The Cure for Chronic Pain with Nicole Sachs, LCSW

Times of transition, change, and upheaval are breeding grounds for TMS. Today on the podcast, we talk a little about how I'm handling that in my own life, and one of the most important concepts to continue to practice in these times: Belief in this process and TMS. Today we are taking on the concept of belief, trusting yourself, "Knowing" from the seat of your consciousness, and so much more. As a...

Brooke has been a yogi for years, and co-owns two incredible yoga studios. Even after practicing yoga up to 6 times a week, Brooke's flexibility and pain on the mat never changed. She resolved herself to the fact that this was simply, "What her body was like." After coming across my JournalSpeak practice and teachings, Brooke decided to take a chance and see what was constricting her within. She w...

When I first met Raye in 2019, she was struggling so badly with tinnitus, vertigo, and migraines that her tour manager had to put garbage cans just off stage at every show in case she had to exit the stage to be sick. Raye had an attack of vertigo that lasted, unrelenting, for 3 months! We did a RTH (Real Time Heal) on the pod and we delved deeply into Raye's upbringing, personal struggles, and ep...

Trauma-informed recovery is key in helping people move past chronic pain and illness. Today on the pod we look at our lives through the lens of relationship and trauma, and the ways in which we might be replaying patterns in order to "fix" what has been hurtful in the past. It's incredible the changes that become possible when we are clear as to why we do things, and are able to pause and stay cur...

Wow. Wow is all I can say when I think about Suzanne's story and her stunning recovery. I first head Suzanne's voice on a Speakpipe where she was reaching out to express her joy and gratitude for being recovered and to offer to share with the world her harrowing journey. I reached back out enthusiastically - everyone needs to hear what Suzanne is saying about how dark it can be, how hopeful it can...

As Dr. Sarno always said, you do NOT need to change your life to be out of chronic pain. As we also acknowledge here, sometimes when you know yourself more deeply, it's hard to keep showing up as people-pleasing, codependent, and boundary-less. Today on the pod we feature a Speakpipe from Nathalie. After 2 horrible years of long covid, she considers herself totally recovered. But... not everyone l...

I came across Caitlin's account on Instagram one day and I was like, "OMG this woman is living, breathing JournalSpeak!" Caitlin's oldest son had cancer as a small child, and after living through that, she just had no more fucks to give. Caitlin realized that speaking her truth freed others, and hopped online to live out loud. On her Instagram account @bigtimeadulting, Caitlin brings humor and hum...

Anxiety, stress, overwhelm, and worry are natural and normal and many of us have them in spades. But let's consider, today, what it would be like to live each day doing the work necessary to quiet them. This is what I have been doing for the past year, and the result are pretty extraordinary. Today on this solo pod, I share with you the things that have been contributing to the potential for TONS...

Mouse was a private client of mine many moons ago. When we met, she was in a wheelchair. Her doctors had her on a bevy of medications for autoimmune diseases like Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis (they weren't sure which one she had because she had ALL the markers for both), and her plantar fasciitis was so severe she couldn't walk. And that was just the beginning - Mouse has every physical problem...

Gratitude is a verb. We need to learn how to live it. The nervous system is desperate for our input of calm, peace, and well being. The kind of gratitude we discuss today on the pod is the kind that brings us there. The reason we suffer ubiquitously with chronic issues is that we are in long-term, sustained fight/flight/freeze/fawn. Actively practicing gratitude is one way to circumvent this postu...

Heather was in a "bad mood" for months, even years. She had taken a job that was way too much pressure, and wasn't practicing self-care. One day on vacation, the occasional migraine that used to be nothing to Heather came on like a storm. She experienced numbness and pain to the point where she worried she was having a stroke! This led to a chronic situation of which I am VERY familiar. Once she f...

The hardest work in life is around relationships. They bring out the best but also the worst in us, as they challenge us to constantly look at ourselves, our roles, and our triggers. Join us today as we revisit this most important topic, and consider how the ways in which we deal with our own parents, children, partners, and others can affect our pain and our ability to heal. Once we get a clear v...

