Fibromyalgia

Hy there

This is my first forum post, probably ever. I'm not a big fan of forums normally. But i'm posting this, because i'm a bit at the ends of my wits here. I've had backpain pretty much my whole adult life. It moved around a bunch. First lower back, then neck, then midback, then again lower back... you get the picture. As all of you, i did the whole spectrum of treatements that are out there, with sometimes temporarely relieve.

About four years ago i started working out, to lose some weight and to to do something good for my back. The losing weight part worked out quite good, the back part not so much. I got more and more in to working out until i developed pain all over my body: my knees, my groins, my lower back, shoulders, elbows, you name it. So i stopped the heavey lifting (Squats etc.) and did ligther work outs but the pain persisted. So last early last year, (after exluding anything structural) i was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and again the doctor hopping began until i found Dr. Sarnos books this summer. As many of you, i found myself on almost every page and i remember having tears in my eyes as i read these pages. Because there seemed to be a guy who understood, what i went through. So i did what he prescribed and I actually got better within like two weeks. My back pain was almost completely gone and my feet (wich are the other major issue) felt great too. I had a lot of energy. Everything went like Dr. Sarno said it would. The symptom imperativ didn't wait long: i got some weird skin itching and pimples and some new pain in my thumb.

But i felt prepared and i said to myself, it's just the TMS, don't even pay attention. Unfortunatly the pain came back. The back pain, the feet, almost everything. Funny enough though it changed sides everywhere. My left side used to be the bad side. Now most of the pain is in the right side. So i came to this site and I found out about "Pain Free for Life" from Scott Brady. It has a structured program in it and i thought, that's what I've been doing wrong. I need to show up every day and do the work. So that's what I did. For more than 2 month now I journal every day, I meditate for 15 min and i do the pain talk and self assuring etc. I still work out three times a week. I move around a lot. And I should say, I really believe in the diagnosis. There is no doubt in my mind that I have TMS. The evdience is staggering to me. The fact that the pain went away and that it changes sides etc.

Which makes it so frustrating. For weeks now, there's is no progress at all and i don't know what i'm doing wrong. I already wrote about every past event, all my personalty traits, every stresser i can possibly imaging several times. I "feel my emotions" when i wright... everything. The only thing I can imagine, is that i focus too much on it. It's really hard for Me to not constantly check on my pain. Every morning first thing I check where the pain is and how strong etc.

So i begann with the "Structured Educatianal Prgramm" on here a week ago. And i finally got around to post something here. I'm sorry for the length, but i couldn't make it shorter.

I'm grateful for every advice.

Thanx Tim

 

Hi, Tim. I think the Structured Educational Program will help you to heal. It did for me and many others. You are right that you may be focusing too much on your pain. In TMS and the SEP, it is best not to spend more than an hour a day on it, maybe even just half an hour. Then try to let your subconscious "get it," that you have discovered the emotions causing your pains. Try to find way each day to do things you enjoy, and if it's exercise, great but do it carefully.

Dr. Brady's book on TMS is excellent, but I also suggest you read Healing Back Pain by Dr. John Sarno. It is "the Bible" of TMS books.

Fibromyalgia is a typical symptom of TMS. But it also may because you, like most everyone, has a deficiency of the mineral magnesium. It is not found in the foods we eat today because it has been depleted from the soil in which plants grow. I suggest you do a google search of magnesium to learn how important it is to the functioning of about 300 parts of the body. I take Now brand Magnesium Citrate which the body absorbs better than other forms of magnesium. Among its health benefits are relief of pain from Fibromyalgia, other pain, and an aid in relaxation.

So, for you, healing may be a combination of TMS relief and magnesium.

Dr. Sarno lists 12 Daily Reminders about TMS healing in the book I mentioned. Here is an extended version of them by Herbie, another member of the TMS community:


Herbie’s Extended Version of Dr. Sarno’s 12 DAILY REMINDERS

1. The pain is due to TMS. This is real pain or anxiety but it is caused by subconscious tensions and triggers, stressors and traits to your reactions and fears and also when at boiling point your conscious tension can and does also cause real pain.
2. The main reason for the pain is mild oxygen deprivation. This means that when you get in pain or anxiety then the blood is restricted from going to your lower back, for instance. The blood being restricted causes oxygen deprivation which causes the pain. Remember, where there is no oxygen then there is pain in the body. Also, the pain stays because of fear.
3. TMS is a harmless condition caused by my REPRESSED EMOTIONS so even though you think you can harm yourself from the years of pain you have felt and how you feel in general -- so far no reports have been heard from TMS healing knowledge causing damage to anyone, it only helps.
4. The principle emotion is your repressed ANGER -- this means under your consciousness lies something that happens automatically to everyone. TMSers have repressions that are stored because of our personality traits, traumas, stressors, fears, strain, etc... When these stored repressions build and build, then eventually they cause the brain to send pain into your body to keep you from having an emotional crises. The mind-body thinks it is helping you.
5. TMS exists to DISTRACT your attentions from the emotions, stressors, tensions and strains of your personality traits because if you can get distraction then you won’t have to be in emotional turmoil. When you don't face and feel your emotions and they get repressed because you didn't want to deal with something -- they are just adding up in this beaker, ready to pour over and create real pain and anxiety in your body.
6. Since my body is perfectly normal, there is nothing to fear. So in reality when I fear the pain or anxiety I just cause myself undo strain and tension adding to the beaker of pain. If I fear, then I feed the pain, If I fear, it’s impossible to recondition. Fear keeps the pain and anxiety alive in the body through focus.
7. Therefore, physical activity is harmless. If I want to work against the pain I could but it’s better to lose some of the pain so when I start my life over I have to be in pain trying to heal because facing the repressions and all the other activities that cause the pain and reversing my fear and focus to them, then I can heal.
8. I am resuming all normal physical activity. I don't fear moving anymore. I believe in my body’s ability to heal now. I can move as I want. I will not fear moving with a bent back anymore. I will also practice going out and acting normal again, not in fear of what pain might do to me.
9. The pain is unimportant and powerless. Its only power is how it is hidden -- its illusion, its fear.
10. I will keep my attention on the emotional issues. I will think about my emotions and feel my emotions throughout the day. I will not judge, criticize or fear my emotions. I will not run from my emotional issues but face every one of them. I will feel my emotions fully and cry if I need to. Then I will release the emotion and get my mind and thoughts back to my life and living in the present.
11. I am in control of all of this. This is how I recover.
12. I will be thinking PSYCHOLOGICALLY AT ALL TIMES. This means I will keep my thoughts on psychological issues like happiness, fear and anger -- traits and triggers, conditioning and journaling -- The science behind mind-body/TMS healing, etc.... This way I will not feed my thoughts to the body -- that is a trick of TMS. TMS will always try to get me to focus on the body caused by the pain until I break its show and flair. When I get my attention off physical symptoms and on to emotional issues and psychological issues then I will not feed the fear of the physical issues anymore, thus making the TMS of no pain effect on the body. This will in return, give us the cure and become pain-free.

 

Dear Walt

Thank you for so much for taking the time to reply. I did read Healing Back Pain and The Divided Mind. Those were the first books I read on TMS and the are great. I just missed a structured program in there.

I will try magnesium supplementation. I supplement with Vitamin D3 already, because I read on this forum that it can be beneficial, but I hadn't thought of magnesium. So thanks for the tip.

 

Magnesium might help and certainly won't hurt. Be sure you order Magnesium Citrate because it works better.