Why does Physio help if the pain is psychosomatic?

Scott wrote,"I look at physio as a last resort to keep going now because it does, for me provide quick relief."

If you want to have the upper hand and someday subdue TMS completely, your last resort must be a psychological tool not physio directed at the pain.

That only shows your subconscious that you give in when going gets rough.

Never give up and never give in!

 

I get it Fred, and your quite right, I don't think of it as a TMS treatment, I look at it like a bandage, to hold me together while I do the real healing. I am well aware that this is not due to structural defects. I do not believe any part of my BODY needs healing. I am well on my path to changing my thought processes and my life situations that cause my pain, but this, as we know is not an overnight process.

The physiological problems I'm dealing with are causing the tension in my back, shoulders and neck. PT certainly lessens the tension in them muscles, my back and neck feel looser, I do not believe that is placebo, my muscles move more freely. Regardless of if there is pain or not, it is not an illusion.

I find that once I am sure that I know a particular symptom is TMS, if it starts I'm on it straight away and can block the psychological messages and can stop the pain from progressing.

In this little episode, when the pain started it wasn't really painful, because it was a new symptom to me I thought it might just be a normal mild ache due to working my shoulders hard in my job. In hindsight this was probably where I went wrong, as I accepted that the pain might not be TMS. Obviously my mind took that as the green light for full on distraction and it upped its game as soon as I finished work for the week.

The Nerve pain started at the weekend, and because I had let it escalate to this point without suspecting TMS it already had me in full time pain distraction and I just could not ignore it as it hurt with every breath in, it was like a rib at the back of my rib cage was putting pressure on a nerve. None of my usual, '"I know what this is, just ignore this and get on with it" was working because I already had the pain and it was so severe I couldn't get on with anything to prob to myself I was actually ok!

I really didn't want to go to the physio, I don't enjoy it, and it costs money. But before TMS discovery, 2 sessions a month helped me continue to work. Still with pain most of the time but just about bearable.

I think that last session was the right thing to do though because it allowed the pain to subside enough for me to, get on with work without being distracted by pain, then every time I feel it starting I can tell it where to go before it overtakes me before it causes a problem.

I think there is a lot of confusion with people new to TMS because on the one hand you have people telling you there is no physical cause for your pain and no physical treatment does anything, it's just placebo! on the other you have doctors saying there can be no psychological cause for your pain.

I can only speak for myself and like Fred said we are all unique, but I believe that my mind creates tension in my body and that tension is vital to produce the pain, it seems with me, if the tension is temporarily lessened by way of PT or massage then it cannot produce the pain successfully.

 

Do not be terrified of ATROPHY! That's what the TMS gremlin wants--YOU to be in a FEAR state--high on ANXIETY! Atrophy is no big deal and is quickly reversible by just doing it! Physiologically speaking, you don't lose muscle cells, they just shrink in tone due to lack of use. The good news is that muscle tone is quickly regained by use and exercise. In a couple of weeks muscles bounce back after not being fully used for a period of time. Basically, Dr. Sarno's view is that it is next to impossible to injure yourself through routine physical activity--"If it's too heavy to lift--you won't be able to lift it."

G'luck!
tt/lsmft

 

I have my own idea on the question for this topic. I tend to notice that I have even more relief from my butt/back pain when I do my lower body weightlifting exercises. I weightlift because I love it, but my idea is that the mind (TMS) is essentially thinking: "dammit, he just squatted and deadlifted a lot of weight, I guess my trick is losing its flair."

So basically what I am getting at to answer the OP's question is that PT could be telling your TMS that parts x, y and z in your body are capable of movement/exercise thereby dismantling TMS' stronghold. May not matter as much to certain people whether it's PT or hiking or skateboarding, for the OP it could just be more proof to you that you are capable of movement thereby reducing your conditioned responses.

 

Trust yourself.

