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Ballerina80

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I am anxious to get relief. I am a high strung person that has had neck pain and headaches since grade school and debilitating stomach problems.

I am at a breaking point. I was about to have a panic attack at a lovely dinner with my husband and friends over the weekend, because I didn't know what I could possibly eat without being ill. I have tried tracking my diet and I have severe nausea, pain, vomiting, flatulence and bloating after putting nearly ANYTHING into my mouth. I have considered just fasting almost constantly but I need to function and work. I am really hoping I can work through my issues and be able to live normally again.
 
Hi Ballerina80,

Welcome to the Forum, the SEP, and the Wiki! I hope you will find your way through your current crisis, using Dr. Sarno's method.

Yes, many digestion issues are part of the TMS equivalent symptoms. I hope you also work to eliminate other causes through your physician, so that you are more and more sure you are suffering from psychosomatic syndrome. Eliminating physical and systemic causes helps you embrace the TMS approach!

It sounds like you are under a lot of tension and fear about what is happening right now in your life around this. I suggest you find ways to soothe yourself: do something fun, movement, song, dance, movies, learning to sit and follow your breath --anything that might give you some ease, while your work goes deeper. Think pleasure, fun distractions, support by being with others in any way which does not fuel your worried mind. The fear and worry, while natural, don't help!

I also recommend you check out and use the TMS Recovery Program, which is at the Wiki. It teaches basic skills, and gives great examples of our inner life in recorded form, which most folks can relate to!

Sincerely,

Andy B
 
Thank you. Those are all good suggestions. I started to dive into the tms recovery program link, it's definitely going to be a process!
 
HI Ballerina, and welcome! One of the symptoms I had in my worst period (summer of 2011, before discovering Dr. Sarno and this forum) was digestive issues. I was losing weight rapidly, and not in a good way. I'd had "episodes" of what I called indigestion for a number of years - episodes that would keep me up all night, sometimes brought on by a big meal, unfamiliar food, or sometimes for no apparent reason at all. My husband remembers those nights all too well. But that summer was alarming - and I also had multiple other symptoms that were getting worse and causing me additional concern - although the doctors and PTs couldn't find anything wrong. So I started eliminating foods - foods that I loved and that I'd been eating for most of my 60 years. It didn't help, and it didn't make sense.

When I read The Divided Mind and starting working on the SEP, many of my symptoms disappeared very quickly - including the digestive ones. I immediately went back to eating and drinking everything I enjoyed. The next time I started feeling queasy, I did some deep breathing, and told myself - and my gut - "there's nothing wrong with you, and there's nothing wrong with what you ate tonight, so all you have to do is calm down, maybe examine what happened today that is causing internal stress, and then you can have a good night's sleep". Which I did.

That one experience convinced me for good about the validity of the TMS mechanism. And although my digestion isn't perfect (whose is?) I just give myself that little talk if I need to, and I have never again stayed up even part of a night with digestive problems.

The power of this knowledge is a miracle, is what it is.

Good luck, ask questions, do the SEP, and keep us posted!

~Jan
 
Hi, Ballerina80. Andy and Jan have given you excellent advice. I can only add a suggestion that you try to eat a little at a time.
Chew it thoroughly. Try to do deep breathing before and after each take-in of food and swallow. Slowly, gently does it.

Tell yourself that eating will not be harmful or cause discomfort.

Be positive about eating. Tell yourself you are going to enjoy eating, and not be afraid of it. Maybe make up a mantra that you are going to enjoy eating, and say it silently.

Have you tried drinking a glass of wine before eating, to relax you? Red wine is said to be especially healthful.
 
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