How Do You Know When You’re Improving and the Symptom Completely Disappears at Some Point? When I st

How Do You Know When You’re Improving and the Symptom Completely Disappears at Some Point?
When I started doing the work almost two months ago, I knew I had to begin calming myself down and lowering my fear. I had already been doing this little by little even before finding this forum, but I knew I needed to shift my attention away from the symptoms, especially the one I had the most — my arm. I forced myself not to think about them.
I remember having days with moderate pain that I could tolerate. What I felt in the rest of my body would move into the background at that time. I had some additional symptoms that went away after about a week, basically because I felt they weren’t that important.
Later, I noticed that the pain increased, and you could say I didn’t have a single good day. The quality became constant — an electrical, diffuse tension in my arm, and it could also move around. It was almost always stronger in my left arm, I think. On top of that, some symptoms that had already disappeared came back, and symptoms increased in parts of my body where there had previously been nothing. I literally feel invaded, uncomfortable, and in a lot of pain.
Everything stayed like that. I tried to endure it, to survive each day, until two days ago when, for the first time, I experienced a day with very low pain in my arms. It was still intimidating, but I pushed myself to do other things and did things I normally wouldn’t do, like dancing and singing. I tried to enjoy that day as much as possible and not focus on the sensation, because even though it was low, the type of sensation could still feel intimidating.
Yesterday wasn’t a bad day either, and today I woke up and it’s also low. I don’t know what will happen for the rest of the day, since this can suddenly increase in intensity again. What intrigues me is this: in my case, I don’t have constant pain, since it can go up and down. Does this happen to everyone with TMS? Do symptoms fluctuate during the day? And how did you begin to experience improvement?
Were there more good days with low pain? Did it decrease progressively, with occasional spikes but an overall downward trend? Or did it simply disappear one day — dissolve — and even though you knew it could return from time to time, there came a point when it truly never came back?
My other question is about symptoms. I’ve seen many people say they’ve improved. Some mention that certain symptoms went away, but they still have others. Are those new symptoms that appeared later, or are they symptoms they had from the beginning? Does it mean that some symptoms resolve more easily while others take more time? Or are they just imperative symptoms that appear after the main issue has improved?
I just wanted to hear about your experiences. It seems to me that there aren’t many people who have completely overcome their TMS and everything else; rather, many seem to still be in the process — although I do know that many have lost symptoms along the way.

 

I am someone who has completely overcome my TMS symptoms, though I have a relapse every year or so, sometimes with the same symptoms I had initially and sometimes with new symptoms. This is a common pattern among recovered people. You can read my Success Story by clicking on my profile.

I think you are making a mistake that many of us make in the beginning of learning about TMS. You are trying to think your way out of it. It helps to educate yourself and learn about the process of recovery, but this is mostly to increase your belief that you have TMS and that recovery is possible. Understanding every aspect of TMS on a cognitive level does not help you recover from it. Recovery comes from learning about yourself psychologically, which means learning about your emotions and thinking patterns. Then you can work to make changes in who you are and how you relate to your body, your mind, and the world around you.

 

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I just wanted to get a better sense of how my recovery might be progressing.
I have one last question, if you don’t mind. When symptoms come back from time to time—maybe during periods of stress or something like that—do they usually return with the same intensity, or are they a bit milder? Are they quicker to manage and reverse, or does it feel like starting all over again from the beginning?
I’m asking because the symptoms I experience, especially in my arms, have been quite strong ever since they first began.

 

Just on this subject it's worth stating that many of the people you'll hear from on the forum have stuck around in part because they are still recovering; I think most people who have recovered move on from the forum! I know that when I have a stretch of good days I start to forget about the forum, then I come back when I have a flare. I bet everyone does this. I went through a phase of looking through people's post histories, wondering if they ever got better. Eventually I just decided: if they're not actively posting, they probably did get better. Or at least, there are two options: 1) they got better and forgot about the forum or 2) they abandoned the TMS protocol completely and never got better. Either way that points to a massive success rate, but only for people who stick with the program (which is why Sarno screened his patients beforehand).

