[PaulaA]

Hello to all. I'm not on any mess, I'm trying to use meditation, affirmations, and vitamin and supplement therapies that are supposed to grow back the neurons that prolonged stress causes in the brain. Right now I'm working on setting good boundaries. I am now experiencing debilitating physical pain that has no cause, and if I use a mindfulness meditation technique on whatever area it is in, it just moves to a new area, so I'm convinced it's psychosomatic. I can't get a handle on this, and I think it's stopping my progress.

Any advice? Ideas? Experiences?

Thank you.

[Trace14]

Grounding, practice grounding techniques. It's takes a while to really master them. Especially when you are in a strong dissociation, or EF. I use rocks in my hands as a grounding tool. I hope your other methods work out for you. Sounds like you are determined to fight this. Keep us posted.

My results with meditation were meager. However, I always thought that if people at the meditation center were friendlier that it might have worked better. The problem with meditation is that some people try to suppress the thoughts and emotions that are problematic rather than releasing them and not engaging in them.

I tried affirmations (including praying and reciting mantras) with no benefits. My MD prescribed high doses of high vitamin D-3 but had no benefits.

If I had a better body (younger and healthier), I'd be playing tennis again. Physical activity that requires focus seems to help, especially if it is social in nature. The social aspect creates a support group and new, positive experiences and memories that replace the old ones. An introvert, social success has never been mine. I wish you all the best.

[Hopeful10]

I deal with complex Potsdam myself, along with bipolar disorder. I struggle with chronic pain every day, particularly in my neck and back, and I deal with chronic, debilitating migraines. I take an all-around, holistic, integrative approach to my care. I wanted so bad, when I first started dealing with the migraines, not to have to use any medical treatments, as I already take Meds for the bipolar disorder. I changed my diet by eliminating foods I found to be triggering some migraines...but after eliminating over 60% of my diet and no change in the migraines I needed to figure something out. I looked into seeing a functional medicine doctor who had me on bio identical progesterone, and I started a dietary purification cleanse. That didn't help either. So I began seeing a neurologist, who tried me on all the standard medications for migraines. They all either didn't work, made things worse or I was allergic to them. After 1 1/2 years, I got in with a specialist and started getting Botox injections for the migraines. They have really helped.
Now, I say all this for a purpose. Once I started getting the Botox injections for the migraines and they got under some control, I was able to start EMDR therapy for the complex ptsd. (I lived daily at a pain level of 5 out of 10 constantly, and then when a migraine would hit, the pain would shoot up to 10+. I had a migraine every week of every month, usually lasting 3-5 days. My longest migraine was 2 weeks, with a consistent pain level above 8). During migraine auras I would hear horrible screaming and feel so tense and have what I know now are flashbacks to traumas in my past. But I wasn't able to connect the dots between the pain of my migraines and my traumas until I started EMDR. Once I started that, it all started to flood in, all the flashbacks, but with the buzzers in my hands I was able to keep calm and talk through it and cry and feel it and process it all with my therapist. Since then, whenever I start to have pain even in my neck or back (the other areas I have chronic pain), I breathe, close my eyes, and let myself feel any feelings, sensations, and emotions that may come up. 9 times out of 10, I have some kind of memory or emotion or feeling I start to process during that time. And as I just let myself, my body feel the stuff it needs to feel, I start to feel better.
Some helpful tips: After, and sometimes during this process, it is very helpful for me to journal...it helps me to get stuff out of my head and sorted out. Also, I do some regular self-help forms of energy balancing based off of ancient Japanese methods. Another thing I have found very helpful is seeing my chiropractor once a week for adjustments. Last, my most favorite and most helpful thing I do is taking time to center myself on my God and spend time praying to Him and allowing Him to fill me with His peace.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[PaulaA]

Originally Posted by Trace14

Grounding, practice grounding techniques. It's takes a while to really master them. Especially when you are in a strong dissociation, or EF. I use rocks in my hands as a grounding tool. I hope your other methods work out for you. Sounds like you are determined to fight this. Keep us posted.

Thank you for your advice. I'm not sure what grounding is in meditation, but I think I have the pain issue, if not figured out exactly, at least absent for now.

