Help: Advice on what to do.

I also have travel anxiety, and it briefly crossed my mind to cancel a trip to Spain early this summer because my "brain fog" symptom was SO bad under a lot of stress just before the trip. But I didn't, and in fact the symptoms were almost non-existent during the trip and I had a wonderful time.

Now I'm really working on the practice of mindfulness and being present, something I was reminded of by re-engaging on this forum several weeks ago. It really helps, to cut off the constant background negative chatter that is always inside our heads.

 

Yeah the doctor and physical therapist... thanks Tennis Tom! Maybe I will contact them

 

I'm a huge fan of meditation Jan... I fell off my practice about 2 years ago, and not surprising things started going a bit downhill after that Meditation brings awareness through quieting the mind, then we begin to see our thoughts, feelings, reactions, aversions, etc. arise. We can also watch the thoughts fall away as we recognize we don't have to grab on or cling to them any more.

 

Thank you all for the responses

So I shall do the structural eduction program and see how I get on.

I also need to try get the thoughts of being in pain and my hips out of my head. In Dr Sarno book it mentions a man who was 90% convinced he had TMS but that 10% was enough to still cause him pain, I guess I am around here especially with my hip/sitting pain.

 

If you are in pain does this help to stop thinking about it? I get out of bed in the morning and then I just start thinking maybe I should do some hip exercises or just the general thought of the pain.

& What methods do you use? I got an app on my phone called headspace which seems quite good.

 

Honestly Samuel, I wasn't 100% confident either, I waivered back and forth for about 4 months if this was TMS. There were points I was convinced it was TMS then I would challenge it and do some activity which would cause pain, doubt, fear anxiety and more pain. Last week when I went back to doing massage therapy, I knew I had to do it to start challenging the pain and the fear of the pain. I did a lot of work to get up to that point: meditation, affirmations, working with a therapist, using this wiki. Of course the pain went up before during and after that first massage. And the anxiety and fear were unbelievably uncomfortable. But I made it through and went on to doing 3.5 hours of massage the rest of last week 99.9% pain free.

Enjoy your journey! It's hard to get thoughts of pain out of your head, maybe just begin by understanding why the pain has arisen, and the underlying emotions the pain may be distracting you from.

 

Ok thanks! Because the hip pain started again when I feared going to play with this rugby ball with my brother, I didn't actually get pain during it, it was the next day. Which makes sense to why that this pain is TMS. I shall try doing that though.

Thanks a lot for the help

 

Hi, Samuel. You have come a long way in TMS healing. Journaling helped me the most. I discovered repressed emotions from childhood that
must have caused my back pain. I was able to forgive those who caused me emotional stress and the pain went away.

 

Meditation begins to quiet the mind, and over time will help you to be able to recognize when you start thinking about the pain, which can perpetuate the pain. Many of us with TMS think about pain a lot! It becomes a way to distract from our repressed emotions, anger, fear, anxiety, etc. Meditation also helps to calm the mind, which then calms the body. TMS=tension. Tension in the mind which generates tension throughout the body causing pain.
I use both concentration and mindful meditation. There are some blogs by therapists on here that go more in depth about meditation and the usefulness for recovery. Walt mentions he uses journaling, that is very helpful to. This will allow you a more in depth exploration of what's going on in your thoughts.
I had to give up completely on doing any kind of exercise or treatment including physical therapy for my arm. I feel it was essential so that I no longer focused on the physical, as TMS is caused by emotional suffering.