| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| pan |
Posted - 06/27/2013 : 02:39:26
Yep, many apologies in advance as I’m sure this question has been raised many times on the forum.
Everything I’ve read about TMS and stress illness in general emphasises that recovery is fully dependant on the need to repudiate the belief that symptoms are caused by a structural/physical abnormality and that a total 100% belief in the TMS diagnosis is required.
The crux of the matter here is really belief I suppose. If somebody cannot find this belief within them does this therefore mean they are doomed to stay stuck in the pain syndrome for ever and a day? I know that the idea of positive affirmations and visualisations etc are designed to calm the mind and body and hopefully programme a different though process but is this actually enough?
I recall speaking to a friend of mine recently who is a born again Christian and I questioned on him on his belief structure….the bones of this was that he knew in his heart that his religion was true and that any intellectual argument against his belief was redundant to him as this was totally overridden by the fact he totally 100% knew his belief was true. I asked him how he had got this belief and he couldn’t really answer this…what was clear though was that it didn’t come from reading books, scriptures or spending time analysing it was something that had just developed within him, there was nothing external about it.
If I apply this to TMS/stress illness it is quite relevant as I spend hours and hours reading books, studying theories and symptoms, visiting forums and intellectualising and rationalising but ultimately not a jot of this leads me any closer to acquiring the ‘heartfelt belief’ that I’m constantly being told is crucial for success.
Up to quite recently I was under the impression that TMS could be cured by learning to switch off the mind from the symptom and that this would lead to the nervous system calming down and therefore a damping down of the over stimulated pain response. This makes sense to me (intellectualising) but many people now seem to believe that even this is not enough if there is still a fragment of doubt in the TMS diagnosis and if any belief in the structural/physical causality remains.
What is clear then is that TMS will not be cured by the ‘fake it till you make it’ school of thought and that true belief and the repudiation of structural/physical is key. How is it possible to get to this belief if you don’t actually feel it? In my case I can see how my pain fits in 100% with a TMS diagnosis I fit all the personality traits and have clearly somatised symptoms in the past, I am under stress in my life and also certainly feel I have repressed emotions due to totally living my life in my mind BUT, and it is a big BUT, none of this excludes the possibility that my current pain/symptom is not of a structural/physical origin…if I couple this is with the fact that I have been bombarded by nocebo from chiros/osteos all who have wheeled out the usual suspects of twisted/tilted pelvis, piriformis, SI joint, leg length discrepancy etc etc then you are left between the proverbial devil and the deep blue sea.
So, in short, whilst you can try all the affirmations and visualisations, carry out the thinking clean protocol, resume physical activity, follow the keys to healing etc etc if that belief that the pain isn’t physical is missing then does none of this make any difference? I would also be very interested to here if people have managed to move form a position from not holding the belief to gaining in and what enabled this change to take place.
Thanks for reading.
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| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Back2-It |
Posted - 06/27/2013 : 08:13:32
quote:
Up to quite recently I was under the impression that TMS could be cured by learning to switch off the mind from the symptom and that this would lead to the nervous system calming down and therefore a damping down of the over stimulated pain response. This makes sense to me (intellectualising) but many people now seem to believe that even this is not enough if there is still a fragment of doubt in the TMS diagnosis and if any belief in the structural/physical causality remains.
What is clear then is that TMS will not be cured by the ‘fake it till you make it’ school of thought and that true belief and the repudiation of structural/physical is key. How is it possible to get to this belief if you don’t actually feel it? In my case I can see how my pain fits in 100% with a TMS diagnosis I fit all the personality traits and have clearly somatised symptoms in the past, I am under stress in my life and also certainly feel I have repressed emotions due to totally living my life in my mind BUT, and it is a big BUT, none of this excludes the possibility that my current pain/symptom is not of a structural/physical origin…if I couple this is with the fact that I have been bombarded by nocebo from chiros/osteos all who have wheeled out the usual suspects of twisted/tilted pelvis, piriformis, SI joint, leg length discrepancy etc etc then you are left between the proverbial devil and the deep blue sea.
So, in short, whilst you can try all the affirmations and visualisations, carry out the thinking clean protocol, resume physical activity, follow the keys to healing etc etc if that belief that the pain isn’t physical is missing then does none of this make any difference? I would also be very interested to here if people have managed to move form a position from not holding the belief to gaining in and what enabled this change to take place.
Thanks for reading.
