Day 1 IBS and various ailments

My Brief Story:

I had been diagnosed with IBS with severe abdominal pain and diarrhea in Jan 2024. I am on imipramine and dicyclomine but they have never fully helped-I've been in some sort of pain since this happened back in Jan 2024 with brief periods of no pain with medication. I've had endoscopy, colonoscopy, (2) CT scans with nothing showing up. 2 ultrasounds on my lower abdomen as well to rule out anything pelvic related. I've also had multiple blood tests with nothing out of the ordinary. Now the symptoms seem to be worsening and dicyclomine and imipramine aren't controlling the symptoms anymore.

Before this, I was dealing with vulvodynia from 2020-2023 and worked with a Pelvic Floor Therapist for pain relief. After the stomach pain started, my vulvodynia went away for the most part and would only flare up when my abdominal pain wasn’t too bad. Before that I had TMJ about 20 years ago that I dealt with for a while and had to wear a special mouth guard. And lastly, I’ve dealt with OCD since the mid ‘90’s. OCD really ramped up after 2020 and I fight with it constantly each day. I’ve been to multiple therapists over a 20 span and it never worked. In fact, one therapist acted so fascinated with my symptoms that I felt like a weirdo or anomaly. I really don’t think she meant it that way, but after that session-I never went back to therapy.


I did try a functional medicine doctor in late 2024. Of course, I was diagnosed with SIBO and Candidia (by symptoms only) and was put on an elimination diet with supplements. I only lasted 4 days before my abdominal pain was unbearable. I then tried the elimination diet without supplements and lasted about 9 days before the pain was completely back and I was convinced this was not food related.


Belief in TMS:

I’ve struggled for about a month regarding my belief in TMS since I have learned about it. I’d say today I’m at a 75%. I’ve read Dr. Sarno’s Healing Back Pain since a lot of people seemed to be cured by it. It was informative but didn’t help any pain levels. I’m currently reading Alan Gordon’s The Way Out. I’ve gathered a bunch of information-now I’m working on what would work best for me.


Doubts/Worries:

To me, TMS makes the most sense. But I can’t help but doubt the level of pain I experience that has to be tapered down with two medications-is my own brain! It’s hard to wrap my head around it. But the only diagnosis I receive are seemingly related to TMS. In fact, a couple of years back, my husband even commented that my body just "makes pain." I would get so frustrated with his statement and say there was something wrong with me but the doctors haven’t found it yet. And yet here I am. On Day 1 of this SEP program.

 

Hi,
Welcome to the forum! Great intro post!

In his book, The MindBody Prescription, Dr. Sarno said that TMS “could produce more severe pain than anything else he knew of in clinical medicine.” (Chapter 9)

And yep, it’s created by your own brain.

If you believe in TMS 75%, that’s more than most people start with. Just dig in and you’ll get better. The SEP is a great place to start. Good for you!

 

Thank you for the encouragement! It has to be TMS...nothing else is wrong with me!!

 

Welcome to the forum. i do not suffer from IBS but from functional dyspepsia which is basically the same as IBS but effects the stomach and not the bowels/gut. I am not healed yet but I am totally convinced that what i have is TMS. If you have doubts that what you have is TMS: David Clarke, one of the big names in TMS is a gastroenterologist himself. Look out for some podcasts with him. In his podcasts he usually describes some cases where people suffering from very debilitating GI symptoms recovered from it using a TMS approach. you will learn that your level of your pain is not an indicator for a structural problem.