Chronic pelvic pain three years

[Sarika]

Hi I started reading this site a week ago. Wow!!! The chronic pelvic pain I had for three years felt better just reading this site. But I still have a long way to go and need some advice.

I had left thyroid removed from surgery four years ago. The following year I developed a pelvic pain on my left side only. I think it's from lifting. During this time I had a very stressful job and I was raising two children. My thyroid level I was told was fine. I've asked two docs.

I went in for my pelvic pain and the doctors found a tumor in my intestines, totally different location. I got the tumor removed but I was devastated. I felt I cannot be a good mom any more. After surgery, I found out my tumor was cancerous and was devastated at that information as well. I was cancer free after the surgery but the nagging groin pain persisted and the pain spread to my abdominal area which was very debilitating. I read someone's post saying that they were sweating in pain and that's exactly how I was.

Did PT, visceral manipulation, acupuncture, osteopath in two countries. All the ct and mri showed no problems. Finally I went to an osteopath and told me that I probably have adhesions from the surgery. So last summer I received an exploratory surgery to see if there are any adhesions. However the surgeon told me my inside had healed amazingly and that there are no adhesions. I went out-of-state for the surgery and was disappointed again. My pain was unbearable and persisted.

I started going to a pelvic doctor and she put me on Flexiril and Lyrica. I've been on it for seven months.

I have read the information about Tms personality and I think I am one of those perfectionist types. It's not that my house is superclean and I am a perfect mom but I have standards as mom and if I cannot meet my standards I really feel stressed. I know it sounds ridiculous!

I started the program last week on vaca and I felt better but today I went to the gym and it was hard to ignore the pain.

Last week I went off lyrica and flexeril, I felt confident. And I know it is working however the second week of doing TMS therapy Program, I feel I have a lot of pain until 11 AM and feel that I need to be laying down and doing deep breathing.

I wanted to ask how to ignore the pain during vigorous excersise. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Steve Ozanich]

It's not really about ignoring the pain. Your brain creates something that you cannot ignore. If you could ignore it, your brain would shift the symptom to something that you couldn't ignore. It's more about shifting awareness. But that comes in steps.

I'm not an advocate of structured healing. I realize that some people need that, and that it has helped many. But to me, that thinking made me worse. I tell people to free themselves of structure. Structure caused much of my suffering.

Start slower. Reward yourself after movement. But make sure that pain reduction is not your goal. Do something that is fun, that you want to do, don't move just to move because you think you should move. If your pain increases at the gym it means your deeper self doesn't want to be there, and that your conditioning is deep.

You did good getting off the meds. It means you want to heal and to not bury the evidence.

You have an interesting story. But it's pretty common that females report thyroid problems. As a wild guess I would say that 60% of them that contact me have dysfunction there. No doubt, the thyroid is in play in TMS. The system is on high, being demanded of, and stress, etc. The thyroid seems to burn out with the demands made of it.

Give yourself time. You started last week. Be patient, time is your friend here. Relax...breathe. Think.

Steve

 

[Sarika]

Hi Steve,

Thank you for the encouragement.

I reread your message several times. I'm glad that you know my abdominal pain is real and cannot ignore at gym, because it is burning and is hard to ignore....At the gym I either do Zumba or Yoga.

How do I "shift my awareness" during the pain? I decided to tell myself "it's psychological" but it is starting to become empty words because I keep telling that to myself. Please advise how to "shift awareness".

I woke up today with anxiety. I probably had it all along but maybe I realized this now. Before I came to this site, I had "to do lists" every day. I am not going to do "to do lists" any more.

Thanks again.

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

Hi, Sarika. I echo Steve's excellent advice. He is a fantastic TMS Healing guru.
After having severe back pain and recovering from it by TMS knowledge and healing techniques,
I am thankful that I got the pain. TMS knowledge has changed my life. I'm almost 85 and
am healthy and happy. I journaled about my boyhood and learned I was repressing anger
and feelings of insecurity after my parents divorced when I was seven. It led me to
better understand them and myself and I was able to forgive them, mentally because
by then they had both passed on. Forgiving led to losing the back pain. I thought it had
come on after I lifted a case of 36 cans of beer at the supermarket. But it was pure TMS
from repressed emotions. Try to believe 100 percent in TMS and it will heal you.
But it takes total belief, nothing less.

 

[Kate]

Hi Sarika,
I am so glad you found this place. I think that the support here is great. I am new but feeling better about my "issues". Steve's post was great. I am "trying" to get back to some exercise but nothing is calling me. I used to love yoga but started to feel angry after...so I stopped going. Hmmmm I look forward to wanting to do something good for my body. Someone recently suggested just starting slowly, not protectively but just slowly. You did just start, give it time.

 

[Sarika]

Walt and Kate,
I was happy to read your message.
I have been taking it easy in the mornings till 11:00. This helps.

However I read I think Ellen's post to just go ahead and do what you like and on Monday I went to zumba and I talked to the pain. It worked! I was so happy that this technique worked.

However I drove into the city today and my biggest trigger, "driving" got to me. It's hard to relax while driving and had pain. I did breathing but still was hard to handle.

My other trigger is "phone ring". It is because I used to get stressful work calls years back.

Talking to the pain and breathing helps. Any other techniques please advise.

What do you say to your brain?

 

[Mala]

@Sarika , when u r taking it easy in the morning, pls try to listen to this audio link. This is an interview with Dr Schubiner by Abigail Steidley. Abigail suffered for years with Pelvic Pain before she went down the mind body route. She now coaches & helps women with this problem. This is one of the best interviews I have heard on PP being TMS.

https://vulvodyniacoach.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/schubiner-interview1.mp3

I suggest u listen to it once thru & then the next time, take notes. Dr S clearly explains the following.

