More doubts

[HealingNow]

Sorry everyone, I keep coming back here to ask questions as it stops me googling!

I've got a fear (TMS brain talking) that people who say they've rewired their brains through doing this work aren't genuinely pain free as I've read a few books and watched success stories which note that 'I still get the odd pains in my neck' or 'I have pain but don't worry anymore'. Like I watched the Alan Gordon documentary 'pain brain' and I felt like some of them were just not scared of pain rather than actually being pain-free...

I'm worried that pain reprocessing is a distraction more than cure (again TMS brain talking!). Are there success stories of people who are genuinely able to do the things they want without pain 100% - I think I'm seeking reassurance again today (emotional rollercoaster kinda day!).

Also, I lifted a piece of furniture last night and had a big crack/pop in my neck... I wonder how my TMS brain gets to focus so much on my neck so much so that it's loud... BUT.... I didn't panic and I'm ok today not spiralling about the sound and have had a relatively good day at work so far - just journalling it really - sorry if i post too much!

I have a feeling that I'm going to look back and laugh at myself for these posts in a few years time

 

[Diana-M]

Pain reprocessing is validated through a scientific study as working. I’m not sure if anyone with TMS is 100% pain free ever and/or for the rest of their life. It’s a tendency our minds/bodies have. But as we get better at all of this, we can lose fear and pain. (Sometimes more or less). Then fight our way out if it comes back. The trap you’re falling into right now is analyzing what works. You don’t need a perfect method. You just need a good method and stick with it. Don’t analyze: just do. You got this!

 

[Joulegirl]

Nicole Sachs always says that we will be "chronic pain free." We are human and will never NOT have pain. But the chronic stuff that makes us stop our lives will be gone.

Your brain is working so hard to seek reassurances. Like Diana said, there is no one way to do this. Just start and keep going!

 

[HealingNow]

But the chronic stuff that makes us stop our lives will be gone.!

Thats a good point - I think chronic pain is something that is so whole body... sometimes I genuinely feel like my brain has all gone to mush. When I've had sprained ankles in the past I never felt like it went to my brain! There's def a difference of fearing the chronic pain too. I don't ever fear breaking my arm or anything like that... because I think I'm not worried it would stay forever you know. I guess that's the point about stuff being 'in vogue' no one really breaks their arm and never gets better (yet) until 'broken arm syndrome' becomes a thing I guess!!

I also got toe pain last night... what a funny place for TMS to be. It also went away quick when I briefly worried I had gout (what 9 stone 28 year old woman has gout!) and laughed it off.

 

[BloodMoon]

I've got a fear (TMS brain talking) that people who say they've rewired their brains through doing this work aren't genuinely pain free as I've read a few books and watched success stories which note that 'I still get the odd pains in my neck' or 'I have pain but don't worry anymore'. Like I watched the Alan Gordon documentary 'pain brain' and I felt like some of them were just not scared of pain rather than actually being pain-free...

I'm worried that pain reprocessing is a distraction more than cure (again TMS brain talking!). Are there success stories of people who are genuinely able to do the things they want without pain 100% - I think I'm seeking reassurance again today (emotional rollercoaster kinda day!).

In case it's of any help, this is how I look at it...
All human beings have the propensity to experience TMS symptoms because it's an innate brain mechanism designed to protect us when our minds sense danger. Seen that way, no one on this planet can be 100% sure of being — and staying — completely symptom-free for life. In that sense, there's no "cure" for TMS. (When I think of everyone I've known — family, friends, colleagues — who've had TMS-type symptoms without realising it — bad backs, IBS, fatigue, migraines, and so on — it's actually a huge percentage, even allowing that some might not technically be TMS.)

To me, TMS is simply part of being human. The difference is that we on this forum know what's happening — and okay, it does take time and patience, but we have practical tools to help calm and retrain our brains and nervous systems so they don't kick off so much (and we lose the symptoms). We actually have much more chance of losing our symptoms — and staying that way (or with the odd hiccup or so) — than most people do. And part of losing symptoms is acknowledging them but not worrying about them; those who manage to do that are well on their way to losing those symptoms altogether because the symptoms are no longer serving as a distraction, and carrying on with life despite the symptoms also shows the brain we're not in any danger.

