This course is fantastic. I've read many books on tms over the past year and watched you tube videos, etc. This course is really bringing it all together for me. I completely agree with Eugene-i feel the information on nerve pathways and the fear around the pain are going to be key for me in my recovery. I'm hopeful for the first time in a while. Thank you so much for being so specific about how we can make changes. I think it's the piece that's been missing for me.
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Alan has completed the new Pain Recovery Program. To read or share it, use this updated link: https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/
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New Program Day 5: Changing Your Brain
- Thread starter Alan Gordon LCSW
- Start date
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- Tags
- fear
jessicaLee
Peer Supporter
I gather from what you are saying my pain is a consequence of my fear. I am thinking my pain is more about my repressed emotions and past trauma. Does it fit the same criteria?
Hi,
Here is the way I understand it and I could be wrong. If I am I hope someone will correct me. Past trauma can cause fear. You also have repressed emotions. Your brain thinks those emotions are dangerous so it decides to create pain to distract you from those emotions. This pain also causes fear (will it ever end, what is wrong with me, etc.) and the fear in turn causes more pain because it signals danger to your body. That's my understanding in a nutshell.
Kristina
Shells
Peer Supporter
This really is wonderful information. I did go through the original version but then got sidetracked more with the repressed emotion side and journaling.
My brain exhausts me. It feels as though the extreme fear and monitoring of pain, anger and sadness related to it's impact on my life and not feeling safe and grounded are my biggest issues.
My brain exhausts me. It feels as though the extreme fear and monitoring of pain, anger and sadness related to it's impact on my life and not feeling safe and grounded are my biggest issues.
adria
Peer Supporter
MigraineSky
Newcomer
i really like how this program seems to be more about confronting fear than anything. awesomme
Renate
Peer Supporter
Yes, Adria, most of them do. Here is the site of the TMS therapists:
http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Find_a_TMS_Doctor_or_Therapist#Los_Angeles_area (Find a TMS Doctor or Therapist)
http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Find_a_TMS_Doctor_or_Therapist#Los_Angeles_area (Find a TMS Doctor or Therapist)
Celayne
Well known member
@George860
Depression and fear are TMS equivalents. I'm not qualified to comment on bipolar disorders being TMS equivalents, as I'm not a doctor or a therapist. I understand that is created by a chemical imbalance in the brain, so I imagine that symptoms can be alleviated by TMS healing methods, but I would defer to someone who has more expertise than I.
@Alan Gordon LCSW could answer your question better than I can.
Depression and fear are TMS equivalents. I'm not qualified to comment on bipolar disorders being TMS equivalents, as I'm not a doctor or a therapist. I understand that is created by a chemical imbalance in the brain, so I imagine that symptoms can be alleviated by TMS healing methods, but I would defer to someone who has more expertise than I.
@Alan Gordon LCSW could answer your question better than I can.
Gosh.....I just read your post about your morning pain body scan. It was like reading about my own morning. I had not realised that all of these thoughts are going through my head but you are absolutely right....I am a tigger but Eeyore kicks in before i even get up........Did you manage to get any tips or techniques on how to change this Eeyore habit? Tomorrow when i wake up i am thinking about asking myself quite simply - "what would tigger do right now?"
This is a great thread. I knew I had/have anxiety for a few years now. It’s been about 3 years with the RSI pain. Extreme anxiety had set in about that same time. I’m a textbook case of TMS, but I had such a hard time convincing myself 100%. Not anymore. There were days or weeks when I simply had to push through any rsi pain for work. I’d get it done, and the pain would only reach a 4 of 10 and just stop increasing. Hmm.
I’d go on vacation for a week and have no pain. 2 hours into my first day back and it’s at a 5.
Well the source of pressure related to me hating my job but feeling forced by myself to stay in it. I stayed for the money, and I worried I couldn’t replace that income elsewhere. I also worried my skills would become outdated staying in that position. I was laid off from that jobs month ago, and the weeks leading up to that point were very stressful. I was stressed in every possible way.
Well, the acute stress was gone a few days after losing my job. Doesn’t that seem backwards? I needed to use the computer quite a bit for job hunting so the fear or that pain still gripped me. I worried about being able to perform in a new position. So I went back to studying TMS as the problem. This time it really sunk in. I wasn’t willing to let go of that pressure relating to the job before. Money was too high on the priority list.
