Fearful

I'm into my second week of the Tms protocol, sleep has improved ever so slightly,pain isn't as severe as before and not as constant,it lets up now, before it was all day. The anxiety is really what's up tremendously. Is it normal to be fearful to do the simplest things? I get severe anxiety just sitting and especially driving. Will this eventually go away doing the protocol by dr John sarno? Need some reassurance that things are going to get better :/

 

Benny,

You've made some wonderful progress so far, so don't beat yourself up if you slip a little.

I totally understand your doubts, eliminating fear is one of the biggest hurdles which we all battle with on this forum.

I would highly recommend learning how to meditate or to do some deep breathing exercises when you feel as if an anxiety attack is coming on. Shifting your attention to your breathing will put you in a neutral place.

You could meditate just for a few minutes to start with so it's not overwhelming.

The benefits of meditation and incorporating it into your day, will allow you to observe thoughts as they arise into awareness and not pass judgement. The more often you do this, the stronger your neural pathways will become as you learn not to react. We all have access to that inner remote (at a conscious level), where we have the ability to switch on / off thoughts as they arise.

Try not to go to hard on yourself my friend. Just being on the forum and taking control of your own well being is a step closer to good health.

God bless

 

Thank u for the advice. I'm one of those persons who wants results fast and when I have a setback it brings my spirits down. I see the positive results so far. Sleeping was a bad issue for me up until last week. Wouldn't sleep more then 2 hours straight and now I'm sleeping 4 or so. I know sitting in my truck is a conditioned response. I sit at the library for 2-3 hours at a time and pain is minimal,but as soon as I go inside my truck I get anxious and pain shoots up. Dr sarno says on Hbp that this is normal and that it goes away doing the program. I know I have to stop fearing the fear,which is hard when the anxiety overcomes me :/

 

I think you hit the nail on the head with your previous post regarding conditioning. I think you need to look at which tool works for you to break that conditioned response of truck - fear - anxiety. Once you break it, the hold will lessen and it will serve no purpose or have impact. The longer you hold onto this misconception the longer the fear and pain will perpetuate.

 

Benny. The worst thing you can do for your insomnia is trying to get a good night of sleep. If you can sleep, good. If you can't sleep, just lay there and rest your mind, your body. Never ever try to sleep. No one ever die from lack of sleep. And if you don't care whether you can sleep or not, you will sleep eventually. Reverse psychology, when you don't want to sleep, you will sleep better.
Fear is a habit. Worry is a learned behavior. Try to break the norm. Surround yourself with positive people. Stop watching the news. Stop Google symptoms. Spend time doing thing you enjoy doing, spend time doing charity work. Focus and focus and focus some more on the good things in life. Do your best to break that chain of negative thoughts in your mind.
One very important thing that I've seen lots of people doing wrong is: rush to heal. You can not rush it. Healing will come whenever your mind click and it realize that there is nothing wrong with your body. Give it all the time it need. Don't rush. Don't get frustrated about why it take so long to heal. Rushing will only put more pressure on your stressed out mind.

 

Healing will come whenever your mind click and realize that there is nothing wrong with your body? Did the pain dininish gradually for u Balto? I have my appt with Tms docot the 28th. I think that should help me to believe 100% that I do have Tms.

 

My pain disappear then came back with a vengeance. and then it gradually reduce in intensity then disappear for good. Other symptoms will try to replace it. They will try to create confusion in my mind. It was a challenge to recognize and accept that ALL of them are tms/anxiety equivalent.
Don't forget to live your life. Don't forget to ENJOY your life no matter how bad things are. We have to recondition ourselves. We have to adopt as much happiness and confident into our life as we can. Think of tms like addiction to cigarette or alcohol, it is tough to quit them. We just have to take one day at a time. We have to find replacement for them. We replace them with positive and healthy habit. We can't just sit there doing nothing, feeling sorry for ourselves and complain why we don't heal even after we have read Healing Back Pain for a thousand time. We have to go out there and LIVE our life, no matter how bad things are.

 

Only symptom that has changed so far from the pain in my back has been the anxiety going up. I tend to think negative when I'm having pain and I need to change that. Start living my life no matter the pain. Reconditioning takes time. All along I wanted a quick fix,but thats not the way to think. Thank u Balto. Everytime when I'm feeling down, people like u give me the confidence to keep working at it with the advice U give me. Thank u

 

This is so true.. I was told by my phsyio that the central disc bulge is causing the pain to move around from left to right.. I was lying on left in bed and was preparing a fact sheet and exactly as you told mind clicked that it is indeed TMS I am suffering from and guess what.. the pain moved form left to right in my lower back.. I burst into laughter at my physios conclusion.. its simply against gravity for the pain to move to right for the position I am sleeping in. loll .. things like these are pushing me through the journey.. some times the firm belief that I wil heal 100% is easing the pain..

