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severson
USA
14 Posts |
 Posted - 12/26/2008 : 13:49:27
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Hello everyone,
I’ve been suffering from chronic widespread pain for about a year and a half. After reading Sarno and doing the journaling for over six months, coupled with insight psychotherapy, little has changed. Just a little background on the precipitating factors that I believe have contributed to my current status. I’ve been riddled with anxiety for over 15 years, since my early teens. Growing up, my environment was anything but stable and severe abandonment issues have plagued me into adulthood. I have a decade of psychotherapy under my belt and am also a recovering alcoholic with 11 years of sobriety. ocd and depression have been a problem as well, furthermore I’m a severe people pleaser with an intense need to be liked by everyone with an outrageous fear of being judged negatively.
The physical pain started about four months before my wedding and I am quite certain that emotional distress, repressed emotions and fear of the responsibilities that go along with family are the catalyst for my current pain pattern and the decision to marry has stirred up repressed emotions and fear. I have been to a number of MD's over the course of the year and they concur that this is fibromyalgia. I have a very a tough time accepting this diagnosis because of the lack of diagnostic criteria and the fact that all the symptoms of this “syndrome” are exactly the same as the symptoms of anxiety. I am also a severe people pleaser with an intense need to be liked by everyone with an outrageous fear of being judged negatively.
I do have a history of psychosomatic illness, mostly GI complaints, nausea, vomiting etc.. dating back to my early teens during an extremely distressing time involving separation anxiety. As little as five years ago I dealt with a similar pain problem during a time of significant stress that resolved within a couple of months, after I made a crucial decision not to move 3000 miles away from home. Now I am struggling with the fact that I may have made the wrong decision in getting married. My biggest fear at this point is that the pain I am experiencing now will never go away and will ruin the rest of my life, which I know is contributing to the pain-fear cycle. So how does one break this cycle and not fear the ever present pain?
My hope in writing this post is that someone here has struggled with the same manifestation of pain, attributed it to anxiety, defeated it and came out the other side. If so, what was the single most important part of your recovery?
Thanks in advance
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Edited by - severson on 06/27/2009 10:28:12 |
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scottjmurray
266 Posts |
Posted - 12/26/2008 : 15:23:39
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quote:
I guess the bottom line is I’m having a problem accepting the distraction part of tms theory. How could this physical manifestation of pain be the minds way of protecting itself from dangerous emotions, if the sufferer, as a result of this pain, is willing to contemplate taking their own life on a daily basis?
mostly because all the stuff you're worried about, all the stuff you do to please other people, basically the identity that you have had for your entire life is something you do not give a crap about. you don't really want to be the way you are, and you're stuck in it, and you're extremely pissed off about it. it's distracting you because if you found out how angry you were, your entire personality would explode into a million pieces, which, i can tell you, is not the most comfortable experience. reality. hurts.
---
author of tms-recovery . com
(not sh!t, champagne)
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tmsBgone
USA
4 Posts |
Posted - 12/26/2008 : 20:19:56
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Good news is that I have experience the same exact situation, circumstances and pain. Even better news is that I have recovered from all TMS related pain and symptoms.
One question: are taking any medications for the acute anxiety?
quote]Originally posted by severson
Hello everyone,
I’ve been suffering from chronic widespread pain for about a year and a half. After reading Sarno and doing the journaling for over six months, coupled with insight psychotherapy, little has changed. Just a little background on the precipitating factors that I believe have contributed to my current status. I’ve been riddled with anxiety for over 15 years, since my early teens. Growing up, my environment was anything but stable and severe abandonment issues have plagued me into adulthood. I have a decade of psychotherapy under my belt and am also a recovering alcoholic with 11 years of sobriety. ocd and depression have been a problem as well, furthermore I’m a severe people pleaser with an intense need to be liked by everyone with an outrageous fear of being judged negatively.
The physical pain started about four months before my wedding and I am quite certain that emotional distress, repressed emotions and fear of the responsibilities that go along with family are the catalyst for my current pain pattern and the decision to marry has stirred up repressed emotions and fear. I have been to a number of MD's over the course of the year and they concur that this is fibromyalgia. I have a very a tough time accepting this diagnosis because of the lack of diagnostic criteria and the fact that all the symptoms of this “syndrome” are exactly the same as the symptoms of anxiety. I am also a severe people pleaser with an intense need to be liked by everyone with an outrageous fear of being judged negatively.
I do have a history of psychosomatic illness, mostly GI complaints, nausea, vomiting etc.. dating back to my early teens during an extremely distressing time involving separation anxiety. As little as five years ago I dealt with a similar pain problem during a time of significant stress that resolved within a couple of months, after I made a crucial decision not to move 3000 miles away from home. Now I am struggling with the fact that I may have made the wrong decision in getting married. My biggest fear at this point is that the pain I am experiencing now will never go away and will ruin the rest of my life, which I know is contributing to the pain-fear cycle. So how does one break this cycle and not fear the ever present pain?
I guess the bottom line is I’m having a problem accepting the distraction part of tms theory. How could this physical manifestation of pain be the minds way of protecting itself from dangerous emotions, if the sufferer, as a result of this pain, is willing to contemplate taking their own life on a daily basis?
My hope in writing this post is that someone here has struggled with the same manifestation of pain, attributed it to anxiety, defeated it and came out the other side. If so, what was the single most important part of your recovery?
Thanks in advance
[/quote]
tmsBgone |
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HellNY
130 Posts |
Posted - 12/26/2008 : 20:34:57
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I do not believe in the "distraction" component of Sarno's theories. I believe in most all the rest of his stuff. I think emotions are manifest as pain -- but not the complicated Freudian idea that pain is an attempt by the subconcious to "distract."
Importantly, I have found that it doesnt matter if that specific aspect of the theory os correct or not -- the treatment and plan are the same. You no longer believe the pain is physical, you no longer take it seriously, and it breaks the pain anxiety cycle. |
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flutterby
United Kingdom
79 Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2009 : 11:06:53
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| How are things now, severson? |
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Plantweed
USA
109 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2009 : 11:29:31
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| Anxiety and chronic pain are evil twins. I never had an anxiety attack in my life, didn't know what they felt like, until well into my 30s when I had two of them; I started freaking out in fear about having another agonizing back spasm, I basically lost it for a few hours each time. At least I THOUGHT that's what it was. It was really probably just stress and life-fears that I was suppressing in order to cope and get along. Made a lot of sense once I figured out the connection. |
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Anxiety and Pain Fear Cycle
