How to stop scanning for symptoms...

Hi Everyone,
Does anyone else struggle with this? I feel like sometimes my biggest battle is when I wake up and I scan my body looking for symptoms. It just happens automatically. I think "Do I feel pain here? or there?" And then I feel the simple thought of thinking about whether the pain is even there brings on the pain. I can feel fine and then shortly after scanning my body, the symptoms start.

And in the middle of the day, I can think to myself, "Wow, I don't feel anything at all. How great!" And then, shortly after thinking that, the pain starts. It's almost as if just acknowledging it elicits it.

Distraction seems to be my ultimate tool, but it is definitely challenging to persevere.

thanks all!
happygal

 

Happygal, oh yeah! Scanning for symptoms is a classic TMS thing. Between that and the symptom imperative, I can be left mentally jumping around to the point of exhaustion! (The symptom imperative doesn't need to be scanned, a new pain has already announced itself loud and clear.)

I've been carrying around the 12 Reminders and reading/speaking them several times throughout the day. I'll also speak them to whatever's hurting. ("Hip, you're FINE! The is nothing structurally wrong!")

The next level though is the thought, "hmmm, maybe I should go see the doctor." And then I remind myself, I HAVE see the doctor. Multiple times. And it's always come up with the same answer: Everything looks fine, here's a Rx for PT. Ya'd think after 20 plus years of appointment hopping….

Have a great day, happygal…good to have you on the forum!

 

It takes time and perseverance. I struggled with the same thing you are going through, for me I was trying to hard. Learn to live in the moment and enjoy life. Part of mine was also the fear I had of the pain causes you to continue to worry about it. Let it go, it will only cause you to feed tms. You can try to hard at healing tms, which I did in the beginning and still do at times, it was the perfectionist side of me that I felt I had to do certain things to heal. Your mind is a powerful tool and you can overcome anything you put your mind to. It just may not happen as quick as you would like, but that's ok. Learning to truly have acceptance and peace for where you are at, this has helped me tremendously. I don't know if your a spiritual person but asking god to help you with acceptance is powerful. He is always there to help you through your struggles. I believe my tms happend for a reason and god put it there for me to grow as a person. I am happy that i had tms, because the healing that i have experienced is something special once you get there. i am not fully healed but close to being there. Once you heal it is wonderful and you will get there. Just let go of all the doubt and enjoy life. Making a gratitude list of what you have will make you appreciate life. Just know you do have the power to overcome tms, it just takes time. Best of luck.

Ryan

 

What a beautiful post, Ryan9546.

 

Ryan - Thank you for reminding me to be peaceful where I am at. I think a lot of my TMS stems from living in the future and worrying about it and living in my past and regrets. Staying in the present always seems to be a bit of a struggle. Here's to perseverance!

 

Great posts North Star & Ryan.

Ryan any suggestions on how to not fear the pain when it is all cosuming & affects most things you do?

Mala

 

You need to try and slow your mind down and enjoy life in moment. Be thankful for the little things you can do and know with time things will get better. Have your read "Great Pain Deception"?If not i recommend you read Steve's book. You have to condition your mind to ignore the pain and try to start living a normal life. This is a lot easier said then done, i used to think i would never live a normal but with time things will change. just trust and believe in yourself that things will get better and try not to let the pain consume who you are. look at the pain as a sign that i need to change my thinking or address emotions that have been repressed. I used to fear and worry about the pain everyday, once I accepted the pain and began to ignore it my symptoms slowly decreased. Couple other techniques you may need to try are meditation each day to calm your mind, also give some positive affirmations when your struggling. Your mind has the power to overcome your pain it takes time and truly believing its your underlying emotions that are causing the pain. Try to do the SEP, if you already have not, to find what repressed emotions you may have. Some techniques may work for you some may not, just find what does. Just know that the pain cannot hurt you and you will be ok. Try reading some of Claire weekes books that help you learn how to control your anxiety and fears. Hope some of these help you, and begin to believe that you will overcome this battle. It will make you a better person. Goodluck

Ryan

 

Mala - I, too, have been struggling with fear of pain. I've recently been reading Claire Weekes book "Hope and Help for your Nerves." I have also listened to some of her recordings. (Highly recommend both of these for this issue of fear we are up against). At the end of her recording for the above titled book, she says that if she had to summarize how to be successful in overcoming our nervous illness in one word, that word would be: ACCEPT. Accept, accept, accept. It doesn't matter if you forget the rest, just remember that one little word: accept. If you are determined to practice acceptance, it's not so difficult to overcome the fear or whatever pain we are facing.

I have been practicing this acceptance, along with the other suggestions in her book and I will say that they have been very helpful for me. Some days I'll start to have a set-back and will start to fear the pain again (and thus the pain intensifies), but then when I start to meditate on and practice acceptance, it seems like the fear starts to melt away, and in turn, the pain isn't as bad as I've scared myself to believe it was.

In addition, look at finding ways to enjoy life despite the pain. Because I have been basically bed-ridden for several months now, I have held off on doing any activities or having any fun (earlier it was because I was literally unable to do so). Now I am able to walk (still with pain, but I can walk!) We have a time-share condo coming up Memorial Day week, and I have been nervous and putting pressure on myself to hurry up and get better. But I started thinking - we'll be at the beach. Even though I can't sit in a chair yet, I can lay in the car on the way down. I can lay on the beach. I can lay around the condo. I can stand up at high-top tables in restaurants to eat dinner. So in effect, I've found a way to enjoy my vacation despite the fact that I have some limitations. This has given me such a boost of confidence, that just last week I jumped at an opportunity to book a house in the Florida Keys for another week-long vacation in September! I'll just work around the pain and not let it control me any longer! So - long story short - just start finding ways to live life and enjoy it once again!!

Hope you're able to glean something helpful from this.

Here are some recordings from Claire Weekes if you've not heard any of them yet:
http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/claire-weekes-audio.2569/