The Diagnosis

Hi All

I'm fairly confident that im experiencing past and present TMS however this is without a diagnosis from a qualified TMS specialist. Living in western Australia, there are no TMS doctors that practice (that i'm aware of). So my question is, how does one get better (fully accept TMS) without an official diagnosis?

Thanks

 

Dr. Sarno said any chronic pain syndrome that lasts more than 3 months is TMS. Some clues would be: when doctors don't know what you have or give you a waste basket diagnoses like Fibromyalgia or Lyme disease (I fell into that rabbit hole), when you google your symptoms and 20,000 diseases come up, when you feel ike you're the only person in the world that has your condition and you are a medical mystery, when doctors just throw pain pills or Xanax at you.

When I first had TMS (manifested as mysterious pains in my legs after an injury in my pelvis which had healed) and I read "Healing Back Pain", I saw myself in the pages of the book. My photo could have been used as a TMS poster child. I had the exact personality Dr. Sarno described. That's when I knew for sure I had TMS.

Hope that helps!

 

Thanks miffybunny!

I was diagnosed with herniated discs in my lower back that resulted in various surgeries. Now im having neck issues and starting to think its all related. Im the type of person who needs a definitive diagnosis otherwise i will always have doubt in my mind.

 

From what you described, it sounds exactly like TMS. Howard Stern had horrible back pain for years and he said that he needed to see a real dr. in a white lab coat to confirm to him it was psychosomatic. There was something about Dr. Sarno (RIP) that gave people that confidence. Howard actually dedicated his book to Dr. Sarno. If you keep thinking thoughts like, "Maybe it's a pinched nerve. maybe it's nerve entrapment, maybe I'm misaligned from the surgery," etc. etc, you will always have doubt. You must have 100% confidence. I highly recommend "Healing Back Pain", if you haven't already read it. There's also a lot of experts on the wiki that could help you. Steve O wrote to me once. I was also lucky enough to speak to Dr. Howard Schubiner on the phone for 2 minutes. That brief phone call was all I needed (at that time I had the diagnosis of RSD and I couldn't find much info. Dr. Scubiner explained that it was still stemming from signals from the brain.). Wishing you lots of confidence in your journey! You're already off to a great start!

 

Yes, some of us self-diagnosed based on what we know about TMS. Some people need that confirmation from a TMS doc, but others are able to put the pieces together, deduce they have TMS (after other more severe medical issues are ruled out) and go from there. I never saw a TMS doctor, but since i'm a physical therapist I felt confident enough in my knowledge to put it all together. I did have a lumbar MRI before I knew about TMS, showing 2 herniated discs. Once I read Sarno and other TMS books I realized I fit the TMS diagnosis and was able to use that to start my healing process. Some diagnoses are also more clear-cut than others. Chronic pain from herniated discs are basically always TMS unless there are extenuating circumstances . Chronic pain in nearly all forms is TMS, as was said above! Normal injuries just don't take that long to resolve, the body is excellent at healing!

 

Thanks MindBodyPT
What is considered a severe medical issue? Cancer? etc
When you mention 'Chronic pain from herniated discs are basically always TMS unless there are extenuating circumstances' would that mean in some instances herniated discs are the direct result of the pain? Understand your not a doctor so not chasing a diagnosis from you, just interested to gain as much knowledge as possible.
Thanks

 

Yes, like Sarno and others speak about, cancer and other systemic illnesses like infection can cause pain. Of course seeing a doctor for your pain would rule these out.

Herniated discs are known to be benign; if found to be the cause of bowel and bladder issues or issues of paralysis (both meaning there is spinal cord involvement) these require medical attention but this is super rare! Disc herniations are often painless when they first occur (most people have them and don’t even onow) but sometimes can cause some acute pain for a few weeks. In all cases that don’t have the rare circumstances as above, herniated discs will not be the culprit of chronic pain. They are incidental findings on MRIs. TMS doctors practice with this frame of reference. Hope that helped clarify!