Day 1

I have had back issues on and off for most of my adult life. I would pop into my chiropractor and within a few days I would feel better.

My daughter announced her engagement last year and we started wedding planning. Part of the wedding preparation was for my husband and I to start working out. We wanted to be in great shape for the wedding and also to start some healthier life habits as we aren't getting any younger. So we hired a personal trainer who comes to our home for our workouts.

A couple of months into the workouts I was carrying cinnamon rolls into work and noticed that my back was not feeling well at all. A few days later I went to my chiropractor. No relief. I continued to go for about 3 weeks almost every day. He wondered as to why the adjustments were not "holding". My boss at work then recommended his chiropractor. She is a gem. She is one of those chiropractors who spends a lot of time with you and you feel very well cared for. She requested that I get x-rays which indicated 4 pinched nerves. She did accupuncture treatments and chiropractic as well as an herbal supplement. I started to get better very quickly.

After 3 weeks I was able to go back to workouts. A few weeks later though my neck was in distress. I had a difficult time holding it up. Within a week my chiropractor had me feeling well again and back doing workouts.

This past week my neck started acting up again. In the meantime while all of these back issues were flaring up, articles on how the body holds onto trauma were coming to me. I was wondering how I could learn more about the body and trauma and its effects. With my daughter's wedding just a few week's away I have been feeling much fear that something will get triggered close to the wedding and I will be in pain for her wedding day.

I decided to google back pain and stress and came across this idea of TMS. I am very very early into finding out what this is all about. What I can't ignore is that when this pain first started I was feeling the most stress at work that I had ever encountered. Additionally - I was feeling that it was imperative that my daughter's wedding go perfectly. She has endured pain and heartache at the hands of both her father (who will be attending the wedding) and step-father (who is no longer in the picture) - so I know I feel responsible to protect her from any more harm.

Today I am hopeful as I listen to the stories - and curious as to how the body and emotions interact with each other.

 

Hi BJState,

Welcome to the SEP. You are definitely on the right track. As I look back I see that multiple life stressors brought on my migraines. I'm working daily to ease them. Some days are good and some are still bad but things are happening and that's all that matters. Keep us posted!

Ines

 

Hi, JBSlate. It''s understandable that you had back and neck pain, because you were trying so hard to make your daughter's marriage perfect. You may be a perfectionist in other things, or all things. That is one of the main causes of TMS pain.

You need to modify your perfectionism, and also increase your belief in the MindBody connection. There are many very good videos on Youtube you could watch, and Google about MindBody which is a theory about pain that goes back centuries. Many of the greatest minds in history believed in it.