need some help/support here please...

[feder]

I finished the educational program a couple of weeks ago, and my results have been outstanding. I have tried literally everything for my chronic migraines the past couple of decades, including forays into Sarno's world, but for some reason this past summer upon discovering this particular program something just clicked and I have made such big strides in my pain relief- and management of whatever sporadic pain is left. I'm so grateful!

I'm reaching out bc today I felt a headache coming on. I basically ignored it as it got worse and worse. when I had a brief moment of wondering if it's related to the stopping of my headache preventative that I no longer take I caught myself, reminded myself that this is not a physical thing in the slightest and looked inward to my emotions. I am not nervous from the pain, just noticing it, but I am genuinely curious. I took my laptop into bed to write this, but the pain at this point is basically preventing me from doing anything else other then going to bed- and I don't really have a problem with that as I have nothing pressing else to do right now, so it's fine. I just want to know: am I supposed to be looking for some sort of suppressed trigger over here? Bc I can drum up a few things that I may have found stressful, like an annoying phone call from my mom or a comment that could be interpreted as critical from my husband...but I do feel like Im kinda 'making it up'....but then I tell myself no, maybe I really am upset and I'm just not allowing myself to feel it, that's why they call it repression, etc etc etc...
I think I'm asking this: is it ok not to hunt down the cause/trigger of every relapse and just kinda wait it out as calmly as possible? How important is it for you to 'figure out' what it is that you are repressing in every circumstance? Over the forty days of the program I definitely discovered some doozers that I was grappling with and not fully allowing myself to feel, but that doesn't seem to be connected in any way to this particular pain episode...

thank you- all of you- for being so responsive and supportive to us all.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

These are great questions @feder, and I'm glad you're asking them because I suspect a lot of people wonder the same things.

I can drum up a few things that I may have found stressful, like an annoying phone call from my mom or a comment that could be interpreted as critical from my husband...but I do feel like Im kinda 'making it up'....

I'm quoting this particular excerpt, because I want you to notice the assumption that these thoughts that arose might not be valid! This, my friend, is simply your brain on TMS. This is, in fact, the classic Sarno-style repression mechanism at work, doing its job right there in front of you! All you have to do is call BS on it!

When you feel a symptom coming on (or, as has happened to me, I wake up with an RA flare) the thing to do is to get out your pen and paper and start by asking yourself a question - taking the conversation with your mother for example: "why am I thinking about that phone call from Mom? What was it she said that triggered me, and why would I be triggered?" Just keep writing whatever comes into your mind without editing it, or worrying about spelling or grammar or whether it's even legible. Questions will become random thoughts, which will flow into different thoughts, and you might be surprised at what comes out of it.

You might find something significant, or you might realize there was something that your fearful brain thought was significant simply because you had a momentary stress reaction to something your mom said which is actually not very important - when seen by your rational conscious brain.

Of course, you might also realize that there is a significant emotional conflict that arose from the phone conversation, which you will want to address - if not in person, then with something like an Unsent Letter to your mother.

And you'll also want to do the same with the thing your husband said, too! Maybe they're connected!

Whatever it is, as soon as it's in your consciousness, your TMS brain no longer needs to repress it, and you can move on.

This is the magic of journaling, or, as I like to call it, writing shit down. Then you throw it out, making sure that nobody else sees what you just wrote.

Then, reward yourself with a big glass of water and a single Tylenol or an ibuprofen to take the edge off. This is a simple and moderate tool by which you and your brain can visualize NOT needing the migraine. Take some deep therapeutic breaths, and assume that you'll feel better later today, or maybe tomorrow, but that in any case there's no reason to think that you can't keep moving forward from this minor setback.

 

[Baseball65]

am I supposed to be looking for some sort of suppressed trigger over here?

That is usually the fastest exit. OR be looking for conditioning that you might have overlooked...conditioning is subtle and powerful. Sometimes it is just something someone said in passing...as we become aware of them, they too will lose their 'mmph' and you'll have fewer 'triggers'....but as quick as you have gotten this , I wouldn't agonize over it...I think that is what Sarno meant when he said 'all of us are entitled to a little pain'
I have certainly gotten sick of looking for things sometimes, and have only 'done the work' when a symptom becomes a trend...but ignoring it is sometimes the best strategy. The longer you do this, you'll know which ones are which.

.but I do feel like Im kinda 'making it up'.

Said it before..this IS an act of creativity and sometimes we might have to 'guess'...the best indicator is , if you're 'making it up' and the symptoms go away? You probably were spot on!

is it ok not to hunt down the cause/trigger of every relapse and just kinda wait it out as calmly as possible?

Yep. That was exactly what Sarno told people to do...and he added 'don't expect it to linger and keep testing your ability to be 'normal'

We have already been in pain a long time when we get here...no reason to add to your misery. You'll be fine. Guaranteed

 

[Ellen]

I had a brief moment of wondering if it's related to the stopping of my headache preventative that I no longer take

This thought could trigger a headache. You expected it (maybe subconsciously) so it came. And as @baseball said, look at conditioning. When I finally recovered from my migraines, conditioned triggers were the last to go. Mine was any change in the barometric pressure. At the first sign that I may be getting a migraine, I would talk to my brain to override the conditioned response. You have to catch it early for this to work in my experience.

Congratulations on your success. Don't get discouraged. You can fully recover with time.

 

[Diana-M]

I’m impressed with your success! It’s an inspiration! Now you’re on to advanced TMS recovery, figuring out what to do with stuff like this. Let us know what you discover!

 

[feder]

Thank you all! So it sounds like journaling would be a wise thing to do but ignoring it may also be ok. And yes conditioning is hard to override- I am so used to thinking that I MUST get a certain amount of sleep or I will for sure get a migraine- but I KNOW that’s not true (or no longer true). There is no reason in the world why I need more sleep than the next person! Now I need to take that knowledge and embody it!