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Paul
134 Posts |
 Posted - 10/09/2008 : 20:34:42
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Name ONE great tip for current TMS sufferers that helped you the very most in your success over your pain. I currently am in my battle and here is mine...
*When you have absolutely fantastic days of very little to no pain, or pain is so low that it would be easily livable at that level the rest of your life...WRITE IT DOWN in a small notebook and talk about how great you felt, etc. and date it. Do this as often as you can so when you DO have those really bad days, you will have a TMS killer with PROOF you can have great days and it will go away. Read of all those times when you are in a flair up to help reinforce it is temporary and to retrain your brain from going down that fear spiral of catastrophic thinking.
Your tip? |
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Mely
16 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2008 : 03:14:56
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| The thing that is helping me the most is excercise. It's not an immediate cure. In the beginning it may make those problem areas feel worse but as I have keep on it, the pain and fear have subsided. You have to push yourself to excercise. Cardio is the best like the gym or jogging but if you really don't feel like it, at least take a walk. |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2008 : 05:31:20
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1) Realize that your pain or apparent illness is just an illusion that part of your brain or self has created for ancient reasons. It could just as easily create health and harmony.
2) Find a way to communicate to that part of your brain/self that you don't take the symptoms seriously, but that
3) you DO take its .feelings seriously, and tell it to communicate those feelings to you directly, because you are listening.
4) Get on with life while listening to your feelings in whatever way works (journaling, practicing presence, therapy, etc), while giving NO meaning to your symptoms.
5) Keep doing steps 1-4 hundreds or thousands or millions of times until your deep habits change.
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2008 : 15:06:04
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Stop resisting circumstances and outcomes and let everything be as it is, including your bodily state, (pain and heart palps, sweating, dizziness, etc.) and your deepest, darkest, dearest self. You will survive despite your fearful thoughts and you will be happier and more at peace.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Edited by - Hillbilly on 10/10/2008 15:07:35 |
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scottjmurray
266 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2008 : 15:31:39
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first it's becoming aware of what's going on, then it's accepting what's going on, then it's moving on, doing what you want to do and learning to have fun with your life again.
---
author of tms-recovery . com
(not sh!t, champagne)
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mala
Hong Kong
774 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2008 : 16:15:40
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Don't take journalling or reading or any part of your TMS regime to extremes. That only perpetuates the pain as you are giving it too nuch importance. Do a little every day but don't overdo it. .
Good Luck & Good Health
Mala |
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Calvin
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2008 : 19:53:48
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| Sometimes when I have a flare up, I take the time to sift through my mind and see what could be causing it. Before, I would race wildly in my thoughts, wondering what is going on, why am I in pain, why did this happen - frantic searching did nothing but add more tension, more worry, and more pain. Now, I just wonder in the background what could be going on, meanwhile I just keep plugging along with my work, family life, etc. Its sort of a paradoxical reaction - the less I worry about what is causing the pain, the faster the answer comes. |
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LuvtoSew
USA
327 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2008 : 03:57:53
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| Not worrying about it. |
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Peg
USA
284 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2008 : 13:49:59
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Don't beat yourself up about it. Ask yourself what it is that you need and take action if possible.
Peg
In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei |
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scottjmurray
266 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2008 : 14:09:02
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i got a good one:
get out of your head and into your body.
---
author of tms-recovery . com
(not sh!t, champagne)
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debbette
44 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2008 : 17:17:10
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Read chapter 7 A Rheumatologist's Experience in The Divided Mind.
Someone else (I'm sorry I forget who) suggested it on a thread somewhere on this board. Boy, it REALLY convinced me that my tingling feet are definitely TMS. Even the TMS Dr. didn't convince me. That chapter cemented it for me and now I'm 100% convinced beyond any doubt that I have TMS. I can only move forward from here.
Debbie |
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Logan
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2008 : 17:39:38
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Acknowledge, really and truly, that you understand what your mindbody is doing in creating pain. Tell it that you know it's trying to protect you from some scary-ass ****. And then tell it, respectfully, that you're going to start dealing with your **** and that it can just stop this outdated mode of reacting to emotions with distracting pain because it's so not going to work anymore. In fact, the more pain it causes the more psychological digging you'll do... Rinse and repeat.
And of course, do all that other good stuff like the exercise your chiro (whom you FIRED!) said you could never do again and journaling and punching the crap out of your punching bag etc. etc. |
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johnaccardi
USA
182 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2008 : 18:14:17
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Stop catastrophizing. In the past, whenever the symptom got in my way I used to go off on my own and think about how terrible it was. I would ask questions on this forum, seek comfort in my family ect... I was just giving it so much attention. Then one day I said, **** this. All the wining and all the catastrophizing hasn't done me any good. So I started forcing the thoughts out of my head, if I was thinking about the dreadful symptoms I would just go beyong the limits I thought I had and just not catastrophize. I would still be thinking about it but I just wouldn't sit there and think for hours anymore, I would just cut it off. I got to the point where I said to myself all this wining and complaining isn't working so lets try something new. It's tough, it's scary, I feel like I'm sailing out into the open seas and going beyond my limits because I'm not asking for help anymore.