 

Hi Giantsfan,

I think you understand exactly why I feel it is not a bad idea to use PT as a way to prove there is no damage, one of the things my PT always says is there's nothing structurally wrong with my back. Then in this particular flair up it allowed me to further prove it was okay by using it again, the fact the pain then moved to the other shoulder which had not been worked on, again, further proved to me that this pain was not due to a structural defect. I personally believe there's nothing wrong with having physio to help relieve TMS pain provided you are 100% aware that it is not a cure and also you have a PT that is not telling you they know what's wrong and that they will fix you in 8 sessions, because they don't know and they won't fix you if you do have TMS! My guy seems very honest, he never try's to sell a next session and he doesn't even really claim to know what's wrong with me, I simply tell him where the pain is and he finds and works on whatever is tightest.

I totally agree that when you start doing activity the TMS says, shit, he's still doing it, it's not working but in my case it just moved on to a new symptom!

But the thing I noticed was that all the new symptoms involved muscles or tendons that I use the most....
I have two theories about this
1) the oxygen deprivation Sarno talks about causes more pain more easily in tighter muscles
2) TMS knows you will be more likely to accept the pain as you are aware you have been using these muscles a lot

The reason why I believe 1) is more likely is because physio treatment has always given me temporary relief-(well with particular guy anyway) but more importantly my TMS simply cannot seem to produce pain in muscles that have been recently been worked on by my PT, hence why my pain moved to the shoulder that wasn't worked on, that to me is just more evidence to say that the pain cannot be caused by a structural defect as if I did have some real damage the area of pain should remain consistent.

I strongly refuse to believe that the effect is placebo or that the laying of hands or a bit of sympathy is what's doing it, not to say that not the case for some people or that it's impossible, but in my case, I don't think so.

The good news is I've not needed to go for any PT since that last session and my TMS pain is around 90% better, and you know what I can live with that, I now see it as a warning sign that I'm not happy about something that I need to address, I've been making changes in my life and I'm not quite done yet so maybe one day I'll be 100% better but for now, I'm happy with the progress,

And to Riv44, "trust yourself" ....so true

 

I stopped in at the chat yesterday and learned a couple more things. I looked for confirmation that my new friend GERD is a symptom transfer. I still am going to diagnotsic testing but recognize this symtom-switching flareup is our old friend TMS.

 

Yes Riv I am sure it is, I've had so many symptom imperatives since discovering tms, I knew about the GERD from reading sarno, I believe this was one of his own TMS symptoms. I've not had that much but a few things had since finding TMS that I attribute to psychosomatic reaction

Previous ankle injury pain, can happen almost instantly if I get pissed off with work.
Headache. Was happening the second I walked into work.
Dry itchy eyes, this was weird, it started after I noticed that this was a psychosomatic reaction to stress that my dad had because he was stressed! It now seems to happen if I am talking to a friend but I am having to repress my true feelings about something.
Itchy feet, mostly at work when I have boots on and can't get to the itch.
Itchy underarms, mostly at work.
Inflamed glands, can happen almost instantly if I get pissed off with work.
- Frequent urination with sense of urgency... Had this as a kid, was likely the first TMS symptom I ever had way before I had back pain but after I was checked by doctors and told everything was normal, it stopped, only to return as symptom imperative after discovering TMS.

Personally I believe that almost any pain or disease could have a psychological aspect.

Fortunately I've been really good lately though and if any of these symptoms occur I do not entertain any ideas that it could be any other problem than the TMS, I try to not let them distract me then they don't last long & they don't have negative affect on my lifestyle.

For a while I was worried I'd never get away from TMS in one form or another but I'm really starting to believe I will be completely free of symptoms soon. I just need to complete sorting my life out!

 

I feel better today too. I have the diagnostic testing in a month, but am pretty certain they would have sent an ambulance for me if it was dire! The first thing I do when I become aware of these symptoms is simply to notice them. It's very zen- just notice without judging and notice as it passes.