I had set aside an hour a day to journal, and found that I was immediately feeling exhausted afterwards. So, trying to practice self-compassion, I would let myself sleep. Without setting an alarm, I would wake up in about an hour and have energy the rest of the day.

But after a while I started waking up naturally after two hours, then three hours and I told myself enough is enough! Looking back, the pain started when I started limiting myself to one hour, setting an alarm and making myself get back up.

I've never needed so much sleep in my life!!!!

The pain just got so bad. I didn't want to give up on working through things though, so I'm letting myself sleep until I wake back up, however long that takes and BAM....no more pain.

But my ability to get things done feels limited. I hope I go back to normal soon.

[PaulaA]

Originally Posted by unguy

My results with meditation were meager. However, I always thought that if people at the meditation center were friendlier that it might have worked better. The problem with meditation is that some people try to suppress the thoughts and emotions that are problematic rather than releasing them and not engaging in them.

I tried affirmations (including praying and reciting mantras) with no benefits. My MD prescribed high doses of high vitamin D-3 but had no benefits.

If I had a better body (younger and healthier), I'd be playing tennis again. Physical activity that requires focus seems to help, especially if it is social in nature. The social aspect creates a support group and new, positive experiences and memories that replace the old ones. An introvert, social success has never been mine. I wish you all the best.

I just started yoga yesterday! Wish me luck, I'm already sore today, and it was only beginners level! Thanks for the advice!

[PaulaA]

Originally Posted by Hopeful10

I deal with complex Potsdam myself, along with bipolar disorder. I struggle with chronic pain every day, particularly in my neck and back, and I deal with chronic, debilitating migraines. I take an all-around, holistic, integrative approach to my care. I wanted so bad, when I first started dealing with the migraines, not to have to use any medical treatments, as I already take Meds for the bipolar disorder. I changed my diet by eliminating foods I found to be triggering some migraines...but after eliminating over 60% of my diet and no change in the migraines I needed to figure something out. I looked into seeing a functional medicine doctor who had me on bio identical progesterone, and I started a dietary purification cleanse. That didn't help either. So I began seeing a neurologist, who tried me on all the standard medications for migraines. They all either didn't work, made things worse or I was allergic to them. After 1 1/2 years, I got in with a specialist and started getting Botox injections for the migraines. They have really helped.
Now, I say all this for a purpose. Once I started getting the Botox injections for the migraines and they got under some control, I was able to start EMDR therapy for the complex ptsd. (I lived daily at a pain level of 5 out of 10 constantly, and then when a migraine would hit, the pain would shoot up to 10+. I had a migraine every week of every month, usually lasting 3-5 days. My longest migraine was 2 weeks, with a consistent pain level above 8). During migraine auras I would hear horrible screaming and feel so tense and have what I know now are flashbacks to traumas in my past. But I wasn't able to connect the dots between the pain of my migraines and my traumas until I started EMDR. Once I started that, it all started to flood in, all the flashbacks, but with the buzzers in my hands I was able to keep calm and talk through it and cry and feel it and process it all with my therapist. Since then, whenever I start to have pain even in my neck or back (the other areas I have chronic pain), I breathe, close my eyes, and let myself feel any feelings, sensations, and emotions that may come up. 9 times out of 10, I have some kind of memory or emotion or feeling I start to process during that time. And as I just let myself, my body feel the stuff it needs to feel, I start to feel better.
Some helpful tips: After, and sometimes during this process, it is very helpful for me to journal...it helps me to get stuff out of my head and sorted out. Also, I do some regular self-help forms of energy balancing based off of ancient Japanese methods. Another thing I have found very helpful is seeing my chiropractor once a week for adjustments. Last, my most favorite and most helpful thing I do is taking time to center myself on my God and spend time praying to Him and allowing Him to fill me with His peace.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wow! Hang on in there! I find I'm getting really sleepy after journaling, but I'm determined to stick with it. I will look up energy practices. Thanks!

[babkababy]

I found a lot of help through a Dr. Robert Morse N.D. protocol. I self taught myself by watching his free videos and found others who were also doing the protocol. I took bovine glandulars to heal a lot of my endocrine gland system after PTSD. I highly recommend it. Hot and cold showers to the back of the head help so much to relieve pain in the cerebellum and neck area which are high stress areas.

Best well wishes to all of you!