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Frying pan into the fire!Help!

S

Solange

Well known member
Well, my anxiety issues, which were quite severe very recently as some of you may know, have disappeared. Guess what now?
I'm having a lot of physical symptoms rearing their ugly heads again and worse than for some time.
I've really been reading up and focussing in on psychological issues, journalling and rummaging around a fair bit identifying personality traits that cause inner tension, and wonder if it's due to this. However hard I try, I can't pin it down to anything else. In short, I wonder if I've just been trying too hard and fallen into the trap of paying it all too much attention.
I was fairly good physically while I had a lot of anxiety but now it's the other way round!I've just written out an evidence sheet and ordered 'The Divided Mind' but quite honestly I don't know how to proceed.
I could really do with some thoughts on this as I'm finding it hard to remain positive. I don't doubt the TMS diagnosis as I know I haven't done anything that could possibly cause this;it's crept up on me gradually, but I'm feeling a lack of energy to confront this and don't even know if I should be trying to.
Help!
 
I found that I was thinking about TMs stuff too much or on other days not enough. If I didn't do any TMS 'work' (journaling, meditation, anger-management) my pain would come back. If I did too much - I got psychologically-exhausted and felt really fragile. So I decided that I felt best when I did 2 hours a day. So that is what I do - every day I set aside 2 hours. I turn off the phone, lock the door, tell anyone who's around that I'm not to be disturbed. (obviously this doesn't always go to plan...) Then I set to on either the Structured Educational Programme on TMSWiki, or the plan in the 'Freedom from Fibromyalgia' book, or now I am more confident in what i'm doing, I just decide - half an hour meditating, read for 45 mins, do some anger release for 20 mins, rest of the time check out this forum, or whatever combination seems pertinent for the day and how i'm feeling. (sometimes I'll just read for 2 hours, or spend most of it meditating..) This has worked for me. I rarely miss a day - sometimes it is shortened to an hour if the day is really busy. But i treat it as THE most important thing in my day. Which it is! I find that by setting that time, I get more out of it, I don't procrastinate - I just do it, and I push other things out to make room for it. Sometimes it is good to have a 'framework' to keep to, so that we don't get bogged down by detail or the sheer scale of it all. Many of us have built up all this pain and fear over many years, so it is only right to allow ourselves time and space in which to heal ourselves. So maybe you could try setting a time limit on what you do - definitely read 'The Divided Mind' when it arrives, but do it in chunks or chapters, so that you have time to digest it - and fit in your journaling etc too. Also do try meditating or mindfulness daily if you haven't already, it doesn't seem to make much impact at first - but it is a really powerful tool - it gives your mind 'space' or 'room' to be. It's really hard to explain in words, but try it daily for a week - and you will know what I mean!! Good luck with it all.
 
Solange, watch some of your favourite comedians. Nothing tickles tms into touch as well as a good laugh. Doesn't hurt to embrace Sarno's Plan B occassionally either. Snuggling in bed with a good book and a decent glass of wine.
 
Solange,
Hecate and Plum have given great advice as they always do. I would only add that it is important to remind yourself why your physical symptoms are showing up again--their purpose is to distract you from feeling the repressed emotions you are uncovering in your work. Anxiety serves the same purpose in that it keeps us out of the present where our emotions can be felt, experienced, and then released. Many of us have been through this same cycle. The important thing is to not give up on doing the work. Take a break and find a way to soothe yourself. Then dive back into it, using a structured program as Hecate recommends. The more I allow myself to be present and feel my emotions, the less I fear them. And the less I fear them, the less I need to distract myself from them with TMS symptoms.
 
I echo the others. Take a break and enjoy yourself. Distract yourself with a good movie.
Have you been watching the PBS series DOWNTON ABBEY ? You'll find yourself lost in
another time and place and become so involved you'll forget you have any pain.

You can rent the series from Netflix and Blockbuster.
 
Thank you all. I'm hoping that the change and increase in symptoms is due to getting to grips with some important but difficult issues and that it needs to be done even if it leads to short term discomfort. I'm taking the long view here and trying to be kinder to myself. I have got and started to read The Divided Mind but I won't overdo this. A film sounds great and I LOVE a comedy, Plum. I watched the first series of Downton but have missed out on the latest but I think I may treat myself to watching the BBC Cranford adaptation again from a few years ago;it will suit my present mood. Watched Basil Rathbone in 'Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman'the other night and got caught up in it. Great film. We should have a recommended list of feelgood films and comedies to dip into.
 
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