samuelp180
Peer Supporter
Hi everyone! I wanted to share my success story of chronic pain in the fourm of “cfs and fibromyalgia”. I want to say before I say anything else. You got this. You are winning by even knowing about this work and it’s not easy and we all know that. But trust me, life is beautiful after pain.
To begin, I got a cold virus in the beginning of November 2019. I was on vacation in Florida and was having a great time. However, I was under a lot of emotional stress from school. The sore throat wasn’t very bad, but I was so focused on recovering from a chronic cold that when it didn’t go away after 4 days, I freaked out. That time, the sore throat did become chronic. It stayed with just a sore throat for about 4 months till March of 2020, when I got a sort of flu. I’m honestly not sure that it was. It might of just been my brain creating new symptoms, but I got extremely bad body cramps and weakness.
That happened a week before my lacrosse season started. I was always scared for lacrosse. My main concern was always “how am I going to play lacrosse with a sore throat” or “how am I gonna play lacrosse when I feel like I have the flu”. This before I accepted my TMS diagnosis. So, in early March I went to lacrosse practice for a week. Before every practice I felt horrible. Slow, in pain, sick, etc... then after I felt much better and every night I thought, “what in the heck is going on with me? What could this be?” Then, mid March, the COVID 19 pandemic had came into our lives, effecting all of us.
At first, I wasn’t very worried about it? Because it meant lacrosse was no longer on my worry list, but however, I had much more to come. With a busy high school schedule and sports and a family to all keep up with, life was very hecktic. During the COVID pandemic in March, I found out that a vitamin d 3 defiancy can cause a sore throat and achy muscles. I thought I was saved. This was it! Goodbye pain! So, I took over 10 pills a day and got my labs drawn, however, they all came back positive. By this time I was house bound on some days. Feeling so weak it was hard to get out of bed.
I think everything coming back normal was the worst news I had ever heard at the time, but now I consider it the best. Aching muscles, throat sore, weak, feverish, I was looking for answers. I spent hours and hours on google obsessing over any sensation in my body. Then, sadly I came across something called chronic fatigue syndrome. Which scared the absolute hell out of me. After watching YouTube videos, it was basically the medical community saying I was going to be stuck sick in my bed for the rest of my life. And that there was nothing I can do to help it and it only has a 5% remission rate, and even after remission, most fall back. Scared out of my mind I spent days at a time balling my eyes out. It was the scariest thing ever. I thought I was going to die. I thought my life was over. I had no hope and that’s a very scary feeling which I’m sure a lot of people can relate to. However, I can say there definitely is hope.
After a couple months of hopelessness in bed, I asked my therapist who were the leading people in this whole “pathway pain” community. I honestly thought it was bs and never believed in any of the tms work we were doing before. However, I got into researching it, and bought the divided mind my dr john Sarno. I read the whole book in 3 days. Then, I completed dr. Howard Schubiners book “unlearn your pain”. Working through emotions never came easy to me, but I did it anyway and didn’t notice much of a difference in my symptoms. This made me want to give up at first. I said well, all these people got better in three weeks or so and I’m still not better! What the hell is wrong with me ?!
I can now say, nothing was wrong with me. Very little people get better with one program or a book read. And if they do, they develop other symptoms due to the symptoms imperative. So, after all this time freaking out, I found a YouTube channel called “Pain free you.” Dan Buglio is the man who runs it and he suffered from 13 years of back pain. He helped me realize you could be doing all the emotional work correctly, but if your staring at your pain and other symptoms all day, the pain and other symptoms simply won’t let go. I am now hiking and mountain biking almost daily. And I’m also training for a half marathon. Here are my tips and ways I was able to recover:
1.) Dont over complicate it. There is more than one way to get better. Don’t think that you won’t get better because you can’t feel your emotions. Or that your just not the person to recover because your life is to stressful. There are 3 basic rules. Feel the shit out of your emotions, sooth yourself, and go out and live your life. Don’t try to fix your pain all day.
2.) a attitude of authentic indifference. The reason I say authentic is because if your telling yourself you don’t care if you hurt or not, but inside your freaking out over the pain. I truely do believe that if you want your pain to go away. You can’t care if it’s there or not. You can’t let it impact your life. You can think about it, but don’t focus on it. When you don’t care about the pain, weakness, or other symptoms, it will let go by its own. I’ve heard a lot of people say that you won’t remember the last time you had pain, and that’s very true. There is no official finish line.
3.) Nobody is perfect. Go out and live your life and don’t worry about doing this work perfectly. You will get there, I promise.
