| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| avik |
Posted - 09/27/2010 : 18:39:31
So ive been battling my fibro for the past month and im proud to say that ive beaten down about 60-70% of my pain.
That said, I have had one TMS problem (prob my oldest) that will not leave me alone. That is, sudden super sharp and painful neck spasms, usually accompanied by paraspinal problems.
Heres what I dont understand: I had some pain in bed last night and woke up this am with "on the verge of a full-blown spasm" pain. How does one deal with this? Am I suppossed to talk myself or journal my way out of this? Im trying to convince myself that I am healthy and strong and that this is just psychosomatic but the reality is that if I quickly move right now, my neck WILL SPASM and i will get locked into a position for 3 days.
I know this is doubting the TMS diagnosis but is there any type of pinched nerve/disc herniation that could cause my problems for 3 years?
BTW-I "suppossedly" have a mild disc herniation in c5/c6 and a pinched nerve (MRI results from last year). |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| marytabby |
Posted - 10/04/2010 : 06:32:53
My initial breakthrough took about 2 months of constantly doing the work, reading, journaling, etc. I'd say it took me about 3 years before I rid myself of the majority of my pattern of flare-ups. It's very rare now that I have one but I still do have them. I'd say keep at it, have faith and keep plugging away and do the physical activities that you think are your injuries and bull through them. You'll get there. |
| avik |
Posted - 10/03/2010 : 19:08:06
quote:
Originally posted by marsha
STOP FIGHTING. The more you fight the more difficult your journey will be.
Try to live your life. Keep yourself as busy as you can . Sometimes when your mind is occupied with other things it doesn't have time to create the pain. The more you focus on pain the longer it will stay. It likes attention.
Start taking you life back a little bit at a time. Don't expect a change in a day or a week or a month. Waiting for a "cure" creates more tension and stress.
Take one step today and if that is OK take two tomorrow. Don't take on more than you can handle ..
Sop thinking physical.
Stop expecting each book you read to give you the answer. ANd don't spend you whole day fighting. Take your time..
One day at a time.
Marsha
This is good advice Marsha; I find that when i keep myself busy I do periodically forget about the pain.
Its just this paresthesia-its very difficult to do anything when your whole body is on fire. However, I will continue to just try and live my life and think about the related emotion as opposed to the pain. |
| marsha |
Posted - 10/02/2010 : 10:38:24
STOP FIGHTING. The more you fight the more difficult your journey will be.
Try to live your life. Keep yourself as busy as you can . Sometimes when your mind is occupied with other things it doesn't have time to create the pain. The more you focus on pain the longer it will stay. It likes attention.
Start taking you life back a little bit at a time. Don't expect a change in a day or a week or a month. Waiting for a "cure" creates more tension and stress.
Take one step today and if that is OK take two tomorrow. Don't take on more than you can handle ..
Sop thinking physical.
Stop expecting each book you read to give you the answer. ANd don't spend you whole day fighting. Take your time..
One day at a time.
Marsha |
| avik |
Posted - 10/01/2010 : 19:30:25
Guys-
Thank you for your responses.
Art and Marty-how long did it take for you to get rid of most of your pain?
I just feel exhuasted from all this fighting; the journaling, the constant talking to my brain, the readiing, etc.
I have so many symptoms that its just not easy to just talk to myself and make things go away. Im dealing with horrible paresthesia, leg weakness and pain, neck spasms that lock my neck into one position for days on end. Ive had some relief since I started 4 weeks ago but i feel like im running out of steam in keeping up the fight. |
| marytabby |
Posted - 10/01/2010 : 13:28:12
This is going to be a long reply but maybe you'll get something out of it.
A woman on Facebook asked me to share my TMS success “story” with her so she could post it on her holistic web site because basicly TMS is akin to fibromyalgia. Just wanted to share with you what I sent her so you could hear in my own words how I overcame my own form of “fibro”.
I had been a sufferer of every bodily pain imaginable. Pain and tenderness in my neck (told I was sleeping wrong, sitting too long at a desk), lower back (told it was poor posture and spinal sub-luxations, high heels, flat feet, bunions), middle back (told it was mild scoliosis) shoulder/trapezius (told it was sleeping on wrong pillows, sitting too long at a computer), scapula (sitting wrong, hunching), both glutes (told one leg a half inch shorter causing it), outer thighs (told by chiro I had sub-luxations causing all kinds of referred pain and sciatica), wrists (told I had carpal tunnel), numbness in some fingers (chiro said sub-luxations). So why after years of all the chiro visits and orthopedic therapy and pain killers and muscle relaxers did my pain not go away? If my pain was mechanical in nature, meaning I was not sitting/sleeping/walking/running right, why didn’t all the adjustments from the chiro and the muscle stimulation and ice packs from the ortho and muscle relaxers help? Because it was all a clever way of my subconscious mind distracting me from my worries, troubles and traumas. My unconscious mind would rather not deal with the messy issues that lie deep in the dark recesses of my childhood and adult subconscious where all this “messy” stuff lives and stays dormant. It NEVER goes away. So what better way to get my mind onto something less “messy” than a neck/back/glute/hip/thigh/shoulder ache? Or acid reflux or a migrane, on and on… Sound far-fetched? It’s not. When the conscious mind is trying to dig deep into what could be troubling us, the unconscious mind tries to block it out, ignore it, pretend it’s not there because God forbid you may have a hard time dealing with it. No, instead the unconscious mind throws a “distraction” into the body in the form of physical pain or discomfort. Ah, now my mind is constantly churning away on the pain and myriad of