Interesting things I noticed today - all the symptoms but all minor

Today I experienced something kind of different. The rotating symptoms within a day has happened to me before, but it is usually fewer symptoms and they come with more intensity. But today I think I had every single symptom that I have experienced over the last year or so. Some have not occurred for months, and some were just stupid ("Reynauds in the summer? Please. <rolling eyes>) But even though all of them were making an appearance, they were all like this low grade level.

Perhaps my brain is trying to throw anything out there to see what sticks. But I've been trying hard to pay it no mind.

Today was also a day after a run day which tends to be where my symptoms get intense with the lie that I can hold on too that I "did too much." I know this cycle well and am trying to be consistent and not freak out after a day I had so much joy. I think I did pretty good today! Usually there is some major pain to obsess about, but today was a this different presentation and I did feel less obsessive. Not happy about them, more annoyed, but understanding why they were occurring.

For context, not only was it day after a run day, but tomorrow is filled with emotions as I will be attending a yearly event which is always quite stressful for me. I KNOW I will getting questions about my health and running from people who consistently fail to listen to me. (They ask the same questions at every single event we see each other). I don't anticipate I'll be explaining to them my new way of thinking, as they didn't even get the old medical explanation that I had a neurological disorder and there was nothing physically wrong with me -- they still think I'm recovering form a foot surgery that was a year and a half ago <rolling eyes again>. So... I don't think they'll be understanding TMS. Or more importantly listening to me and remembering what I say which really bothers me to my core. It makes me feel very frustrated and uncared for. (Did some journaling about this today).

And I also had a new one today - neck pain - Might be symbolic as tomorrow is going to be "a pain in the neck?"

 

I think you should do some reading on Sarno's Extinction Bursts and Symptom Imperative.

 

Good idea to do a refresher to hammer it home. I know of these concepts and have read 3 Sarno books, but now it's been some time. Do you recommend one in particular to go back to about these topics?

I know I've been getting rocked by both of these things.

 

Symptom Imperative is part of the bedrock foundation of the Sarno principles. I might have mispoke above about Extinction Bursts, which could be a term coined later, but it's just an extension of the Symptom Imperative concept.

I just grabbed my copy of The Divided Mind and I see over a dozen references to Symptom Imperative in the index.

 

This reminds me of what Helmut, The Mindful Gardener always said happened to him as he was getting somewhere. And also, Steve Ozanich, in his book, The Great Pain Deception. That is one heck of a healing story, if you haven’t read that yet. It’s super inspiring and drives home how much challenging symptoms works, but it’s a battle.

 

LOL just got my alert it's 10 stops away from Amazon!

 

Many of the TMS groups I've been in recently have many people say they don't believe in extinction bursts. It was interesting to read. I think Nicole's might have even been one of them.

 

Well truly what dystonic is writing about above is the Symptom Imperative, I mis-spoke and mis-attributed to Extinction Bursts. But since we're discussing, if you define Extinction bursts as an uptick in symptoms and/or intensity, it's not really all that different from the symptom imperative. And in that case I don't see how anyone can just say that concept doesn't occur.

 

Pretty much what they said, that it's symptom imperative and not extinction burst. I always thought of the two separately so it was interesting to me.

 

Ha ha ha, it is!

 

Have devised a new version of mindfullness/journnaling / somatic trackinf which I call creative curious sensation analysis wherein the tracking takes on a creative task of a piem/haiku or a visual expression of my pain, its colour, form etc. Alan Gordon’s playfullness or e
njoying the show?