Day 3 Day three

The last time I exercised was two days ago. I tried to take a walk by my house with my five year old son on his bike and managed the two miles or so, but had to lie down constantly, was in great pain, and ended up at the urgent care that night with pain 9 on a one to ten scale.

For the past few days i have had one position of comfort. I am not able to stand for more than a few minutes, same with walking, sitting i can't do at all. I am pretty much immobilized. Seeking help in all ways.

 

I'm so sorry you're going through this, person. You haven't said, but in addition to being seen at urgent care two days ago, I assume that you've been checked out and that "they can't find anything wrong" to explain your pain. We do always advise that you have ruled out any physiological explanation for your symptoms.

That being said, a few things occur to me which I think might give you hope:

1. An increase in symptoms after learning about TMS is not only a very common experience, it is also proof that your symptoms are TMS. What other possible explanation can there be for a sudden increase in symptoms that occurs just after learning that you might have repressed emotions? The reason for this is that your brain is desperate to keep those emotions repressed! This is a very primitive mechanism that our brains are still using, although the original purpose doesn't make sense in today's world. We would all be healthier if we faced our negative ugly emotions head-on, and realized that they aren't the end of the world. But our primitive brains aren't that intellectual. Your brain thinks it's doing you a favor by keeping those negative emotions repressed, because it's afraid that something terrible will happen if you're distracted by them. Instead, it gives you pain which will supposedly distract you in a much more alert way.

Remember, all pain signals are created in the brain - they do not originate in your body parts. Your brain creates pain, and it can do so even though there is no physiological reason for pain.

2. Neuroscientists tell us that our brains are also wired to be negative. We're constantly scanning the horizon for danger, which is another primitive mechanism that does not serve us well in the modern world. Taking a walk, as you did the other day is a commendable action, but your brain has a deeply-programmed pattern of viewing this activity with fear. You've got to break that pattern. So the next time (and there will be one!) try doing a little meditation, or some positive affirmations, or a positive visualization, or any or all of these things, before taking the walk. What you want to do is calm your brain down, and prepare it for the experience of taking the walk without advance fear of something bad happening. Even if you have some pain, it doesn't have to be crippling pain. YOU have the power to change your experience.

3. We've seen descriptions of unbelievable pain suffered by people who found relief by accepting that their pain was TMS, and who did the emotional work needed to overcome it. Steve Ozanich who wrote The Great Pain Deception was easily as crippled as you are. Steve posts here regularly, by the way.


4. See if you are able to practice some self love. You are probably beating yourself up and I expect there is a lot of negative self-talk going on inside your head (and I am expert on negative self-talk). See if you can listen to that, and break into it with a different message. Like giving yourself credit for being open to the theories of Dr. Sarno. And for taking a risk by posting on this forum. And for being on Day 3 of the SEP. For taking action. And as you get better, you will be able to raise your child with a new level of knowledge that you never had - that's something to look forward to!

5. Along with doing the daily SEP, it would help to be reading something else. For anxiety, I recommend Hope & Help For Your Nerves by Dr. Claire Weekes. For more up-to-date information about TMS and its many equivalents, The Divided Mind by Dr. Sarno and six other medical professionals (five of them MDs). For pure guts and inspiration, Steve Ozanich, The Great Pain Deception. Read other posts on the forum, because there are more resources out there than I can ever remember, and there are also more ways of doing this work than can possibly be listed in one post.

We're pulling for you, so hang in there. And be good to yourself.

 

Hi person,

I just wanted to echo the wise advice of JanAtheCPA. Of course, I am assuming that structural issues have been rules out. Please know that we are all pulling for you and you have a lot of support her for persisting with the SEP. We all know the suffering that comes with pain. The SEP is a path forward and I discovered so many things about myself as I worked through it. Very important - please be very patient and kind to yourself. You've just embarked on a healing journey that will take you where you need to go as you listen to your own internal wisdom and guidance. As for the walking 2 miles - I can relate to that because one of my symptoms is foot pain. An example of being nice to yourself is building up to 2 miles, gently, gradually. Use your conscious mind to soothe yourself and tell yourself you'll be fine walking around one block. Do it and reject/disregard any pain signals; instead tell yourself, "Look, I just walked around the block and I am fine." Congratulate yourself for each gradual success and then challenge yourself to do a little more and succeed. As your confidence grows, I think you'll see that you have the power to overcome your brain's old pathways. Good luck!

 

Hi again, Person
I wrote my post above very quickly and early this morning. I'm not sure if I explained myself very well. Please feel free to ask for any clarification if necessary. Some advice that I read, I think in Sarno, although I'm not positive, was to gradually and patiently take on your symptoms. My understanding of this advice was that if I jumped in too quickly, I had a higher likelihood of in fact hurting myself, which would then generate more fear and fuel the pain cycle. Alternatively, if I took on my symptoms with baby steps and succeeded, it would build my confidence, reduce my fear, and disrupt the pain cycle. For me, baby steps has literally meant walk one block for a week; walk two blocks the next week; etc. I also had times when I pushed myself too quickly, experienced increased pain, and became more afraid. I recognized this as counter-productive and adjusted my attitude toward myself - telling myself things like, "take it one step at a time," "geez, be easy on yourself," "I'm stepping forward at a pace that works for me," "look, you walked a block without pain - that's a huge step forward!" It's been especially powerful for me to use feet-related affirmations to counter the foot pain (like "one step at a time"). I hope my experiences might offer you some helpful input as you keep stepping forward with the SEP.