New Program Day 2: The Nature of Pain

I so understand Caligirl. I have been noticing the stress in my pain. Thank you. This video with the dims and Sims really makes sense. I say affirmations and i need to start thinking about my self talk more. All the resources are wonderful!!
 
CarboNeVo said:
Another question came across mind right now:
Considering TMS pain is danger signal and basically "a barometer how the primitive brain feels" as you told me once, why do I get tms pain when sitting in the office doing my job and it completely disappears when climbing mountains and standing on a cliff two feet from a certain death? or it completely disappears during flights (flights creep the hell out of me btw ).
The office is much safer environment than on the cliff or in the airplane, yet still I experience the pain more often at work. How is the danger signal working in these cases?
@Alan Gordon LCSW
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I couldn't resist responding to you as I've been reading through, here.
I find that when I'm doing something I enjoy, pain is less. But it has to be a great joy. For example, when I get together with my family yearly I have more energy when I'm there and am able to enjoy myself more. I do usually end up paying the price, but in the moment I'm pretty darned good.
So, I think it has to do with the fact that you love being out in nature, and loving life at the moment that takes the pain away. And though your job is not 'dangerous' I'm willing to bet you aren't crazy about the work you do.
But I get where you are coming from. One of my dreams is to paint again. I hurt so bad sitting at the easel, yet it's something I love. Boggles the mind, doesn't it!?
 
Thank you so much for this forum. I am just starting and am so open to the body brain connection. What are the best books to start with ?
Again, thank so much.
 
Hi, Connie! I, too, am a beginner here but have a really great doctor who has diagnosed me with TMS. I first read "The Mindbody Prescription by Dr. Sarno. I've read it twice. Then she lent me "Unlearn Your Pain" by Dr. Schubiner. It not only tells much of what Sarno says but adds onto it with a whole program with worksheets. To add to this, I read another book by a person who originally took this course with success. I'd have to go back and look in my ereader for it, but it was good reading about the process she went through. It took 2 years for her to become fully well and healthy. I've been at this for about 2 months. I'm just about to start the worksheets in Schubiner's book. I have been meditating for nearly 3 months daily now, too. Boy, that feels good!!! :) My husband got into it with me since he wanted to start meditating, makes it nicer. It wasn't easy finding a meditation that was right for both of us but we found Head Space on Netflix and he got into it so we joined that for one year. But I've found others on YouTube that I love, too.
I suffer from Fibromyalgia (25 years), Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (8 years), IBS (29 years), anxiety and more. It's ridiculous!
I am really looking forward to getting well! Already, the anxiety has gone down, but not without having a really bad Extinction Burst. Expect those! I always call them flare-ups, but since I relate that to what I've been going through all of these years when I over do things, I must and do call them extinction bursts. I want my brain to get that this is a different situation. I've noticed my anxiety isn't as bad and I'm able to do a bit more. No great big change, just subtle things. I expect this to take years to get better and that's okay with me. And if it happens sooner, YEA! :) I actually went for a walk around the block with my husband and the dogs yesterday and that's a huge deal for me. Baby steps. Expect baby steps.
Welcome, and later, after you've read Sarno's book, get back to me and I'll have the name of the book that the lady who went through this here, wrote.
*Hugs* Jane
 
Emerson said:
Grateful this is so clear. After working with TMS and back pain for three years, I feel like I have mastered the first goal -- Teach your brain that the pain is not dangerous
by engaging in a lot of physical activity, tennis, hiking, Pilates etc. I'm not afraid there is anything physically wrong with my back. But I must have some hesitation somewhere, because I still struggle with pain, sometimes to do with benign activities like sitting -- but more often than not, I'm starting to notice it is triggered by relationships and emotions I feel about (Or try not to feel:) life/people/pressures.
So I am hopeful about achieving the 2nd goal -- teaching my brain that psychological stressors are not danger. Thank you.
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The stabbing sensations I have been experiencing for the past 3.5 years began in a yoga class. To this day, I am mystified. Yoga class was my happy place. For 3.5 years I haven't been able to do most poses. I have been very terrified of the pain sensations I've been having. And in 3.5 years I have also gained 40 pounds. So now, I am beginning to practice yoga again and telling myself that I'm strong and physically healthy...but I'm now overweight and my body feels foreign to me. Ah!

I really appreciated one of the examples in the video being the fear of gaining weight. I've had it my whole life because of my obese mother...so how to overcome this fear? It has manifested due to my inactivity because of TMS pain, and COVID-19 especially limiting things I've been able to do.
 
I have found Dr. Peter A. Levine's book, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, very helpful in expounding on this concept. I've recognized that I easily and often get stuck in fight or flight and that triggers symptoms.
 
KadyQ said:
I have this fear that because of the extreme nature of some of my past experiences that I won't be able to re-wire myself aka feel safe again. Would a person with severe post traumatic stress have more wiring issues to sort out then say someone with just some run of the mill anxiety? Stands to reason that if a person has suffered horrific abuse and is constantly hyper-alert that it might take a little more work to feel 'safe'. I think I cling to the idea that if I give up my defenses I will be vulnerable and therefore in 'danger'. Unfortunately that response seems to go hand in hand with pain. For some reason I don't think I can be safe and pain free - it sounds crazy when I put it like that.
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I can honestly say that I felt very much like you from what you have written here. I was abused emotionally and physically by my mother who had severe OCD which over took her entire personality. My father sent her to psychiatrists for 17 years but after she had shock therapy she stopped making progress and he lost hope that she could improve. He was becoming ill from trying to work and deal with her huge anxieties which would disrupt his work day. He was told by her psychiatrist to leave her because even though he didn't want to leave us kids , he knew he was going to break down if he stayed with her. When he left us I was 11, my older brother was 14 and my sister was 5. The night he left us I went out to be with my dog who was a very sweet beagle who I loved so very much. I cried and talked to him and he licked my hand as if he understood everything I was feeling. The next day I actually saw him get hit by a speeding car and ran to him. He was severely and mortally injured and I saw the life leave his eyes as I held him. I was shattered . My older brother started beating me daily along with my mother hitting me on my bare buttocks with a shoe shine brush until I bled. My brother was angry from his home becoming a broken home which in the 1960s was nit as accepted as it is today. So he was taking out his anger at the situation on me. I protected my younger sister who has cerebral palsey and was taunted by the kids in my neighborhood.

I tell you all of this so you understand the kind of trauma I had which started in my childhood. It didn't end there. I suffered through much more as many of us do when we seperate from ourselves as children do , and become a hypervigilent anxious version of themselves which persists through adulthood. I developed many chronic conditions . I battled through it all until I found the works of Dr. John Sarno. It took me 7 years of reading and on line coaching support but I am almost pain free now! So...I did not write all of this for sympathy. I never thought I could change. I thought my anxieties run too deep. I thought that my brain was wired differently from all of my traumas. "What one human can do, so can another "! Now, I am a chronic pain coach helping others on their pain journey. Keep your mind open to new possibilities. I was once a person who thought I was different and couldn't heal. I was wrong! I healed! And so can you! God Bless you and folks like Alan Gordon who has dedicated his time and energy and resources to help stop so much suffering!
 
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