Return of Symptoms

Over the past few weeks I've seen a pretty significant return in TMS symptoms. For me, TMS manifests as low back pain as well as numbness in my right wrist. 3 years ago I overcame a 2-year struggle with back pain (which during the process was replaced by wrist numbness) by discovering TMS, accepting the diagnosis, and working through some issues. At that point in time I dealt with the symptoms through a wide array of tools- reading books (Sarno's & a few others), going through part of the Structured Program, posting a bit on this forum, journaling, recording & listening too my own affirmations, and psychotherapy (I'm sure I'm forgetting a few). I'll have to add my success story to my profile when I have some time.

Anyway, the symptoms have returned. It began with back pain and now includes the wrist sensation again as well (unfortunately this time around it's in addition to the back pain, not instead of). It's taken me some time to again start implementing the tools, perhaps because I didn't want to start doing the work again, or maybe because the pain hadn't been bad enough to warrant it, but I finally have. Last week I returned to therapy and while the session went well, the symptoms have continued to worsen, but I am trying to remind myself that this could likely mean there are repressed emotions nearing the surface. I've also began downloading and listening to recordings of the Tuesday night call-in discussions, which I find to be helpful during my commute.

In any case, I don't necessarily have any questions right now, but the purpose of this post is more of a way to reintroduce myself to the community and again ask for support as I do some deep work. Looking back, this website has been such a valuable resource for me, and the people posting in the forum have been so helpful, never asking anything in return. My hope is that as I begin this new chapter I will be a more active poster and that by doing this can contribute in some small way.

 

Welcome David, I think you've over come it once, albeit temporary, so at least you have the advantage of being familiar with the methodology.

Without sounding negative, I think, TMS can be a life long journey for some of us if we don't recognise or change the thinking that puts us into a constant state of fight or flight.

If I were you I'd carry on reading, thinking psychologically, creating an evidence sheet and working through the SEP and perhaps incorporate mindfulness and mindfulness meditation into your life. Above all, try not to sink into the feeling of fear and be very kind and gentle to yourself as you work through the process.

I wish you luck on your journey and it's great that you felt that you could reach out to the community again.

Best regards

 

Hi David, welcome back, and I do hope you become a regular contributor, because you write really well and I can tell that you have a lot to offer!

Mike mentioned mindfulness and meditation, which have become quite the topic recently, especially with so much recent research from neuroscience which shows that all forms of mindfulness and meditation create positive changes in our brains. I've been doing this work since 2011, but I've only recently decided to get serious about it. There are so many new resources now, and I'm cheered by the news that you don't have to practice for hours a day.

Mike and I keep taking turns telling people about the free month-long Mindfulness Summit that just started today - you can see the forum discussion on this thread, and you can register using the link in my signature line below.

 

Keep fighting, I had a relapse not to long ago and right now pretty much pain free. I had to tell myself to stop focusing on the pain again. good luck

 

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I also appreciate the suggestions to incorporate mindfulness/meditation into my recovery. I found that to be a very helpful tool last time around but had forgotten about it. For me personally, I think meditation is a great compliment to the other parts of recovery because it doesn't feel like work, compared to something like journaling. I think both are important but if I'm having a rough day sometimes the last thing I want to do is expend the mental energy of composing a journal entry. Of course it can be beneficial to power through and do that difficult work but other times, in the interest of being easy on myself, just being with my breath for 10 or 20 minutes is the way to go.

 

Hi David,

I agree, most find journalling quite difficult. I guess once you've done the digging and identified any emotional patterns you can ease off and use mindfulness and meditation to get past the toxic thinking and emotional blockages.