1. Alan has completed the new Pain Recovery Program. To read or share it, use this updated link: https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/
    Dismiss Notice

Day 10 Difficulty in finding the cause of symptoms

Discussion in 'Structured Educational Program' started by kimong, Apr 5, 2025.

  1. kimong

    kimong Newcomer

    The sentences may be a bit awkward because they were translated from another language to English.

    Hello, I have been suffering from tension headaches for 5 years.
    It has been 10 days since I came across the TMS Wiki and started using it.
    I have pain 24 hours a day without stopping even for a second, unlike other people. This condition continues even when I sleep, and my head is always tight and I have a dull headache.
    That is why I am doing educational activities.

    <Whenever symptoms start, start looking at what is happening. Think about what was happening in your life when TMS started. After recognizing the cause of the symptom, think about how to nullify the symptom.>

    There is this phrase, but since the symptoms do not start but are always there, I cannot even figure out what is causing the symptoms.
    The pain does not start or get worse due to any action, but it is always painful, so it seems that the treatment direction is not right, so it is difficult.

    Can someone with this kind of persistent pain be treated? I need help.
     
  2. Baseball65

    Baseball65 Beloved Grand Eagle

    By the time you've been conditioned, it is very subtle...the question is phrased a little peculiarly.

    "What was going on when the whole thing STARTED ?"...that is a better way to say it.

    After the symptom/Rage maker trade happens, conditioning can hold it in place for years.
     
    HealingMe, Ellen and Mtnjac like this.
  3. Majihope

    Majihope New Member

    I have fibromyalgia and i found it difficult first to find the cause of my symptoms because of its nature,always there even if i didn't do nothing, but when i started the program till now ( I'm in my Day 32) i can say there is a huge progress, especially when i understand deeply the conditioning part of the TMS. There were days when the pain is little to notice and I'm going through my day like "normal" people, and times when there is no pain at all , but there are other equivalent symptoms like fatigue,anxiety,kinds of allergies.. But since i began the program the pain started to move around a lot, and sometimes i could connect to my emotions inside to see what maybe make it intense, but some days i could not figure it out.. And i don't pressure myself to know it , all i know is there are so much emotions hidden behind the surface and still work to do.
    As @Baseball65 mentioned, the question of " What was going on when the whole thing started " It could help you understand your TMS more. It helps me because i never linked my symptoms to any experiences i had, because i always thought something wrong with my body and emotions or psychological part has no impact on my health.
     
    JanAtheCPA and Ellen like this.
  4. Cactusflower

    Cactusflower Beloved Grand Eagle

    I am so never found one exact reason, but found that no matter the trigger for any symptoms, it is all about an internal conflict comes to the surface. It’s a set of personal beliefs about myself that when I notice them, and turn my mind away from those thoughts and refuse to believe them, my symptoms change.
    @Baseball65 talks about conditioning of the physical symptoms but I think we have conditioning of our thoughts and beliefs too.
     
    Majihope, Baseball65 and HealingMe like this.
  5. HealingMe

    HealingMe Beloved Grand Eagle

    Conditioning is a little trickster for sure.
     
    Baseball65 likes this.
  6. Baseball65

    Baseball65 Beloved Grand Eagle

    Another question might be 'what was I pretending was OK that wasn't OK when my symptoms began'.

    The first time I went through the work, it was obvious...I was pretending to be a perfect middle class, family supporting 'good dad' guy. I had actually met very few of those in the real world, but it seemed better than the hedonist/outlaw background I actually came from. I wanted to change. I DID change a lot of the external things, but the pirate was still there being ignored. I had quit music. I had turned down record deals. I quit a job making music because it wasn't secure enough. I would Paint my way to middle class nirvana.

    Why it chose back pain? I literally made a JOKE about back pain to my coworkers 5 minutes before my first symptoms began.

    I never realized how sensitive the unconscious is.

    I Imagine, if I got a Knee cramp I would have had a couple years of chasing that...but at the time my stuff started Back pain was really popular.

    which leads into that...I often feel little pain intrusions in lots of places, all of the time. How spiritually asleep I am seems to determines whether I 'Bite' at the offered bait. The more I am living a fib, the more likely I am to get hooked.

    Sarno once said "I don't treat back pain"...the point is to prevent it from happening. Awareness is my TMS bodyguard, but if I sleepwalk into something when he's not working, conditioning can turn it into a 'something' really quickly.

    ..and I re-read about Pavlov...it didn't take the dogs many times to start salivating. And from What I've experienced in the world, Dogs are much closer to the truth than I am. One good scary false belief can keep me occupied for a long time. Thank God for Sarno!
     
    Majihope and HealingMe like this.
  7. JanAtheCPA

    JanAtheCPA Beloved Grand Eagle

    Hello @kimong, and welcome to the forum and the SEP.

    First, just to be careful, we need you to tell us if you have been examined by qualified health professionals to rule out a physical condition.
    If you have been examined, and if the doctors are not able to provide a cause or a treatment, you are definitely in the right place here on the forum and we can proceed to help you discover the emotional distress which is causing your physical pain.

    In the meantime, here are my thoughts:
    Well, you said that it started five years ago. The question in the SEP is asking you to examine your life five years ago. What was going on that caused you to be emotionally distressed five years ago? In English we call this looking for events or conditions or people which "triggered" an extreme emotional response that manifests as a physical symptom.

    (I hope I'm putting this in a way that will translate back to your language!)

    Here is what I think of when you say that your pain started 5 years ago: That was 2020, right? The year of COVID and the year that brought us a massive world-wide mental health crisis? Things have not improved since then, have they? Everyone suffered that year, and many of us still struggle to deal with the constant changes that are rapidly occuring all over the world.

    I might be totally wrong when I guess that you might be a young person (under age 30). If you are a young person, especially if you are under 25, it is a well-known fact that you are suffering even more from emotional turmoil than us older adults who have already been through many ups and downs. Additionally, if you are a young person raised by parents who were fearful and anxious and who tried to keep you safe by controlling how you grew up, then you have even more reason to be suffering emotionally.

    Here's the good news: you have made a great start by doing your research and finding this forum and the SEP - so congratulations for that! You can overcome all of this and emerge with the strength to deal with the realities of modern life. And we are here to help, so keep asking your questions and let us know how it's going!
     
    Majihope, Joulegirl and HealingMe like this.

Share This Page