Something I feel obligated to tell this forum about: psychosomatic pains and symptoms

[buck]

The mind does what it does.
Placebos have been shown to work!

 

[Canuck54]

Exactly, my first accident was when i was 19 got hit from behind while waiting to cross a road in my work car, second time 34 and was waiting to turn into my home driveway when a couple young girls plowed into me from behind, now im 43 and the pain is just stacking hard and wondering if i will be able to make it to 60+ without blowing out my brains, everything is a constant math equation ruling for and against doing shit..

I feel you. I’m 43 as well. What first started as back pain, led to finding out I had fractured my T7 thoracic vertebrae and by the time my stubborn ass went to the dr, it healed…except it healed with a kyphotic angle so my back is fused and causes pain every day. Stack that with schmorles nodes, C5/C6 bulging discs with stenosis, lumbar herniations, and then double knee surgery to repair two partially torn quad tendon and meniscus, shoulder surgery to shave off AC joint and repair tears, wrist surgery to release tendon…I just don’t want to do this lifting shit some days. Like you said, the pain stacks up and you feel suicidal but you just do what you can. Stim, chiropractor, massage, diet, rest, exercise modification, therapy, drugs. After 10 years of this shit I went to Cabo and the pharmacy and tried some shit and felt like I was in no pain. Take me away lol. What doesn’t kill us just exhausts us. Keep finding ways to be pain free, it also puts our loved ones under pressure.

 

[Canuck54]

while i 100% agree our mind and emotion can have major effects on pain and there are all sorts of examples around the world and throughout history of people who have learned to manage pain. being pain free regularly with just thought control in normal or stressful life style seems unlikely.

i do my best to not use pain much, honestly i would like to use them more but access where i live, really there isnt. i dont remember what it is to be pain free. i think it is just part of life.

Agreed. I would “rather wear out, than rust out” as the old quote goes. It’s the chronic pain however that will grind you down mentally over time.

 

[Fa Seeshus]

I think the psychosomatic pain thing can have very real physical grounding. I've had some big injuries happen while I was extremely stressed about specific things or events. Pretty much went and trained while pissed off and tore a muscle. The discomfort stayed past healing and sorta became a reminder of the event... I guess the emotional and physical pain got stored together, lol.

 

[massephase]

I think the psychosomatic pain thing can have very real physical grounding. I've had some big injuries happen while I was extremely stressed about specific things or events. Pretty much went and trained while pissed off and tore a muscle. The discomfort stayed past healing and sorta became a reminder of the event... I guess the emotional and physical pain got stored together, lol.

Yes - the pain becomes a learned behaviour and can stay even when the injury is gone.
The same thing can happen without an injury.

For me, every sensation in my lower back, like a pump from training or even just carrying groceries, was interpreted as painful by my brain somehow.
But not always - this is one of the clues that a pain is psychosomatic ... that it doesn't really make sense. For example, you go in and do a heavy deadlift session without pain but two hours before, when carrying a light bag of groceries, you had back pain. Makes no sense, this is not how pain from an injury would behave.
Or on your first set you have a lot of pain, but in the subsequent sets the pain dissappears completely. If your spine was really damaged, the pain would certainly not get better from more strain.

 

[specter]

I feel you. I’m 43 as well. What first started as back pain, led to finding out I had fractured my T7 thoracic vertebrae and by the time my stubborn ass went to the dr, it healed…except it healed with a kyphotic angle so my back is fused and causes pain every day. Stack that with schmorles nodes, C5/C6 bulging discs with stenosis, lumbar herniations, and then double knee surgery to repair two partially torn quad tendon and meniscus, shoulder surgery to shave off AC joint and repair tears, wrist surgery to release tendon…I just don’t want to do this lifting shit some days. Like you said, the pain stacks up and you feel suicidal but you just do what you can. Stim, chiropractor, massage, diet, rest, exercise modification, therapy, drugs. After 10 years of this shit I went to Cabo and the pharmacy and tried some shit and felt like I was in no pain. Take me away lol. What doesn’t kill us just exhausts us. Keep finding ways to be pain free, it also puts our loved ones under pressure.

I hear ya man, its always a finite balance..

 

[BigKevKris]

I feel ya man, im like you but in reverse my issues is on my neck due to two car accidents, 3 disks are totally fucked 2 who are bulging and pressing on nerves and arthritis in the entire neck top to bottom then 2 disks blown out in the lower back and starting arthritis there too, last scan they told me to just say the word and they would put in titanium rods and make it stiff.

Surgery is WITHOUT a doubt a personal choice that needs to be made with many factors involved. I faced the blade when I was 28. My back pain (lumbar: L5-S1 disc completely gone and L5 began sliding forward, disc between L4-L5 rapidly deterioating) had progressed to the point of nearly not being able to walk normally 90% of the time. 28yo, Active Duty Marine, E-6, 10 years in snd now Im being told I have 3 options: surgery and then must be able to pass all physical requirements, Surgery and get processed out medically, or no surgery and get processed out administratively.
Options were pretty obvious for me. I ended up medically RETIRED at 10 years and 3 months. I now live with about 80% of my original pain. I can walk pain free.... but in the end I am and always will be in pain. It will end up being a choice based on your situation and how you weigh your pro's VS Con's. ALWAYS AND I DO MEAN ALWAYS get a second opinion. My first surgeon wanted to fuse 3 VERTABRAE. Glad I got a 2nd opinion.

 

[LK3]

Agreed. I would “rather wear out, than rust out” as the old quote goes. It’s the chronic pain however that will grind you down mentally over time.

it gets old living in pain all the time bud, for sure. thats why you do your best with the head and use drugs sparingly. particualy pain meds.

i also stay far away from doctors. any time someone gives a name or reason or term for your pain it terns into a condition.

i tell myself im just crunchy today.

 

[comedycentral]

Yes - the pain becomes a learned behaviour and can stay even when the injury is gone.
The same thing can happen without an injury.

For me, every sensation in my lower back, like a pump from training or even just carrying groceries, was interpreted as painful by my brain somehow.
But not always - this is one of the clues that a pain is psychosomatic ... that it doesn't really make sense. For example, you go in and do a heavy deadlift session without pain but two hours before, when carrying a light bag of groceries, you had back pain. Makes no sense, this is not how pain from an injury would behave.
Or on your first set you have a lot of pain, but in the subsequent sets the pain dissappears completely. If your spine was really damaged, the pain would certainly not get better from more strain.

Alan Gordon’s pain reprocessing therapy and his book the way out is great and I found it very helpful. I was the same and had trained my brain to acknowledge every tweak as an instant red alert panic mode with pain to follow. I ended up in a fear situation it got crazy at one point and actually affected my mental health significantly. I still have times and issues but the book helped a lot. Worth a read and putting some of the techniques into practice