Need some help and advice regarding neck

[Mala]

I have 2 main issues. One I'm not sure is entirely tms so I sitting on the fence with that one. The other is to do with my neck. I have spasms that go up the left side from shoulder to head which can cause horrid headaches. Recently I have been avoiding the forums and focussing on just trying to ' just do it'. By that I mean trying to live normally.

I was in India for a month in November. There I had a car and driver to take me around and I didn't walk much , no exercising and I was pretty ok. I come home and start driving, walking etc and slowly the pain starts getting worse. Even then I tell myself that's it ok and continue.

The problem is when the muscles get tight I get horrid headaches. At that point no amount of reasoning or self talk helps and I find myself back at square one. I am quite incapacitated. My heart starts beating very fast ( 98 beats per minute)and I get very dejected. I tell myself that it's common for the pain to get worse before getting better but the pain gets so bad that all I can do is crawl into bed. If I push thru it gets even worse.

What can I do? Any thoughts / advice would be appreciated.

Thx

Mala

 

[Gigalos]

To reply to this and your other post about medication...

Sarno says he only prescribes painkillers to lower any discomfort to such a level that it enables you to focus enough on your 'homework'. With other words, take some power away from the distraction. I think he only does this in the first stage, the 'homework' should lower your discomfort further so there should be no frequent need for painkillers after that.
I personally think taking painkillers once and a while when any pain is too much is okay. As long as you don't start to depend on them in the long run without analysing what might have set it off.
I experience some pain once and a while, often shortlived. I have had half a tablet of paracetamol in the beginning of this year, that was it. The last box of 200 I bought in 2012 is now at 199 and a half. Why this will not work for you may be because you are still unaware or in denial about something strong that is setting things on fire(?).

Just a story which may be of help, or not, I can only guess...
I recently had a talk with someone from Indonesia, living in the Netherlands. Every time she visited Indonesia to visit her mother, she got rashes all over, which disappeared when she was back in Holland. This year her mother died and she developed severe pain in her knees during her visit to Indonesia, but this time lingering on when she was back home. I told her there could be a connection between Indonesia and her mother and her knee problems. She accepted the possibility and used another way of dealing with the emotions still there, she prays every day. The pain has greatly diminished.
Could it be there is something similar going on with you, only the other way around? What is back home that is missing in India? Or what is missing back home and is in India? Can you spot something that rises your inner rage back home and that you have overlooked or underestimated? And if you can't find the exact source, can you accept the possibility? This may already be enough to quiet your unconscious down?

Another thought is that it might be simply fear about moving. In India you took it easy, back home you didn't. The onset of pain from movement and the resulting fear could have brought you back in a vicious cycle of hypersensitivity.

hope there is something in my reply that might be helpful, take care

 

[Mala]

Gigalos thx for such a prompt reply. I have a bottle of panadol at home but will only take it when very necessary and then I feel guilty. I ask becoz sometimes I feel I wait too long to take the meds by which time I am in such a state that I wish I had taken it earlier. Also isn't it important to break the cycle of pain so that the pain is not reinforced?

I lived in India between the age of 11 to 24 with my grandfather and they were very happy years. Also lots of good friends that I meet up with when I'm there. I usually go back on my own without my husband coz he gets bored since I'm constantly with friends and relatives he doesn't really know. It's always a good break and I'm usually well when I'm there. It's also a much drier climate which seems to suit me better.
Home is also a good place but I guess there are responsibilities here. And a couple of things that do annoy me but they r part of life and can't be avoided. I have already identified them but maybe they r still a source of annoyance.

Regards

Mala

 

[Gigalos]

your welcome
Don't feel guilty from taking a panadol. You are only human.
break the cycle of pain so that the pain is not reinforced?? I leave this one up to the more educated. I think it has only to do with enabling yourself to stop focusing on the pain... in order to reflect what has set it off, journal or whatever.
Hope you find your way up again,
cheers!

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

I think there is a connection between your pain and the different way you feel about India (a good feeling)
and home in the U.S. Were you prayerful in India? Gigalos mentioned a woman who was helped by prayer. I believe in it.

Something is still being repressed in you. Gigalos suggests journaling, which helped me a lot. If not journaling, just try meditating on what might be stressing you. Keep taking your mind off the pain. Thinking about it keeps the pain there.

