Day 3 More activity more pain

As I mentioned activity involving usage of the left hand increases my thumb/hand pain. More power application or strenuous the activity more the pain. I enjoy gardening and like to keep our garden in reasonably good shape. Because I am/was afraid it would increase my symptoms (which did many times in the past), I have been avoiding doing any work in the garden and the lawn was looking like weed field. So with encouragement I got from the program, I said to myself I'll give it a go and I did yesterday.
It felt good being active, putting the garden back in shape. When I finished the work I kept saying to myself that it is going to be Ok, it is not going to hurt (or pain will not increase) but pain won again. Had to apply some ice pack and it is even worse today. Any suggestions?

 

I think this could be a result of pain from conditioning that you've had for a while. It is also possible you used muscles that hadn't been used for a long time and are experiencing post-exercise soreness (shouldn't last too long). It's ok to use heat or ice for temporary relief if needed, just tell yourself its ok either way! If the pain is from conditioning, its just another TMS symptom. If it's post-exercise soreness, that is a good thing since it means you're using the muscles again. Sarno says to gradually increase your activity and exercise, not all at once. Maybe do short bouts of gardening increasing over time until its more comfortable again.

 

Hi, Arnie. Good advice from Mindbody PT. I reminds me of Steve Ozanich in his book The Great Pain Deception. He was in great pain but played golf despite the pain and it helped him to get well. He also discovered in journaling that he was repressing anger at a doctor who botched his wife's operation.

You need to congratulate yourself on the gardening exercise.

And here's a positive thought you could add to your meditation:

"You've survived 100 percent of everything in your life so far,
so there's a very good chance that you'll survive what ever is next."

 

That's what I am trying to work on now, many thanks again.

 

Yes I remember reading the sections you mentioned in Ozanich's book. He says, just go out there and do it but I think a little bit of caution is needed. I chopped dawn a small tree a few weeks ago and paid dearly for it.

 

Hi Arnie,

I made the same experience like you. One week ago I thought "Okay, you do the SEP and you start being active and everything will be fine. And in the end: the pain will go away."

The activities and the SEP became a very important thing of my day and I put myself under pressure to do it exactly. While I came into this circle I did not recognize that my selfapproach and my perfectionism became very strong. And the result was tension and pain. In short: I had a fallback on Day 8 of SEP. Depression, anxiety, pain, hopelessness and so on... the full programm (see http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/lost-hope-and-optimism.14928/ (Day 9 - Lost hope and optimism))

I paused the SEP and my "risky" activities. I said to myself "You only do anything of these things if you REALLY would like to do it and REALLY feel relaxed." I found out that I was not honest to myself. Now I am and try to be it in the future. I will do little steps to raise my level and decrease these steps if I am not motivated or not feel good or whatever.

Maybe you are in a related state of mind. For me, relaxing and not focussing the pain are the most important points. I did Day 9 of SEP today and continiously read about TMS. In the following days I will learn these techniques (http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Affirmations (Affirmations)) to overcome the fear and focus of pain.

Wish you the best.

Greetings
Sebastian

 

Hi Sebastian,

Thank you for your response. I read your Day 9 thread. We are similar in some ways and most probably in a related state of mind. I am really pushing myself to do SEP everyday (not working helps in this respect) because I am so desperate to get rid of this pain. But not pushing so much with the risky activities. I am pushing one day and trying to have a few day rest in between.

Part of my problem is still having some physical side to my symptoms as I mentioned in my Day 1 thread ( http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/another-day-1.14906/ (Day 1 - Another Day 1) ) and also in Day 2 thread (http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/need-help-convincing-myself-that-it-is-100.14917/ (Day 2 - Need help convincing myself that it is 100 %)).

But hopefully we will all overcome the painunch:

Cheers

Arnie

 

Hi,

Focussing on if there is pain or not, is definitely a big part of the TMS-syndrome... So why not jump into the garden, just because you love it?! Because it helps you to enjoy being alive?! Not because anyone has said you should treat your body as if it is healthy, and you should just pick up your activities again... Taking the 'shoulds' out and most of the expectations, can make a big difference, is my experience.

What helped me too, was visualising on forehand and during the activity–from the inside–that my body is healthy in essence. That means: including some pain. Visualising helped me to actually also feel healthy from the inside. That feeling added up to my trust, that there is a way out this all by starting again with the usual activities.

Keep going step-by-step!

Lydia

 

Hi,

Arnie I can imagine your thoughts concerning your surgery. I also would have doubts and fear. But I think as long as you focus these feelings you will not be able to do things free and relaxed. Deeply focus your inner needs and feelings. Your body and your intuition will tell you what you REALLY need and desire. Now, after my fallback, I see everything very clear. Being calm, relaxed and hopeful is the key. Only when I have this state of mind, I will do more steps. In the future I will pause the process (SEP and risky activities) and slowdown my life come back to my clear and relaxed state of mind. I think it is not possible to go through SEP without having pain, but I want avoid to
pass a painlevel which leads me astray.

When I have my typical pain syndromes I automatically think of diagnoses from different doctors. Is this the same thinking pattern you have? I fight against this automatic process and at the moment I am learning to think another way: psychological. But this is only possible if the pain is not TOO strong. I treat myself well but am also motivated to make steps forward. Pain will be a part of this steps.

Lydia you are right. But when pain and doubts are too strong you can not enjoy the activity. Becauso of this I have the view above. What do you think about it?

Greetings

Sebastian

 

Yeh, got your point. Enjoying might be impossible then. Still, it's important to not give in and let the conditioning win. Going back to normal activities is not not meant to get the pain away instantly, but to cut through the so strong conditioning, that keeps TMS going and going and going and....

I hope Arnie, that you got some inspiration to keep going and try again to play in your garden. Let the love for your garden be your support on your way out of TMS (-:

 

Hi Lydia,

During the activity (let it be gardening or anything else) I don't focus if there is any pain or not. Even if I experience extra pain, and most of the times I do, ( I do have pain constantly at the moment) during the activity, I can push through it and keep going on. But then I pay dearly later on once the activity is finished, my pain increases considerably, nothing brings it down. Only after a few days of complete rest alleviates it. My wife tells me that I most probably conditioned myself to experience extra pain after the activity. Based on that I tried so hard to convince myself that the pain will not increase after the activity but it did not really work.
Idea of visualising sounds good, will definitely try that.

Many thanks.

 

Hi Lydia, hi Arnie,

My case is exactly the same. What do you mean by visualising?

Greetings
Sebastian