A new vision on chronic pain that completely changed my life.

Since childhood, I had suffered from joint pain that worsened in humid and cold weather. For years, I thought this was part of my disability. Then I learned about rheumatic complaints and had tests done. But no rheumatism or related conditions were found, I couldn’t tolerate pain medication, and it didn’t help with this pain either. So the doctors couldn’t help me in any way. The verdict: you will have to “learn to live with the pain”.

Years later, I met Abuelo and, on his advice, moved to a drier and warmer climate: beautiful, southern Sicily. And yes, I experienced my first pain-free day at the age of 38, in Sicily! But once the temperatures dropped below 15 degrees the pain returned, especially when it rained.

Conclusion: I will have to learn to live with this after all…

A few years later, my life took a big turn and I moved to a beautiful place in the tropical forest of Brazil. It was a humid climate, but warm, so I didn’t expect any problems. Until in the middle of summer, I suddenly started experiencing a lot of pain. Apparently, the high humidity was enough to bring back the old familiar joint pains, despite the warm temperatures…

My friends asked me if I regretted my decision, if I wanted to live somewhere else in Brazil where it was less humid, etc. Even though I had tears in my eyes from the pain, I didn’t even think about moving for a second. I felt that there had to be another solution, because I had finally come home and I didn’t want to leave this place anymore.

I also developed other pain symptoms and tingling in my left arm, so I went back to Google, in search of knowledge or help and discovered ‘Breinmedicijn’. I signed up for the trial version, where I learned about Dr Sarno’s theory on chronic pain. The pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

In my case, no physical cause had ever been found for the rheumatism-like pain, but neither had a psychological approach, therapy and psychosomatic approaches helped me. I could never make the connection between the complaint and any emotional message behind it. Dr Sarno’s vision shed light on the whole process in a completely different way.

The origin of chronic pain according to Dr Sarno

Dr Sarno, Specialist in Rehabilitation Medicine and Neurorehabilitation, was confronted with his inability to help a large proportion of his patients with back pain. Determined to help them, he began to think “outside the box” and discovered the psycho-physiological process at the root of his patients’ chronic pain. His students and other experts have since developed a whole method that has relieved many people of chronic pain. And thanks to following “Breinmedicijn”, I too can now live without pain in my beloved place, the Mata Atlântica.

In the method I followed the brain is the main player. In extreme synthesis, we can say that the brain considers a feeling, an emotion, a situation, ‘something’, to be a danger and wants to protect us from it. The brain will therefore prevent us from being confronted with the ‘danger’. It can do this in various ways.

The physiological flight response

The brain transmits the danger signal to the body and the various systems involved in the fight- flight response are activated. Certain parts of the body are therefore put “on hold” for a moment, receiving less energy, in favour of the parts of the body we need to be able to flee. The physiological response can be accompanied by a very subtle local oxygen deficiency in certain muscles, which can lead to muscle pain, muscle tension with tingling and nerve pain, etc. Trigger points are also often linked to this physiological response.

Distract attention

Our brain tries to protect us from confronting what it considers ‘dangerous’. Dr. Sarno concluded that this was usually not a literal danger, but an emotion. Various factors can cause our brain to perceive a certain emotion as a potential danger and therefore completely suppress it. Usually to the point where we are not aware that we are suppressing the emotion.

If that emotion tries to come to the surface our brain does everything it can to distract our attention. Since it is literally at the head of many physiological processes, it can provoke a wide variety of complaints and pain that take up all our attention.

This is a very brief description of what Dr Sarno calls TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome). If you have chronic pain or back problems, it is worth watching Dr Sarno’s seminar. If you speak Dutch, take a moment to explore the “Breinmedicijn” website and register for the trial version.

When can chronic pain be resolved?

If the above mechanism is the cause of your complaints, then you have TMS and the complaints can be remedied.

There are a number of criteria for determining whether the complaints are caused by TMS.

• No clear physical cause for the complaints has been found.
• The normal recovery period for the physical problem has long passed and the complaints persist.
• The score of the TMS test.
• Physical treatments do not help in the long term or lead to an increase in complaints.

Disclaimer: this list is only an indication. Do you suffer from chronic pain? Then contact a TMS coach to guide you in making the diagnosis.

In my case, no physical cause for the joint pain had been found, the score on the TMS test was very high and after an intake interview it was clear that I had TMS. That was actually good news. Because if the pain is caused by TMS, it can also be remedied.

How?

By gaining insight into how TMS works, what suppressed emotions your brain wants to protect you from, what conditioning, beliefs and behaviours reinforce your brain in his protective strategy, thereby contributing to the chronicity of your symptoms.

Through specific exercises, we learn to feel what we were not allowed to feel before. In addition, we teach our brain to no longer go into alarm mode and thus no longer trigger symptoms.

Why did this approach make a difference for me?

Emotional work plays an important role in the treatment of TMS, as suppressed emotions often trigger the brain’s alarm signal. However, emotion-focused therapies did not help in my case because there are two other factors that play an essential role in TMS.

Mindset

Emotions trigger the brain’s alarm mode, but in a sense, the brain is the cause of the symptoms. Or rather, the brain has learned that certain emotions must be avoided. And even though this starts with one emotion or one event, as time goes on, the brain extends this alarm mode and it becomes more of a ‘lifestyle’. At that point, many things can cause the brain to start creating symptoms, and it is no longer enough to just work on the emotion.

In concrete terms: due to many different circumstances, my brain has learned that almost everything is a potential danger. It became as a second nature for my brain to create complaints. And it used any information it could find to do so. For example: in cold and damp weather, people are more prone to joint pain.

Once I understood that it was my brain that was creating the complaints, I consciously started giving my brain safety signals and reconditioning it. Just as it had learned that humid weather can cause pain, I taught it now that humid weather does NOT have to cause pain, that I was completely healthy and that the humid climate was not a problem. This process takes some time because the brain does not immediately switch to new patterns. It regularly tests whether this new way is really the right way. And so we come to the second important pillar that I was previously missing in order to become pain-free: behaviour.

Behaviour

If you are convinced that the symptoms are just an unfounded, overprotective reaction of the brain, it is essential that your reactions to the symptoms embody this conviction. If this is not the case, you often reinforce the brain’s alarm pattern without realising it, and it continues to create symptoms.

Two examples:

I know that the humid climate is not a cause of pain in my case because I am healthy. But when it rains, I still worry and keep checking for the first signs of pain. Somewhere, there is a little voice that keeps repeating, ‘Hopefully the pain will stay away.’ I do what I had planned for that day, but my attention is not fully there.

This way of reacting is a form of paying attention to the complaints, even though they are not (yet) there. The brain interprets this as ‘there is a problem, a possible danger’ and responds by provoking the complaints.

It is raining and I am in pain (e.g. as a result of the above mechanism). This pain increases, I start to wonder if there might be a physical problem after all, I get frustrated that I am in pain again, that I cannot do what I wanted to do, I desperately look for ways to make the pain go away, I do all the exercises I have learned to stop the pain immediately, etc.

All these reactions are not only a form of negative attention, but also a form of stress surrounding the symptoms. This stress is a strong signal for the brain to go into alarm mode and increase the symptoms even more.

Thanks to the structured approach of emotion work, mindset and behaviour, my brain has accepted that humid weather is not threatening and no longer creates joint pain, even in the tropical climate where I can now enjoy the beautiful nature without pain.

Sources

• Breinmedicijn ( NL), Johan van Vliet
• Seminar by Dr Sarno
• own life experience and recovery process