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Can you improve without 100% belief?

Z

zero76

New Member
I can't seem to get to 100% belief that I have TMS. I finally went to a neurologist today to get a second opinion and unfortunately he said the same thing as the Othopedist. Disc herniations pressing on my nerve roots are causing the pain, and surgery is the next step. My symptoms match exactly with my Mri results, with the small exception of having no back pain at all, just sciatica.

So my question is, can I still see some improvement if I am only 90-95% on board? I really do not want surgery, or I would have signed up months ago. But it's so hard to keep going with TMS when I've had no significant relief and my pain hasn't moved. I'm a month into the SEP, though I'm now focusing on bradys pain free for life program.
 
I have the same questions, so I will look forward to any thoughts/perspectives that folks will share. TMS makes a lot of sense to me. My personality characteristics, my family history, etc. all seem to fit the "TMS profile". Nevertheless, I often wonder whether or not allergy or an immune process may account for my symptoms (allergies seem so wound up with my body pains/sensations). But if I believe that allergies account for some of my symptoms, I am not at 100% with TMS belief.

Is 100% belief possible?
 
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It has to be 100 percent or it will not work as long as you been check out medically and cleared there can not be anything else but tms.

Our brain will continually try us to think physical to distract us and its good at doing it.

That's why we need 100 percent belief......
 
zero76 said:
I can't seem to get to 100% belief that I have TMS. I finally went to a neurologist today to get a second opinion and unfortunately he said the same thing as the Othopedist. Disc herniations pressing on my nerve roots are causing the pain, and surgery is the next step. My symptoms match exactly with my Mri results, with the small exception of having no back pain at all, just sciatica.

So my question is, can I still see some improvement if I am only 90-95% on board? I really do not want surgery, or I would have signed up months ago. But it's so hard to keep going with TMS when I've had no significant relief and my pain hasn't moved. I'm a month into the SEP, though I'm now focusing on bradys pain free for life program.
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Same here. I am going to see a neurologist tomorrow. I cannot do nerve conduction tests so he will have to draw his conclusions based on my history. I don't know what I will do if the same options are given to me. Four years of unrelenting pain plus being unable to walk can have a person grasping at straws. The best case scenario would be to at least have solid proof if it is structural but it seems that the medical world cannot provide that.
 
100%belief is crucial in tms healing. If you don't believe, you will always have the dreaded fear and doubt lingering in the back of your mind.

Belief is crucial in life. Try reading joe dispenza you are the placebo. His story is amazing and shows how belief can influence your health. Also bruce lipton stuffs shows how belief and your perception can change your reality.

After all its your life, where there is the Ying there is the yang (stevo). The choice is up to you, but your mind is truly a powerful tool.

Ryan
 
Initially no one will have 100% belief.. just start with reading HBP .. as symptoms improve you will get 100% belief.

Remove yourself from any groups involving mainstream medical system. completely immerse yourself in TMS books, success stories and Groups.

Dont believe those MRI results.. unless you lost control on your bladder or any infections or tumours.
 
Thank you for the responses. Whenever I am reading a TMS book my belief is the strongest. Ryan, the joe dispenza book sounds like it's exactly what I need to read next. I believe in TMS, but I need to work on increasing the strength of my belief. I think I've been waiting for improvement in my symptoms in order to increase my belief, rather than increasing my belief in order to improve my symptoms.
 
Yes , I got partial relief intially as I was intensely skeptical but as symptoms move around/disappear it reassures you that it is TMS leading to greater belief in the diagnosis
 
Hey zero76,

I've struggled with the same thing: MRI showing herniation and nerve contact in lower back - but as you've noted, and Dr. Sarno states, it makes NO sense to have the issue in the back, yet NO PAIN THERE, but rather in other body parts. Just think about that for a moment. That would be like breaking your toe, but feeling the pain in your low back....it's nonsensical.

A quote I read often when I feel the doubt creeping in: "...even when a herniated disk leads to sustained compression of certain nerves, numbness and loss of function is the ultimate result, NOT PAIN" (emphasis mine). They say that a "pinched/compressed" nerve will rather quickly stop sending pain signals and basically "die", so why in the world would we have buttock and leg pain lasting for months and years? It really makes zero sense. Do not do the surgery. Throw away your MRI results and just focus on TMS for now. See a therapist if you need to really unlock some deep things.

Good luck.
 
Thanks Kevin. Yes, I'm trying to ignore my Mri. This dr told me my discs looked like that of a 60 yr old and that actually made me feel BETTER since I've read so many cases of Drs saying that when clearly that's not the case. Instead of scaring me it made me less confident in his diagnoses and I wanted to laugh. And both doctors I've seen totally blew me off when I questioned if it could be piriformis syndrome. Both said if it looks like a disc problem why go searching for other answers? So they don't really know. I have to keep reminding myself of this.
 