Since accepting the situation and moving my mental health to the top of my priorities the pain is gone in my hands. I now KNOW that my hands are physically fine. I know what led to it.
I have experienced the symptom imperative, and I think that is from the fear described here. Anxiety is still somewhat of an issue. I believe training myself to avoid an anxious state will be the final cure all to this condition. I feel like healing yourself mentally is what TMS is really all about. The journaling and self discovery are immensely helpful.
I’ve decided to let go of the things that cause me immense pressure and accept the consequences as they are the lesser of 2 evils. The other one being poor mental health and TMS symptoms. Somehow I think I’ll have my cake and eat it too. The anxiety wasn’t or isn’t productive.
I’d go on vacation for a week and have no pain. 2 hours into my first day back and it’s at a 5.
Well the source of pressure related to me hating my job but feeling forced by myself to stay in it. I stayed for the money, and I worried I couldn’t replace that income elsewhere. I also worried my skills would become outdated staying in that position. I was laid off from that jobs month ago, and the weeks leading up to that point were very stressful. I was stressed in every possible way.
Well, the acute stress was gone a few days after losing my job. Doesn’t that seem backwards? I needed to use the computer quite a bit for job hunting so the fear or that pain still gripped me. I worried about being able to perform in a new position. So I went back to studying TMS as the problem. This time it really sunk in. I wasn’t willing to let go of that pressure relating to the job before. Money was too high on the priority list.
Since accepting the situation and moving my mental health to the top of my priorities the pain is gone in my hands. I now KNOW that my hands are physically fine. I know what led to it.
I have experienced the symptom imperative, and I think that is from the fear described here. Anxiety is still somewhat of an issue. I believe training myself to avoid an anxious state will be the final cure all to this condition. I feel like healing yourself mentally is what TMS is really all about. The journaling and self discovery are immensely helpful.
I’ve decided to let go of the things that cause me immense pressure and accept the consequences as they are the lesser of 2 evils. The other one being poor mental health and TMS symptoms. Somehow I think I’ll have my cake and eat it too. The anxiety wasn’t or isn’t productive.
LindenSwole
Peer Supporter
This thought came to my mind today and totally reminds me of today's post:
"Imagine sitting on your front porch and you see a squirrel walk down the sidewalk with a walnut in his mouth. You aren’t upset at the squirrel, you aren’t overly excited to see that squirrel.. You just notice it as it makes an appearance in your day. Then you move on.
That squirrel is your pain."
Over the last three days my pain has massively diminished. Even when some faint tension happens in the places that have been problematic I have just watched it like the squirrel above and kept going with my task and it is incredible how well that strategy has worked.
"Imagine sitting on your front porch and you see a squirrel walk down the sidewalk with a walnut in his mouth. You aren’t upset at the squirrel, you aren’t overly excited to see that squirrel.. You just notice it as it makes an appearance in your day. Then you move on.
That squirrel is your pain."
Over the last three days my pain has massively diminished. Even when some faint tension happens in the places that have been problematic I have just watched it like the squirrel above and kept going with my task and it is incredible how well that strategy has worked.
PumpkinPie
New Member
I'm loving the swearing, Alan, keep it going, kept real!
This program is really reaching me on a level that my other reading about TMS pain/symptoms has not. I agree that describing the pain/symptoms that we suffer in terms of fear and anxiety is more comprehensible. I can now see that I have learned to obsess over my symptoms and have let this obsessing make me afraid to go about living my life. I have lived the last few years of my life very isolated and afraid to do even basic activities, but I now see that it was not so much the actual symptoms that were causing me to react this way but more so my fear of them. I can not even put into words how thankful I am for this program - I think it is going to completely change my life! Thank you a million times!!
Treedreams
Newcomer
I’m dealing with a recent foot fracture— that came after a small procedure in a podiatrist office that was supposed to help with numbness in the toe—and (according to two doctors) — has never caused searing nerve pain that persists for 30 days! They both sent me to a neurosurgeon for tests which I very much do not want. I also do not want to backslide into bizarre crippling pain and narcotics addiction that I came out of after five years incredibly hard work (and help of an MBS doctor). The fracture came when I was walking barefoot, two weeks after the nerve “injury” and slammed my foot against door opening. It felt like a broken toe— but I treated it like MBS— continuing to ignore. Within two days while leg and foot swollen, tons of nerve pain and sensations in addition to the first! Later a fracture discovered. Good news: after four days of this forum and working it— see improvement!!! Thank you.
marco
New Member
@Christie Uipi MSW or @Alan Gordon LCSW, could you reply on this?
