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Victoria008
USA
26 Posts |
 Posted - 04/02/2007 : 16:53:46
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Hi Everyone, I haven't written in awhile, I haven't had the worst of my pain for a couple of weeks. In the last two weeks I have been in the middle of a financial crisis. I have felt a lot of anger. So I have had other distractions and didn't need so much pain. I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which was a relief cuz for 3 years I lived in fear of what this malady could be. Then I read some Sarno books and started on this forum and I have slowly improved. I still have something everyday, but it is much less. I would like to hear some more feedback about fear and TMS. (Karen I read your thread about fear with great interest!) I also suffer from panic disorder. All through my adulthood I had so many symptoms that were caused by panic disorder that when I started with these more painful symptoms, I didn't know what was "nerves" and what was real. I just know I was scared and confused. Reading Sarno made a lot of sense to me right away because I already knew what my emotions could do to me. The list of nervous symptoms is long, just like fibro and TMS. Do any of you deal with panic and fear and how much do you think fear adds to your symptoms? For me, just reading Sarno and these posts calms alot of my fear, but does anyone have other tips and insights to deal with the fear? Fear of the pain, fear of it being "something else", fear of becoming disabled or even of letting people know what's going on with you? I have all these fears, and I think it hinders my recovery.
Thanks!
Victoria |
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sensei adam rostocki
USA
167 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2007 : 19:31:41
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Hi Victoria, Back pain fear is one of my favorite articles I have written. Fear is a prime perpetuator in the battle with ANY chromic pain condition, and even more so with a psychogenic syndrome such as TMS or Fibromyalgia. As you so insightfully pointed out, the fear is multifaceted and might come from the actual pain, the “what ifs” of diagnostic actualities vs. possibilities, and of course the psychosomatic stigma. There is the fear that somehow you are crazy for allowing this to happen inside your own mind, as well as the fear of public opinion. This fear is heightened if those closest to you do not accept the psychological link to your pain and insist there is a physical cause.
The fear itself is a part of the personality traits that actually cause these conditions to begin with. Fear is one of the earliest childhood emotions that is strongly connected to insecurity issues, dependency issues and self esteem issues. As we all know, these 3 figure prominently in the rage reservoir that brings on symptoms. My advice is simple…
See yourself as a fearful person and accept it. Don’t act strong for the sake of others around you. By accepting your fear as a normal part of the human condition, you are de-mystifying it and removing its power over you. Hope this helps. Sensei
CURE-BACK-PAIN(dot)ORG |
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Singer_Artist
USA
1516 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2007 : 22:04:35
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Thank you Victoria, I am glad you had interest in my thread on fear..not too many seemed to relate to it..I had hoped it would get more responses because I am still battling the fear..I do appreciate, however, the people that did respond very much!
I have never dealt with panic disorder but have several friends who have..It is a horrible thing to deal with..One friend is on medication for it and it helps alot..The other has worked through it by reading self help books and listening to tapes on anxiety..Dr. Sarno does say that panic and anxiety are TMS equivalents..just distractions our minds manufacture so as to not deal with the deeper, painful emotions...
I have fear of the pain and fear that there is really something wrong, etc..even though I accept that I have TMS..Part of me thinks that maybe i have a combo of TMS and an injury that never healed properly..or maybe I took it too easy on my neck and so it is weaker then it should be, etc. etc. ad nauseum..The upper right side of my neck and the entire back of my head gets very tight sometimes and i still cannot look up normally..When I had to get a mole removed from the dermatologist recently something interesting happened..The minute he walked in the door to look at my mole, my whole upper neck on the right side tightened up..I took notice and said "Ahh ha!" If this isn't TMS I don't know what is! I definitely feel for you and I understand..And i agree that fear can hinder our recovery..among other things..
Hugs and God bless,
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Victoria008
USA
26 Posts |
Posted - 04/03/2007 : 16:30:22
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Thanks for the insights! Sensei you are so right, I do act so strong and try to hide my real emotions. As a child my parents would talk about people being "weak" like it was something so shameful. I do beleive that I have TMS, and it has just replaced the anxiety as a distraction. Maybe because the panic syndrome just wasn't working anymore, I had pretty much accepted most of the symptoms it threw at me, and also my fiance went through what I believe was TMS for several years. Mine developed almost on the very day that we broke up and he left. I am really working on accepting these new painful symptoms. I had been feeling alot better, then today my legs hurt really bad while I was at work. I kept telling myself, this is pure TMS, but still I was scared. Fear follows every symptom. I am really trying to work on that aspect. Karen it is good to know someone can relate!
Just me, I want to say good for you! It must have been empowering to stand up for yourself like that. You say this website is a place where we are allowed to be fearful. I am very grateful for that, and I am going to work on letting some of my fear out here, but it won't be easy because I have trained myself so well to keep things bottled up. Hence the fierce TMS I guess!
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clarifying TMS
