Day One

My name is Dwight and I have TMS. 5 years ago I developed severe pelvic pain while exercising. The 5 years since has been a journey that has taken my all over Canada and the US looking for help. I've seen several Doctors, physical therapists who specialize in pelvic pain, massage therapists, chiropractors, etc. I've read all the books on pelvic pain, scoured the internet, spent countless hours treating myself and on it goes. I even attended a seminar/support group for sufferers of pelvic pain. While I did see some improvement within the first 6 months there has been little improvement since. I've felt for some time that my problems were at least partially psychological as I did not have any structural abnormalities other than tight muscles and some trigger points. Still I found I was always clenching or squeezing my pelvic floor for no reason. I don't recall how I came across this forum but once I did I read Dr. Sarno's book on back pain and identified with it right away. It described me to a T other than the location of pain. Even the fact that in many the pain gets worse as the day progresses which has always baffled me. Also, why some activities are painful like sitting yet I have no pain when walking, running, etc. While not severe I've also had intermittent bouts of back pain and spasms for almost 30 years even though MRIs show only mild arthritis. I was not searching for a cure for my back but I'm pretty confident it is also caused by TMS. I plan to do the 30 day program and if not effective I will consult with a TMS therapist.

 

Hello DwightD,

Welcome to this wonderful community and SEP. Your short post shows to me a great deal of understanding of Dr. Sarno's work, and how you fit, how your patterns fit, his understanding of the cause of chronic pain. You really get it, and you're going to get a lot more with the SEP. Please feel free to post questions and responses to the SEP material.

Each person finds their own way, in their own time. So I hope you stay the course, and seek assistance if the SEP does not quite "do the trick." As in your post about how you got here, keep picking up the pieces that resonate and make sense to you. Keep building the case for yourself, and don't pressure yourself that you have to do things the right way, or in a certain time frame. Down deep your mind-body knows you are working to unravel the TMS.

I was scheduled for "nerve release" surgery for chronic debilitating foot pain, when I began to engage the Sarno work. Soon I was not using crutches, and after two or three months I did my first ski mountaineering trip in many years. Hiked up Mt. Shasta with many days worth of food and gear. All of that would have been unbelievable to me two months before...

Sincerely,

Andy B

 

Hi, Dwight. Andy has given you great advice and his healing story is an inspiration. You have been checked out and nothing major has been found structurally, so your pains must be emotional. You've read Dr. Sarno's book and believe his theory that emotions cause pain. The SEprogram will help you to discover repressed emotions causing the pain. The fact that the pain moves around is very common in TMS because the subconscious is "getting it," that you accept that emotions are causing the pain and is sending more around your body so you keep discovering those emotions which Sarno says adds up to rage. We may feel anger but not rage, but Sarno says the rage is there, subconsciously. Keep positive, keep doing the steps in the SEP program and keep in mind Sarno's 12 steps to healing, which follow in a longer version:



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.

 

Thank you for your support and encouragement. I'm really looking forward to the program.