What is the best way to approach the sitting pain here and to get rid of it in time. Could you give here advice please? It woud be wonderful
Regards Marco
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chemgirl
New Member
I’d be interested in this as well...hemorrhoid/fissure discomforts...
ReturnofHope
Newcomer
Day 5: Changing Your Brain
When I first made the decision that I wasn’t going to be afraid of my pain anymore, I felt liberated. I felt empowered. I felt bold. It lasted about 20 minutes.
Why is it so easy to get pulled back in to a state of fear?
This actually goes back to the brain. Just as we can develop neural pathways for pain, we can develop neural pathways for fear. If we gravitate toward the same feeling over and over, our brains learn to automatically return to that feeling...so fear can become a learned habit.
On Day 2 of this program, I said that we ultimately want to help give your brain a feeling of safety. Let me be more specific: We are going to help you develop new neural pathways to fundamentally change your relationship with fear.
And to start you down this path, I’m going to tell you about a woman named Christie.
Christie’s Story
This is Christie:
Christie is a therapist at the Pain Psychology Center. She’s also the creator of the #FightYourFearChallenge (click here to watch her do a cartwheel).
Christie was one of our first MSW interns, and not only was she great at getting other people out of pain, she was great at getting herself out of pain! After reading Howard Schubiner’s, “Unlearn Your Pain,” Christie overcame all of her physical symptoms, except one. She couldn’t get rid of the hand and wrist pain that came on every time she typed. The more she typed, the worse the pain got…not an ideal situation for a grad student.
One night during group supervision we decided to do a brief outcome independence exercise – her typing while I was talking – and by the end of it, her pain had disappeared. It was amazing.
I was lamenting that we hadn’t gotten it on tape – when our other intern triumphantly held up her iPhone and said, “I secretly recorded the whole thing!”
So here’s the bootleg recording of Christie using outcome independence to overcome her pain:
At the end of the recording, Christie felt so sure that this was a turning point for her, she confidently declared, “The pain will be gone in a week.”
But it wasn’t.
To Fear or Not to Fear
Even after her incredible success, Christie was scared of her pain for a very simple reason – she’d been scared of it so many times before.
Sometimes she wondered if the pain had really gone away at all, but then she'd listen to the recording and realize, “Yep, it happened.” She got to a point where she was able to get rid of her pain but only while she was listening to the recording! What kind of rabbit hole had she fallen down?!
In the end, it all came down to fear. Her brain had become habituated to fear-thoughts. But she practiced and practiced, and over three months, she developed new neural pathways. She was no longer afraid.
If your mind has the tendency to gravitate toward fear, that pattern will continue until you do something to change it.
Catching Your Fears
I’m giving you your first homework assignment. For the rest of the day, I want you to simply watch the activity of your mind. See if you can catch yourself gravitating toward fear.
Perhaps even right now you’re thinking, “What do you mean by ‘catch’?” “What do I do when I catch it?” How is this going to help me?”
Those are three fear thoughts right there. See how sneaky they are?
When you do catch these fear thoughts, you don’t need to do anything. You don’t need to stop them, you don’t need to fight them; you’re simply noticing them.
Over the coming weeks, we’re going to take a more proactive approach to confronting your fear, but for now, you’re just an observer.
This is your first step in the gradual process of teaching your brain to feel safe. You can do this. Like Christopher Robin said to Winnie the Pooh, “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
I’ll see you tomorrow.
A life free from fear? That sounds heavenly!
I always sailed through my life repressing fear for the most part. I went through multiple objectively fear inducing experiences, seemingly without a shimmy It was necessary to get me through being raised by sociopathic parents in a very rough neighborhood.
After the final break from them, that I refer to as “a messy divorce,” I wound up with what The Far Side called, “a cumulative attack of the willies.” It was as if every fear I had repressed over the decades suddenly got in line to tap dance on my head in spiked shoes.
I know that my fear response was greatly exacerbated by going through Lyme recovery with my sociopathic parents here. We had thought they were helping us and had changed. They fooled us and several professionals!
Later, we found out that it had all been a scheme to take our house, a ploy and not parental love.
