wow i'm glad you found your way into recovery! i would love to hear more abt that if you would like to share
Yes, I've already mentioned my recovery a couple of times already so I hope people aren't bored of it but I can give you a brief summary.
I have suffered with chronic pain for about 20 years now, at first it wasn't too bad but it became increasingly worse over the years. A few months back it got so bad I could hardly leave the house and spent most of my day either in bed or laid or on the floor in distress. I would say I was suicidal for about 3-4 months until I had eventually had enough, nobody could do anything for me and the health service was useless. I tried several times to cbt but failed so I felt I had no choice but to tell my doctor and then opened up to my family. I went to stay in a mental ward for 3 days but I struggled there, they didn't do anything for me, I was still in this constant debilitating pain. I had to beg and plead but I got let out and I promised my family I would keep looking for an answer. I spent 3 months trying different things but nothing seemed to help and I almost lost hope, I was looking at trying patial again, bought some charcoal and was looking for any other viable alternative.
Then part due to luck and part due to perseverence, I think, I stumbled across Dr Sarno and the Mind Body Syndrome. I started watching a couple of videos and instantly thought *this is me" so I started learning more and more about it. Eventually I discovered that all this chronic pain I had was due to stress and anxiety. Now the important thing to remember is that this does not mean that the pain was all in my head. Just as when you get anxious your heart beats faster, well the brain can also create pain. All was left was to do the work which basically consists of understanding the syndrome so you can basically "unlearn" the pain and dealing with the anxiety and stress
Cut to now (about an month after my discovery) and I am doing really well, last night I went to a gaming club and met a friend I hadn't seen in over a year, I am walking long distances, cycling, I've even started jogging, which I havent done in 8 years for fear of knee pain. I still have pain but it's gradually going and nothing like before, I dont let it bother me.