Weather

This used to be a problem for me. I attribute it to conditioning. There is some science that weather changes (particularly changes in barometric pressure) can be felt in the body. However, the effects are very slight, though noticeable. These slight effects when felt at the same time we are having TMS are then associated together, like Pavlov's dog salivating when it hears a bell associated with food. Then when we feel the weather changes our brain assumes it means we are going to have TMS, and so we do.

I countered this conditioning by telling myself when I felt those slight weather-related twinges that there is no evidence that changes in weather can lead to the pain of TMS. I'd say something like "Stop it brain! There is no reason for a weather change to cause pain. So just knock it off!" Eventually, this worked. I no longer get TMS when the weather changes.
 
Agree. Seasonal changes can tricky. It doesn't seem to make sense. But it may well have to do with what Ellen mentioned that the body prepares itself for temperature changes, etc. It may also be past experiences popping up. Our brains tend to remember the hard ones, espeically if they are recent. (Oh no, remember that bad summer you had???)

If you're out here in LA, you just hate hot summers lol. Maybe it's that simple. :)
 
untangledweb said:
This is perfect timing. Thank you
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I think I'm having arthritis flare-ups due to this also. For 2 years I had no osteoarthritis (OA) pain. I thought it was gone forever. But, thinking back, that's when I also had GI problems and then the back pain issues started. I never related any of these to TMS until 5 months ago when my PT had me read Sarno's book Healing Back Pain. Within a week all the back and leg/nerve/muscle pain stopped. But then the OA pain kicked in!! Reluctant to atribute the OA pain from TMS, I thought jt had to be the weather - humidity - rain, etc. associate with past OA flare-ups. Thanks for reminding me that past experiences can trigger pain. And now I'm working on the root cause of the OA in general. If it was gone for 2 years, there's no reason other than TMS as to why it's back again...
 
even in my opinion it is about conditioning. I have noticed that in moments of greater stress the intervening variables that contribute from trigger to pains are innumerable, but I would remain focused on internal ones, because looking for an external triggering cause is like looking for an escape to what is happening to us intimately in that given moment and this, as Sarno teaches, takes us away from seeing things psychologically, rather than physically.
 
Pietro Carloni said:
even in my opinion it is about conditioning. I have noticed that in moments of greater stress the intervening variables that contribute from trigger to pains are innumerable, but I would remain focused on internal ones, because looking for an external triggering cause is like looking for an escape to what is happening to us intimately in that given moment and this, as Sarno teaches, takes us away from seeing things psychologically, rather than physically.
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While I understand and agree with you about conditioning and it being about my internal world as opposed to my external one. I don’t understand why I would wake up into the pain without knowing there was a weather change? How does that fit into the conditioning theory?
 
On Saturday I had a spasm of the back muscles after putting the clothes to dry on the balcony. my brain automatically connected the traumatic event to some movement I did while I was hanging out my clothes. I was afraid of this pain that I had never felt before, but the next day I told myself that it is impossible that the trauma is connected to some wrong movement and after a few hours the pain is reduced by 50%.
What I want to say is that the mind is unconsciously always looking for external causes and has a very accelerated processing capacity compared to our conscious part. When this justification reaches conscience, in my opinion, it means that our unconscious part has chosen that solution as more credible among millions of others.

In a nutshell I think, but this is the result of my personal impressions, that the mind can find a cause even when this cause is not there or is totally unlikely, as long as the cause is functional to the perpetuation of the strategy
 
I am not sure about this one
Seasonal depression us a real thing coming from lack of light .
I have that , but strangly as i grow older this feeling starts already in september when i realize ‘fall is starting ‘
So there is then not really short of light then but i start thinking about it and next having feelings about it.
Same with the weather : i hate very cold and very warm weather.
When the temp dropes very rappid : Lately pretty extreem : i always feel sickess, like i cannot adapt so quickly
it seems.. my body needs time .. or: is it al in my thoughts about that ?
 
untangledweb said:
While I understand and agree with you about conditioning and it being about my internal world as opposed to my external one. I don’t understand why I would wake up into the pain without knowing there was a weather change? How does that fit into the conditioning theory?
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You can feel the changes in your body even though you are not aware of the weather report. But these changes are not directly the cause of TMS. In conditioning (or associative learning) your TMS "piggybacks" on these changes you feel in your body. So we then attribute the TMS to the changes in weather, when in reality they have just become associated together in our mind.
 
Here is something to think about in regards to conditioning and neural pathways. Lol, and whatever else science knows that I don't

My friend's mother had dementia in her late 80's. When she was in her late 20's her full term baby was stillborn. Every year on the day of the birth she would be sad, but she didn't know why. Even the last year when she no longer recognized family members, on that day she said she knew something sad but she didn't know what it was.

This is not the same as repressed emotions, but is still interesting to me.
 
Lizzy said:
Here is something to think about in regards to conditioning and neural pathways. Lol, and whatever else science knows that I don't

My friend's mother had dementia in her late 80's. When she was in her late 20's her full term baby was stillborn. Every year on the day of the birth she would be sad, but she didn't know why. Even the last year when she no longer recognized family members, on that day she said she knew something sad but she didn't know what it was.

This is not the same as repressed emotions, but is still interesting to me.
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That’s really interesting. Somethings are so ingrained in us, but we really don’t know at a conscious level what’s going on inside
 
Ellen said:
You can feel the changes in your body even though you are not aware of the weather report. But these changes are not directly the cause of TMS. In conditioning (or associative learning) your TMS "piggybacks" on these changes you feel in your body. So we then attribute the TMS to the changes in weather, when in reality they have just become associated together in our mind.
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I just got it! Yes the changes may go on in my body and I can feel the changes in the barometric pressure. The TMS is what makes this change painful, instead of just changes. And it doesn’t happen every time. I wonder what I can do to reinforce and myself that barometric pressure is just barometric pressure and is not painful nor has it ever been.
 
untangledweb said:
I just got it! Yes the changes may go on in my body and I can feel the changes in the barometric pressure. The TMS is what makes this change painful, instead of just changes. And it doesn’t happen every time. I wonder what I can do to reinforce and myself that barometric pressure is just barometric pressure and is not painful nor has it ever been.
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Yes, that's it. Just keep telling yourself that there is no reason that weather changes should cause pain. Our rational brain can eventually override our primitive brain, but it takes persistence and consistency.
 
Ellen said:
Yes, that's it. Just keep telling yourself that there is no reason that weather changes should cause pain. Our rational brain can eventually override our primitive brain, but it takes persistence and consistency.
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The pressure dropped today when a storm moved through. I didn’t feel it at all. When I started to think about it, I could feel the slight aura of pain. I told myself to fricking knock it off and instead looked at how beautiful the rain was and the pain stopped! I went and had a couple beers with a friend that is in town (because that doesn’t bother me anymore either ;)
 
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