Day 15 Pain moving around

during the last few weeks my pain has definitely moved around. It has been centered in my knee primarily for the last few months or so, but since I started doing this program, it has moved from my knee to my hip to my thigh and back. Any numbness has totally gone and any pain from sitting is also gone. That seemed to leave right away. Right after I read dr. Sarno's book I stopped worrying about the chairs I sit in and that pain left.

One of the most interesting things has been that I have been often waking up in the middle of the night and having trouble going back to sleep. I almost never have insomnia so it's kind of weird. A few nights ago, i woke up and my stomach hurt. I thought to myself, that's stupid, there is no reason for my stomach to hurt and basically told my brain that. and I fell right back to sleep. that was liberating!

I think that the pain movement definitely reinforces the diagnosis and makes me a believer.

 

Yes!

When I first started to take walks in March (only 5 minutes long at first, the length of one city block) I would sometimes get pain in my left foot's bunion (my main pain is in my right foot). This made no sense--I had barely walked an extra block! Also, I was reminded of one of my podiatrist visits--the doctor had examined and x-rayed the bunion and had basically said it was not big enough, or the angle sharp enough, to be causing so much pain, and had told me to take ibuprofen. So armed with these two facts, I was able to say to myself "it's just TMS," whenever the pain appeared. Weirdly, I would notice the pain had disappeared 15 or 20 minutes later.

It's really amazing when you're able to confirm that some of your pain is fake. It absolutely confirms the TMS diagnosis, and gives you confidence that probably ALL your pain is fake.

So keep reminding yourself of what happened with your stomach pain whenever you doubt it's TMS.

 

Very well said Gail!!!!! I'm noticing the same things with the "moving" symptoms. I keep telling myself "it's TMS, move on" and I force myself to do it. My husband and I started a new workout program about a week ago, and the other night he was commenting on how he noticed that his neck was "tight" from the workout he had done. He wanted to know if I had experienced the same thing. My response was - I don't know, I can't think about that! I assume every "ache" is exercise induced and enjoy the burn, if it's not gone in 48 hours I assume it's TMS but I can't focus on it.

 

Yeah, moving symptoms for sure. But my toe was x-ray'ed and I have a small fracture that I have been walking around with for years, and a rather nasty bunion. Why is it hurting now? TMS is a shape-shifter.

 

Hi, Valerie. The others have given you very helpful replies, but I would like to add a comment on sleep. Pain, of course, can keep us awake. You felt some stomach problem and that woke you up, but I imagine it was just a symptom of TMS, something troublesome reached your subconscious. Worrying about something can interfere with sleep. I drink a cup of hot milk before going to bed, and it helps me to get to sleep right away. If I have a worry, I may wake up and my mind races in which is called "Monkey Mind." There are some videos on Youtube about that. Most everyone has a "Monkey Mind" at times of stress. It's just the mind playing tricks on us. The videos tell how to calm that.

 

Often my repressed emotions are not subconscious demons from the past. Or something I am very conscious of in my daily life triggers them. Pain for me equals powerlessness. If I write about what is going on here and now, I can usually get somewhere with it.