The various dx's given you may very well be true. Physically, you may have one leg longer (I do, and I'm flatfooted to boot -- pun intended), and your SI Joint may be not so, and other "normal" maladies. When I was so caught up in the fear of my symptoms, burnt into my mind like a cattle branding from my MRI, my entire torso torqued, twisting, I am sure, my pelvis in the process. While I recognized that this was so-called "benign" pain, my body was beginning to look like the Elephant Man's. I was contorted and muscles atrophied and I splinted against the pain and guarded my areas of pain. All real stuff made worse by the increasing physical deformity. I was a bad case. I think some people get muscle tension and other problems but show no physical deformity, but I could very well see what was happening to me, so this had a tendency to reinforce the physical findings. The more I saw the more fear I had, not so much of the pain (that was my constant) but of my condition and my imagined future (bad).
It was the inconsistencies in the "structural faith" that started to break the hold this had on me, as I mentioned previously. Why could I still bend over? Why could I lift what I wanted? Why could I still jog, even though in horrific pain. I was breaking with the faith of the physical and coming to understand the faith that I had deep in my soul: that I was the cause of my problems, not the searing MRI image and not nerve damage from gallbladder surgery and not an abdominal hernia.
The transition to the new faith of chronic stress illness took time and had setbacks, and carried lots of doubt. And I knew that even though I was supposed to not focus on the physical, I could not ignore the atrophy in my muscles and the stiffness that had increased just due to lack of movement, so while I did aim all physical activity towards overall health, I could not function correctly if my right arm was in tremendous pain because of a couple of years of literally hardly using it in a natural matter.
I think that somewhere deep in your soul you know this is a stress related thing, but plumbing the tar pits of the unconscious, for most, is counterproductive, in my opinion and experience. Recognizing that you are fearful of the natural fear of your condition is a practical, conscious level decision to make that can lead to action,slowly and steadily. For the "Doubting Thomas", so to speak, there is the reassurance that if you really, closely examine your condition, stick your fingers in them, you will find what you already know: that the symptoms are those of stress with fear of fear compounding the stress.
Pan, you got me here; you helped me get better. I want the same for you.
"Bridges Freeze Before Roads" |
| RageSootheRatio |
Posted - 06/27/2013 : 07:43:44
Hi pan,
quote:
What is clear then is that TMS will not be cured by the ‘fake it till you make it’ school of thought and that true belief and the repudiation of structural/physical is key. How is it possible to get to this belief if you don’t actually feel it?
I don't know if my opinion "counts" as I would not say I am "cured" but I have had varying degrees of success over the years... so that's my disclaimer to start with.
For myself, I don't know how important "belief" is, or really what that even means, sometimes. It's not as if it's a static thing, and unlike others, I don't believe it has to be 100% (which could be a strain. As ace1 has pointed out, one cannot fix a strain with another strain!) Maybe 80% is enough, for example. Or maybe 80% in the morning, even if it dips down to 50% at 2 in the afternoon ..
I do believe that repudiation of the structural/physical is key, in terms of not spending one's energies there, but I think 'fake it till you make it' in terms of using whatever methods to calm one's nervous system has some merit, actually.
If one doesn't feel something, one doesn't feel it. I believe how to get to a more solid belief will be along the lines of experiencing some small bits of success, and that increases one's confidence / belief/ conviction over time.
Another reason I lean towards the 'fake it til you make it' side is because whether or not a problem is "physical' or not, having a calmer, happier, more contented, non-straining, positive life where one is actively living one's "best life" can only be a good thing.
I am also becoming increasingly convinced that WavySoul has it right: "Love is the answer, whatever the question." 
~RSR |
| pspa123 |
Posted - 06/27/2013 : 07:27:05
My own advice is not to get too caught up in the dogma because it just creates an additional layer of stress. People here have theories and they vary; nobody has any special access to absolute truth even though they sometimes state things as though they do and that can be intimidating.
That said, if none of the physical diagnoses or treatments have helped, might not a critical examination override the nocebo and lead you closer towards the belief that the cause lies elsewhere? |
| Peregrinus |
Posted - 06/27/2013 : 07:05:14
Pan:
Your born again friend has made a bargain: in return for acceptance and being told that he is important and that God loves him and that he’s going to wind up in heaven, he has bought into all this theistic biblical nonsense. To admit it is nonsense would be equivalent to him renouncing who he is. A lot of people with TMS accept a false diagnosis in return for the attention they receive from their family, friends, doctors, etc. Their diagnosis (e.g. ruptured disc) becomes their identity. In order to accept the rational arguments that their condition cannot be physical they will again be forced to renounce their identity. Think about it, your identity is your most precious and guarded possession.
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