Day 1 I am beating this thing

My back has been hurting for over 9 years. It started to hurt when I made a cross country move. During that time, I had just learned to live with the pain. My back pain was on one side of my body, and would always affect my breathing. They tight breathing and back pain would go hand in hand. It would almost feel that I would hyperventilate from back spasm. I had my back checked out, and I had the typical abnormalities that you hear about all of the time. The doctors told me to stop working out, but I was a high-level athlete and I was not about to stop. I would always tell myself, "Only if I could breathe normal and get my back to stop hurting!"

I read Dr. Sarno's book in 2010, and it helped a bit. For some reason, I must not have really believed that TMS was real. It must not have been bad enough for me to consider that it was my mind playing tricks on me.


I have had a rough few years with family issues/professional stumbles, so then anxiety/panic had started to rear its ugly head in the last year. I started to have back pain, shoulder pain, anxiety, and sometimes even panic. I had always had a bit of anxiety, but most of us do.

So I started my holistic quest to heal my mind/body. I began to read, read, and read. I learned how to meditate. I went to a 9-week mindfulness course, and it was good. I later learned Transcendental Meditation and it was what I really liked. The TM took the edge off and gave me enough clarity to think. I began to share my symptoms and feelings for the first time in my life with my brother and close friend. They helped more than they will ever know. I wasn't as ashamed about my symptoms anymore. I still felt very anxious and my back pain/erratic breathing were still around.

I then found the TMS wiki. I read the intro with all of Alan Gordon's audio therapy sessions, and the next day I felt as if 5olbs were lifted from my shoulders. I ignored it and figured that my back just felt better. About 4 days later, I felt the same again. I bought some books on anxiety and another audiobook called "Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It", and the theme was all the same......we are way to hard on ourselves. I remembered that curing TMS had a lot to do with self-acceptance and being kinder to ourselves.

So I went back and read the intro again......and something clicked. I have been feeling much better, but there are things that can set my pain and anxiety in play.....but I am narrowing it down to specific thought patterns and emotions. I know that I am getting better every day, and I know TMS is the culprit.

I am going to do this program so I can better manage my stress and pain.....so here we go

 

That's a great introduction LY - welcome to the forum and the SEP!

I hope you'll feel free to share some of your experience/experiences with meditation on the forum. We see a lot of questions and concerns about meditation - including plenty of "I should be meditating, but..." and I'm one of those myself, LOL.

Anyway, I wish you all the best as you start the SEP, and I hope you enjoy this forum, too - we are all about supporting each other here, it's a great community.

~Jan

 

Hi, loveyourself. I am glad to know you are improving since discovering TMS. It takes total 100 percent belief in TMS to totally cure of any symptom.

As for erratic breathing, it is very important to practice deep diaphramic breathing... Inhale through the nose to the count of 7, open your mouth and inhale to the count of 2, opening up your chest like a balloon. Then exhale through the mouth to the count of 7. I even do it 4-2-4 and it works.
It sends oxygen to the brain to produce a profound calming effect.

You might wonder when to resume exercise. Here are suggestions from Dr. Sarno and Dr. Brady, another TMS author.

Many people have been asking when to resume physical activity. It can be different for different people, and they may fear that activity can cause more pain. The following not only may be of interest to and apply to you, but it is good for everyone to read who wonders about when to resume physical activity and exercise:

Dr. Sarno says in his TMS book, THE MINDBODY PRESCRIPTION, "If the pain disappears but you are still fearful of physical activity, recurrent pain, injury and progressive degeneration of spinal elements, the battle has not yet been won. The pain will return unless you overcome those fears. So patients are advised to resume normal, unrestricted physical activity once the pain is gone, or nearly so, and when they feel confidence in the (TMS) diagnosis.
Don't worry if you exercise too soon and experience some pain. You cannot hurt yourself. Continuing pain with activity means the brain is still in the process of changing its programming (from thinking structural to thinking emotional causing the pain. Stay secure in the knowledge that you will prevail. This has proven to be the case for thousands of patients."

Dr. Scott Brady agrees, in his TMS book, PAIN FREE FOR LIFE, saying "Confidence is huge in the process of (TMS) recovery, and your subconscious knows it. So when you begin to engage in those activities and exercises you once did, you can expect the subconscious to turn up your symptoms in a last-ditch effort to keep you away from the dangerous emotions you've started to explore... emotions that the subconscious is trying so hard to protect. Be ready to fight with your subconscious mind!"