I would like to say thank you to my therapist, Dan buglio at Pain Free You, Dr Sarno, and dr. Schubiner. These people changed my life forever, and they can change yours to.
To begin, I got a cold virus in the beginning of November 2019. I was on vacation in Florida and was having a great time. However, I was under a lot of emotional stress from school. The sore throat wasn’t very bad, but I was so focused on recovering from a chronic cold that when it didn’t go away after 4 days, I freaked out. That time, the sore throat did become chronic. It stayed with just a sore throat for about 4 months till March of 2020, when I got a sort of flu. I’m honestly not sure that it was. It might of just been my brain creating new symptoms, but I got extremely bad body cramps and weakness.
That happened a week before my lacrosse season started. I was always scared for lacrosse. My main concern was always “how am I going to play lacrosse with a sore throat” or “how am I gonna play lacrosse when I feel like I have the flu”. This before I accepted my TMS diagnosis. So, in early March I went to lacrosse practice for a week. Before every practice I felt horrible. Slow, in pain, sick, etc... then after I felt much better and every night I thought, “what in the heck is going on with me? What could this be?” Then, mid March, the COVID 19 pandemic had came into our lives, effecting all of us.
At first, I wasn’t very worried about it? Because it meant lacrosse was no longer on my worry list, but however, I had much more to come. With a busy high school schedule and sports and a family to all keep up with, life was very hecktic. During the COVID pandemic in March, I found out that a vitamin d 3 defiancy can cause a sore throat and achy muscles. I thought I was saved. This was it! Goodbye pain! So, I took over 10 pills a day and got my labs drawn, however, they all came back positive. By this time I was house bound on some days. Feeling so weak it was hard to get out of bed.
I think everything coming back normal was the worst news I had ever heard at the time, but now I consider it the best. Aching muscles, throat sore, weak, feverish, I was looking for answers. I spent hours and hours on google obsessing over any sensation in my body. Then, sadly I came across something called chronic fatigue syndrome. Which scared the absolute hell out of me. After watching YouTube videos, it was basically the medical community saying I was going to be stuck sick in my bed for the rest of my life. And that there was nothing I can do to help it and it only has a 5% remission rate, and even after remission, most fall back. Scared out of my mind I spent days at a time balling my eyes out. It was the scariest thing ever. I thought I was going to die. I thought my life was over. I had no hope and that’s a very scary feeling which I’m sure a lot of people can relate to. However, I can say there definitely is hope.
After a couple months of hopelessness in bed, I asked my therapist who were the leading people in this whole “pathway pain” community. I honestly thought it was bs and never believed in any of the tms work we were doing before. However, I got into researching it, and bought the divided mind my dr john Sarno. I read the whole book in 3 days. Then, I completed dr. Howard Schubiners book “unlearn your pain”. Working through emotions never came easy to me, but I did it anyway and didn’t notice much of a difference in my symptoms. This made me want to give up at first. I said well, all these people got better in three weeks or so and I’m still not better! What the hell is wrong with me ?!
I can now say, nothing was wrong with me. Very little people get better with one program or a book read. And if they do, they develop other symptoms due to the symptoms imperative. So, after all this time freaking out, I found a YouTube channel called “Pain free you.” Dan Buglio is the man who runs it and he suffered from 13 years of back pain. He helped me realize you could be doing all the emotional work correctly, but if your staring at your pain and other symptoms all day, the pain and other symptoms simply won’t let go. I am now hiking and mountain biking almost daily. And I’m also training for a half marathon. Here are my tips and ways I was able to recover:
1.) Dont over complicate it. There is more than one way to get better. Don’t think that you won’t get better because you can’t feel your emotions. Or that your just not the person to recover because your life is to stressful. There are 3 basic rules. Feel the shit out of your emotions, sooth yourself, and go out and live your life. Don’t try to fix your pain all day.
2.) a attitude of authentic indifference. The reason I say authentic is because if your telling yourself you don’t care if you hurt or not, but inside your freaking out over the pain. I truely do believe that if you want your pain to go away. You can’t care if it’s there or not. You can’t let it impact your life. You can think about it, but don’t focus on it. When you don’t care about the pain, weakness, or other symptoms, it will let go by its own. I’ve heard a lot of people say that you won’t remember the last time you had pain, and that’s very true. There is no official finish line.
3.) Nobody is perfect. Go out and live your life and don’t worry about doing this work perfectly. You will get there, I promise.
I would like to say thank you to my therapist, Dan buglio at Pain Free You, Dr Sarno, and dr. Schubiner. These people changed my life forever, and they can change yours to.
