All Forums  TMSHelp  TMSHelp General Forum  Just do it -- a progress report

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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by vikki[/i] [br]I posted here over the summer, shortly after I'd seen Dr. Schechter about my TMS. I was frustrated at the time and driving myself crazy trying to figure out the emotion I was repressing. I thought I'd report back on my progress, which has been significant. The approach that has worked for me is "just do it." I was waiting for the pain to diminish before resuming my normal activities. But back in August, when I was on a cross-country flight, I decided to "just do it" -- and I sat through the whole flight. (Normally I would have roamed the aisles because of my sitting pain.) My butt hurt SO BADLY that it brought tears to my eyes. I thought I was going to pass out. But I kept sitting, and I did my best to ignore the pain by reading a magazine. My attitude was almost one of curiosity -- I wanted to see what would happen if I challenged the pain. The next day, my pain was much better. The next significant improvement occurred several weeks later, when I again decided to "just do it" and go on a 10-mile hike with my husband. I was in incredible pain during the hike, but I persisted. The next day, again, I had significant improvement. Since then, I've slowly increased my activities. Now, I sit wherever I want -- yeah, it still bothers me (sometimes a lot), but on average it's 70% better and I can ignore it. I'm not fixated on getting rid of it because I know there's nothing wrong with me physically, and no matter what happens, I am strong enough to bear the pain and do whatever I want. I don't hesitate now to book long flights, or anything else I used to avoid. I am back to running, kickboxing, and everything else I used to do, at the same level as before. For me personally, the psychological angle hasn't played that much of a role. I have not kept a diary or tried to uncover repressed emotions or sort out troubled relationships. (I initially tried Dr. Schechter's workbook and psychotherapy with at TMS person he recommended.) I found that doing this stressed me out too much and kept me too focused on discovering the "magical" emotion or attitude that would give me an instant cure. It kept me fixated on getting rid of the pain -- and when you devote so much conscious attention to worrying about the pain, you are reinforcing the screwed up pain circuit that's causing the pain. That's not to say the psychological stuff isn't important -- I just didn't focus on it much. In my experience, if you challenge the pain (by ignoring it, doing whatever you want, and feeling confident that there's nothing wrong with you physically), it will leave you alone. To get this to work, I had to bear a significant amount of pain -- but I did it. I viewed bearing the pain kind of like a tough workout -- if I do it now, I'll see results soon. And I did :-))) Anyway, just wanted to post a quick update. Everyone's experience with this seems to be unique. This seems to be what works for me. Thanks for all the support you gave me when I posted here over the summer. A final note: While this pain has been horrible, I'll admit that it has been an incredible learning experience. I'll never view pain -- of any sort -- in the same way again. [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.