-How do we know that the pain is MBS & not something structural?

-How do we get past the notion that the pain is not dangerous?

-Why increasing activity is important?

-Why pelvic pain is a physiological reaction & not a pathological one & the difference between the 2

Maybe the reason why u didn't hurt too much with Zumba is that is that it was fun whereas driving can be stressful.

Maybe change the ringtone of yr phone to something different so that u r not conditioned to the stress inducing response.

Hope this helps.

Mala

 

[Steve Ozanich]

Walt you are a true gentleman. I'm honored to know you.

Sarika you asked a tough question. "How to shift consciousness?" First is to become aware of how you react. See yourself as you are. That begins to alter your awareness. Dr. Sarno showed me who I was and things began to quickly shift. For me, shifting consciousness meant to begin to let go of everything. The more I let go, the more I gained. The less I cared, the deeper I could see. Try to sift your mind's eye away from the physical sensation of pain and toward the emotional need for the pain. One ignores and the other listens. Shift from obsession to understanding.

Kate you just need meaning, some passion inside you that is more important to you than you. At that point your body will be there for you.

 

[Sarika]

Hi Mala,
Thank you for the audio. I listened to it. Makes all the perfect sense in the world.

Steve,
I read your message several times and will keep reading it. Thank you.

It is very difficult to react to the pain like you do not care at all. I verbally tell the pain to "get out" and it works to some degree, but when the pain increases to 3.5 it's over and it ends up becoming 10. Then I have to lay down on the floor and relax or take a nap.

The good thing is that I used to not be able to sleep because of pain. Now I can sleep without pain at night. I wake up with pain but after I shower, I have no pain in the mornings till 11:00.

The hardest time is around 11:00am to noon that is when things start heating up and end up in burning muscle tension sensation in my abdomen. I am wondering if that is when I start thinking "I have to do this and that etc. and start getting anxious".

Fear of pain and 11:00 is there for sure.

 

[Steve Ozanich]

That's a conditioned response you're talking about there. Very common, mine was at 6:24 AM.

Look at your life, where is it, and where do you want it to be? Your pain is helping you right now because you are not where you want to be.

 

[Abigail]

Hey Sarika!

As a pelvic TMS sufferer myself, I can tell you that you can do this! I'm totally pain free now, and I want to encourage you to look at what you're feeling (emotionally) each day. Just stay aware of that once or twice a day, and that will help immensely. I'm also a mom, and I can totally understand all the self-pressure. See if you can notice when you're pressuring yourself and switch over to being kind. I like to ask - what's the kindest thing I could say to myself right now, or do for myself? That shifts the pressure into self-care. YOU CAN DO THIS!

 

[Sarika]

Abigail,

Thank you for your encouragement!

I just finished taking a TMS class and was very good but I still need encouragement.

How long did it take for your recovery?

Sarika

 

[Abigail]

Hey Sarika!

I think it was between 6 months and a year, but try not to dwell on time frames. I know that's easier said than done, but it can put a pressure to heal on yourself that just adds more stress. The key is to get really interested in everything underneath the pain - emotions, stresses, old stressful events, ways you pressure yourself, etc. Pretty soon, you'll be so focused on feeling emotions, unwinding old patterns of thinking/behaving, and generally getting to know yourself/free yourself that you'll wake up and realize the pain has faded away. That's how it works! I couldn't believe, when that happened to me, how I'd actually forgotten to focus on the pain for a few months! Of course, that's exactly what allows it to leave.

If you need more inspiration/encouragement, I write a blog with lots of tools, help, and reminders, so feel free to check it out anytime. You can see it by looking at my profile, where my website is listed. I don't know if it's rude to post it here, so I'm not going to do so!

Hugs,

Abigail

 

[tattvamasi]

The purpose of the pain is to keep you distracted. So long as you are distracted, it servers its purpose and will not go away. So by trying to ignore it, you are still doing something in order to get rid of it, and you are still busy. And that is what the brain wants, it wants you to be busy. In order to break the cycle, your reaction to the pain needs to change. You do not need to change your personality or go psycho-diving deep within. You only need to realize how YOU are creating your pain. By fighting it, you are giving it more power, so this is not the way to get rid of it.

 

[Sarika]

Hi Abigail I signed up for your book. Thank you.

Tattvamasi, so for starters just IGNORE the pain???

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

Hi, Sarika. I too hate phone calls. It goes back to my years as a newspaper reporter and was on the phone so much.

I get a lot of unwanted phone calls now. When I call, I disconnect the telephone.
Anyone who really needs me can email me.

 

[Abigail]

Hi Abigail I signed up for your book. Thank you.

Tattvamasi, so for starters just IGNORE the pain???

Great! Do that process in the book anytime you find the pain really strong and in your awareness.

And, I'd say, you don't exactly ignore the pain - you just allow it to exist. Don't fight it, but don't dwell on it. When you want to dwell on it, dwell on your emotions instead.

 

[tattvamasi]

If you think of ignoring as something that you DO, then you've got the wrong idea. The fact is that you can't ignore the pain by doing something. Everything you do about it is what keeps it alive. How do you go about ignoring it? If the pain comes up, what would you do? Do you try to distract yourself, find some activity to do, force yourself to think about something else? You must realize that if you do any of this, you are still doing what the brain wants you to do, the pain still has you doing things, avoiding things, feeling uncomfortable. So this is not ignoring. True ignoring is that you ignore it like you ignore your heart when it works fine, or you ignore an item of clothing that fits well and is comfortable. You know it's there, but you are perfectly okay with it. No fighting at all.