Being helpless (I needed help to do almost everything) in the presence of two abusers threw me into a fear response from which I am still recovering two years later.
I think that is why this pain has been so sneaky and intractable. It mirrors the experiences of life around my parents, especially as a small child.
And I am determined to heal!
Don’t let the bastards win!!
ReturnofHope
Newcomer
Day 5: Changing Your Brain
When I first made the decision that I wasn’t going to be afraid of my pain anymore, I felt liberated. I felt empowered. I felt bold. It lasted about 20 minutes.
Why is it so easy to get pulled back in to a state of fear?
This actually goes back to the brain. Just as we can develop neural pathways for pain, we can develop neural pathways for fear. If we gravitate toward the same feeling over and over, our brains learn to automatically return to that feeling...so fear can become a learned habit.
On Day 2 of this program, I said that we ultimately want to help give your brain a feeling of safety. Let me be more specific: We are going to help you develop new neural pathways to fundamentally change your relationship with fear.
And to start you down this path, I’m going to tell you about a woman named Christie.
Christie’s Story
This is Christie:
Christie is a therapist at the Pain Psychology Center. She’s also the creator of the #FightYourFearChallenge (click here to watch her do a cartwheel).
Christie was one of our first MSW interns, and not only was she great at getting other people out of pain, she was great at getting herself out of pain! After reading Howard Schubiner’s, “Unlearn Your Pain,” Christie overcame all of her physical symptoms, except one. She couldn’t get rid of the hand and wrist pain that came on every time she typed. The more she typed, the worse the pain got…not an ideal situation for a grad student.
One night during group supervision we decided to do a brief outcome independence exercise – her typing while I was talking – and by the end of it, her pain had disappeared. It was amazing.
I was lamenting that we hadn’t gotten it on tape – when our other intern triumphantly held up her iPhone and said, “I secretly recorded the whole thing!”
So here’s the bootleg recording of Christie using outcome independence to overcome her pain:
At the end of the recording, Christie felt so sure that this was a turning point for her, she confidently declared, “The pain will be gone in a week.”
But it wasn’t.
To Fear or Not to Fear
Even after her incredible success, Christie was scared of her pain for a very simple reason – she’d been scared of it so many times before.
Sometimes she wondered if the pain had really gone away at all, but then she'd listen to the recording and realize, “Yep, it happened.” She got to a point where she was able to get rid of her pain but only while she was listening to the recording! What kind of rabbit hole had she fallen down?!
In the end, it all came down to fear. Her brain had become habituated to fear-thoughts. But she practiced and practiced, and over three months, she developed new neural pathways. She was no longer afraid.
If your mind has the tendency to gravitate toward fear, that pattern will continue until you do something to change it.
Catching Your Fears
I’m giving you your first homework assignment. For the rest of the day, I want you to simply watch the activity of your mind. See if you can catch yourself gravitating toward fear.
Perhaps even right now you’re thinking, “What do you mean by ‘catch’?” “What do I do when I catch it?” How is this going to help me?”
Those are three fear thoughts right there. See how sneaky they are?
When you do catch these fear thoughts, you don’t need to do anything. You don’t need to stop them, you don’t need to fight them; you’re simply noticing them.
Over the coming weeks, we’re going to take a more proactive approach to confronting your fear, but for now, you’re just an observer.
This is your first step in the gradual process of teaching your brain to feel safe. You can do this. Like Christopher Robin said to Winnie the Pooh, “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
I’ll see you tomorrow.
It was amazing, but not surprising, when I did this exercise. I was observing critical, pressure, and fear thoughts, and I discovered that most of the problematic thoughts are fear thoughts.
I’ve been meditating regularly for about a year, so I was familiar with the observer position. That helped a lot.
While I know that part of the process of getting rid of fear is simply recognizing it, I was wondering if you have any additional suggestions for how to invite it to leave.
I agree with everyone - easy bites and a steady diet of this forum helps me too. I have tinnitus really badly over 16 years but now it is crazy consistently loud. I've also become a hypochondriac over the last several years and it all boils down to habitual fear patterns. Every pain becomes a fatal illness. I love that I am working to change my brain!!! Thank you!
I'm back in the drivers seat
Have you read Steve Ozanich's book, "The Great Pain Deception"? If I recall correctly, he says his research has shown that tinnitus commonly shows up as a last symptom of TMS? That may be good news for you! But 16 years???