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jennypeanut
103 Posts |
 Posted - 04/19/2013 : 16:25:42
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| The pain has been gone for a long time. Well... It slowly started to resurface. It was in my tendons/joint area all over for a while. I used to come here and read about back problems and wish I would just have that bc then I wouldn't feel so "different" with TMS joint issues. Well, careful what you wish for, right? A month or more ago I had mid-lower back pain on the left side. It kind of kick started some health anxiety. My main issue along with the pain is fear. Oddly enough that didn't help me feel "better" because noone on the forum had the exact pain I did. Then it moved. I started having toe pain (again) then finger pain, now it's back in the tendons/joints. I'm not defeated, just confused. I am practicing deep breathing and meditation, affirmations (though not daily) and even in counseling to deal with my big "psychological issue" - currently marital strain. So, I'm trying to figure out where I'm going wrong. I'm visualizing my thoughts and trying to let the fear and negative thinking thoughts go - and then fuel the positive thoughts but I'm still stuck in pain and fear. Help? |
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balto
839 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2013 : 16:58:31
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quote:
Originally posted by jennypeanut
So, I'm trying to figure out where I'm going wrong. I'm visualizing my thoughts and trying to let the fear and negative thinking thoughts go - and then fuel the positive thoughts but I'm still stuck in pain and fear. Help?
You didn't do anything wrong Jenny. What happened to you is exactly the way nature works. We are part of nature. You're just having a very normal human condition. Your pain, your symptoms is the product of your mental state. Marital strain, health anxiety,...everyday stres... I would be worry if you don't have any symptoms. You are a very normal human being.
Just do whatever you can to stop the fear of the symptoms and work on elliminate "all" stress from your life. Happy mind make the body happy.
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No, I don't know everything. I'm just here to share my experience. |
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chickenbone
Panama
398 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2013 : 21:14:50
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I don't think you did anything wrong, Jenny, either. Us TMSer's just have to realize that we will always have a tendency to express our emotional distress through our bodies. I think that, for most of us, that will never change. I have found that I need to accept this about myself. I have not had TMS pain for the last 5 months, but I do sometimes have short relapses that last from a few minutes to several hours. However, I have learned to separate my physical sensations of pain and discomfort from fear. I think that is why they do not last. The short bursts of pain cannot not capture my attention and generate fear any longer - so I don't end up in the endless loop of pain - fear - more pain - more fear. This also tends to tone down the hyper arousal that I am prone to develop. I also realize that I am hyper self-aware of the slightest sensation in my body. I now know that not all people are like this, I did not before. in the meantime, I am trying to address the emotional issues (mostly rooted in my childhood) that made me the way I am. But I fully accept who I am.
I hope this makes some sense.
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Back2-It
USA
438 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2013 : 11:35:04
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None have exactly the same pain in the same spots. You ain't doin' nuthin' wrong.
I could not locate my exact symptoms anywhere on this forum, but similar symptoms were all over the internet, and there was never a solution on those forums, except for the very, very few that figured out they were stressed. This was the dreaded "right sided pain".
Dr. Sarno equates problems in other parts of the body in relation to sciatica, where it is different in every person and different for the same person at different times. Same with shoulder, upper back, mid-back, etc. The constricted or de-oxygenated areas or whatever (that's not important) is just effecting a specific nerve, muscle or tendon in a different way for you and at a different place this time for you. Once it grabs your attention it worsens of course.
Overcoming fear is not easy, but it is the ultimate "cure". Ace1's Keys are really the Cliff Notes to a slew of books and teaching out there; read and digest slowly and pause and meditate on what is being said there. Do it word by word, even, and relate it to yourself.
Ultimately, HA must be overcome. That means anxiety must be understood. Understand anxiety and have the tools to deal with it means overcoming HA. Certainly main stresses must be addressed, but be careful about assigning the blame to what you may believe to be the main psychological issue, because it may not be the issue but the reaction to the issue, the way of dealing with it, the anxiety that comes with dealing or not dealing with it, which is probably a pattern of how challenges or threats were dealt with from childhood on. We all have issues, yet not everybody has pain. Think about it. Where does the solution lie?
I found Stephen C. Hayes "Get Out of Your Mind and into your Life" helpful to reframe thinking. Again, though, the conclusions and methods of Hayes are contained within Ace1's Keys.
You will get there. I know it.
"Bridges Freeze Before Roads" |
Edited by - Back2-It on 04/21/2013 12:04:55 |
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Darko
Australia
387 Posts |
Posted - 04/21/2013 : 16:23:30
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Hi Jenny,
I don't think I've written to you before, and I haven't been around for a while. Just drop in every now and then to keep an eye on things.
"my big "psychological issue" - currently marital strain"
I believe this is the issue.....you will be generating extreme amounts of tension in regards to this. Distracting yourself from this tension with meditation or anything else will not work. You MUST change your thinking in this area to neutralize the tension and THEN use meditation to help release tension. First you must stop creating it, then you must release it ( tension ).
