c90danwaiel
Peer Supporter
I'm on Day 13 - I fell a few days behind, but had a great relaxing weekend socializing and I think it did me some good, even if I missed a few days of the SEP.
So today's question is:
What book, article, or news story has been most helpful in solidifying your belief in your diagnosis?
Well, I’m now convinced 100%, thanks to my crazy pain shifting that occurred about a week and a half ago. My pelvic pain shifting to my feet for a few hours from my pelvic region meant that no physical explanation could make any sense. It had to be TMS. Prior to that, I'd say I was 80-90% sure, but was also skeptical it'd get better even if it was TMS. (Now I'm about 70% pain free in a little over two weeks, while also staying outcome independent and mentally prepared for flares).
Before the experience with the shifting pain though, I’d say that it was a combination of seeing how many books have been written on the subject (all with very high reviews of very thankful people), seeing stories by people in the medical field, and articles (particularly the fact that there has been published journal articles on TMS) that made me realize that there was something significant here. All these people describing relief, the common triggers of stress and anger – there had to be something there.
Funnily enough, if this were something physical, I might attribute their recoveries to it being ‘just in their head’ or due to the ‘power of belief’. But that doesn’t really work for TMS, because the point is that this is psychological. In fact, I had a funny moment after finding out about TMS where I was worried it was just all 'psychological'. Since all the previous physical interventions that I'd had that resulted in some physical relief, albeit temporary, I'd attributed them to placebos, and I began to worry that TMS was just another placebo.
The first book I read - Sarno's "The Divided Mind" was very empowering, because it laid out case after case of people recovering, and also gave a viable explanation for what TMS is and why it occurs. That, combined with reading stories of people with my particular symptoms – pelvic pain – and that recovered, really helped me to believe that my own particular situation was TMS and that I could recover.
So today's question is:
What book, article, or news story has been most helpful in solidifying your belief in your diagnosis?
Well, I’m now convinced 100%, thanks to my crazy pain shifting that occurred about a week and a half ago. My pelvic pain shifting to my feet for a few hours from my pelvic region meant that no physical explanation could make any sense. It had to be TMS. Prior to that, I'd say I was 80-90% sure, but was also skeptical it'd get better even if it was TMS. (Now I'm about 70% pain free in a little over two weeks, while also staying outcome independent and mentally prepared for flares).
Before the experience with the shifting pain though, I’d say that it was a combination of seeing how many books have been written on the subject (all with very high reviews of very thankful people), seeing stories by people in the medical field, and articles (particularly the fact that there has been published journal articles on TMS) that made me realize that there was something significant here. All these people describing relief, the common triggers of stress and anger – there had to be something there.
Funnily enough, if this were something physical, I might attribute their recoveries to it being ‘just in their head’ or due to the ‘power of belief’. But that doesn’t really work for TMS, because the point is that this is psychological. In fact, I had a funny moment after finding out about TMS where I was worried it was just all 'psychological'. Since all the previous physical interventions that I'd had that resulted in some physical relief, albeit temporary, I'd attributed them to placebos, and I began to worry that TMS was just another placebo.
The first book I read - Sarno's "The Divided Mind" was very empowering, because it laid out case after case of people recovering, and also gave a viable explanation for what TMS is and why it occurs. That, combined with reading stories of people with my particular symptoms – pelvic pain – and that recovered, really helped me to believe that my own particular situation was TMS and that I could recover.
