How do you navigate anxiety, rumination, catastrophizing?

[karipro]

The title says it all. While all these things have waxed and waned over my whole life - they are currently keeping me stuck in the fear-pain-fear cycle and by ability to break through the doubt. I'm trying not to react to this constant pain and it is incredibly difficult.

Is this common with TMS ers? How do you navigate?

 

[BloodMoon]

Below is what I do. It's a passage from my recovery story (my full story can be seen here: My recovery story).

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The other thing I eventually noticed was what was going on in my head.

My thoughts frequently got stuck in loops.

Bad predictions about what might happen.

Anger about things that had happened in the past.

Going over things and back to them again.

Then going over them and back to them again.

I hadn't really realised how much mental energy I was spending doing this until I started noticing it.

But I didn't know exactly what to do about it.

And then I found I didn't need to argue with the thoughts or try to stop them or force myself to think positively.

I could simply notice:

“Oh. I'm doing that again.”

Then I'd lengthen an out breath or two.

And carry on.

The thought would come back.

I'd do it again.

It might come back again.

And I'd do it again.

It wasn't about getting rid of the thoughts. It was about interrupting the loop.

And it's what I do to this very day and will continue to do for the rest of my life.

One thing that really helped me understand this better was Steven Oats's book, Rewire Your Mind Without Willpower: A Brain-Based Guide to Breaking Mental Loops, Calming the Nervous System & Creating Lasting Change.

The idea of breaking mental loops without trying to force yourself to think differently really resonated with me.

The book is about working with the brain rather than trying to bully it into changing, and that fitted surprisingly well with what I'd been discovering for myself.

For me, it became pretty simple:

Think small - take baby steps with life.

Notice the thought loop.

One or two long out breaths.

Carry on.

Rinse and repeat.

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[karipro]

Below is what I do. It's a passage from my recovery story (my full story can be seen here: My recovery story).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The other thing I eventually noticed was what was going on in my head.

My thoughts frequently got stuck in loops.

Bad predictions about what might happen.

Anger about things that had happened in the past.

Going over things and back to them again.

Then going over them and back to them again.

I hadn't really realised how much mental energy I was spending doing this until I started noticing it.

But I didn't know exactly what to do about it.

And then I found I didn't need to argue with the thoughts or try to stop them or force myself to think positively.

I could simply notice:

“Oh. I'm doing that again.”

Then I'd lengthen an out breath or two.

And carry on.

The thought would come back.

I'd do it again.

It might come back again.

And I'd do it again.

It wasn't about getting rid of the thoughts. It was about interrupting the loop.

And it's what I do to this very day and will continue to do for the rest of my life.

One thing that really helped me understand this better was Steven Oats's book, Rewire Your Mind Without Willpower: A Brain-Based Guide to Breaking Mental Loops, Calming the Nervous System & Creating Lasting Change.

The idea of breaking mental loops without trying to force yourself to think differently really resonated with me.

The book is about working with the brain rather than trying to bully it into changing, and that fitted surprisingly well with what I'd been discovering for myself.

For me, it became pretty simple:

Think small - take baby steps with life.

Notice the thought loop.

One or two long out breaths.

Carry on.

Rinse and repeat.

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Thank you, xo
Everything seems so overwhelming and exhausting, and I'm willing to give this a try. I just ordered a copy.

 

[Adam Coloretti (coach)]

The title says it all. While all these things have waxed and waned over my whole life - they are currently keeping me stuck in the fear-pain-fear cycle and by ability to break through the doubt. I'm trying not to react to this constant pain and it is incredibly difficult.

Is this common with TMS ers? How do you navigate?

It's definitely common! My first instinct is to review your evidence again and get clear on where your doubts lie when it comes to the TMS diagnosis. Beyond that, it's then just overall emotional work to address these things, which isn't exclusive to TMS work.

 

[Patty Cakes]

I have been at this work for a couple of months now and your post was so similar to mine. I am currently reading the book "Rewire your Mind" and I think you will find it incredibly helpful. I felt I was the only one who had all these thoughts and now understand it's just how our mind is wired and there are things we can do to help ourselves. I learned that we can't just decide we are going to start thinking positively because it will make us more stressed and it doesn't work. I"d love to hear your thoughts, as your reading the book. It is incredibly difficult not to react to the pain, for me as well but in beginning to do the hard work, my pain is still there but not at the 9 or 10 level it was but I'm still struggling. IF you can, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the book.

