I've explained to several friends my new approach to what I now recognise as TMS (but was diagnosed as fibromyalgia) although I haven't used the term TMS. It makes more sense to talk about a mindbody condition when I'm explaining it. I don't always explain it in full, but I try to put it in terms the person will understand. I've been pleasantly surprised. Everyone I've explained it to has had a positive reaction. My very close friends are extremely enthusiastic. There's one close friend who's had CFS/ME for many years, and I'm not sure what her reaction will be yet.
I've finished The Divided Mind and currently reading The Great Pain Deception. I was absolutely delighted to read a discussion of some of Jung's ideas in the latter! I've long felt a strong connection with Jung's ideas (I went through a Jungian-oriented therapy years ago) and I kept wondering while reading The Divided Mind 'But why doesn't he mention Jung? His concepts would fit right in here!' (In fact, Dr Sarno virtually describes using a Jungian technique called active imagination but without calling it that.)
I've been terrified of walking - almost any incidental day-to-day walking - for just short of two years now, and some of that fear, just a bit of it, is starting to melt. I'm very gradually allowing myself to restrict my walking a little less. That seems like an odd way to put it, but it's exactly right. I'm feeling a little less scared. I was on a downward spiral before I started the program - I was doing less and less walking every day, feeling that I had to stop on the way to anywhere, even somewhere close, to have a rest, limiting how often and long I walked, because I get pain and fatigue some time after any walking (I'm not talking about walking on a treadmill - I'm talking about just casual walking around in the course of daily life.) I was semi-disabled because I was fearful of walking, especially at my job, which doesn't require much moving about still requires some minimal walking. I'm still holding myself back, but less. The claws of fear are ever so slightly letting go. It's a great feeling! I'm starting to unlearn the pain and illness I had learned.
Part of this followed something I now recognise as something of a breakthrough. I had done just a tiny bit more walking than usual after work (maybe only a few metres) and sure enough, later that night I had a lot more pain in my legs and the next day I woke up feeling the way I do if I've done 'too much' - tired and unwell all over, and on the verge of feeling distressed. I told myself that this was the way I've conditioned myself to feel and that if I respectfully ignore it, it will go away. I went to work and managed fine. The next morning I felt even worse and nearly took the day off work, because rest is the thing I've conditioned myself to need when I feel that way. I had been led to believe that if you have fibro, you shouldn't push it, that you should rest if you have a flare or it will get worse. That's what I believed, anyway. But I did go to work, and the feeling of illness and the pain spike faded. I had set a new precedent - 'You don't have to 'do nothing' to get over a flare, and it doesn't have to get worse if you keep going, either!'
The fear of walking is still strong so I'm only doing tiny bits more when I feel ready for it. The thing is that only small amounts of extra everyday walking (an extra trip to the printing machine at work, for instance) can bring on symptoms, and I still feel very anxious at the prospect of 'walking more'. Sometimes that fear is quite palpable - I can feel it quite viscerally. 'If I get so much more extra pain/fatigue/illness from only a little bit more walking than usual, what will happen if I do a lot?' Hopefully as I continue to learn to 'float through' pain and other symptoms, I will become more confident about doing more and more. Any suggestions or advice will be gratefully received. Thanks for listening!
I've finished The Divided Mind and currently reading The Great Pain Deception. I was absolutely delighted to read a discussion of some of Jung's ideas in the latter! I've long felt a strong connection with Jung's ideas (I went through a Jungian-oriented therapy years ago) and I kept wondering while reading The Divided Mind 'But why doesn't he mention Jung? His concepts would fit right in here!' (In fact, Dr Sarno virtually describes using a Jungian technique called active imagination but without calling it that.)
I've been terrified of walking - almost any incidental day-to-day walking - for just short of two years now, and some of that fear, just a bit of it, is starting to melt. I'm very gradually allowing myself to restrict my walking a little less. That seems like an odd way to put it, but it's exactly right. I'm feeling a little less scared. I was on a downward spiral before I started the program - I was doing less and less walking every day, feeling that I had to stop on the way to anywhere, even somewhere close, to have a rest, limiting how often and long I walked, because I get pain and fatigue some time after any walking (I'm not talking about walking on a treadmill - I'm talking about just casual walking around in the course of daily life.) I was semi-disabled because I was fearful of walking, especially at my job, which doesn't require much moving about still requires some minimal walking. I'm still holding myself back, but less. The claws of fear are ever so slightly letting go. It's a great feeling! I'm starting to unlearn the pain and illness I had learned.
Part of this followed something I now recognise as something of a breakthrough. I had done just a tiny bit more walking than usual after work (maybe only a few metres) and sure enough, later that night I had a lot more pain in my legs and the next day I woke up feeling the way I do if I've done 'too much' - tired and unwell all over, and on the verge of feeling distressed. I told myself that this was the way I've conditioned myself to feel and that if I respectfully ignore it, it will go away. I went to work and managed fine. The next morning I felt even worse and nearly took the day off work, because rest is the thing I've conditioned myself to need when I feel that way. I had been led to believe that if you have fibro, you shouldn't push it, that you should rest if you have a flare or it will get worse. That's what I believed, anyway. But I did go to work, and the feeling of illness and the pain spike faded. I had set a new precedent - 'You don't have to 'do nothing' to get over a flare, and it doesn't have to get worse if you keep going, either!'
The fear of walking is still strong so I'm only doing tiny bits more when I feel ready for it. The thing is that only small amounts of extra everyday walking (an extra trip to the printing machine at work, for instance) can bring on symptoms, and I still feel very anxious at the prospect of 'walking more'. Sometimes that fear is quite palpable - I can feel it quite viscerally. 'If I get so much more extra pain/fatigue/illness from only a little bit more walking than usual, what will happen if I do a lot?' Hopefully as I continue to learn to 'float through' pain and other symptoms, I will become more confident about doing more and more. Any suggestions or advice will be gratefully received. Thanks for listening!
Last edited:
