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Australian sufferer day 1

Zoeinoz

Zoeinoz

New Member
Hi.
My name is Zoe and I am a 37 year old mum living in Perth Australia. have exexperienced short episodes of back pain and what I believe to be TMS equivalents for nearly 20 years. I have still consideef myself fit and healthy till recently.
I stumbled across Dr Sano online about a week ago after two and a half months of acute upper back pain. I have spent a considerable amount on physical therapists, medication, tests (which showedno structural issues) and my doctor (who suggested it was stress related) with no success and was struggling to look after my toddler and baby without help. I also started to experience anxiety attacks.
Anyway, "Heal Your Back" was a revelation. After reading it and doing an hour of journaling on Monday I had three hours without pain the following morning! Since then I've experienced the same pain to a lesser degree and short bursts of pain in various places around my body...sneaky TMS.
I'm totally committed to the TMS program but admit that I'm impatient and have bouts of doubt. It's difficult only going from Dr Sarno's books and going it alone because of my location. I'm also wondering whether to continue revisiting past emotional issues or not. Also, having no other TMS suffers to talk to weakens my resolve.
I should note I've just discovered the structured program today which is why I used the heading Day 1.
Zoe
 
Welcome, Zoe, to the forum and the SEP, and congratulations for starting the program! You've got the right outlook, you're describing your symptoms in general terms instead of obsessing on details, and you've taken the plunge and come here for support.

I can assure you, you're not alone in starting this journey alone. I'm in Seattle, I totally diagnosed myself after reading The Divided Mind, and I found all of the support I needed right here amongst this caring and sharing community. I talk to people about it all the time, and have found a number of them who are willing to read about TMS, and even a few who are taking it further, but the ones who really get it are right here, this is where I come for inspiration and insight.

Keep posting and keep us posted!
 
Hi, Zoe. I echo Jan's reply to your post. You are off to a great start in TMS healing. It takes 100 percent belief in your pain being caused by TMS, either/or repressed emotions, perfectionist and "goodist" personality. You found relief right away after reading Dr. Sarno and TMS, so I am confident that you are going to become free of your pain just from reading and practicing the SEprogram. I healed from back pain without seeing a therapist, just from total belief in TMS. I journaled to discover repressed emotions that went back to my parents divorcing when I was seven. It left me with feelings of insecurity, but journaling helped me to realize my parents had TMS too, over financial problems, a very common cause of TMS pain.

I have never been to Australia but like what I've been in travelogues and movies. Australian Opera's David Hobson, is my favorite tenor.

I suggest you make a daily routine of the SEP and also the 12 Daily Reminders that Dr. Sarno lists in Healing Back Pain. Another member of the TMS community, Herbie, wrote his extended version of them and I post them here to suggest you read and practice them.

Herbie’s Extended Version of Dr. Sarno’s 12 DAILY REMINDERS

  1. The pain is due to TMS. This is real pain or anxiety but its caused by subconscious tensions and triggers, stressors and traits to your reactions and fears and also when at boiling point your conscious tension can and does cause real pain too.
  2. The main reason for the pain is mild oxygen deprivation. This means that when you get in pain or in anxiety then the the blood is restricted from going to your lower back for instance. The blood being restricted causes oxygen deprivation which causes the pain - remember, where theirs no oxygen then there is pain in the body. Also, The pain stays because of fear and focus to physical organic symptoms and repressions.
  3. TMS is a harmless condition caused by my REPRESSED EMOTIONS so even though you think you can harm yourself from the years of pain you have felt and how you feel in general -- so far no reports have been heard from tms healing knowledge causing damage to anyone, it only helps.
  4. The principle emotion is your repressed ANGER -- this means under your consciousness lies something that happens automatically to everyone. Tmsers have repressions that are stored because of our personality traits,traumas, stressors, fears, strain, etc... When these stored repressions build and build then eventually they cause the brain to send pain into your body to keep you from having an emotional crises. The mind-body thinks its helping you.
  5. TMS exists to DISTRACT your attentions from the emotions, stressors, tensions and strains of your personality traits because if you can get distraction then you wont have to be in emotional turmoil. When you don't face and feel your emotions and they get repressed cause you didn't want to deal with something -- they are just adding up in this beaker, ready to pour over and create real pain and anxiety in your body.
  6. Since my body is perfectly normal, there is nothing to fear. So in reality when I fear the pain or anxiety I just cause myself undo strain and tension adding to the beaker of pain. If I fear then I feed the pain, If I fear Its impossible to recondition. Fear keeps the pain and anxiety alive in the body through focus.
  7. Therefore, physical activity is harmless.If I want to work against the pain I could but its better to lose some of the pain so when I start my life over I=t have to be in pain trying to heal cause facing the repressions and all the other activities that cause the pain and reversing my fear and focus to them then I can heal.
  8. I am resuming all normal physical activity. I don't fear moving anymore. I believe in my bodies ability to heal now. I can move how I want. I will not fear moving with a bent back anymore. I will also practice going out and acting normal again, not in fear of what pain might do to me.
  9. The pain is unimportant and powerless. Its only power is how its hidden -- its illusion, Its fear.
  10. I will keep my attention on the emotional issues. I will think about my emotions and feel my emotions throughout the day. I will not judge, criticize or fear my emotions. I will not run from my emotional issues but face everyone of them. I will feel my emotions fully and cry if I need to. Then I will release the emotion and get my mind and thoughts back to my life and living in the present, in flow.
  11. I am in control of all of this. This is how I recover.
  12. I will be thinking PSYCHOLOGICALLY AT ALL TIMES. This means I will keep my thoughts on psychological issues like happiness, fear and anger -- traits and triggers, conditioning and journaling. The science behind mind-body/tms healing, etc.... This way I will not feed my thoughts to the body -- that is a trick of tms. Tms will always try to get me to focus on the body caused by the pain until I break its show and flair. When I get my attention off psychical symptoms and on emotional issues and psychological issues then I will not feed the fear of the physical issues anymore thus making the tms of no effect. This will in return, give us the cure.
 
Thank you Jan and Walt for the support and encouragement. I was so happy to discover this forum. I have already felt a noticeable change in my symptoms and I'm finding it easier to focus on my emotions instead. Journaling is definitely a useful exercise. Thanks again.
 
Wowzers Walt! Thank you for these daily reminders! Thus helped me today. Thank you!

There is so must support here.
 
Welcome Zoe! Caring for a child is a huge stressor. I think you have come to the right place. Everyone is at different places and super supportive.
 
Hi,Zoe.I understand how it is hard for you with pain and no much help.( I am also alone mother, 37 years old) Don't be afraid to look in your past.I think it very important part of the program.It is not very easy to confront our past traumas, but afterwords are good results ( it is like cleaning our garbage step by step.Imagine how your life will change when it will be clean and empty :) ).Stay with the program everyday,there are so many good articles and advises,which are so helpful,but try also not to spend time with reading and thinking about this.and ,cause your mind can be obsessed with that, and it is difficult to come back to normal routine. Be strong and post anytime you feel you would like to talk or share something with us.
 
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