Working my way through the program I'm wondering about identifying triggers...I can definitely see how in general my pain is caused by repressed emotions to difficulties I'm facing in my life. When my migraines began, it was during probably the most stressful time of all, but now, the pain remains. However, I really am not able to find a direct correlation from episodes of pain to something specific....for example yesterday I had no pain and today I am blind sighted with a terrible headache- but no big difference is going on in my life. Is there always an incident which causes the pain- or at this point is the pain just a learned habit from my brain?
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pain not connected to anything specific
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JanAtheCPA
Beloved Grand Eagle
It sounds like you need to learn how to become mindful of your thoughts.
You think that "no big difference is going on in my life" but that is simply not true. You do not live in a hermetically sealed bubble with zero outside influence, where your days and nights are exactly the same 24/7 - am I right? You live in the extremely complex and kinda overwhelming world of the 21st century where you are constantly bombarded with outside information, experiences, and influences.
Right now you are oblivious to how your brain is interpreting that mass of information and interactions, and you are oblivious to the little stresses that your thoughts are creating.
Our nervous systems were designed to react to stress. Tens of thousands of years ago in the primitive world, the stresses were few and far between, and when they happened they were big scary stresses, which were literally life-threatening. This is the environment our brains were designed for, and they have not evolved past that environment, which means that our stress response is not up to the task of living in today's world.
This is why we talk about mindfulness all of the time. As to how you learn mindfulness, that's a huge topic with many different avenues. Tell us what you think about what I've just said here, and maybe we can all come up with some suggestions.
You think that "no big difference is going on in my life" but that is simply not true. You do not live in a hermetically sealed bubble with zero outside influence, where your days and nights are exactly the same 24/7 - am I right? You live in the extremely complex and kinda overwhelming world of the 21st century where you are constantly bombarded with outside information, experiences, and influences.
Right now you are oblivious to how your brain is interpreting that mass of information and interactions, and you are oblivious to the little stresses that your thoughts are creating.
Our nervous systems were designed to react to stress. Tens of thousands of years ago in the primitive world, the stresses were few and far between, and when they happened they were big scary stresses, which were literally life-threatening. This is the environment our brains were designed for, and they have not evolved past that environment, which means that our stress response is not up to the task of living in today's world.
This is why we talk about mindfulness all of the time. As to how you learn mindfulness, that's a huge topic with many different avenues. Tell us what you think about what I've just said here, and maybe we can all come up with some suggestions.
Cactusflower
Beloved Grand Eagle
How do you feel when someone cuts you off in traffic?
Your boss blows off your hard work?
Your partner never quite understands your sense of humor?
When the grocery store has been out of your favorite curry sauce the last 6 months?
Or the fact that you’ve lost $$$ in your fantasy football league this year?
It doesn’t have to be one bit “thing” one revealing moment.. it’s all the little angers, frustrations, resentments, sadness, loneliness etc that builds up over time. It sneaks past our stress radar.. the little things we sweep under the rug that seem meaningless, but essentially reflect how we feel about ourselves.
Your boss blows off your hard work?
Your partner never quite understands your sense of humor?
When the grocery store has been out of your favorite curry sauce the last 6 months?
Or the fact that you’ve lost $$$ in your fantasy football league this year?
It doesn’t have to be one bit “thing” one revealing moment.. it’s all the little angers, frustrations, resentments, sadness, loneliness etc that builds up over time. It sneaks past our stress radar.. the little things we sweep under the rug that seem meaningless, but essentially reflect how we feel about ourselves.
Right- but that would mean, I assume, that all of these things add to this painbody and there does not have to be one specific thing that triggers it...meaning collectively these things come out in constant pains, but the fact that one week will be worse then the other doesn't have to signify anything significant...
Ellen
Beloved Grand Eagle
I found that with my migraines that were two different things going on. One is repressed emotions that you may be so detached from, it is hard to identify what is going on. (Journaling and therapy are the best treatments for this.) The other is conditioning (learned behavior), where your brain has associated two phenomena, with one serving as a trigger and the other the autonomic nervous system response of creating a headache. (This has to be unlearned by using your rational, higher brain to override the conditioning.)
And sometimes there is a third thing going on, which comes from overuse of medication. Which I had to finally admit was a factor. Because I was so driven to be able to keep functioning during my frequent migraines, I took a sumatriptan medication at the very first sign that I might be getting a migraine. If I waited, then it didn't work as well. So I ended up with medication overuse syndrome.
And sometimes there is a third thing going on, which comes from overuse of medication. Which I had to finally admit was a factor. Because I was so driven to be able to keep functioning during my frequent migraines, I took a sumatriptan medication at the very first sign that I might be getting a migraine. If I waited, then it didn't work as well. So I ended up with medication overuse syndrome.
Cactusflower
Beloved Grand Eagle
The Why doesn't matter, just do the work. These are the kinds of questions that keep us peddling on the endless hamster wheel of TMS. Ah, I was there!
Work your way though the SEP thoughtfully, with curiosity. Instead of "this doesn't seem to apply to me" perhaps consider "hmmm, I wonder how this might apply to me".
Pain neuroscientist Lorimer Moseley and his coauthor David Butler would pretty much agree with this. They say that your brain will create pain when it has more credible evidence you are in danger than it has credible evidence you are safe. By “danger" they mean “anything dangerous to your body tissues, life, lifestyle, job, happiness, your day to day function--a threat to who you are as a person” and by “safe" they mean “anything that makes you stronger, better, healthier, more confident, more sure and certain--within and about yourself.” Butler & Moseley, The Explain Pain Handbook Protectometer p. 16. Their approach to resolving chronic pain is to maximize the things in your life that that make you feel safe and minimize the things in your life that make you feel in danger. Their (overpriced) Protectometer book is intended to help you do that. They group things in life that make one feel safe or alternatively in danger into seven categories, the most powerful of the seven being "things you think and believe.” In particular, you need to stop regarding chronic pain as an indicator of damaged or defective body tissue. This meshes well with Dr. Sarno’s insistence that to recover from TMS you must understand and accept that your pain is due to TMS rather than something structurally wrong.