TMS Causing Pain During Sleep?

So, I have a sleep issue I'd like thoughts on. No problems falling asleep, but I'm waking up with terrible pain.

Is it possible that TMS is cutting off oxygen to my butt/leg during the night while I sleep? I've started journaling and releasing feelings as of last weekend. For the last 5 nights or so, I'm waking up in terrible pain - my whole leg/bum feels numb and crushed. I move positions and fall back to sleep, only to be woken up in more terrible pain. Could my dreams/subconscious be stimulating aggravated symptoms of TMS while I sleep? I'm just trying to understand and make some sense of it.

Background: I have a herniated/blown disc on L4/L5 and also the worst one at L5/S1 (hitting on the nerve), of which the surgeon wants to do a microdisctectomy on. I cancelled surgery and am working on this from a 100% TMS standpoint after having read Sarno's book (Just got Steve O's book in the mail today). Unfortunately I'm having to self-diagnose here since I live in a small po-dunk town in Florida and there are no TMS docs that I'm aware of. I've been completely confined to bed for over two weeks now (and on and off with this pattern for months and months) I am now worse than I have ever been. 41 yr old female. Years of "nervous stomach" digestive issues; "seasonal" allergies; fearful person by nature (yet come across as very confident); frequent urination when nervous, etc.

 

Hi tgrllyct,
Waking up with pain and migraines is a problem I've had, too, as have many on this forum. It appears that the same factors that cause TMS during waking hours can cause TMS during sleep and dreams. But the good news is that the techniques that work to heal TMS, will decrease symptoms when awake and asleep. Here's a link to a thread on this forum where this was discussed:

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/pain-upon-waking.2272/


So you should see improvement by "working the program".

Best wishes to you...

 

You defiantly have all the tms traits. Just keep with the program and loose the focus on the body. Think more emotional. What is bothering you in the present other than the pain. Its common that the pain will get a bit worse when you begin to get better by touching on emotional issues. Your doing exactly the way you want to do to heal. In a little while you will loose this over exaggerated pain and you will begin to have less pain. Just stay away from thinking physical cause that is what will keep you in pain ok.

Bless You

 

Thanks to you both, Herbie and Ellen - good points, and comforting to know.
Still trying to figure out how to actually "think more emotional" - I can think and identify feelings. I can sit here and cry as I tap in deeper and deeper, or write in my journal. But is there a trick to "thinking emotional?" I'll scan the boards tomorrow to look for some tips on it. I've always been one to bury my feelings/emotions, so now the challenge of tapping into them and pulling them into the conscious realm!

 

Tgrilyct, first…what an adorable doggie! Walt mentioned told me how adorable your baby is and I concur!

Waking up in pain is something I'm still dealing with. I have years of conditioning to unlearn so I'm handling it from that viewpoint. I've slowly gotten rid of extra pillows so I remind myself that I HAVE made progress.

When I wake up, I have Dr. Sarno's audio book on my iPod and I will listen to it on a very low volume. I also use imagery…I picture gentle winds blowing fresh life and oxygen into my aching body parts. (Usually, it's the hip that I'm sleeping on since I tend to be a side sleeper.)

The most severe manifestation I ever had of TMS was 20 years ago when I was pregnant with my firstborn. I had a leg cramp of epic proportions in the middle of the night. It was a pain I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy and as a result I had a knot in my calf for YEARS.

So yeah, TMS likes to prey upon us while we sleep. Let your brain know that you're onto its tricks and know it takes time to walk out this healing.

 

I found the following in a google search for "emotional thinking:"

http://www.kaaj.com/psych/scales/et.html

There are other entries and I haven't read them, but if you want to learn more
about emotional thinking, these can give you a short course in the subject.