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chester
49 Posts |
 Posted - 12/01/2007 : 10:31:19
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Aided by my Sarno studies and reading this forum, I had a couple of really good days on Wednesday and Thursday. Then on Friday, the nerve pain in my lower back, calf and ankle progressively started flaring up, and by the time I got home from work just standing was rough. Sleeping was very uncomfortable as well.
This morning the pain remained, although more in my back than my leg, and I decided to go for a walk. I dressed in my running clothes in case I felt well enough to do that, and after walking a while I started jogging. I ran 10 minutes, which doesn’t sound like a lot but I am quite out of shape and couldn’t have done much more regardless. The pain was pretty constant, but it didn’t restrict me in any way.
Right now, I feel the same physically but a lot better mentally. The fact that I don’t feel worse after violating the bogus “Thou shalt not run on a hard surface” commandment is helping to confirm in my mind that that there really is no structural problem.
My question… Is two steps forward, one step back fairly common in recovery? As I’ve mentioned before, I have high expectations of myself, and by nature I tend to question processes when they don’t go the way I want, which is an upward, linear, and rapid fashion.
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skizzik
USA
783 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2007 : 10:49:08
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I think that if the pain went away as soon as you grasped the concept, the "Fear" of it coming back would ultimately ruin us.
For if the unconcious mind was able to grasp the concept that fast and relieve symptoms, then that same mind w/b capable of putting the symptoms back at anytime instantly.
The tortoise wins the race here. TMS diminishing/fading is the way fear will to melt away. If it was instant, we'd be afraid to go anywhere knowing it can come back in a heartbeat.
Congrats on the run!
What is it about the weekend thats got your unconcious freaking out? Do you work m-fri and burn up the stress in that time, and then the weekend comes and inneranxiety builds? |
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chester
49 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2007 : 11:01:12
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quote:
Originally posted by skizzik
I think that if the pain went away as soon as you grasped the concept, the "Fear" of it coming back would ultimately ruin us.
For if the unconcious mind was able to grasp the concept that fast and relieve symptoms, then that same mind w/b capable of putting the symptoms back at anytime instantly.
The tortoise wins the race here. TMS diminishing/fading is the way fear will to melt away. If it was instant, we'd be afraid to go anywhere knowing it can come back in a heartbeat.
Congrats on the run!
What is it about the weekend thats got your unconcious freaking out? Do you work m-fri and burn up the stress in that time, and then the weekend comes and inneranxiety builds?
I've been thinking about the weekend thing. I'm going through some stressful stuff at work, but being there at least gives me some sense of control over it. I wonder if not being in the office for two days - even though no one else is there, either - makes me feel a bit helpless about my situation. Weekends themselves have been great. Mrs. Chester has been more than flexible with regard to letting me relax.
Regarding how fast recovery comes, I guess my expectations have been set high by hearing about those folks who read one Sarno book and presto - they were all better. I can handle slow progress, and long as I know it's still progress. Thanks for the reply. |
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koukla
70 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2007 : 11:16:38
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quote:
My question… Is two steps forward, one step back fairly common in recovery?
Hi Chester,
I can totally understand what you mean here. I've been flirting with the TMS concept for a few months, but only really decided to go for it for real this past week. In the past, my hands would feel good only when reading about other people's success stories but then would degenerate when I was alone with my thoughts. I also would read about anatomy and medical studies and about physical therapy techniques obsessively and I think that really hindered my progress all along. On Wednesday when I decided that I had TMS for sure, I had a really great day and did a lot of manual work with my hands. My pain level was pretty much the same but it wasn't so bad to stop me from doing anything. On Thursday I faltered a little bit and began to worry and the pain came back but I still did things around the house. Yesterday, I could sense that something clicked in me and I felt great. I went to my parent's house to visit and I told them that it was going away for real this time and I felt myself get a lot more confidence. Last night I slept without my splints for the first time. Today, my hands feel even better than they were yesterday but I have a weird pain in my elbows. I am not letting it stop me.
I think you just need to keep challenging your mind by doing those activities that you fear. People learn things through repetition. I think that eventually when your brain learns that the pain will not affect your activity level, it will realize that the pain isn't serving any purpose anymore and it will go away. Be patient with yourself. I think you are totally normal. |
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koukla
70 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2007 : 11:21:35
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| By the way, Kim http://www.tarpityoga.com/tms.html describes that the process took her a long time with multiple ups and downs. I think she mentions it in the beginning of her essay as a way to encourage others who take more time to fully become pain free. |
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skizzik
USA
783 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2007 : 17:54:01
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quote:
Originally posted by koukla
I also would read about anatomy and medical studies and about physical therapy techniques obsessively and I think that really hindered my progress all along.
No, no, no, just the opposite 
for the treatment of TMS to work IT MUST MAKE SENSE
It can't make sense until we've agreed that NOTHING ELSE IS WORKING.
You can now say been there done that, did'nt work. And whatta ya know, I only feel any true relief when I read this psychobabble  .
My brother came down w/ back pain this summer, and even though he's aware of my original recovery from BP 4yrs ago, he has a "real injury" and according to him, maybe 6mos down the road if it still hurts he'll check it out.
It doe'snt make sense to him. He just like 90% of us here need/ed to go thru the medical gamut for TMS theory to make sense. |
Edited by - skizzik on 12/02/2007 04:10:11 |
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koukla
70 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2007 : 19:40:55
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| I think I was just reading about all the medical stuff because I didn't want to admit that I had a "mental problem." It was kind of like denial or something. The TMS stuff does make sense to me now but I think that if I would have gotten over my "pride" sooner, I would have healed sooner. |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1397 Posts |
Posted - 12/02/2007 : 00:09:57
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Carolyn, happy to hear you are doing even better now. I suspect it will keep up!
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It's not 100% belief that's required, but 100% commitment. |
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recovery process question
