Pain after stressful events and not during. Also TMS?

[G.J.]

Hi Everybody,

I'm new to the forum and very exited since I really believe that my pain and other symptoms are triggered by fear. I have a question that I hope you guys can help clarify:

When I'm in acute danger and fear, I hardly have any inexplicable pain. For example; when I had acute appendicitis, a miscarriage, when I'm sick or when I was in the middle of a business conflict that was really threatening to my company, I hardly had any inexplicable pain. It seems that the inexplicable pain symptoms start after a stressful event and not during and that doesn't seem to fit Alan's and Sarno's theory.

Is it also possible that the mind becomes addicted to fear and needs something to 'chew' on in order to feel some strange sense of control and thus safety? So when the outer threat is gone the brain creates pain to be able to obsess about something to feel safe in a strange way? Can this also be a form of the danger mechanism gone wrong?

Looking forward to your thoughts. Thanks!

 

[Baseball65]

Sarno's original idea was that the pain was a "discharge" of emotion.... he explains that it wasn't until he worked with that psychologist, Stanley Coen , that he came up with the 'defense mechanism' model.

He also pointed out that many of his patients got their symptoms AFTER the event was over. He postulated that while the enraging event was going on there was enough stuff happening to distract the person, but as soon as they had a minute to breathe, bam.. that's when the symptoms come. So it does fit with HIS model.

Anger being at the root, it usually takes us all a bit of exposure time to begin getting angry... I am not angry because a problem comes up at work... but when No one is getting it fixed or some obstacle prevents it's QUICK turn around , then the 5 year old inside gets louder...and I need a symptom (apparently). No one likes to stay angry (consciously) so we start to 'cool down' and reason with outselves...but the 5 year old isn't having it. That disparity is the vacuum that creates the symptom imperative.

Remember that we're dealing with an untestable yet verifiable phenomenon. I know Sarno was right because since I've treated it as such I have had success after lots of failure, but all of my experience is anecdotal and only review-able in the 20/20 of hindsight.

Danger mechanism gone wrong would be a good description. I always call it an over-evolved coping mechanism. I think it's our world and culture that is 'wrong' and we're just getting dragged along under the bus, but that's my personal, luddite, Tyler Durden way of thinking.