More Triggers of TMS Pain

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

More triggers that can cause TMS pain.

Steve Ozanich wrote in chapter 4 of his book The Great Pain Deception about triggers that can set off TMS pain such as admonition, compassion, and aging and mortality.

An admonition trigger creates pain when someone is repeatedly warned to be careful of doing something that he was previously unaware of, such as headaches from looking too long at a computer monitor or hand or wrist pain from typing on a computer keyboard for hours at a time, because warning of pain can create pain.

An example of a compassion trigger is when someone may know you fell and sprained an ankle a month ago and asks how you feel now, meaning well by hoping you’ll say your ankle is all healed. But their compassionate asking about your health may trigger the fear of falling again and spraining the same ankle.

Aging and mortality triggers remind us that we aren’t as young as we used to be, and the years ahead may be fewer than the years behind us, and set off worries about our health a month or year from now. Or sooner.

Drawing from Steve’s chapter, I posted about those triggers a few days ago. I went back to that chapter today and want to mention two other triggers he wrote about: the death of a loved one, pregnancy, and medical examinations.

Some members of TMSWiki.org/forum recently lost a parent, and almost immediately suffered physical and emotional pain. The loss of the loved one triggered repressed emotions and they needed to be addressed again in order to relieve the recurred pain. Steve recalled that a neighbor’s wife died and the neighbor underwent surgery for his back. Injury to or death of a spouse can trigger physical pain. It can be very stressful if an aging mother or father moves in with an adult sibling and requires their care. Steve writes that “The energy now demanded of them to care for their loved one generates the unconscious rage that drives them over Dr. Sarno’s anger threshold.”

There are several postings on TMSWiki.org/forum about aging and caring for infirm or aged loved ones, offering suggestions on how to make the tasks less demanding. The caretaker must try to help from other family members to make caretaking a joint effort rather than the burden fall on just one person. And any caretaker must find ways to balance the task with being sure they have enough time and energy for keeping themselves from being overwhelmed. Steve said the same trigger can apply to the illness or injury of a loved one.

Steve wrote that another common trigger is pregnancy. Pain can either start during pregnancy or, he reports, more commonly, postpartum. This is due to anticipation of new demands, fear of change, and from prior emotional wounds of the mother’s own birth or infancy. He says that the energy demanded of the new mother from the new responsibility of the baby can create great anxiety and in the process alter body chemistry.

An example of examination triggers is when a person feels pain after being medically tested. Worry from the outcome of the medical test now becomes their new focus and creates TMS symptoms.

Dr, Sarno says in Healing Back Pain that a doctor’s diagnosis that a person has a herniated disk may not mean it is causing any pain. The herniated disk is merely a natural result of aging, and the real cause of the pain is the result of repressed emotions, perhaps going back years into the person’s childhood. But the fear of having pain from a herniated disk triggers the TMS pain.

Steve Ozanich ended his chapter on triggers with a funny from Dr. Sarno’s book in which he told of a patient who said she got back pain when she made herself a highball and tried to relax. The drink trigger was actually a guilt trigger. Dr. Sarno said the woman had a conscientious type of personality who didn’t feel she deserved to relax. Steve says, “She may have been in pain once when she had a drink, so conditioning pours another dose of pain on the rocks.”

I just popped open a can of beer and will drink on that to end this post. It’s my before-dinner beer or glass of wine. It rarely triggers anything, not even another drink. But it does relax. As advertisements for women’s products on television say, “You’re worth it.”

 

[Gigi]

I can attest to the death of a loved one triggering TMS. My Dad died in January of 2011, and by March I literally couldn't walk. My feet wouldn't hold me up. After two years and countless specialists, including many MDs who wanted to carve, I'm pain free thanks to this wiki. Many thanks to Forest and others who maintain it. It's truly a lifesaver.

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

That's a terrific example of a trigger, Gigi, and how you overcame the pain without surgery.