 

[Adam Coloretti (coach)]

Sorry everyone, I keep coming back here to ask questions as it stops me googling!

I've got a fear (TMS brain talking) that people who say they've rewired their brains through doing this work aren't genuinely pain free as I've read a few books and watched success stories which note that 'I still get the odd pains in my neck' or 'I have pain but don't worry anymore'. Like I watched the Alan Gordon documentary 'pain brain' and I felt like some of them were just not scared of pain rather than actually being pain-free...

I'm worried that pain reprocessing is a distraction more than cure (again TMS brain talking!). Are there success stories of people who are genuinely able to do the things they want without pain 100% - I think I'm seeking reassurance again today (emotional rollercoaster kinda day!).

Also, I lifted a piece of furniture last night and had a big crack/pop in my neck... I wonder how my TMS brain gets to focus so much on my neck so much so that it's loud... BUT.... I didn't panic and I'm ok today not spiralling about the sound and have had a relatively good day at work so far - just journalling it really - sorry if i post too much!

I have a feeling that I'm going to look back and laugh at myself for these posts in a few years time

Even walking used to cause me agony (and I couldn't even bend over to tie my shoes I had to get on the ground to do it) and I can tell you 100% that nothing now I do physically causes me any pain whatsoever - like I can lift, bend, play full sports games and I don't even feel it 1%. There's nothing you could tell me to do now that I would have any hesitation physically. You could tell me to run a marathon and I wouldn't have pain concerns (although my main concern would be my insufficient cardio fitness to do it!).

So in that sense I am 100% cured physically and completely uninhibited. Now because I've understood the link between emotions and the pain, sometimes when I get stressed (not all the time it's more specific than that - some stress produces nothing), I can get 1 or 2 out of 10 pain, but I can genuinely tell you that I don't care (it lasts maybe 4 hours max too). In fact, part of me welcomes it because it is a message to check in with myself emotionally.

From what I've seen and the people I've talked to, there are a lot of similar experiences and pictures of what being fully healed looks like.

In terms of PRT itself, I put my healing more down to treating myself better and allowing my emotions more (I didn't do somatic tracking to heal, although I appreciate its worth and am trained in it), as well as living the knowledge and truth that there is nothing wrong with me structurally. There's nothing distraction(y) about that If I were you I'd be focusing on the evidence and "How can I treat myself better" rather than getting too deep into "my TMS brain" and potentially getting lost in the neuroscience. Keep it simple and you'll be golden

 

[JanAtheCPA]

The TMS brain mechanism is a normal, but sadly primitive, function of our brains. Our goal is to manage it for today's world. Indeed, as Nicole Sachs says, we can't avoid the pain of living our human lives. Or as I say, "It's always f***ing something". But we don't have to let the TMS mechanism constrain our lives with chronic pain.

I saved my life quite late at age 60 when I discovered Dr Sarno and this site in the fall of 2011, and some months later I was living mostly symptom-free, although six decades of anxiety is not going to magically disappear forever in just six months. Then tragedy struck our family, followed by 18 months of continued tragedy and extreme stress until it ended in loss - followed by another loss four months later. I was able to be present as needed because I'd done the work, and I was able to maintain my own equanimity in the face of all the triggers that had brought me to my TMS crisis back in 2011.

But TMS has a way of sneaking up on you without warning. I tell my story of how it did that here: https://tmswiki.org/forum/posts/32979/
Spoiler alert - the whole event lasted less than an hour.

Note that the timing was unexpected, yet quite significant, with all of the stress of the prior 24 months supposedly over.

Bottom line: we can't be "cured" of TMS because it is an essential function of our survival mechanism. We can absolutely learn how to respond effectively and use it improve our lives.