Steven Ozanich Exercise & TMS

So I'm still plugging along in my TMS journey, but I have a question to pose about exercise. I feel like my TMS stems mostly from anxiety. I don't get caught up in believing that I have a structural abnormality, but I fear having a neurological disease that causes the constant tingling and twitching.

For a long time I've been trying to "rest" my body and hope that the sensations would dissipate, but no luck. So I'm gradually trying to become more active, but last week I went out for a jog my symptoms flared. I expected it during my run and I didn't let my mind get carried away, but when I tried to go to sleep later that night, my body was rebelling. My legs were vibrating, throbbing, and screaming and as a result I had a panic attack, which I haven't had since March (after call-in with Alan Gordon).

Does anyone else share this issue? I thought good exercise would help me burn off some excess adrenaline and stress, but it backfired this time. Any thoughts?

 

Hi, I started exercising after about two weeks into the program. I just went bicycling to the beach (6 min) and walked through the beach for about 10 minutes. I was talking all the time to my subconscious and acknowledging that my pain was emotional and encouraging myself. I did get more pain the next day, so I waited three days and decided I have to continue. After 40 days I now also do weight lifting every two days, which is what I like most, and bicycle and walk through the beach three times a week. I still have a lot of pain, I have had fibromyalgia for more than 20 years, but through talking to my unconsciousness and encouraging myself I can still do it and do not have extra pain. I suggest you try to do the same while you are jogging and start slowly. Fear is the worst enemy, so try to relax and realize that because it is tms, jogging will not damage you further.

 

I agree with Madura. Start slowly. It could be that you subconsciously fear that the exercise will cause pain, and therefore it does. Why not start with really short (5-minute) walks? Do this for one week. When you've built confidence, and shown your subconscious that short walks are not causing pain, build up to longer ones. Dr. Alexander calls this "pacing." It is more effective than the "boom and bust" model, which sounds like what you've been doing.

Also, "burn off some excess adrenaline" does not sound good to me. It sounds like you are hyper-aroused and activated. You might want to read the "Self Monitor" thread Forest started in this forum.

 

Hello. I can completely understand what you are going through! You are not alone. I went from working out 5 days a week and 2 days a week with a trainer to having back surgery and not exercising at all. After a year or so of not working out, and reading The Great Pain Deception, I decided to start again. I began by 10-15 min walk/jogs, elliptical and some free weights. At one point I honestly said screw it, I started running 2-3 miles a day (I hate running but did it to prove I was ok) and then started full weights. I now doing any and all exercises including work with a very tough personal trainer twice a week. I can tell you in the beginning it wasnt easy as I had to tell myself I was perfectly healthy every 3-5 seconds. What I found is I never hurt anything and as I increased activities and stopped obsessing over whether I was hurting myself, I could do anything I want. Now, my pain is still here when I sit which I am working on but I know its TMS as I am pushing physically as hard as I can with no real issues. Yes, my pain will flair up on certain exercises but I know its just a conditioned response. I guess what I am saying is that you should start small but know that your mind will try to convince you to not work out as it thinks its helping...just start slow, tell yourself that you are fine and not going to stop exercising. It may take a few weeks but you will see the flare ups slow down with time and persistence!

I am not a doctor but have a very long story of TMS suffering and was as bad physically as I could be, since then I do any and all exercises and movements with few flare ups. It still hurts every time I sit, REALLY?! Haha. I know Im on the right path and so are you.

Best of luck,

John

 

Pandababe, don't let it defeat you! Don't let it! What is it? ~~~> FEAR

If I was there I would have had you go right back out and jog. In the words of a brilliant man, "One must confront TMS, fight it, or the symptoms will continue!"

Remember what I wrote on page 102? Reread that section in my book under "Full of It." After my first jog it all got worse. I also had the twitches and tingling. I also thought I had a neurological disease. Those symptoms are common in TMS. The fact that you CAN jog is a sign that you're ok.