 

[BrianTotten]

I think anxiety, rumination, and catastrophizing can become a difficult cycle when you're dealing with persistent pain. The more you worry about the pain, the more frightening it feels, and then that fear makes it harder to relax. I've found the idea of noticing those thoughts without arguing with them or treating them as facts helpful. Sometimes it's enough to acknowledge, "I'm having that fear again," take a few slow breaths, and gently bring your attention back to whatever you're doing.

I also think it's important not to turn recovery into another thing you have to do perfectly. You don't need to eliminate every anxious thought before you can move forward. Be patient with yourself, and consider getting support from a therapist familiar with chronic pain and anxiety if the cycle feels overwhelming. Persistent pain can have many causes, so it's worth continuing to work with a healthcare professional rather than assuming every symptom is TMS.

One small step at a time is still progress. When I need a mental break, I sometimes play Geometry Dash to focus on something different for a while.

 

[Ellen]

I've found the idea of noticing those thoughts without arguing with them or treating them as facts helpful. Sometimes it's enough to acknowledge, "I'm having that fear again," take a few slow breaths, and gently bring your attention back to whatever you're doing.

This is also the technique I use. Awareness. Mindfulness. These are just thoughts, not facts. And I find that activity is the best antidote for anxiety. Do something and the more rigorous or engaging the better.

 

[Alouqua47]

Hello. I think it is very common; in my experience, the fear, anxiety, and catastrophizing were just as extreme as my own symptoms. However, by learning about the mind-body connection, I understood that these were also symptoms created by the brain; being sensitized all the time, it spends its time looking for danger. Therefore, they can also be retrained. Just like with all neuroplastic symptoms, the key is to respond with neutrality. Every time the anxiety or the thoughts appeared, I stayed calm; thanks to this, today I have almost no anxiety and the fear is mild. When catastrophic thoughts show up, I do as @BloodMoon says: I cut the loop immediately and distract myself. I also have constant pain during the day. My pain is nerve-based and changing; I have been through so much you cannot even imagine. However, most of the time I am doing better. Now the pain has lower spikes of intensity, although there are days when the brain rebels just to ask me if we are safe. I know it is a matter of time, patience, and a lot of resilience. On the hardest days, when I feel overwhelmed by the pain or there are simply too many symptoms weighing me down, I go for a walk. Sometimes I go all the way to nearby shopping malls, since walking is something I enjoy. I buy myself a drink while listening to a video about the mind-body connection of someone who recovered; that encourages me to keep going. Plus, it gives me peace of mind to know that at night I will rest and my pain will turn off somehow. Well, that is what works for me. Stay firm and be neutral. Good luck!

 

[RedBear]

I am finding this really hard too. I previously recovered from severe anxiety by noticing the thoughts, then gently putting my focus elsewhere, while allowing the anxious sensations. This time around it is a lot harder as my worries and ruminations now are largely about the symptoms.

@Alouqua47, when you said “
I cut the loop immediately and distract myself“. Do you find this has taken a lot of practice? At present I can be lost in thought most of the day and then realise at the end of the day I have been in worry and ruminations all day.

 

[BloodMoon]

At present I can be lost in thought most of the day and then realise at the end of the day I have been in worry and ruminations all day.

Just chipping in to say that my advice is to start where you are. If you don't notice you've been ruminating until the end of the day, then you can still do as I advise in my post above when you do notice. This is your opportunity to start changing the habit of rumination.

If you do this once a day for a week, you've practised it seven times! If you don't do it, you're missing seven opportunities to work on changing the habit and replacing it with a more helpful one.

From my experience, once you start doing this regularly, you're more likely to notice when you're ruminating at other times of the day, too.

Another tip is to give yourself a visual or audible cue to check in with yourself and see if you're ruminating. You could put some Post-it notes around your house to remind you, or set an alarm on your phone, watch or computer.

You don't have to be perfect at this, and you don't have to aim to nip rumination in the bud every time. Just start where you are and build from there — no perfection required.