Tms, Paxil withdrawal, nerve pain

Hi Frank,

There are a lot of stories in our Success Subforum from members who have recovered from incredibly lengthy lists of what seem like intractable and overwhelming symptoms. I suggest that you start there. Read at least a couple every day (unless they are super-long - one of those a day is enough - but they are always worth the time!)

Oh, and check out my post about The Mind And Fitness Podcast. Lots of good advice for people who are stuck.

Good luck,

~Jan

 

Frank, your pain is there because you have allowed yourself to be a victim of your situation, and your brain doesn't want you to be aware of that. Get back to journaling, and be honest about the choices you are making. You have to acknowledge and accept the truth about reality, and stop hating yourself. When you do that, your brain will give up trying to cover up.

 

Have you even read Dr Sarno?

 

It seems that you missed his whole point. I recommend his last book, The Divided Mind.

How about the SEP? Our Structured Educational Program?

 

Look, I've been trying to do this on my phone and now I have to go, but I'll get back to you.

 

In the meantime, check out @Nicole J. Sachs LCSW. She really addresses this issue.

 

I'm copying and pasting something I just wrote for someone else, because these three things are the key to doing this work.

This work is all about taking control over your unconscious negative thoughts, the ones that your primitive brain is trying to overwhelm you with - so that it can keep you safe and in fear at all times. You MUST TAKE CONTROL and call bullshit on that crap!

You also MUST be willing to look hard and completely honestly at the negative emotions your primitive brain is trying to cover up with the symptoms.

Most importantly (and this is mentioned frequently in my favorite podcasts, in the SEP and the Recovery Program, and in every Success Story) you have to stop obsessing about your symptoms. That's part of the negative chatter that you are allowing to take control of your thoughts.

 

And getting back to this: To me, this means that you completely missed the point of Dr. Sarno's work. You need another way to understand the concepts, and the book I would recommend for you is The Great Pain Deception by @Steve Ozanich, (a friend of the forum). For one thing, he brilliantly explains how Freud's theories mesh with with the TMS concept. Dr. Sarno was the one who originally went back to Freud, but Steve does a better job explaining the connection, and the significance.

To address your two statements specifically:

1. You don't need to change your life in order to accept your life and, most importantly, your role in your life. Right now you are hating on yourself for your situation. You can't recover if you don't love yourself enough to know that you deserve to recover. The first thing you need to love yourself for is being here, right now, exploring the TMS concept!

2. You're already sad and depressed, my friend! That's what your TMS symptoms are covering up! You have to be willing to take the risk and look at the repressed emotions that your brain thinks are too dangerous for you to acknowledge. You look at them, you acknowledge their right to exist, and you accept yourself for having them. And you let go of the power that the fear of those emotions currently has over you. Steve O will explain this to you.

3. Finally, be patient and be open-minded. You don't understand TMS enough right now to be able to accept it - and without acceptance, you can't recover. But acceptance is simply a state of mind - and our minds can change - all it takes is a moment of insight, followed by acceptance.

Check out my tagline.

 

These are my all-time favorite resources:

The Divided Mind by Dr. John Sarno (plus six other health professionals weighing in)
The Great Pain Deception by Steve Ozanich
Hope & Help For Your Nerves by Claire Weekes (for anxiety)
Meditations to Change Your Brain (audio program) by Richard Mendius, MD and Rick Hanson, PhD

The first four of these helped me save my own life back in 2011 (8 years ago!) I also did the SEP - our Structured Educational Program. Since then, we also have Alan Gordon's Recovery Program, graciously donated to us by Alan.

These podcasts are helping me stay on target or pull myself out of relapses when they happen. These are tough times, TMS is clearly epidemic (scarily, among so many young people now!) and we all need all the help we can get. Fortunately, the resources out there are almost unlimited, including these two brilliant people:
The Cure For Chronic Pain, a podcast by @Nicole J. Sachs LCSW
The Mind and Fitness Podcast, by @LindenSwole, aka Eddy Lindenstein

And let's not forget our own Success Stories subforum. Anyone who is struggling needs to go to the earliest post on that subforum, and start reading. Read one or two a day (some are very long, but well worth the time spent), so that you can truly absorb the wealth of experience and advice in each story. Each story is as unique as each human being that has ever lived is unique. Have faith that you WILL find at least one story that resonates with you, and you will find at least one element in each story that does the same.

The Divided Mind, Hope & Help For Your Nerves, and Meditations To Change Your Brain are all available at my local library, but it's a multi-branch city one, so that might not be true for everyone. Amazon will have used copies of many books. Podcasts are accessed using a podcast app on your phone or computer.