Learn to accept the situation, think about the worst case and be ok with it. If you think you already have done that then do it again and do it better.....become bigger than your problems!
Good luck
D |
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2013 : 09:53:01
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quote:
Originally posted by jennypeanut
The pain has been gone for a long time. Well... It slowly started to resurface.
Expect that this will happen, maybe for the rest of your life.
Your entire message is focused on describing the physical symptoms, so it seems that this attack has succeeded in grabbing your attention.
Instead, you should acknowledge the pain as a benign signal that something might be going that you are not fully facing up to. Ignore the pain and try to figure out what negative emotions you may be repressing in response to any recent developments in your life. |
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jennypeanut
103 Posts |
Posted - 05/03/2013 : 20:57:03
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I've been meaning to pop back over here and respond but I've been so busy! Thank you all for your empathetic and encouraging responses. The pain has settled in two areas- my foot, just under my big toe and in the base joint of my pointer finger. I notice on hard days (when things are more stressful than normal - have I mentioned I'm a mom of two little kids on top of all the marriage and financial woes) - on the hard days the pain is particularly bad. I can get upset (usually irritated) I can feel the pain so intensely! So perhaps it's "succeeded", in diverting my attention, as you say Dave, but it's also "showed its hand" because I can see how it directly relates to stress. The spot on my foot acts like that. A barometer, if you will, for the stressors. My kids screaming, is the simplest example. Their screams get under my skin. They know it so they just scream more often! That big toe can instantly start throbbing, esp if there is a second irritant happening at the same time.
Balto, thanks for continuing to encourage me. Your posts have been so helpful. I wish I could give you a hug for all your help.
Chickenbone, I relate so well to your post.
Back2it, you have always given me great advice. You told me about this forum to begin with!! Anyway, I am letting this response from you sink in. I think you're right. Esp about how anxiety must be understood and how our reaction to the main stressors is the issue. Ace's keys to healing should be posted on a permanent t section somewhere on this site.
Darko - change my thinking to neutralize the tension? Um, yes please! But how exactly ? ;)
Dave- I am coming to accept this is how I'm hard wired, love it or hate it. And the default button is set on physical pain. :(
Anyway, wanted to show my appreciation. And I don't say this to complain but I barely have time to myself during the day. Being a mom to two littles is exhausting! I can't do anything for myself. But I do try and spend a few minutes each day just sitting, meditating on my spiritual beliefs and truths like Aces keys. It helps but I feel like if I had more time to myself things would be better(?) there is something unnerving about being depended on by the little people. I am their everything. It's prob the tension of that too. Which brings me back to my question for Darko- neutralize the tension with my thinking? |
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mala
Hong Kong
774 Posts |
Posted - 05/03/2013 : 21:40:39
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Hey Jenny well done on identifying your stressors & making the link between how the stress affects the body in your case the toe & finger. You are under extreme stress. I mean , marital & financial worries & being a mom to 2 small kids is taxing enough even without physical pain.
I agree with darko. Nothing will work if you are tense and are reacting to the situation over & over again in the same way. Something needs to change in the way you deal with the situation . For example if you get stressed out every time your kids scream & react in the same way that you r reacting now, them meditating on spiritual beliefs isn't going to work. & will not change anything. Only you can take control over how you can either change the situation or if you can't then how you will react to it.
I wish you all the best.
Mala
Mala Singh Barber. I'm on facebook. Look me up
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forestfortrees
393 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2013 : 13:00:47
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave
quote:
Originally posted by jennypeanut
The pain has been gone for a long time. Well... It slowly started to resurface.
Expect that this will happen, maybe for the rest of your life.
Your entire message is focused on describing the physical symptoms, so it seems that this attack has succeeded in grabbing your attention.
Instead, you should acknowledge the pain as a benign signal that something might be going that you are not fully facing up to. Ignore the pain and try to figure out what negative emotions you may be repressing in response to any recent developments in your life.
Great point, Dave. I have been recovered for about four years, and every once in awhile I will have a new symptom pop up. There is always that part of you that worries a bit, but once I tell myself it is TMS popping up again, there is nothing to worry about. Learning to use my symptoms as a benign signal has helped me reduce all of my fear of these symptoms and identify some of the underlying emotions driving them.
My Video Success Story
www.thankyoudrsarno.org
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Darko
Australia
387 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2013 : 00:33:51
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JP,
read this post and see if you get anything from it
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6743
Ask yourself "why is this pissing me off?" or "why is this stressing me?" when you know those answers you can change the way the event occurs to you so it no longer stresses or pisses you off......
Change the negative thoughts, and flip your perspective of a situation in order to make peace with it.
BUT, think about the event BEFORE the event happens ( practice how to respond in your head ).......it's harder to change your thinking when you're already emotional
Do this and you'll be 50% better.........
D |
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Pain is back
