work through it. What’s helped me is reminding myself when I am in a flare or having symptoms that the pain isnt structurally caused, it’s my brain making sensations to get my attention or warning me that I need to slow down and check in with my emotional state. You need to keep reminding yourself that and try not to let the symptoms cause you to retreat. Do little movement while having symptoms, feel them and observe them without judgement, try not to freak out when they begin to come on, allow them to be. Your brain isn’t trying to hurt you, it’s trying to protect you. It just doesn’t know that in its effort to keep you safe, it’s causing you discomfort.

25 years of feeling, being aware and expressing my emotions, anger, fear, grief etc, has literally been zero benefit for me though, there seems to be no warning this can happen
 
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