Also try some affirmations that you have already healed. That works for a lot of people.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[Mala]

As I mentioned earlier, i have 2 main issues at the moment. i am actually going to see the doctor today & will write more about it later.

As for the neck, this is what has been happening. I have been paying as little attention to the pain that I am able to, doing almost everything normally, trying to be more reflective . The day before yesterday, I was having a chat with a friend & as soon as I was over, I got into the car and found that my left arm (the side where the normal pain is) had suddenly gone into a kind of spasm/cramp. I couldn't turn my arm and everytime i tried it would hurt more & i could even feel the pain in my little pinky. It was quite excruciating & I have never experienced anything like it. I thought I might need to go to the hospital. Over the next few hours the pain decreased and I took a nurofen at night. Yesterday the normal dull muscle pain started coming back and I got angry and started airpunching. The pain went away. This morning I woke up with the dull pain now in my right shoulder. Of interest, I also started getting a funny nauseous feeling at around 4 am on Sunday and yesterday (Tuesday) which woke me up & Ifelt pretty sick. I have been taking 1 tylenol at night for the past 5 days.

Now I'm scared that its the tylenol but how can 1 tylenol do this? I am also happy that I have had some changes in the pain but again fearful at the same time. Any thoughts ?

Thanks
Mala

 

[balto]

Hi Mala, the Lunar new year is coming in a couple days, it must be a wonderful time to be in Hong Kong right now. Let your mind take a break from your health worry. It will still be there when your mind come back, or maybe not. Enjoy the New year. Wishing you a very healthy and happy new year.

 

[Anne Walker]

Mala, if it is any comfort, I also have had lots of pain this last year in my neck, the back occipital region of the right side of my head, in my hands, my arms, on the side of my face, numbness, back of my eye, headaches, my front teeth...I also have had times when I felt very nauseous, and also body aches, brain fog, flu like symptoms, chills... As I was really starting to calm down about all the myriad of revolving symptoms, I developed severe pain in my right buttocks a few days ago. It has unsettled me because its new. TMS is so effective at distracting our minds because of the fear it is able to generate. It is not easy to just stop being afraid, but perhaps noticing that you are and that it is all part of TMS. Hopefully, the doctor will help relieve some of your fear about an immediate health crisis, and then perhaps you can discipline yourself to direct you thoughts to what is going on psychologically. Journaling is good for this. Right now the TMS has you focused on all the physical symptoms, how they are changing, what might have caused them(Tylenol). Being nauseous, muscle spasms, head aches are all are all easily created from your emotional/psychological state. This is the area you will need to work in to resolve all those changing symptoms or they will just keep coming. I know it is especially difficult with the crippling headaches. I still have occasional days where they really get me, and I just have to find ways to get through the day somehow. The only difference is now when those days come I am not as afraid that it will get much worse or not go away. I also don't imagine anymore that they are a sign that something much worse is going on. This has really helped and the headaches are much more infrequent now.

 

[Mala]

Annie & Balto, thx very much for your posts.

Annie you are so right about TMS being so unsettling in the way symptoms seem to be all over the place. That is confusing especially when it comes to deciding what is TMS & what isn't & I think there has to be a better way of discerning between the two. I know that there have been people who have for years decided that they were going to treat their symptoms as TMS only to find out that they had a real physical problem so we all have to tread carefully.

I went to the doctor yesterday about a gyneological issue. I will write about it in detail later because its longish & also becoz as Balto says, its Chinese New Year and its all a bit crazy. Also my mom is in hospital as she has bronchitis.

The atmosphere here in HK is really vibrant at this time of the year. The weather has been unseasonably warm so everyone is out & about. There are splashes of Red everywhere The markets are bustling. The flower markets are bursting both with flowers and people especially at night time. Harbour front restaurants & boats are booked solid for the fireworks. Lights everywhere sparkling to welcome & usher in the New Year. Its all Go Go Go!. On the down side you may have heard that nearly 20000 chicken carrying the bird flu virus that were imported from China were slaughtered just a couple of days ago. Just hope & pray that things do not get worse.

Hers's wishing everyone, Peace, Prosperity, Good Fortune & above all Good Health in the Year of the Horse.

Mala