Thank you for the recommendation. I will try to locate the book today. Any bit of help is worth it to me,and I like to read. I appreciate your comments.


Dianne, all us Aussie's enjoy our big cuppa!

Hi jannaw
I have read most of claire weeks books and they are just great they are helpful there is another book which l have it is POWER OVER PANIC by bronwyn fox FREEDOM FROM PANIC/ANXIETY RELATED DISORDERS it was like a bible for me when l was going through the worst part of my agrophobia, I also read the, IT BOOKS they where so so, but l found that brownyn fox book excellent.


Hi aussie yes we do .

Aussie,

I am very glad to see that you have already received lots of good advice. I am somewhat reluctant to offer much more - you know, something about too many cooks spoiling . . . but it seems like I just can't resist.

In the past, I often recommended seeing a professional therapist (I am a Clinical Psychologist by profession but not currently practicing) - not because anxiety is a "serious problem," but because psychotherapy was often useful. That is still true, however, I now am more likely to recommend something in the area of what is loosely called energy psychology (EP) or sometimes called mind-body work.

In short, a practitioner trained in such things (can be and often is a therapist) starts from the assumption that the mind and body (and usually spirit or soul) are not at all separate but really manifestations of a complex and interactive system in which the parts are inseparable from the whole. Techniques that are grounded in this belief involve some work with the body as well as the mind. Such bodywork does not necessarily involve touch at all.

I am not sure what is available in your area but here are examples of 2 commonly used methods. In my opinion, both are excellent, and importantly are extremely low risk (I would like to say no risk but am being very, very careful). The first is mindfulness meditation which I practice myself. While it can be learned from a book, I would strongly recommend some initial group instruction.

The other is called Somatic Experiencing (SE). This technique does use a practitioner. When a skilled practitioner is involved, very significant and sometimes dramatic changes are possible.

Also, SE and other EP techniques can teach you very quick things to do to help when anxiety flares up. Breathing and other simple actions are the core of these types of "band-aids."

Just a word about the Valium - since you report feeling very tired, Valium is not a good choice. I would be much more concerned about that effect than the danger of addiction (although that is also very real). If you need some temporary use of a medication, I hope you will discuss it further with your doc. BTW, folks are often unaware of how tiring it can be to go through recurring anxiety and/or panic attacks. It takes a lot of you. One of the huge benefits of the other techniques is that they promote increased energy rather than further depleting it.

good luck.

rfinney

and you are right the mind-body-spirit connection is so often overlooked in terms of working to heal the WHOLE. Usually it's a patching of parts.

I have found one medical area that is opening up to the wide open aspects of it all and that is for those being treated with cancer...I've no clue as to WHY that particular area is more open, but, now I'm dealing with both, I am planning to take judicious advantage. In my area, there are lots of cheap and accessable classes at daytime times, frequently. So, I've no excuse. I don't see how anyone in chronic pain could be denied...I learned lots of body-mind awareness techniques in sports- in many ways they've helped immensely.

One neuro I no longer see, but I respect, used to have patients fill out an 'update' sheet...it always asked if one had felt depressed to ...suicidal. My response was always: Duh! not to be at least depressed seems would be abnormal!.. It's all part of learning about yourself. How you react, the triggers etc. - j

It helps that cancer kills folks. Now maybe if a killer form of PN is uncovered . ., nah, forget it - I don't want to go there.

Many other reasons why cancer gets so many resources. The good thing is that so much of what we learn there is is applicable to PN and lots of other chronic (and not so chronic) illnesses.

I find it fascinating that in treating the whole, that treating the supposedly more basic symptoms, such as anxiety, can become more effective. And for anxiety, the use of breathing as a core component of these techniques is directly related to its effectiveness in relieving the anxiety.

It is nice to be back. I still trying to catch up on all the goings on - both on this forum and with Braintalk.

rfinney

As I mentioned right now I am seeing a clinical psycholgist. He has explained alot to me and I have a muvh better understanding of what the heck is going on. I also found the book by Claire Weekes. I am midway through already. Very intresting book with some solid advice for people like me.


I am very intrested in Somatic Experiencing, I will look into it.


Thank you

someone regarding Somatic Experiencing. The quick explanation: A rabbit, if frightened by a predator, will jump around after it escapes to shake out its tension. Humans do not, and especially in the modern world, are more likely to "hold it in" physically.

I didn't follow through, but I thought it might be helpful for my PN TMJ combo. Folks with whatever-it-was-I-had tend to hold a lot of tension in the muscles, and this tension need not necessarily be anxiety. Simple concentration on a computer will do it, too. I found that I had become very unaware of what my muscles were doing, to the point some of my neck muscles were electrophysically exhausted because I held them tight all the time.

Anyway, I thought it was a promising approach.

Can I ask you if you have PN at all? Or was your problem solely myofascial?

You can ask, as long as you don't expect an answer! I don't really know!

To be more precise, I certainly did--and still do--have entrapment PN, in various places all over my body. (It comes and goes, at much milder levels.)

My hand pain, for instance, seems to have come from entrapments in my neck and thoracic outlet and underarm and on my arm--all at once. It's a double-crush syndrome, whereby one pinch makes the nerve more vulnerable to other pressures all along its length. My cervical vertibrae were so tight I could literally hear them move; my PT used a "wedge" and traction to open them up.

I still have bilateral elbow neuropathy. I wake up with tingling numbness in my ulnar area, sometimes just the hand, sometimes the whole elbow side of my forearm. It goes away with movement or straightening my arm.

All that said, I don't really know what happened, or what caused what. My onset was extremely abrupt and followed viral illnesses and inoculations, so autoimmune reactions have not been ruled out at all. Did my connective tissue have the reaction, or did my nerves develop PN and become more susceptible to irritation? No one knows.

Also, it's important to remember that myofascial pain is itself a neuromuscular condition. Trigger points are considered to be dysfunctional endplates of motor neurons, and what causes that to happen, nobody knows.

Confusing enough for you?

ETA: Aussie, I've always felt, reading your posts, that you have exactly the same thing I had. While the causes remain a mystery, I do know that the treatments worked!

I also have c-spine problems. Bulging disc at C2 with spinal stenosis, & arthritis as confirmed by MRI last year. The neck makes noises when it moves,and is always very very tight. I have spasms in shoulders and neck from this, and lord help me if I slept on it wrong!! The pain goes in the arm. But I am sure you can relate. Funny huh??