Wondering about OCD-chronic pain

I'm introducing myself as I've just signed up. I wondered for a bit about what to put as the title for this introductory thread and decided on the above because that is what brought me to this site.

I was having specialist CBT for chronic OCD (had from age 5, following ACEs). My therapist was really pleased at my progress and was just about to sign me off (and this really was a sign off because the therapy was on the NHS, so once my scores are down, or after 10 sessions, I'm out!) but then I had a flare up of shoulder pain which made it hard for me to sleep and was accompanied by a big upsurge in my OCD symptoms. My therapist was pretty upset ("Why has your OCD got so much worse!!") and I tried to calm her (she really did need calming - she was upset she was not going to achieve her targets for anxiety reduction for the month/year...) by telling her that I thought it was because of the shoulder pain. My therapist then said I should be discharged from the OCD therapy and enrol in the pain clinic. "No!" I said, "I want to complete this course of therapy!" I had visions of ricochetting back and forth between OCD therapy and the pain clinic.

I realised then that there was a link between the OCD and the chronic pain so started to research on the internet.

After very many years of having discrete treatment for symptom after symptom only for another one to pop up to replace the last one, I finally found that almost all of my symptoms (and there are very many from 50 years plus of it) are probably the result of those ACEs.

In the meantime I had lost one job due to being a whistle-blower and another due to the Covid pandemic. And I had 'retrained' as a hypnotherapist and mindfulness teacher. With my networks pretty much gone due to two job losses in aggravated circumstances and a move to a new city I have not had a single client for these therapy services (no-one told me that networks are so important in getting going with private therapy work - should I feel bitter?! They took the money, after-all, and it does seem a rather important piece of information to miss out - or is it just a hidden assumption that no-one thinks about because mostly networks are in place and intact?), so have entertained myself working on transforming these therapy skills with PPDs in mind for my, at present, fantasy business.

Fortunately I have a very small pension and my partner has a more sensible sized pension so these life mishaps have not left us destitute!

I try to enjoy the process and not get too hung up on where it is leading to.

 

OMG... Between this story and stories from others,(mostly @plum ) Britain sounds HELLISH. Fuck her in the neck...you are a patient for OCD which is triggered by pressures and anxiety and she's adding more? I'll personally email her and tell her what a CLOWN she is for you!

Aint that a Bitch! I'd be seething pissed and knock over someone's table, but then again, you were foolish enough to buy into that warm fuzzy BS..gotta own that one. Like my GF with the Gnarly student loan who is a ballerina...oops

Dependency issues are at the heart of TMS and OCD.

I had OCD. Funny...it started when I lived in Europe. Maybe it's in the air or maybe it comes from living in an Hellish nanny state. I went through quite a shock when my Family moved here to the states BUT, I did find a simple effective therapy for OCD right after I had a simple recovery via Sarno.

If I had to pick, I'd take an icepick to my own Leg before I'd suffer from OCD and those hellish circular thoughts for an hour...By far the most destructive thing in my life...waay worse than the pain which drove me to contemplate suicide.....When involved in OCD episodes, for all intents and purposes, you aren't even alive.

Here's a link to an explanation of the therapy. It's FREE because like all things that work, you have to do it alone BUT you can PM me and I'll do anything I can to help you out of that, cuz it sucks. I know.

https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/what-i-would-change.24382/page-2#post-127259 (Day 20 - What I would change)

 

Welcome @green twining.

I just want to say that I appreciate your very first post, which is just the right length, and does not go into lengthy (and irrelevant) detail about your physical symptoms. That's a hugely important key to this process, IMHO, and a great start down this particular road to recovery.

Dr. Sarno, and, I believe, all of the mindbody practioners who have been following and building on his work since his day, believe that anxiety, depression, and related conditions such as OCD are TMS equivalents. Depression is a tough one, and an evil one, and has multiple forms, but I think I'm safe in saying that anxiety and certainly OCD, in accordance with Dr. Sarno's theories, clearly act as distractions which keep our fearful primitive brains on edge and constantly looking out for danger. From my own experience and from 11 years of participation on this forum, and I have no problem asserting that they invariably end up existing along with chronic physical symptoms of some sort. So I feel like you're on the right track.

Good luck!

~Jan

PS - what @Baseball65 said about the NHS - we've been hearing some stories, I tell you...

 

Due to the hubby’s Parkinson’s I’ve interacted with the NHS for the best part of 20 years now. It’s been frustrating on an epic level and under Tory rule has managed to become complete chaos. Way too much money going to idiots at the top, stupid amounts of red tape, completely baffling internal systems… we’re crashing towards privatisation which will be the nail in the coffin for souls like my beloved.

But the peeps who work in the field are mostly fantastic and do their very best in a system that undervalues them (only unpaid carers like myself are less valued and respected), and there are some absolute gems. My husband’s team are exceptional in every way but Christ was it a nightmare to find them.

You have to be very proactive bordering on pushy to truly get anywhere. It can be a bruising system to navigate. And I’ve heard some real horror stories of late, largely because the staff are exhausted from battling the pandemic and they can barely function. It’s a real shame that something with such good intent is currently on its knees.