Everything you're describing is totally par for the course and I remember having these same questions and doubts from my first month or two of working through this. Hell, I still have doubts but I'm getting there. The answer to pretty much every single one of your questions is yes—you'll have changes in symptoms, fluctuations, new symptoms you've never had, return of old symptoms, long stretches of good AND bad days, but most importantly you will have more good days like the ones you just had. It's a fantastic sign that you've had a day or two of lower symptoms, that's great evidence for you. And you will probably lose some faith and wonder if those good days even happened next time you're in a flare, but that's normal too!

I just had a flare where symptoms came back stronger than they had been in a month or so, but not anywhere near as strong as they were in my first three months of TMS when I was basically in constant agony without painkillers. So yes and no—the real answer is it basically feels random and you shouldn't attribute any special meaning or physical trigger to it other than figuring what is going on inside you emotionally.

 

Yes, and imo they are so often the people who just won't accept that their symptoms are mind/body/TMS... everything we 'old hands' reply to them to assuage their doubts and encourage them etc., gets a response along the lines of "yes, but..."

Yep, the vast majority are, myself included. I've gone from being bedridden (for a total of around 18 months) and housebound (for many years) though and I'm now just dealing with some residual symptoms (and there are others like me who contribute to answering questions on these forums). For some people though, my telling them about my profound progress is still no good and not encouraging enough! As you say, most people who have recovered move on... some leave their success story on the success stories sub-forum and some simply don't bother. I was reading a success story from someone the other day who came back ages later after she'd recovered because she'd got on with her life and had simply forgot to post up about it.

Well put imo! Losing symptoms is what we all are aiming for, of course, but it's a mistake to use them as a barometer of whether what you're doing is working because the road to recovery isn't linear. Imo mind/body/TMS work is all about feeling and safely releasing our emotions, letting that energy flow.

 

Muchas gracias por sus respuestas y por tomarse el tiempo para responderme. Significa mucho para mí y me reconforta.
Sinceramente, nunca dudé de que esto tuviera que ver con la mente- cuerpo. En el fondo, sabía que no era algo estructural. No dediqué mucho tiempo a buscar otras explicaciones porque el patrón de mi dolor apuntaba claramente a algo más, sobre todo porque se movía, moviéndose de un lugar a otro.
Tengo protrusiones discales que se detectaron en las imágenes, y al principio se les atribuyó el dolor en las piernas y las sensaciones extrañas que experimentaba. Pero los síntomas eran muy inconsistentes e impredecibles. Cambiaban con el tiempo, se extendían por las piernas y, a veces, el dolor desaparecía por completo en una pierna y aparecía repentinamente en la otra.
Una noche, salté de la cama con prisa y me moví tan rápido que sentí que mi cerebro ni siquiera tenía tiempo de procesar lo que estaba sucediendo. En ese momento, me di cuenta de que no tenía ningún dolor en las piernas. Fue entonces cuando me di cuenta de que las protrusiones discales no tenían nada que ver con mi dolor ni con los síntomas nerviosos en las piernas.
Así que, gracias de nuevo. Realmente lo aprecio.

 

Sometimes they return milder, sometimes with the same intensity. They are much quicker to manage and reverse. The hardest part is for me to realize and admit to myself that what I'm experiencing is TMS. Once I do that I can usually get rid of the symptoms within a week or so.

 

It sucks, there used to be much more traffic, looks awesome.

Does anyone know why no one comes here anymore? There isnt a reddit equivalent either. Those people have to be somewhere right?

Now its just the same 15 people constantly responding to one another. Its been a godsend still. I think that because theres less traffic, people feel more inclined to contribute.

 

My guess is that as mindbody medicine has become more mainstream there are just more other places for people to communicate; Alan Gordon and Nicole Sachs have massive Facebook groups that maybe weren’t as big or didn’t exist ten years ago. I also think the PRT approach has drifted a little from the original Sarno protocol and people might regard this forum as outdated; posting on forums is also a bit “old internet” now that everyone’s moved to social media.

On the other hand like you I find that part of the magic of this place, that it’s well moderated, it has a small but consistent group of regular supportive voices, and while the interface may be outdated in some ways it has very few of the distracting features you get with social media. I think this all combines to make it very self selecting to where the overwhelming tone is one of support and positivity.

 

Facebook is full of TMS groups (under various names). I'm not in any of those groups but I do follow a few folks who impart great information and reminders. There is less traffic here because people just don't seek out this kind of "old fashioned" style of chat room anymore.