If you have time, reread my Chapters 3-6. You sound exactly like I was at that point. You have to believe you will heal. As you know, it was because you "expected more symptoms" and for hell to rain down upon you for trying, that it rained heavily. I can see exactly what's happening with you, it's all fear. You are gridlocked with it like many people are, like I was. You need a boost of confidence in the TMS diagnosis. I don't know if you have been diagnosed, and all advice I give is under the assumption the person has TMS. But you sure sound like you have it, just like SteveO.

JohnO, that's my brother's name, JohnO. Sitting was my last pain-hurdle also (besides wanting to sleep on my stomach without pin and needles) The brain changes very slowly, so be patient and begin to have fun.

Panda needs to belly laugh, let go, and begin to calm her inner conflict. She just said that after a call with Alan that she had her last panic attack? Did I understand that correctly? What does that tell you? It was your thoughts alone that created the problem, that you have anger that is trying to rise to awareness. That your symptoms are keeping the anger in, from being felt, and being expressed. That you are not currently happy.

Happiness first, and good health will certainly follow (another wise man once said that)

Steve
Roar!

 

Oh Steve, I wish you were my neighbor! I'd hire you to pound the fear out of me! We have a 3 mile nature trail in my neighborhood and I've been back and forth, always worse after, can't feel my feet, twitching like mad. I'm really stuck right now. I feel like my symptoms are so different, which opens the door for doubt, and I don't have an official diagnosis from a TMS doctor.

Aye Aye Captain, I've been overwhelmed with kids, life, work, etc. and haven't made time to re-read your chapters, but I will be doing so tonight after The Littles are in bed. Maybe I should also watch a good comedy!

 

I also have back, legs, hips, butt, feet nerve pain and tingling, worst on my
Eft side, also in my arms. I also fear something neurological. I even suspect si joint dysfunction but All tests are normal so far. I will get a nerve test in 3 weeks. If all is perfect which I honestly from the bottom of my heart suspect that NOTHING is wrong, I will continue with my exercise which has consisted of 45 min hill walking. My nerves do flare up after my walks but have noticed less and less symptoms the more I persist, build confidence, and lose the fear! Fear is my biggest obstacle right now. I attempted a jog walk routine today for the first time ever, yes I was scared and yes I have more pain. The pain cycle must be broken with persistence and determination...I will never give up my walks and soon will introduce more jogging as I work on reducing the fear which will eventually reduce the pain.

 

Here's a quote from Forest that will be useful to you from another recent thread:

"... If healing is your goal, your best bet might just be to keep listening to Dr. Sarno's books, over and over. TMS healing happens in deeper and older portions of the brain such as the basal ganglia and midbrain, where the unconscious resides. It takes a long time for these parts of the brain to adapt, which is why repetition is so important. Dr. Sarno captures this in Healing Back Pain with the following quote:

The last lines of a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay illustrate the reason why the pain doesn’t disappear quickly:

"Pity me that the heart is slow to learn
What the swift mind beholds at every turn. "

If we substitute the words “subconscious mind” for “heart” the point will be clear. The conscious mind is swift; it can grasp and accept things quickly. The subconscious is slow, deliberate, not quick to accept new ideas and change, which is no doubt a very good thing. Were it not so, humans would be very unstable animals. However, at times like these, when we want things to change quickly, we are impatient with the lumbering subconscious.

Audio books can be great for the long retraining of your unconscious mind/basal ganglia. In addition, it can be amazing how little of the wisdom in Dr. Sarno's books that one understands the first time through."
(Forest)

**********************************

Alexandra, so far your tests haven't shown any structural damage, so, since this is a TMS site, we like to go on the theory it's TMS. As in the Edna St. Vincent Millay poem above , it's the subconscious heart that needs the convincing and that takes awhile. That part of the brain is 95% of it and is resistant to having it's homeostasis disturbed. Keep exercising and reconditioning your subconscious,. Your conscious is getting it--then sleep on it--it takes a little time for the pain to fade.

