I have TMS & have been doing therapy for 5yrs. I still have pain and it moves around the body.

Hi everyone!

I'm fishing for more ideas here. I have TMS, I've read all the books, watched all the things, reread the books, and, I still have horrible acute episodes of pain during my most challenging times. I will get through an episode of pain that lasts for about 6 months, it goes away for a bit, then pops up somewhere else in my body (knees, to ankles, for example, very typical).

I'm wondering, how do you help your pain when you know that what you are going through is going to take potentially years and years to get through- maybe a lifetime? I know I have TMS and I know it is related to horrible traumas that have happened throughout my life that I am working through, but now, this year has brought NEW traumas involving the death of a close loved one AND a broken heart/break up with my best friend. I have made lists and lists of all that is on my life to journal about- there is so much that is hurting me- but this is going to take me a long time to get through. It makes sense why my brain is especially using pain right now to help avoid the deep pain from these traumas, but... I don't have time for this pain! I need to walk! I want to heal and process my traumas and I want to be pain-free. I wish my brain would pick up the pace.

I am trying to stay hopeful- is anyone else experienced with managing TMS while knowing you are going through some serious stuff that will take time? How do you face the day, do your issues also wax and wane so to speak, and what has helped most? I'm in weekly psychotherapy.

Thank you <3
-Anne P

 

I found exploring past traumas of limited value to me. My approach was to desensitize my brain and my nervous system through learning how to handle my emotions and how to reduce my anxiety. Meditation proved to be an exceptionally powerful tool for me, but it has to be done right, or I would say should not be done in a wrong way, as there are many ways to do it right. Is your therapist a TMS-trained therapist? Unless your therapist focuses on a complete pain relief, not just pain reduction, you are not likely to succeed in therapy.

 

Have you read Dr. Gabor Mate's books (eg, When The Body Says No) or listened to his You Tube lectures? I just did an online trauma workshop with him and it was exceedingly helpful and insightful.

 

Thank you for this! I will absolutely try to start getting into meditating, I used to walk and walk and walk for active meditation, but it's time to sit with my thoughts instead.
My therapist is for PTSD and trauma- not TMS- so I may need to find a TMS therapist to keep going with this journey. Thank you again!

 

I haven't!! I will look into this right away Thank you very much!

 

You are very welcome! I tried to work with non-TMS therapists, but it was a waste of time, even when they were open to Sarno's ideas. I am not encouraging you to stop looking into your past traumas, but it is your current state that is likely holding you back.

 

I totally concur! I don't see the value of rehashing past traumas over and over. It's useful to be aware and let them go....sometimes the person has not worked through them yet and they need to, but at a certain point, you have to get your mind and body out of the past. Stored trauma is the body holding onto the past. I look at trauma as an experience a person had, but it's not who they are. It's something that happened that they had the resilience to survive. I think framing it in a hero's journey, rather than a victim narrative is far more empowering and transformative. It's the transmutation of suffering into meaning...it's an alchemy of the soul in a sense. I think a good TMS therapist should be able to handle a patient who has trauma history, and needs to be brave enough to "go there" and create a sense of safety for the client.

 

@TG957

I think my issues are fundamentally anxiety as I had bad anxiety and panic for years before the pain. May I enquire into what helped you? As in what type of meditation? Or anything else for that matter. I get stuck cycling never endiy between pain anxiety and recently strong emotions

 

As always, @miffybunny - eloquent and on point! I love this especially: "framing it in a hero's journey". Looking back, my burning desire to prove my doctors wrong was helping me almost as much as my desire to get better! :=) Jokes aside, each one of us has to get over the feeling that disease is stronger than we are - and that is a line between losing and winning!

 

I am 100% convinced that anxiety and emotional is the root cause of most of chronic pain and other neurological conditions. Pain is triggered by emotions, pain in return amplifies emotions that triggered pain. It is a never ending cycle. Claire Weekes audios helped me tremendously, she is the go-to expert on anxiety. But I also spent close to two years working relentlessly on my recovery, with the focus on managing my emotions and learning how to de-sensitize my nervous system. Meditation is a very personal experience and each person has to find their own routine, even if they start with a standard, most popular one. I tried many styles of meditation until found one that worked for me.

If you still want to know what exactly I did, it is hard to describe in a forum post, so I put it all together in a small book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0834Q46SM

 

You are misinterpreting some of what trauma work involves. There are childhood traumas you are not aware of that have shaped your beliefs and life experiences. One example could be that you got the message from your parents that it is not okay to get angry so you learned to repress anger. And your parents did not do it to you on purpose. Trauma is not what happened to you but what happened inside of you. If you want to understand it and work through it, then Dr. Gabor Mate is required reading (and listening on You Tube). You must also read The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton.

 

@Pharmer1 , there is no misinterpretation or contradiction in @miffybunny 's post. Nobody here is trying to question or underestimate the impact of a childhood trauma, whether it surfaced in the conscious or is still buried in unconscious. Our point is that, as adults, we need to acknowledge that trauma had happened, understand the impact, but nevertheless move on. And that's why the idea of framing it in a hero context vs a victim context can be a turning point in recovery.

 

I was trying to pass on an important and helpful resource in addition to the TMS information.

 

I won't be posting anything else on this website.......

 

Hi, Not sure how you are extrapolating all that from my comment. I'm not misinterpreting the nature of trauma or repressed emotions. Trauma can encompass an event or events, ongoing stress/danger, unsafe environment, toxic/abusive families, lack of stability and security and living in a state of fear or anticipation of danger. It takes a myriad of forms and is processed in infinite ways, depending on an individual's age and personality and many other factors. The Wiki has an educational program and lists of resources and books (including Mate and Lipton and many others) as well as psychotherapists, for newcomers needing help with emotional discovery. I was responding to the OP of this thread who stated that they were well aware of their traumas and had addressed it in therapy. The issue for them was not so much becoming aware, processing and letting go, but getting on with their day to day life and the way they want to spend the rest of their life. We can choose to stay stuck in the trauma or not. We can reverse the neural pathways of pain signals by feeling our emotions, changing negative thought habits, making practical changes to our lives to reduce stress, practicing outcome independence and engaging joyfully with life. We can instruct the brain to focus on danger or joy. This is true empowerment which leads a person down the road to to health and happiness.