doctor’s appointments instead of the emotional stuff: “What’s wrong with me? How come this happened? Why when I sit this way and not that way does it start up? What medication can I try now to make it stop? On and on and on ad-nauseum the distraction is working very well, keeping my mind on the pain instead of the emotions that are bubbling over in the unconscious struggling to get out and be known and heard. Nope! Not gonna happen. But guess what? I got better! I was home one night in pain thinking about all my aches and stiffness and how soon I will be in a wheelchair because I can’t walk, and I saw a segment on Chronicle about a Dr. John Sarno from NY, and a condition (not a disease) he coined “TMS” which is Tension Myositis Syndrome (tension in the muscles). TMS encompasses a minutia of physical maladies, everything from your typical unexplained back and neck and shoulder pains to carpal tunnel, acid reflux, shingles, ulcers, most lyme disease, plantar fasciaitis, GI issues like irritable bowel, yeast infections, urinary/bladder issues, headache/migrane, sleep issues, eczema, psoriasis, dry eye… the list is endless. The point is that all these unexplained symptoms that seemingly come out of “nowhere” are another way of explaining what some like to call “Fibromyalgia”. Fibromyalgia has become a label that pain doctors have come up with so when these suffering patients like me come into their office with say, 21 certain symptoms that are idiopathic, meaning there is no known cause, they can tell them SOMETHING. You have fibromyalgia! That’s the diagnosis! So we now have millions of people, mostly women, out of work, who are diagnosed with fibro and are put on Lyrica or anti-depressants and they are virtually immobile some days because they’re in so much pain and they can’t sleep. I read every one of Dr. John Sarno’s books, starting with the basic one, “Mind Body Prescription”. I read that book 3 times in a row, highlighting every part that sounded JUST LIKE ME. Who gets TMS/Fibro? The perfectionist, the people pleaser, the worrier, the conscientious person, the “type A” “uptight” person. The person who “sweats the small stuff.” The book had me written on EVERY page. I took seriously every suggestion he made, which is to TALK to your brain, let it know you know what it’s doing: “the jig is up! I know what you’re doing! you’re trying to distract me with this neck/foot/back pain” _____ (insert your own). “Brain, this is a grand charade, all to keep my mind off the ugly, upsetting things that reside deep down in there, so I am focusing on my _______ (insert) pain instead.” Sometimes you can get to the bottom of what’s troubling you, sometimes you can’t. That’s not important. What’s important is you tell your brain who is boss. I did what Sarno’s book said, which is stopped all chiro/ortho/rheumatology appointments, and “bull” through the pain and yell at my brain, talk to my brain, tell it “I’m boss, not you, you will NOT control my body, I will.” Patiently I kept at it, I decided to do what the book said and slowly got back to physical activity, so I started power walking again, even though it hurt like heck. I kept it up and talked to my mind the whole time, telling it who’s boss. I gradually picked up the pace and incorporated jogging into my walk, bulled through the pain. Now I was back to running again which I always did with no trouble. My pain is gone! Wow! My brain gave up its clever little game and now that it knows I am aware of what’s going on, it has stopped! I still have occasional flare-ups where my neck will stiffen or my shoulder will freeze. Then I think for a moment, and sure enough I can pin point exactly what’s causing it. It’s either something difficult going on at work or with a family member or friend. It’s me worrying about something that’s eating me up. I pop 2 Aleve, tell my brain: “brain, I know what this about, I’m worried about _____ and you’re trying to distract me, but it’s not going to work!” and I get on with my day and usually within a 48 hour period it subsides. I rarely have flare-ups anymore but I always know now where they’re starting from. Quite a simple process when you’re willing to give the brain credit for all it’s capable of doing. Most people think you’re saying “it’s all in your head.” That is NOT what Sarno is saying. He’s saying, “it’s real pain, but it’s bogus pain, it’s harmless pain caused by a lack of oxygen to that muscle or tendon, causing excruciating pain, but it’s NOT because you are injured!” Go to Amazon.com and look up Dr. John Sarno. Read any of his books and I bet you’ll find he’s describing you on every page and you, too will be on your way to being pain free! |
| art |
Posted - 10/01/2010 : 07:59:58
Forcing it sounds a bit strong. The symptoms are real yes, but the thing to keep in mind is that there's nothing structurally amiss that would account for said symptoms. The operating assumption is the symptoms are caused by the mind (strong often unconscious emotions), and by understanding and accepting that, the symptoms will go away...sometimes sooner, sometimes later.
Physically, do what you can. Continue to move forward. But energetically forcing your body to do what it's not ready to do is unwise in my opinion.
Read Healing Back Pain. |
| avik |
Posted - 09/30/2010 : 18:46:07
quote:
Originally posted by marytabby
I say it's just more TMS rearing its ugly head and won't give up its struggle to keep you distracted. Keep at it with whatever worked before, journaling, etc. I'm telling you this gremlin will keep at it until you have driven yourself crazy but I have had success with my neck crap so hang in there.
Thanks Marty.
I still dont undertsand how this works.
Am i suppossed to wait until I feel better and then start working out/doing physical activities or, am i suppossed to force it while I am in pain/spasm?
Is the symptoms are real, then wouldnt it be logical that I could make those symptoms worse? |
| marytabby |
Posted - 09/30/2010 : 07:42:18
I say it's just more TMS rearing its ugly head and won't give up its struggle to keep you distracted. Keep at it with whatever worked before, journaling, etc. I'm telling you this gremlin will keep at it until you have driven yourself crazy but I have had success with my neck crap so hang in there. |
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