Day 1 Back pain and recently pelvic pain

Hello,
I discovered TMS about five or six months ago when someone on my back rehab program recommended PainFreeYou on YouTube. Since watching Dan's videos I have seen marked improvements in my back pain and sciatica pain for the first time in years.

I have suffered with back pain for about eight to nine years at this point and I have had chiropractors confused with why I wasn't recovering and most recently a physiotherapist who outright said 'I have no clue why you're still experiencing pain. Your symptoms don't line up with what I'm seeing'.

This really helped me get clarity in that I am dealing with TMS, so I am grateful to the care providers I have seen.

After physio, but before I found out about TMS, I started a back rehab program early this year called Low Back Ability and in there I learned about building trust in my back muscles by giving the brain evidence in small doses that I can use my back muscles safely. After years of avoiding using my back it has been nice to start building strength. However the pain was still there, even after months of doing the program.

Then I got pregnant. Which felt like a miracle after four years of infertility! But I was also terrified about how much back pain I was going to suffer and how terrible a mom I was going to be with my back pain. One day while scrolling the discord group for the program, I saw someone recommend PainFreeYou and I started watching the videos and it clicked. Everything made so much sense, so I started implementing the methods. I began complaining less, I focused less on my pain levels, I started socializing again, and things progressively got better and better.

To this day I am doing really well with my back pain, I am still working out, but now it's with the intention of just overall health and because I enjoy it - not because of the threat that if I don't workout I'm going to be in pain.

The pregnancy is going really well too - a lot of this brain work for TMS really helps with pregnancy symptoms too, but I've had a new symptom pop up in the past few months and I'm having difficulty getting clarity on wether or not it is TMS or a structural pregnancy problem.

New symptom - Pubic bone pain. Right in the center of my pubic bone I am experiencing pain when turning over, getting up out of bed after lying down for a long time and sporadically throughout my day depending on different movements....I'm also experiencing some incontinence when I sneeze...sometimes. Also I've been having hip and leg pain, but those I am 100% convinced are TMS.

I do think TMS is playing a part in the pelvic pain, because the pain gets worse if I focus on it and worry or when I am stressed, and the symptoms are not consistent day to day. But I'm pregnant and it's a 'very common thing for pregnant ladies' so I wanted to rule out a structural problem (if there is a problem, I'd rather address if before it becomes a huge problem and if there isn't then I'm glad I checked)

So I am seeing a pelvic floor therapist - who is really great and told me upfront that with pelvic pain there can be a structural issue, but more often they are finding there is a nervous system issue caused by stress, anxiety and trauma (which sounded very inline with TMS way of thinking).

After my intake, she decided there is definitely a nervous system factor (I grew up with a mother who lies and has uncontrollable anger/rage that us children bore the brunt and a father who enabled my mother's behavior and blamed us kids for 'triggering her'. After years of therapy my body and brain are starting to relax, but I am definitely still dealing with it)

My physio also said there was some structural stuff (tension and weakness) that we could address as well.

One of the exercises I've been given is simply sitting in a supported pigeon stretch and deep breathing for ten minutes while focusing on intentionally bringing safety to the tense muscles in my hips and letting them release. This sounds like something inline with TMS...I think, so I just do that one without any thoughts.

With my other exercise (an ab/kegel) I try to make certain my mindset is focused on doing it as labor prep, growing my ab strength to match my growing baby and general women's health, instead of doing them to 'fix' my pain.

Anyways, I was trying to get some clarity on whether I should be treating it more as a structural problem or if I should treat it as 100% TMS or if I should do 50/50 by addressing the structural, but not letting my brain make it a bigger problem than it actually is.

I feel like the 50/50 is the way to go, but it's difficult to walk that fine line. I've definitely had some days where I leaned more on it being a structural problem and those days were more painful (TMS?) and on the days I leaned more towards it being TMS, the pain was better - not totally gone, but better.

While trying to figure that out I found this page and decided to do the SED program to see if it helps.

I am currently 6.5 months pregnant by the way.

 

Congrats! I love babies, always like to hear about new little humans being on the way.

The SEP will help you anyway. Most likely treating it like its 50/50 wont lessen the pain -- at least practicioners really advise us to not keep doing exercises to 'treat' pain. However, i fully understand that with a baby on the way you are trying to be perfect. As my best advice, id get checked out and if doctor clears then you can stop treating your symptoms as if they are structural, and start doing mind body work.

I think labor prep is a pretty good idea but you do have to actually believe that its just labor prep. Idk only you can say for certain. Otherwise just do your labor prep and start doing the mind body work later.

argh -- im undecided. I'll let others answer lol. Best wishes!