Day 1

[Adventureseeker]

So, I'm finally embarking on a 'therapy' which seems to answer to all my symptoms. I am very willing to give it a try, although of course still skeptical.

I have been suffering from Piriformis, hip, thigh and sciatica pain since May. I attributed it to cycling and to my state of unfitness since I had quitted my sport some months before. I used to be a rock climber but quitted this sport after a shoulder injury (which also wouldn't heal). Then I also started getting nerve pain along both my arms. In the last nine months I lost climbing, walking ( I walk around a bit but 5 minutes is already too much whereas before I could do 20 k daily...), and other activities such as reading and typing.
My shoulder is getting better after seeing a new PT, but my leg and arm pain is more or less the same. I have ordered Sarno's book and I do feel emotionally better already knowing it could be TMS.

My level of acceptance: I have an open mind, but sometimes can't believe that my mind alone would create all these symptoms (the muscle under my pinky finger is visibly contracting for instance). However, I am well aware of my anxious personality, my depressing thoughts when I had my shoulder injury, and my EXTREME FEAR of shoulder surgery which I had back in April and May (which thankfully I didn't do).

What would life mean to me without TMS?
Everything. It would mean getting back to work (but without being the people pleaser I used to be before). It would mean lots of sports and adventure, without which I feel emotionally dead. It would mean being reborn.

I thank anyone having taken the time to read this.

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

Hi, Adventureseeker. Welcome to the TMS community. You are in Day 1 of the Forum, and I suggest you start the Structured Educational Program, free in the subforum of this web site. It will help you to discover the emotional reasons for your symptoms. Believe you will be reborn even better than ever, and you will be.

Dr. Sarno's book, Healing Back Pain, suggests we practice his 12 Daily Reminders. One of our community expanded on them and they are very helpful:

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 it is 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 also cause real pain.
2. The main reason for the pain is mild oxygen deprivation. This means that when you get in pain or anxiety then 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 there is no oxygen then there is pain in the body. Also, the pain stays because of fear.
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 it is 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 won’t have to be in emotional turmoil. When you don't face and feel your emotions and they get repressed because 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, it’s 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 it’s better to lose some of the pain so when I start my life over I have to be in pain trying to heal because 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 body’s ability to heal now. I can move as 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 it is 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 every one 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.
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 physical symptoms and on to emotional issues and psychological issues then I will not feed the fear of the physical issues anymore, thus making the TMS of no pain effect on the body. This will in return, give us the cure and become pain-free.