Pain science blog post

Hi all,

I know the blog Pain Science is one that many of us have referenced and followed here on the forums, and I just came across this post by the authors about his own struggle with chronic pain. Normally he does a pretty good job debunking structural theories of pain, though he is not a TMS advocate. This more personal post just really struck me, as I got hopeful reading it but then sad for him...he realizes his pain is basically psychosomatic but doesn't make the leap that we have here to commit to treating it psychologically. It makes me really want to reach out to him but I know you have to come to TMS of your own accord! It also just really highlights the continued stigma of anything mental health related, I feel for him. Here's to hoping he'll come around to our approach someday and get relief from his pain.

http://www.paulingraham.com/chronic-pain-tragic-irony.html (Chronic Pain and Tragic Irony)

 

Yes Paul ingraham’s website was the first important website i found one my search for real ‘help’ on pain.
And it has stayed that , together with this wiki untill this day. I think its the best of both worlds. Don’t think he does not believe in mind body connection.
His website is the best out there when it comes to being a huge pain information platform. Maybe this nasty experience he is going thru will even provide more knowledge . and bring him better days
I truely hope so !

 

So all that stress! Is it psychosomatic then? Am I a “basket case”?
Definitely maybe. This is the other big reason for the stigma of fibromyalgia. A strong pattern of diverse sensory and nonspecific symptoms with no objective signs of medical trouble tends to suggest psychosomatic illness. My symptoms are so diverse that it would be tough for one or even a couple diseases to cause all of them, but there is almost no limit to how much crap our own minds can inflict on us.

I often fall into the habit of assuming that psychosomatic symptoms are mostly minor because they are “just” psychological. While there are lots of minor ones, there are also plenty of surprisingly dire psychosomatic symptoms (excellent 15-minute lecture there). So I have to admit — in the absence of evidence to the contrary — that my symptoms could be the medical equivalent of being convinced by a hypnotist that I can’t pull my hands apart.

Many times my symptoms have escalated to the point that would have sent any sane person to a hospital. But I’ve been through eleventy-one of those crises, and I know the drill: the WTF-symptom-of-the-week will back off eventually, never to return, or not for weeks or months. This habit my symptoms have of backing off “just in time” also smacks of psychology to me. (Or, of course, just good ol’ regression to the mean.)
____

there is hope for him...

 

I was going to start a new thread, but found this one from back in 2018 that references Painscience.com...

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I found Paul Ingraham's site when I was having my own crisis (my hip labral tear / FAI "issue" that led to my hip surgery and eventually discovering TMS). I distinctly remember the rabbit hole I was down - in a hotel on a work trip and with my laptop up on the bed googling symptoms etc - and I came across Paul's site and thought WOW, here is the treasure trove. This guy has researched and covered everything, I'll definitely find the answer here! What a laugh that is in hindsight. Eventually I landed on his page linked above where he himself has been afflicted with bizarre and rare chronic pain - and I also distinctly remember the feeling I had too at that time - "what if it afflicts me?!?!?" Lots of despair and catastrophic thinking.

For those unfamiliar Painscience.com is a website amalgamating all known chronic pain diseases/scenarios and all the varied "failed" cures. There may be some successful cures listed in there somewhere, but that's not the point of the site - which instead lists all of the varied/myriad failed cures - the theme of the site seems to be the futility of cures for chronic pain of many types. It's almost like an ESPN.com for pain, where it only shows scores of all your favorite teams WHEN THEY LOSE. Of course, it's not surprising that a purveyor of such a site would be afflicted with the very chronic pains for which he documents no known cures - he is wallowing in negativity and virtually surrounded by it constantly as his literal job. Compounding the situation is that Paul gives off a distinct know-it-all attitude which makes him all that more resistant to considering something like TMS which is about accepting our faults, giving in to the process, having humility, etc. I really feel sorry for the guy, but as was said above, people have to discover TMS on their own most of the time.

Of course, once I found TMS techniques I went back to the site to see what he had to say about it - he does cover Sarno and he even gives credit for TMS therapy working, but dismisses it as a narrow use case and even faults Sarno with trying to apply the techniques "to everything."

Anyway, the reason I came here to post is that Painscience.com has a new page up dedicated to CRPS and how "bizarre" a disease it is:

https://www.painscience.com/blog/malevolent-force--the-profound-bizarre-impact-of-crps.html (“A malevolent force”: The profound, bizarre impact of CRPS)

 

Wow, @Mr Hip Guy ! Thanks for sharing! A lot of the descriptions in this article are exactly how I feel. And they are just so darn weird! That has been my biggest hurdle to accepting TMS as the reason for my symptoms. They aren’t necessarily pain, but sometimes they do cause pain. For anyone relating to all this, I will say what has helped me the most to believe fully in TMS this time has been:

—Time spent on this forum (people do feel like me. I’m not the only one. It must be TMS.)
—Claire Weekes — her books have persuaded me that exacerbated nerves can do the darnedest things.
—Writing up my own exception sheet — all the little things that just don’t make sense any other way except for me having TMS. The times my symptoms have contradicted themselves.
—John Sarno’s book, The Mindbody Prescription vividly explains how nerves mildly deprived of oxygen create very random crazy symptoms all over the body. Weakness, buzzing, numbness, loss of control of limbs. All of it.

Here’s something that’s very pervasive throughout this forum—almost everyone on here now had symptoms explode during the pandemic or right after. Why? trauma PTSD— prolonged distress, prolonged adrenaline overload. Think of it like the old-fashioned word “nervous breakdown.” The electrical impulses in our bodies have just broken down. They’re haywire. We just plain have to rest our systems and to do that we have to fix everything that’s been stressing us in addition to healing from the pandemic. We need time to pass. And, we need to plug the holes and not let any more trauma come in. (And, for some of us, there’s still a lot of trauma leaking in.)

I believe we can all get better even from these weird symptoms! I can’t wait for the day when I write my success story and prove myself right. Until then, I rely upon the testimonies of everybody on this forum, the writings and direction of John Sarno, Claire Weekes, Nichole Sachs, Dan Buglio and others.

I also avoid the news like the plague. I know this makes me uninformed. Maybe some people would consider me stupid for doing this. But what does the information do me? Does it prepare me for tragedy? Does it prepare me for anything? No. I will still have to face whatever happens when it comes. Best, just for now, to rest my nervous system— create my own little cocoon, where I can turn adrenaline down to a bare minimum. That’s my strategy folks— and I’m stickin’ to it!