Anyway, I've been doing this for about 2 weeks and I find myself obsessing over the symptom a little less. That little bit of progress motivates me to keep doing this. I feel like I want to fall back sometimes and start complaining again to my parents and on this forum and feel sorry for myself but I don't. I get tough, I get pissed, and push on.
Every time the symptom is really consuming you, that is your oportunity to heal. You must show the symptom at its worst that it cannot fully consume you. Force your way out. Take the worst as opportunity not self-pity. Know all the strength you need is inside of you and never give up. --- That's what's been running through my head for the past few weeks.
Also, I journal for about 45 minutes a day and read 10 minutes of "The Divided Mind" every day. |
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Paul
134 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2008 : 21:16:09
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quote:
Originally posted by scottjmurray
i got a good one:
get out of your head and into your body.
---
author of tms-recovery . com
(not sh!t, champagne)
Don't you think it would be this instead...
Get out of your BODY, and into your HEAD.
Meaning...don't focus on your body, focus on your thinking, emotions, etc.?
I can see it both ways. :) |
Edited by - Paul on 10/12/2008 21:16:37 |
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scottjmurray
266 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2008 : 02:12:56
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what i meant was stop thinking about your emotions and start living them.
---
author of tms-recovery . com
(not sh!t, champagne)
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winnieboo
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2008 : 08:45:31
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When the pain does manifest or return, go to your emotions. Focus the work on learning to feel.......
I try to identify what JUST happened or what JUST went through through mind an hour ago or last night, if I wake up stiff. My triggers now usually occur that recently. Whatever the emotion is might be an island unto itself, or it might be connected to old or childhood baggage. In either case, I try to connect to these feelings, let them float through. Sometimes I'll voice the emotions (not physical "pain talk"), if and when that's appropriate. More often, I'm learning not to voice my internal processes because quite simply, they're private. I might feel furious beyond what's appropriate or worried or sad or fearful, or I might feel overly responsible or guilty (this is a big one for me, as a lifetime Catholic). If I say these things to my husband for example, he gets worked up too, or responds like I'm a drama queen. So I silently process and acknowledge whenever appropriate or possible. Many people like to write during this process... Then it's time to discipline myself (for lack of a better phrase) to get on with the moment and on with the day.
Smiling helps, too!
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Edited by - winnieboo on 10/13/2008 21:02:32 |
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roxygirl577
USA
42 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2008 : 16:21:33
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"Smiling helps, too!"
I like that one =]
What helps me, is reading success stories, it gets me back into healing mode and knowing that someday I will be there!
Also, not thinking so much. That's been the toughest for me to get over. But I just try to do stuff to get my mind off of it..Like reading a good book or calling a friend. Anything to not give it attention.
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kiethy
7 Posts |
Posted - 11/20/2008 : 07:09:04
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Ridding myself of associations, ie this will make me sore tomorrow, this will make me sick. I now say if it doesn't hurt a healthy person it won't hurt me either.
If I wake up in pain I check whats worrying me, if I can't find anything I make a point of using what is sore to do something I never used to do. ie sore arms = pushups and typing |
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hottm8oh
USA
141 Posts |
Posted - 11/20/2008 : 08:48:41
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| If I'm having a tough day, I remind myself that I have had better days in the past and I will have better days in the future. I tell myself that the TMS symptom WILL go away. It may not go away when I want it to, but it will go away. |
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Effie
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - 11/22/2008 : 14:33:41
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| One thing I've found that helps me a lot is to focus on an area of my body that does not have any pain -- my pain was all located in my right upper side (right side of my neck, right shoulder, right arm, right shoulder blade, right hand, etc.) so I find it very helpful whenever I'm focusing on any slight pains in that area to STOP, take a deep breath, and focus on my LEFT upper side -- I invariably find that my left side is relaxed, pain-free, and most importantly, not constantly in my thoughts, it's kind of hard to explain -- and I try to relax the right side and compare it to the left side and leave it to do what the left side is doing naturally, and try to get it out of my thoughts. It seems like the left side is NEVER in my thoughts, and the right side is CONSTANTLY in my thoughts and that's what makes the pain get worse, and it helps me to compare them and try to make the right side mimic what the left side is doing and feeling, and then try to get it out of my thoughts. I think this is kind of training my brain to treat them the same and not to always be focused on the right side. This wouldn't work for everyone, especially if you don't have a pain-free side to compare it to, but it seems to help me. |
Edited by - Effie on 11/22/2008 14:36:10 |
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The ultimate TMS tips thread...
