Friends, family and doctors believing TMS

So I told some family and friends and one doctor about TMS and Dr Sarnos theory's. My family friends and doctor looked at me like I was crazy. Anyone else tell people about TMS and the theory's that think they are crazy and don't believe theory?

 

All the time, Marnster! If they're willing, have them watch the original 20/20 video with anchor John Stossel - available on the wiki, here: http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/The_20/20_segment_on_John_Sarno_and_TMS (The 20/20 segment on John Sarno and TMS) or all over YouTube.

If they Google Dr. John Sarno, they will find a TON of positive information.

 

I'm feeling very lucky in this area. Although I haven't told my current doctor about TMS yet, I did get a referral from her to see someone at their institution's pain center (Swedish Medical in Seattle), which takes a heavy mind-body approach. (In fact, they have a 100 pg. document, which recommends a wide range of books, including Sarno, Schubiner, and Ozanich's books among others). Thinking once I talk to someone there, then I'll bring that possibility up with my doctor, that way I have another doctor's opinion to back me up.

Regarding my family, I feel they were really skeptical until last week. I was just a few days into learning about TMS and the burning pain I have started shifting. It shifted to my feet for a few hours, and my feet were glowing red. Simultaneously freaked my family out and I think made them all believers in TMS.

 

Haha, that's great, c90

I believe that it was Dr. David Hanscom MD (back surgeon) who was instrumental in starting the mind-body program at Swedish. He is awesome - and gave us permission to repost his blog articles, which you can find in the Mindbody Blogs subforum: http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/forums/mindbody-blogs-was-practitioners-corner.15/ (Mindbody Blogs (was Practitioner's Corner))

Dr. Hanscom (http://www.drdavidhanscom.com/dr-david-hanscom/ (Dr. Hanscom | Back in Control)) is another excellent resource for mind-body doubters. Swedish Medical Center and Hospital are well-established and highly regarded in Seattle.

 

C90,
PLEASE teach me how to move the pain from my pelvic floor to somehow else! Anywhere else! Please!!!

 

Hi riverrat,

I wish I could tell you a method that'd work for you with 100% certainty, but we're all different so all I can say is what worked for me. When it initially happened, it started by me noticing a slight warm feeling in my toes and then telling my subconscious that I knew it was causing me pain through TMS and could it please work with me and move to my toes for a little while. My pain has always seemed to increase with me focusing on it. By focusing on the small amount of burning feeling there (I'd just done a good mile of walking, so I had some help there), the pain seemed to follow my direction. And then the pain grew to the point that it was without question TMS. It kept going the rest of the day, and the pain has been shiftable since (although it can take about 5 minutes to do).

Don't know if this would help, but one thing that can help me get it to shift is by rubbing my big toe and the adjacent toe together. I get a little bit of friction going and then I focus on the warm feeling.

Another thing I've found that can temporarily help with pelvic pain - and apologies if you've already discovered this and so this is old news - is warm baths. I was always puzzled about why this helped, but once I learned about TMS and that your brain could reduce oxygen flow to areas to cause pain, it made sense. My best guess is that it increases blood flow and helps stop the pain. Heat pads have helped me similarly (and don't come with the expense of warm water). It's been really helpful to me when I need to pull my focus away from the pain, but the pain is at a level where that's really hard to do.

I wish you the best of luck

 

That's great to hear, and I actually found out about Dr. Hanscom and the mind-body program at Swedish through the Practitioner Directory. Really grateful this website and forum exists!

Funnily enough, I've been going to Swedish in one form or another for about two months now, investigating possible physical causes. The latest doctor that I was seeing is actually just two blocks up the road from where Swedish's Pain Services is based, so it was really easy to get a referral. Got an appointment really soon and am heading there this next week.

 

Thanks so much for the reply- I sure will try!

 

[Deleted at BeWell's request]

 

I figure it's probably best to not tell too many others about this until you are pretty convinced it is true, otherwise they could backtrack you.

If it happens to get out, how would you reframe the idea "if a Dr says you have an issue, they know more than you so you should just trust them" (the issue being a false diagnosis)

 

Andrew, typically, with symptoms that are in fact TMS, there is no urgency for treatment, even if there is a "diagnosis". For example - a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia does not come with any kind of urgent recommendation for treatment - because there aren't any treatments. In fact, in many cases of TMS, even a traditional doctor will recommend exercise and stress reduction.

Therefore, the answer that almost everyone can give is "it can't hurt for me to try a mind-body approach for a while - it's low-cost and non-invasive".

Now, some docs are knife-happy and in the case of back pain there are many who still want to rush a patient into surgery, in spite of the fact that the case against back surgery is getting stronger every day - even Consumer Reports has come out against it. (This is why Dr. Hanscom, who is a back surgeon, developed his back pain program - he recently blogged that up to 40% (? I think?) of patients who go through his program decide to cancel their surgery - which makes him very happy!)

So - in the case of a surgery recommendation, a smart patient ALWAYS gets a second opinion - and fortunately there are better second opinions out there than there used to be.