IrishSceptic said:
Yes , I got partial relief intially as I was intensely skeptical but as symptoms move around/disappear it reassures you that it is TMS leading to greater belief in the diagnosis
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This is right on. My recovery was definitely a case of healing before accepting the diagnosis. Basically, I saw success stories posted online and decided to try resuming physical activities. That was pretty much it. No journaling, either. In terms of accepting the diagnosis, I didn't sit down and read an entire TMS book until probably 6 months after I healed. (Now I've read them all.)

For me, it was just about resuming physical activity and going back to living a normal and happy life.

If you read through a lot of reviews on Amazon, I bet you'll find that it is quite common to not accept the diagnosis at first and still heal completely.
 
Yep, I think the majority have to really dig deep. The chances are very high that you only come to the TMS approach after trying EVERYTHING so you will likely have a lot of baggage/doubt and a lack of faith in anything. I was extremely demoralised given the impact upons/limitations placed on my life both real/predicted.
It really is tough that things are currently constituted this way in general medicine. I berated myself for not having acted sooner.

In March 2014 I saw my fourth pain specialist and presented my 'pain bible'. He told me to expect much the same but continue what I had been doing and noted my extreme level of diligence. Note that I had only began to truly tackle it myself from about beginning of Jan 2014 because I had believed everything doctors and physios had told me all along coupled with the fact my father suffered similar pain so I had assumed this was hereditary/genetic. I reasoned that given my 14 years or so of playing iimpact sport I had accelerated this decline(my father only beginning to suffer in his 40s). This was incredibly demoralising.

Currently I am working through Georgie Oldfields program as my self-discipline to do the SEP program is lacking.

It tends to come in waves but I feel I'm over the worst. I had convinced myself I would never know what a pain-free day would be like let alone a pain free life so I'm still adjusting to the new reality. its incredible every time I think of it and how many are suffering needlessly.
Sarno is not a cure-all for all ailments but absolutely essential(and inevitable) his general idea will be accepted sooner or later.
 
You have absolutely NOTHING to lose when you try the TMS approach (which is basically: Live normally, you're healthy).
Then you will probably experience increased pain, painless days, side switching pain and all the good stuff that means that TMS is a thing of the past.
 
If anyone knows that it isn't necessary to believe 100 percent in TMS in order to heal, it is Forest. I doubt anyone has read as much or thought as much as he on this this and other TMS subjects. I keep saying it takes total belief in TMS before you completely heal, because Dr. Sarno says that, and that seemed to be my case. But I believe I healed more from believing totally in TMS. Forest didn;t need journaling, but I did, to discover boyhood emotions I had been repressing. I began healing from back pain when I discovered those emotions.

Total TMS belief can be the hardest thing for most of us. I think mentally reinforcing ourselves, maybe using a belief mantra, helps. Repetition of any positive phrase can be very powerful and our subconscious believes we believe.

Steve Ozanich says don't do TMS with the hope of becoming pain-free. It is more important to believe in the TMS philosophy that our repressed emotions cause our pain and not anything structural.

So those who have trouble believing TMS need to rethink what they expect from it. The main thing is to believe TMS causes the pain and not anything structural. If anyone has had physical exams for their pain and nothing structural was found, then what else could it be but psychological, or TMS. That's all anyone has to believe. Then, like Forest did, get on with your life and try to enjoy it every day and the pain will go away.
 
Thanks for your comment, Walt. This is definitely a helpful reminder.

It's sort of a fine-line when I think about it too much: I want to get rid of pain so I am treating TMS by trying to release the idea of becoming pain-free; instead, I want to switch to a focus on how repressed emotions prompt symptoms. It does make sense but it takes a while to sink in.

And maybe I need to back up to that part about why I am treating TMS (I just re-read my post; "I want to get rid of pain so I am treating TMS...") Amazing how deeply some of these things are woven into our psyche.

Thank again, Walt!
 
Cultish thinking is not helpful. I think that if one expects a conversion experience from accepting TMS, that will be a placebo too.

For me what is useful is to know that my mind-brain is constructing my experience of pain. My physical pain would not be as debilitating if I were not so stunned by its onset, and afraid of what it will mean. For me, this awareness is enough. I'm less panicky. When something hurts, I first think of what's bothering me emotionally, before I think OH NO, what did I do to myself to reinjure? Anything that helps to lower anxiety is good.
 
Riv is right. I ached getting out of bed this morning to go to the bathroom and tinkle. I went back to bed afterward and told myself the lower back pain was from TMS, stressing about money, and the pain went away. It's all what we put into our head.
 
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