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Headaches!!

Gigi

Gigi

Well known member
I had great success in overcoming TMS back pain in the past.I recently became aware that my plantar fasciitis, rotator cuff impingement, and migraines were TMS related as well. I've had great success in dealing with the former two, but how do you work through the pain of a severe headache?
With my feet I keep walking, with my shoulder I swim, but I need some help with the headaches, please. I tell my brain that I know what it's doing and it's unacceptable, but that's not working today!
TIA for the help.
 
Hi Gigi: Sorry you are having headaches. I am not sure this is the right advice but perhaps just drinking lots of fluids, keep repeating messages that it is TMS and may be taking a pain killer when you absolutely have to get work done and cannot have the headache interfere may help. Not sure. Good luck to you and hope your headaches are gone soon too.
 
Hi Gigi,
Headaches were my main TMS symptom and could be completely debilitating for me. Every so often I still get one, though nothing like what I used to have before healing through TMS. I find it helpful to remind myself that the pain is just TMS and is not causing any harm and that it will go away at some point as it always does. I let the pain be there and rest if I need to or go about my day and accept that it's slowing me down but that maybe I need to slow down too...as time has gone on, I have had fewer and fewer headaches because I am getting better at taking care of myself and being more compassionate with myself.

Hope you feel better soon.
 
GiGi, I suffer from the same problem lately too. CMA's Advice is very good. Lots of water, breathing exercises, and not being hard on yourself if you need to take a painkiller to help you function. Something else that I do that works really well is to sit down with a headache and actually talk to it and invite it to come in and take over. By being really present with it and not trying to push it away through resistance, I notice that the pain loses its power and very often times goes away. Your immediate feelings will be fear of doing that because you do feel like you will be swallowed up by the pain but if you can sit and be present with it- relax into the headache-it will start to shift. Give yourself plenty of time to be with the headache and make sure there are no distractions. Also having a dialogue with your headache works really well too. I like to write out dialogue rather than talk it out loud, but either one would work. Talk to your headache and ask it why it is there and then give it a chance to respond. I always seem to find that when I put a voice to those different parts or different pains, they are not actually trying to harm me, which makes sense because the basis of TMS is that the mind is trying to divert your attention from feeling emotions. Maybe your headache will have a chance to let you know what it's trying to protect you from. Doing this helps me to see the pain not as the enemy, but as a friend who is trying to help me but isn't doing it in a way that is working for me. Seeing the pain as more of a friend helps me to relax into it, which I think also helps it to go away.
Hope things start feeling better.
Megan
 
Thanks, Megan. I'll try that next time. I like the idea of the pain being a benevolent force.
I finally had some success this last weekend...after 4 long days of headaches. I read Fred Amir's book and his idea of talking to your subconscious like it's a toddler really resonated with me. I promised a reward if I could get through the day w/o a headache, and it worked, so I walked to a local play park and enjoyed watching the kids. I even used the swings myself.
Yay for progress!
 
So Gigi, or anyone else, is it safe to say that Fred Amir's books apply to any form of TMS symptoms? Not just back and neck pain? Sorry still a little new! Thank you :)
 
Absolutely Natalie. It was actually with the help of Fred Amir's book that I was able to heal my headaches that I was having about 5 years ago. While back pain is the most complained about TMS symptom, any pain can be TMS related. So when reading his book, just put "headache" in place of back pain. Incidentally, back pain has never been a problem for me. I found Sarno's methods and other TMS books because I was in search of ways to heal headache pain- and other traveling pains, as well as anxiety, through the mind-body connection.
 
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