Did you/should you wait until daily pain is gone before doing more exercise?

At what point should I go back to
Vigorous exercises? I can ride my bike 30 miles, but it hurts. I just started this program after reading Dr.Sarnos book. I have been going on with normal daily activities but haven’t biked since I read the book and started the program a few days ago. I don’t know if it’d be best to just go back to it and focus on not being outcome dependent or wait until my daily pain is gone so I can add that to my “Evidence” that it REALLY is TMS and have that confidence when I am doing harder exercises

 

It's a great question that's a lot easier for me to answer than it is for you to carry out.

I'd say go ahead and start challenging yourself when you feel confident and psychologically ready for that challenge. Don't wait too long.

If you haven't already, I'd recommend reading through Alan Gordon's Fostering Empowerment, here: https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/day-14-fostering-empowerment.16583/ (New Program - Day 14: Fostering Empowerment)
It talks about this very issue. (I highly recommend Alan's Pain Recover Program, in general).

It sounds like you have a great grasp of the TMS concepts already. That's awesome!

As for me, I'm a bit of a hypocrite here. I've been dealing with a chronic fatigue issue for some time that I know is TMS. But I haven't fully gotten back into exercise yet, because I've been waiting for some cold/flu-like symptoms to pass. But they are mostly gone now.

Just so you know I'm not a total hypocrite who talks out of his rear-end, I have recovered from two major chronic pain conditions thanks to Dr. Sarno and resources like this. And yes, I did challenge myself to resume activity and exercise. It was absolutely critical in teaching my brain that the pain was TMS and not structural.

 

Thank you! I will skip ahead and check out day 14! I’m on day 4 right now. It sounds like it may be time for you to take the plunge(again)

 

Glad to hear you're doing Alan's program! As you've probably gathered, I'm a big fan (along with reading Dr. Sarno's books). I quickly ran through Alan's 21 day program and now I'm doing a deep dive, going through each of the days, re-writing it in my own words. I'm up to 10 pages of notes. That probably sound a bit obsessive, but I really want to internalize it.

It's funny you should mention "taking the plunge." I did a light workout yesterday and it went well. I was clearly inspired by this very discussion.

 

I am doing Alan’s 21 day and sarnos 42 day one in tandem, I couldn’t decide I like your idea of doing a quick read through of all 21 days and then going back and spending time on each day trying to make internally sink in.!I did go back and read day 14!

from Dr Sarnos educational program day 2: there is this “accountability chart” thing you may like! It has you write down 3 activities you stopped doing but love, how they make you feel, and a date when you will do them again. https://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Program_Commitment (Program Commitment)

That’s amazing to hear you got a light workout inyesterday!

 

I have been having a spell of lower back, glute and groin pain over the last month. I had quit all workouts until a light one 2 days ago. Today I decided to resume my higher intensity treadmill interval workout and it actually felt good.

TMS has reversed its spell on me...it only hurts when I sit down! That should tell me its not structural.

 

I have groin pain as well if I hike or walk too much, this is good to hear! You’ve got this

 

It's basically a muscle spasm so if you go for predictability instead of avoidance you should be fine

 

I think my trigger revolves around googling. With my back pain, I googled 'How to get rid of knots in my back' and it popped up with it could be cysts or painful Lipomas. Of course, now my pain bumps feel like Lipomas and I wonder if there is a structural component. All I know about Lipomas are they are fatty tissue that should have no pain but I found the few posts of people living with terrible pain from them.

Probably suffering from TMS themselves and don't know it. Damn you Dr. Google!

 

Knot pain goes when you stop focusing on it.

 

I totally agree...for some reason I am having a harder time ignoring the pain and the sad part is it is only a 3 out of 10. There is a new factor into this round of TMS. I feel like a total failure for subjecting my 12 year old son to my worry. I feel pressure to snap out of it for my son/wife/work/dad and be the "normal" me I was just a month back.

 

I deal with a host of (what I believe to be) TMS pain related symptoms. The biggest two are "carpal tunnel/forearm pain and shin splints." I have started working out almost every day. I am learning proper form with weightlifting and all that good stuff so I know i am doing the exercises correctly. That way I know I am not giving my brain a chance to say "you are hurt because of bad form." Just a trick I have found works.

Every day is a struggle but I can honestly say the more I workout the better i feel. Not giving the pain any power.

When it gets warmer I will be walking everyday and eventually running a lot. Stay strong!

 

thanks for the reply! I tried exercising two days ago, and have been in pain since then. I had managed to get my pain down a lot, until I tried exercising again, and now it’s back. But I know it’s TMS, gotta keep pushing.

 

That posted so strangely, sorry.
@CatQueen I just wanted to ask what is Sarno’s 42 day challenge?

 

That would be the SEP! It's 42 days, and I don't think we can say that it's "Sarno's" because it was actually put together by a dedicated team of early forum volunteers - based, of course, on the work of Dr. Sarno. It also doesn't get updated, so there are a few dead links here and there, but the basics are there and they are solid, and the program is still really popular and really helpful. Alan's program is much more recent and I think more emotionally focused (since that is what Alan does best).

You probably know all that, @Mars497@ but for the benefit of newcomers, the SEP is here on the main wiki: https://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Structured_Educational_Program (Structured Educational Program)

And of course, they are both free

 

Thank you @JanAtheCPA !

 

That was 100 percent the case for me at first. I mean hell, my TMS started when I started running and I was absolutely sure my running got me into chronic pain but I later found out it was simply a trigger my brain used to distract me from my emotional chaos.

Do you expect or think about the pain during exercise? I know I used to. I expected pain so of course it was going to be there during and after.

I find myself also getting so angry at my own body for not being healthy but that also is a deflection from the inner anger/shame/etc. The book that completely changed my point of view was The Great Pain Deception by Steven Ozanich. I highly recommend it. Either way, I wish you the best. No one deserves this pain but I think if you come out of the other side relatively pain free, you will be happier and more grateful than ever.

 

I have always thought of Steve's book as The Encyclopedia of TMS .