Neck pain--Help me see the truth again.

Ok, I've been doing this work for several years now and have seen major improvements. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia some 20 years ago. I know the drill, I know the work, I know what I need to do, but for the last week I've had neck pain that is so different from anything I've ever experienced it's scaring me. Mostly my pain in dull and achy. This is sharp and stabbing, almost to point of making me nauseous. I'm telling myself all the truths of TMS, but it's not getting better as a matter of fact I think it's getting worse.

If anyone can give me some encouragement I would sure appreciate it.

 

Did you do anything that might have pulled something? This can be very painful. Either way keep calm. If you do and it keeps getting worse over the next week or so then you can go along to your general practitioner. If it is tms and you stay calm along with acknowledging any emotional work that might need to be done it should simply fade away.

 

Fear once again is the driving force. I’ve been there with back pain and sciatica so bad I was bedridden for weeks and taking a cocktail of nasty drugs. The more you think about it in whatever way, the more fearful you become. Try engaging in calming activities that create flow*, ones where you are so absorbed you can shut all thoughts of TMS yay or nay right down.

*https://www.headspace.com/articles/flow-state (What Is a Flow State and What Are Its Benefits?)

 

I'm like @yb44, I've had pain that's been so severe that I was bedridden for 7 months. I got it checked out and was tested for DVT (because the pain was in my thigh) and no physical cause was found. TMS pain can be absolutely excruciating and, as @birdsetfree says, pulled muscles particularly in the neck region can be very painful -- I often used to get what they call a 'wry neck' which causes sharp and stabbing pain. I changed my pillows to more supportive ones, but I think it actually stopped happening because I gradually convinced my mind that it was caused by TMS and then my brain gave up giving me symptoms in that particular area.

 

TMS changing form is nothing new. In fact , it sort of HAS to do something different once we know all of it's common manifestations. Particularly for people who have done this work and 'know the drill'. I have had lots of scary, panicky "wtf did I do?" moments...all of them TMS

If you were stable when this happened then...Something Happened. Period. Something happened in your life that you didn't even pay attention to because it was 'no big deal'. Usually someone very close to us. Family, co-worker, spouse, partner. Work change. New Job. REALLY close.

You either agreed to something you didn't believe, or something with a positive connotation is scaring the shit out of your unconscious. Somebody let you down, or acted poorly. I have never had a 'surprise' out of nowhere when there WASN't a 'something' behind it...and I have been doing this about the same length of time as you.

If you can sit still and review what was going on right before it got your attention, or maybe the day before, and You can isolate the sneaky s-o-b, you can probably arrest this near instantaneously. Your Mind having done the work has faster circuits than the average new person here.

I can also tell you it's NOT that you slept funny or pulled something. That is old Medieval medical model stuff. It's either TMS or it isn't...and if you know yourself and your on this forum, you know damn well in your heart of hearts what it is. Finding it is the challenge, but you know that road so you have an advantage over the average guy who woke up with a crick.

That's the fast forward plan I have always used and it still hasn't failed me. You can remind me of that when I come here with something.

peace

 

Thanks for all the encouragement. I do know that the last couple of weeks I’ve been under a lot of stress. Issues with my son and daughter-in-law, big family get together at my house, just found out that I’m going to have to take on more responsibility at work and just all the regular crap of every day living. However, I really felt like I was dealing with all of those things. I’ve been journaling and yesterday afternoon I had a breakthrough on an emotion. I broke down crying but nothing seems to be getting rid of this. And I get that I’m doing all of that expecting an outcome so therefore engaging in outcome dependence which is a no-no. I guess I just need to keep on keeping on. I probably do need to do a little more self soothing. I’ve been having that feeling that I wish I could go back to childhood when I had no responsibilities except for what I was doing that day. And I know there’s a lot of resentment there and I’ve been trying to express that resentment and rage in my journaling. Maybe it’s just going to take a while longer to get it out.

 

Hell. I'd be in the emergency room. (LOL)

You are... remember TMS is a coping skill run amok. There ARE things so painful (emotionally) that even awareness of them consciously can't prevent an attack. Family stuff is so loaded with so many dynamics.

Yep. I have had a few frustrating ones where I want to scream "I know this shit already...why?"

But it always goes away. Maybe just knowing that is the blessing.
hang in there

 

Heat pack, massage with some lotion, go out for a walk, take a nap, talk to somebody, take care of you and trust that the pain will go away

 

Sometimes when you try to "fix" it you get more bogged down by your emotions. It's ok to give yourself a break if you've already done the work. Stepping back from the "grind" is counterintuitive but helpful, especially if dealing with TMS is the new "grind". You'll have to make adjustments like delegating tasks, getting organized, carving out more time for you, building better habits, etc.

 

"Slept funny" pain goes away pretty quick, not worth it to get bogged down in emotions

 

So I wanted to give an update to you guys about my neck and shoulder pain. Sunday night it became so extreme and I was having shooting pains down my left arm which is always scary. So my husband insisted that I go to the ER. They basically just felt that it was a muscular thing, gave me a steroid shot and sent me home with some pain meds. That did not help , So today I went to my chiropractor. He did some more work on me and I’m still not feeling very well at all. Funny thing, I had had my Covid vaccine Friday afternoon. And Saturday morning is when I started hurting so bad. I asked my chiropractor if he thought that it was possible that I was just having a bad reaction to the vaccine. His response, off the record. Was that he felt it was possible. He had heard cases of people with existing conditions, especially pain conditions or autoimmune conditions. Having a bad reaction to it. Like because the vaccine triggers your auto immune response that it can aggravate an existing issue. So I just wanted to warn you that if you have some thing Already bothering you when you go to get your vaccine it could aggravate you