G'luck!
tt

 

Hi, Pandagirl and others.
SteveO can be the role model for overcoming pain through being active. We are not going to hurt ourselves
by walking, biking, swimming, jogging. Being active makes us stronger both physically and emotionally.

It may hurt, but that won't last.

 

Thank you so much everyone, like a wrote on the general forum I was 98 percent pain free then attempted to add a few minutes of jogging into my hill walking routine and within 2 days the sciatic nerves and elbow nerves feel like I'm on fire. I've had to rest my body and will continue with my walks tomorrow. I will get an audio version to listen to during my walks and I'm waiting for Steve's book to come in the mail...thank you for all your advise

 

Alexandra - I would like to add that I too was able to heal from sciatica from pushing myself to excercise. I was actually scared I might have MS from another issue and Dr. Google of course. It was reading the symptoms that caused my sciatica to flare and mimic the leg pain of MS. I had the tingling, numbness, electric zaps and pain in my left leg up into my buttock. I could feel the tension in my lower back. With every zap i became more concerned. I stopped working out at all and things spiraled. The bottoms of my feet were sore when I walked without shoes. It was like I was walking on sand. I thought maybe I have nerve damage in my feet!

Thats when I found this site. Within a few days I decided to start running again. I had the pain but it wasn't as bad as when i was sitting around. So I continued on and by the end of week 1 I was back to running 2-3 miles. I could feel the blood flowing back to my leg, the knots were started to go away. I would say within two weeks I was 90% better. I was still getting the zaps and twitches but I was able to chalk them up to things settling back down.

Fast forward now, 5 months later and I am still working out. I get the occasional twitch or tingle but I ignore them and they are gone. I have filed that off into my no worry bucket. When I asked my GP about the sciatica he said everyone has some structural issues, everyone would show something in an MRI. I even had an MRI and I show a pinched nerve on the opposite side of my body than what hurts me. He confirmed that since most everyone has issues....majority of problems actually come from muscle tension impacting the nerves and blood flow.

My TMS moved on me but rest assured for me excercise was the single factor in kicking my sciatica.

 

= TMS, you've got a Good Doctor, hang on to him!

 

TT - he quit due to Obamacare. Went into teaching. He said he would have to double his daily patient load to make what he was making and refused to herd people in like cattle. I was bummed.

 

Pingman, your doctor sounds like he was in it for the money. If so, you are better off without him.

 

My doctor "retired" a few months ago and I thought he was just a pill-pusher anyway.
He never gave me any non-pill advice about anything. I learned natural ways of healing through TMS.

 

I've been lucky in that both the rheumatologist I saw and the neurologist plus a random MD I consulted all mentioned psychosomatic pain, the rheumatologist suggested meditation and said my nerves must be affected by daily tension. She said that in her practice she gets the patients who have a clear diagnosis and those like myself who she believes can heal by themselves.

 

Thank you pingman, I am not giving up on exercise, today I feel much better in fact after my hill walking. i am not ready for jogging yet as I believe i need to increase the activity in baby steps otherwise the fear will overwhelm me and symptoms get worse. Progress is progress I guess no matter how slow. My personal situation is that not only have I been afraid of symptoms but I have also been scared to have to stop exercising, as an ex athlete (dancer and acrobat) its extremely difficult to resume my life without some form of activity and I think that's why exercise triggers stronger symptoms...

 

Very unfortunate, we're going to lose our best doctors due to this madness of a bill , that nobody has read, except the attorneys who wrote their cut into the pork-barrel. My rx has almost doubled and my ins has gone up several hundred dollars. I haven't been to my doctor since it passed, and hope he's still there if I need him--afraid to ask.

 

Sorry about your health care expenses going up. No health bill should be longer than 2 pages, and Obama's is more than 100 I hear.

 

Many good doctors are getting out of the business, and I don't think it's because they were only "in it for the money." In reality, they have to pay for hefty student loans and malpractice insurance, all the while being told by the government what they are allowed to charge. Medicaid pays a doctor $15 for a child's sick visit. I can't afford to work that cheap either and I don't have the kind of overhead a doctor needs.