interesting about the "not caring" thing, but it's sort of true. For instance, i had terrible bladder pain (interstitial cystitis) that was raging for a year and showed no signs of stopping. i was convinced i had "nerve damage of the bladder" or inflammation (this is before i heard of TMS, and IC was considered a physical disease). Well, i ended up having a pudendal nerve block, which was a huge mistake. i've told this story many times here, but the injection wildly irritated my pudendal nerve and caused me to develop pudendal neuralgia (a rare reaction) and for a while, both conditions overlapped, but i didnt CARE about the bladder pain much, because at this point, i was in pain management and they were giving me meds that helped the bladder, but the meds didnt help the pudendal pain much, not to mention, i found the pudendal pain much more disabling to my life. I was an avid cyclist, it was my entire life and identity, and the idea that i might never ride a bike again was devastating. Basically, there was a new threat in town, and the bladder pain took a back seat in my brain. After a month, it just sort of...went away. A year of hell, for it just to vanish because i stopped caring.
So now it's been over two years and i'm still fighting the pudendal beast and i cant beat it. I have made strides though, mostly in getting some of my exercise back using mind/body approaches. i just havnt figured out how to dull the pain in my "down time" and while i work my desk job. The associations during quiet time and rest are just too strong. if i'm up moving around and distracted, my pain is very low. if i'm quiet, bored, and resting, the pain is thru the roof. I cant shake it.