Discomfort vs. Pain

Do people distinguish between discomfort and pain? My therapist says discomfort is just a milder form of pain but I find it maddening in its own way. The crazy pain is so easily out of step with reality that attributing it to TMS makes sense. But discomfort is a sneaky bastard who likes to fool me into thinking its physical in nature. It says “Ok you can beat the pain but I’m here to stay!”

Anyone have thoughts on this?

 

Those are just words.
I have 'discomfort' all of the time. My fingers hurt right now .... My fingers are usually cracked and bleeding a lot of the winter. If I catch myself fixated on them , that can be a TMS substitute. Otherwise they are just annoying. Soreness from working out, a little fatigue from being in the same position for hours on end (I crawl around a lot for a living)...those are discomfort. They can't hold my attention.

Pain from TMS on the other hand is SCARY. That fear seems to be the one deciding factor that distinguishes discomfort from pain.... it seems to say "Something BAD is going on... you need to be careful... oh my God, I might be like this forever"

From your quote I would say that that IS replacing TMS. The body heals everything. Period. If something is 'here to stay' that's going into the realm of crawling into your brain as a distraCTION...TMS.