 

[Steve Ozanich]

Remember Dr. Sopher wrote in his book regarding triggers, "the list is infinite." I've seen some absolutely amazing triggers. They are anything that will initiate something. Cause and effect. In this case, TMS. A major problem with the initiation of the effect is pointing toward the wrong cause as the trigger, eg, herniated discs, etc. These are known as spurious correlations, assuming the wrong cause for an effect. The true source of any spurious correlation is a third factor that is not readily apparent at the time of the observance of the effect. In this case of TMS, the true cause is oxygen reduction, and not the structural changes the medical industry has been pointing toward.

Words can be triggers. I've consulted with several TMSers and when I hit on one word they begin pain-spasms, or crying. As we know, words are powerful, like actions. Sometimes a word is more powerful than an action, like if a father tells his son he is proud of him it means more than anything to the son. All the son desires is to make his father proud, to know he is doing ok in his father's eyes. It means the world to the son. Sometimes if I mention this the sons will begin to cry. A word of praise, or of criticism can have a life altering affect that drives the son toward or away from a certain direction, depending. So words have power. But--actions also do. People love to be told that they are loved. But it's certainly more powerful to prove it. Eg, go shovel someone's driveway for them, or bring them groceries, or help them lift something, etc. I would certainly rather have someone grab a shovel and help me dig than for them to say they loved me, instead.

But it's also important to realize that nothing can be fired when the trigger is pulled if the gun is not loaded. So the triggers means little if there's no conflict. The fact that many people lose their pollen allergies with TMS healing is proof. The mindbody no longer over reacts to the sensation of pollen with the lid is lifted on the conflict.

Steve

 

[North Star]

This stuff is so fascinating. I remember clearly and incident from about 25 years ago. My hubby and I were hiking and I was telling him about my tendency to sprain my ankle. While I was regaling him with my tale, I fell...and sprained my ankle.

I'm also becoming more cognizant of how much fear I've been allowing to dictate my life and bring on symptoms. "Oh, I'd better not sit with my head turned to look at you while we're talking or I'll get a migraine." Or panic over slipping, "I've had enough leg issues!"

And now, my skin is all flared up with one its lovely rashes....I thought there was a clear food allergy connected but now I'm wondering if that's just another symptom my brain's cooked up in all my research for treating "fibro". I think I DO feel better being off of wheat, btw. Or so I thought. But again...every thing is now up for re-evaluation.

I really appreciate this forum! Thanks so much!

 

[James59]

Maybe it's time for me to talk about when my neck pain started. It started in a mild form right about the time I had the most bizarre emotional experience of my life.

A young lady I worked with for a couple hours each week moved to another city. She was fun to work with, but I never gave her much thought beyond that (though I did feel a little protective of her). But the day I heard she was planning to leave I found myself reeling emotionally, like I'd been hit by a truck. A couple weeks later, after we said our goodbyes I went home and cried! (She later told me she cried, too!) Then for months I felt like there was a huge hole in my life. I even wrote a poem about her, which I sent to her, and she said it was one of the nicest gifts she had ever received. She then told me she had sort of a pet name for me. It seems we developed some sort of a bond that neither of us was conscious of until 450 miles came between us. It wasn't a romantic thing, more like a big brother/little sister kind of thing. My wife thought it was cute. We had an opportunity to visit her a few months later and we had a grand time.

That was in 2005. The following year my neck pain remained but it was still merely an annoyance and only when I was seated. Then my wife had breast cancer treatment (successful!), our cat died, and I had the worst lower back pain of my life that went on for months instead of days as it had in the past. When my back got better my neck soon got worse, and by early 2007 it became visibly distorted. I've been in constant pain ever since. I had to quit work in the fall of 2008, and I've been housebound for the past 15 months.

I just learned about TMS this June. Hopefully this newfound knowledge will help me find a way out of this nightmare that started with a really weird emotional experience.