Sometimes when we are actually in crisis, we are free of chronic symptoms because the brain and the nervous system are actively engaged in saving our own lives or someone else's. When the crisis is alleviated, however, it is then that many people come down with a chronic condition that holds the space for that long term panic. This is precisely what happened to Kristin. A busy schoolteacher and mo...

The number one question I get is always around the brain and nervous system and WHY WHY WHY it somehow feels "safer" to be sick than to feel the darkest of our human emotions. Today we revisit an episode from the Summer Series '22 where we explore just that. We are more than willing to lament to friends that we are "annoyed", "bummed", or "freaked out." But we are less likely to talk about being e...

What a fun and great learning experience to sit down with Phil De La Haye. Phil is an Internal Family Systems practitioner with a particular interest in the mindbody connection and chronic symptoms. He recovered from chronic pain himself, and JournalSpeak was a very important tool in his recovery. He’s passionate about how IFS can support the JournalSpeak process through building deep connection w...

Being triggered is different than being uncomfortable or annoyed. When we are truly triggered, we are brought to a place in the past when we were traumatized in some way (Big or little t) and we lose ability to control our reactions. Although triggers are normal and nothing to be ashamed of, the more awareness we practice around them the more freedom we have to affect our responses to life. No one...

Gigi is a brilliant TMS mind who lived through 10 years of chronic illness with no idea what was wrong with her. Diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome at the age of 14, it never made sense to Gigi that her myriad symptoms were always being blamed on this one genetic anomaly. As she grew, so did her symptoms. She was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, POTS, and others. Her worst symptoms...

Migraines, as with all TMS equivalents, are a tool of the brain and nervous system to distract and protect us from that which feels impossible to handle - our daily stressors and repressed emotional worlds. This is the way TMS works. Although I wholeheartedly believe that migraines are interchangeable with any TMS symptom (back pain, fibromyalgia, pelvic pain, IBS, etc.), sometimes a symptom becom...

Some TMS stories are so textbook they make me want to laugh and cry at the same time. This is true for Shivani's chronic pain journey. She had TMS in childhood (didn't we all?) and then it moved from pelvic issues to back pain to anxiety and back! The great news is that Shivani is pain free today, and the better news is that she is a Psychiatric nurse and will make such a difference in this world...

In the fall, Lisa and I did an episode on Ascension, and the concept that recovery is not a straight line - it has twists and turns and can seem, at times, like you are not making progress. But this is not true! Recovery is indeed a journey of concentric circles up a mountain, and if you know how to pay attention, you will always be able to identify your growth. We recently heard back on Speakpipe...

Evie's life was planned before she was old enough to have a real opinion. A child prodigy, she began boarding school for professional violin when she was 9. Although she loved playing her instrument, by the time she was 15 she was debilitated in back pain with no idea why. At first (as so many of us do) she thought the origin of her pain was poor posture or muscle weakness. After years of failed t...

Today we present Part Two of our Live Zoom Q&A pod! Even more great questions and answers on topics like Chronic Fatigue, keeping up with JournalSpeak even when the symptoms are not screaming, getting back to our lists, eye issues, and how to keep our mindsets in the optimal space for healing even when we've been raised in the medical model. Loved this format, and can't wait to do another! If you...

This was such a cool and awesome experience - our first ever Live podcast. We invited community members to join us for a Zoom Q&A, and it was an impactful way to be together, connect, and learn. I love answering questions in real time with no prep - it's one of the most powerful means of carrying this message. Join us for amazing backstories and questions on childhood trauma, emotionally unavailab...

Gary's Long Covid really terrified him. But if we are being honest, he was terrified even before he got covid in the first place - OF LONG COVID. This is so natural and typical of what happens in human beings. We are the only animals able to anticipate pain and suffering in our futures, (pre-grieving, catastrophizing) and our nervous systems are paying attention for these consciously communicated...

Lisa and I are always seeking to answer the biggest questions being pondered in our communities, and one that always comes up is around, "Is my symptom TMS and how it is that so many symptoms are?!" I know these are not the messages we grew up with as kids -  that headaches and backaches and nerve pain and stomach issues care all essentially the same thing, but in the TMS world, we know that it's...