Tired as I progess

[SeattleJ213]

Hello! I developed a lot of strange symptoms after having covid in November of 2022. After a few months of dizziness, shortness of breath, insomnia, etc. I discovered mindbody theories regarding long covid. Within a month of starting therapy, I was back to exercising and my dizziness was totally gone. However, the shortness of breath and ribcage tightness persisted on and off. I learned to live with it. I had a pulmonary function test last month and my lung function is back to 100% normal, so I know it is all TMS (also had some breathing pattern irregularities that physical therapy helped with).

About a month ago I discovered this website, and it has been amazing. I have been doing the journal work and bought The Divided Mind. The tightness in my ribcage has dissipated and I feel much lighter.

One thing I am noticing now is I am very fatigued. I work a lot, and am generally pretty busy, but this tiredness is full bodied. Can anyone here speak to their experiences with exhaustion as they recover from TMS? I feel amazing outside of just kind of worn out.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

Can anyone here speak to their experiences with exhaustion as they recover from TMS?

Hey Seattle -

I didn't catch the full implication of this question when you joined the chat earlier today. This actually sounds like the classic Symptom Imperative to me. That's a term Dr Sarno came up with although I can't remember if he mentioned it in The Divided Mind, which I only read once back in 2011, or if I came across it doing the Structured Educational Program or perhaps just cruising the forum. In any case, it's incredibly common for old symptoms to get worse, or new symptoms to appear, for any combination of those two things, or, unfortunately, some people also report an increase in anxiety and even depression as they get more seriously into the work.

However it manifests this is almost sure to be your TMS brain throwing crap at you and hoping you'll give up! In other words, as proof of the TMS mechanism, it's actually great news.

Naturally, we always have to add the caveat to have a new symptom checked out if you feel there's reason for concern, but it sounds like you've done that, and the timing of this new symptom is pretty coincidental with starting the work!

If you can get to a place where you can "wear it lightly" as Nicole Sachs tells us, and keep going, you'll get past it pretty quickly and not even realize when it decides to leave you alone!

PS - stay dry the next few days - atmospheric river!

 

[TG957]

Hello! I developed a lot of strange symptoms after having covid in November of 2022. After a few months of dizziness, shortness of breath, insomnia, etc. I discovered mindbody theories regarding long covid. Within a month of starting therapy, I was back to exercising and my dizziness was totally gone. However, the shortness of breath and ribcage tightness persisted on and off. I learned to live with it. I had a pulmonary function test last month and my lung function is back to 100% normal, so I know it is all TMS (also had some breathing pattern irregularities that physical therapy helped with).

About a month ago I discovered this website, and it has been amazing. I have been doing the journal work and bought The Divided Mind. The tightness in my ribcage has dissipated and I feel much lighter.

One thing I am noticing now is I am very fatigued. I work a lot, and am generally pretty busy, but this tiredness is full bodied. Can anyone here speak to their experiences with exhaustion as they recover from TMS? I feel amazing outside of just kind of worn out.

Congratulations on your amazing success to date! Be aware that fatigue is very likely your brain's reaction to all the re-wiring that it is going through right now. I had developed fatigue during my recovery. It was very disabling. Luckily, at that time I already knew about meditation. It seemed at the time improbable that sitting and doing nothing may have an effect, but it was a miracle, although very slowly working miracle :=). It took me few months to get rid of fatigue, but it worked!

Here is a short version of my description of my meditation routine, beginning 23'47":

 

[Booble]

One thing I am noticing now is I am very fatigued. I work a lot, and am generally pretty busy, but this tiredness is full bodied. Can anyone here speak to their experiences with exhaustion as they recover from TMS?

I get this during journaling sessions. Not really journaling because I don't journal, I "write shit down" (thank you, @JanAtheCPA).
It happens almost every time I write. I start out on a particular topic or ask my inner self who wants to talk about what and then I get kind of trance like and let it all flow out from pen to paper. Often (usually!) at this point I get a sudden massive fatigue as if I must close my eyes and go to sleep right then and there. (I usually write while laying on my bed, in order to get more into the trance-like zone.) The fatigue is hard to even describe because it's so overwhelming. The first time it happened, I told myself that this must be me trying to stop myself from getting to the really deep, deep stuff and I forced myself to keep going and not shut my eyes and go to sleep. It's hard in the moment but then as I keep going it usually passes and my writing sessions usually end up upbeat after swearing and acting like a f-n lunatic (on paper).
So yes, exhaustion for sure. It seems logical that the part of the mind that is protecting us from certain feelings would use exhaustion as a tactic to keep you away from the painful or taboo stuff.

$0.02

 

[Diana-M]

Congratulations on your amazing success to date! Be aware that fatigue is very likely your brain's reaction to all the re-wiring that it is going through right now. I had developed fatigue during my recovery. It was very disabling. Luckily, at that time I already knew about meditation. It seemed at the time improbable that sitting and doing nothing may have an effect, but it was a miracle, although very slowly working miracle :=). It took me few months to get rid of fatigue, but it worked!

Here is a short version of my description of my meditation routine, beginning 23'47":

This a great interview! It explains a lot!