Some advice...sudden new pain

I wondered if anyone had any advice.

Things have been progressing well albeit a bit slowly since I accepted TMS as the cause of my chronic neck pain. The pain had been fairly stable for years, being a low-level, aching tightness that occupied my thoughts constantly but was never excruciatingly painful. It moved around slightly but had mostly stayed on one side (switched sides a couple of times over the course of 1.5 years). On reading Healing Back Pain it started switching sides every few days which was my first evidence that TMS was the real cause (or rather, that Sarno had the solution, since I already intuitively knew that the pain was psychological before I ever heard about TMS or Sarno - I simply had no frame of reference to heal it, which is what Sarno gave me).

So after about 10 months now, the periods of time with no pain were growing longer and longer. I was going weeks with hardly a thought about pain. Every couple of months there would be a relapse into the old pain patterns, which would then stop after a week or so. Even during the pain periods, it wasn't that bad.

But yesterday, at some point in the afternoon (I could pinpoint it to practically the minute - it started very suddenly, unlike other relapses), I developed a sharp pain in my upper back/neck area (right side). Within a short time it was very intense, and persisted throughout today. It is a kind of pain I never experienced in all the time having neck pain. A stabbing kind of pain, going through my back to my chest. It actually hurts to breathe a little bit. Had I not had this long battle with pain in the same area, I would be worried it was a serious medical problem, but as it is I am sure it is related to my previous neck pain. The problem is that it is so much more painful than any of my previous pain, and quite a bit sharper and more specifically located. I never had pain breathing, and it hurts to move - for instance, stretching my arms behind me, as I frequently do, is nearly impossible.

How should I think about this, and what should I do? I could not help but start sliding back to dark thoughts such as "what if my previously slightly bulging disc just herniated, and my problems were all physical after all?" or "what if allowing this pain to continue is forging new neural pathways in my brain which I will be fighting for years?" or even "what if I have a blood clot in my lung?" (I don't really believe that though). It feels like something is stuck, and I have even had sinful thoughts about calling up a chiropractor.

Any advice? Has anyone experienced this? Is it an extinction burst, or the start of a new problem?

 

@harryhaller

It could be viewed as an extinction burst I suppose. I don't put much thought into this type of pain anymore.

I still get this from time to time in my right shoulder, neck and collar bone. I had an RSI from constantly doing overhead movements on just my right side, so naturally my issue only affects the right. Most days I'm great, but there are some days where I'll wake up with a slight ache in the right neck and shoulder. This will become a tense, and often, shooting pain later on. It feels like short nerve pinch or spasm. I largely ignore it, and by the time I'm back at home it has magically disappeared.

I swear for all of the back and neck tension I'll get some days, once I pass the threshold to my home I literally forget I had it.

 

If you did not do anything to injure yourself acutely, and it feels like your 'usual' tms pain but more intensified then it probably is just tms. Your mind will try to draw you back in by giving you symptoms that are more alarming/intense. Pay no attention to it, reassure yourself that you know exactly what to do and wait for time to pass. I'm sure you are mindful of more serious reasons for these symptoms and will not take chances with these, but it is not a spinal issue.

One other reason could be a pulled muscle in your upper back, but this should be short lived and again paying less attention to it and keeping calm will help you get back to normal more quickly.

 

What is going on in your life that would necessitate a distraction? We only get relapses because... A. we go back to believing the structural fable or B. Something that ought to have us angry,afraid, excited ISN'T.

I think every 'long term' cured person on this board has has mystery symptom shift, relapse.

I had one that matches the description you're having. It was after a game of long toss with one of my sports 'hero's' who I happened to run into.... Later, it was obvious that I was VERY nervous to show this pro sports guy how good I was. As soon as we were done, I got your described symptoms AND my vision started strobing in and out... I thought 'Oh crap...heart attack?"

Nope... just plain old 'I am not good enough' low self esteem-TMS. Fear variety

 

Thanks for the comments. This did happen during a professional competition, just prior to the last round. But I do this for a living and am used to it. In fact, the pain usually goes away during tournaments. It is somewhat better today and has mostly returned to the level of a normal bad pain day (rather than the stabbing pain of yesterday). It's bizarre that despite so much success with Sarno, every time the pain persists for a day or so, doubts begin to form again, even if I am absolutely convinced in TMS when there is no pain.

 

Just keep going with your positive affirmations that this is all just psychological, you are definitely getting the hang of it. I agree with Baseball65 that there may have been some emotional repression at play which showed up as pain. Nothing more than that, and nothing to fear.