 

Hi, Benny. Anxiety is most everyone's companion these hectic days. It can seem awful and endless to us, but I think it helps to think positive and compare our situation with those others such as the refugees or those who have lost their loved ones or homes in fires, floods, earthquakes, etc. Our situation may seem hopeless, but it seldom really is. Thank God for what we have and repeat a positive mantra... "I am happy and all is well!"

Think of and do things that make you happy. Laugh, even if there is nothing to laugh about. If you can't laugh, just smile. A smile can often be as good as a laugh, or can lead into a laugh.

I had trouble sleeping until I started taking a natural supplement called "Sleep Aid" from a firm called Rugby. It's sold at Costco but I got it online from amazon.com. Very cheap and it works.

 

Positive thinking.. Thanks fellows

 

Tms is new to me.. I have to see the positive behind this. Jus a few months ago I had no hope. I have that now! I need to let time takes its course and not rush it. It's hard when ur constantly in pain,but it can and will be done.

 

Sound's like you are proceeding quickly, your seeing a TMS physician is the best thing you can do, in our society white-coats are our shamans and have the power to heal. If you are still anxious ask him for an RX for a sedative, a couple of weeks on one could do you a lot of good and won't turn you into an addict.

Deconditioning your association of driving with pain shouldn't be that hard. I just came back from a 2,000 mile trip to the North West in my truck, a Jeep Wrangler, and enjoyed every mile and am planning a cross country trip for this winter when the blizzards start and I can put it into 4x4. It's not your truck seat, it's the roads your travelling--you don't like where you have to go in your truck. Drive somewhere you want to be going, or go to a go-kart track and drive it like you stole it.

It will take a little time to change your Sub-C thinking that is giving you your TMS symptoms as a PROTECTOR from what it considers more painful emotional trauma. It took most of us all our lives to develop the thought patterns that create psychosomatic/TMS symptoms for a defense mechanism. Thank your TMS for the job it's trying to do for you, until your mindbody can deal with the life situations head-0n. Sounds like you are moving along quite fast, don't try rushing it, that's called the CALENDAR EFFECT.

 

TennisTom they just called me a while ago and pushed forward my appt with Dr Schecter to this Monday. I was conditioned to expect pain from driving because of my last job. Sounds funny to think that such a benign activity as sitting gives me so much anxiety and pain. I understand the conditiinning aspect of it,just have to do it now. I know it's something that takes patience,but it will come eventually. Thanks for the advice

 

Hey Benny!
Good luck at your appointment tomorrow!
When I started challenging my pain, my fear and anxiety skyrocketed! It was so hard to meditate or calm myself. So I just let the fear be there and still moved myself forward.
I was diagnosed with tendonosis/itis of my thumb and forearm extensors in my forearm, and also RSI... from working as a massage therapist. Then it moved to my other arm in my biceps tendon.
Today I'm 100%! And have been the last 4 days. 2 weeks ago I went back to doing massage. The fear and anxiety was tremendous, and my arm hurt but I had to move forward and start challenging it. The first one hour massage I did was painful, but the next 3.5 hours that week I pretty much felt nothing. Then had another little pain flare last week. But it's ok, although TMS may hurt, it cannot physically hurt you.
So the last 4 days have been pain free, and I'm still focusing on meditating and journaling and exploring the deeper roots of all of this, and of course, focusing on having fun and living life enjoy the journey! keep us updated on how your appointment went.

 

BTW, I wasn't able to see a TMS physician where I live. Even the first psychologist I went to didn't really believe me when I told him I thought the pain in my arms were due to my emotional suffering. He kept focusing on the physical. It was incredibly hard for me to erase this from my mind. But eventually I believed and trusted in myself enough and gathered all the courage I could to move forward without relying on a doctor to diagnose me with TMS. I had no choice. It was either continue to be in chronic pain, or heal myself.
I trust you will find this strength and courage too in your journey. Keep using the wiki, the people on here are incredibly supportive and have been through it too

 

Regarding anxiety, I had a panic attack decades ag0, thinking it was a heart-attack--which can make one a bit panicky, I went to my beloved family doctor. He had me do a treadmill EKG and I came through with flying colors, he said I did the second best in his office next to a guy who climbed Mt. Everest. He was a cardiologist, but knew many of his patient's issues were "mental".He gave me an RX for Xanax, which in about twenty years I've only popped once--I'm saving it for Armageddon.