# Psychosomatic Pain



## sasdf (Dec 1, 2006)

Has anyone else had a problem with this? I've noticed that my negative emotions tend to show up as physical pain a lot of the time. I think it's because I bottle up bad feelings so much. It first started over a decade ago with chronic upper back pain. I tried several different therapies until I stumbled upon a book called _Mind Over Back Pain_ by Dr. John E. Sarno. You can read about his theories here. After reading the book I soon discovered my neurotic brain was the sole cause of my pain. Just realizing this cleared it up almost instantaneously. It was pretty amazing. I still occasionally get back into those self-destructive thought patterns, however, and the pain comes back again, often times in totally different parts of the body. The interesting thing is that it's never in more than one part of my body at the same time. That's how I know it's not "real" and that it exists solely as a trick my mind is playing on me to distract me from my negative emotions and inner conflicts. Anyway, if any of you out there suffer from chronic pain syndromes, it's worth looking into. The main thing is you have to believe in it for it to work. The human brain can do some pretty kooky things.


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## Hit_the_Lights (Nov 1, 2006)

wow, thats interesting, I've been having lower back pain for months now and nothing has helped, not even physical therapy, I'm going to have to check out that book


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## sasdf (Dec 1, 2006)

Actually, that book I mentioned is an old one, his first book on the subject. Check out the Wikipedia entry I linked to and there are a few newer books where he expands a lot more on his theories. Let us all know if it works for you. Good luck!



Hit_the_Lights said:


> wow, thats interesting, I've been having lower back pain for months now and nothing has helped, not even physical therapy, I'm going to have to check out that book


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## odd_one_out (Aug 22, 2006)

Until recently, I'd regularly get an all over flu-like feeling that could last almost a day. I'd feel light-headed, unable to eat, and ached all over. I began to notice a pattern though, as it mainly occured when I'd been unoccupied. Now it's nowhere near as bad because I know how to prevent it to a large extent.


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## sasdf (Dec 1, 2006)

*Re: re: Psychosomatic Pain*

I just started getting that too. I've been getting this pain in the pelvic region that comes and goes, or rather, it alternates with an achy flu-like feeling throughout my body. I wonder if having an oversensitive sense of body awareness contributes to this kinda thing. I tend to be acutely aware of what's going on in my body at all times.



odd_one_out said:


> Until recently, I'd regularly get an all over flu-like feeling that could last almost a day. I'd feel light-headed, unable to eat, and ached all over. I began to notice a pattern though, as it mainly occured when I'd been unoccupied. Now it's nowhere near as bad because I know how to prevent it to a large extent.


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## Chrysalii (Jun 24, 2006)

I honestly can't tell if it does happen to me, but I have proof that it does.


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## odd_one_out (Aug 22, 2006)

*Re: re: Psychosomatic Pain*



spasdf said:


> I wonder if having an oversensitive sense of body awareness contributes to this kinda thing. I tend to be acutely aware of what's going on in my body at all times.


I think it definitely contributes. That's why it wouldn't happen when I was distracted enough. I also notice the most subtle changes in my body, which is something a lot of other people don't seem to have. If I ever get an unfamiliar sensation, it can worry me. over the years, I've learnt how to prevent many of the problems I used to get (e.g stomach aches, body aches).

One weird symptom I had last year was a delicate chest, but I wasn't coughing up much at all. It would constantly ache so I went to my GP. He couldn't find anything wrong and since that day it hasn't returned. It's hard to get my head around the fact it was likely to have been psychosomatic; the mind's powerful!


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## billy (Feb 15, 2006)

Damn, this is what I'm going through right now. 
My pain now occurs in my right leg. Whenever I step outside the pain will start, kind of automatically, like a switch. I tell myself, everything will be ok, nobody's going to attack you, nobody is judging me, but it just won't go away.
Sometimes the pain is so unbearable, it's like a dagger being twisted in my leg or sometimes it feels like there's electricity running through me. It's so annoying.
Yeah it's unbelievable how the brain can do these things.

What have you done to help yourself?


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## sasdf (Dec 1, 2006)

*Re: re: Psychosomatic Pain*

Read one of Dr. Sarno's books. _The Mindbody Prescription_ is a good one. The only reason his treatment hasn't "cured" me completley yet is that I haven't gone into therapy to learn how to release my repressed emotions, which is what some people require for a long-term cure for this problem. But just reading his books and understanding his theories has helped me a great deal. That's all some people need to be rid of their pain forever, apparently. Howard Stern is one of them. That's how I learned about the guy in the first place. He talked about it on his show years ago. John Stossel did a report on Sarno also and his back problems were cured as well.



billy said:


> What have you done to help yourself?


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## swiv2D (Oct 20, 2005)

My hands hurt now and again, they tremble so do my knees. My face hurts as well sometimes and the back of my neck.


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## Strength (Aug 12, 2006)

sasdf said:


> The interesting thing is that it's never in more than one part of my body at the same time. That's how I know it's not "real" and that it exists solely as a trick my mind is playing on me to distract me from my negative emotions and inner conflicts.


Psychosomatic disorders are not supposed to be fake disorders created in the mind. It is supposed to refer to real symptoms created by negative thought patterns.


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

I have psychosomatic nausea.


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## Dovetailing (Jul 25, 2006)

I'm in some kind of pain everyday, so I wouldn't be surprised if it were psychosomatic.


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