Diana-M
Beloved Grand Eagle
Hi newbies! And hello to my gurus in this wiki. I have been here since March. I am starting to crack the code, so to speak. My body is very very tightly wound. All of my current symptoms are part of that, to the point of making walking difficult without assistance.
This past week or so, some very small changes are taking place. My body is loosening. I have less pain. The electrical buzzing is gone. The gripping vice around my knees is gone. The cramping in the middle of the night: gone. I’m stronger physically. I still have plenty of symptoms left. But these changes are enough to completely encourage me that what I’m doing is WORKING!
These changes are so slow and so small as to enforce the concept that this will take awhile. I’m not a “book cure” this time. I’ve known about TMS and Sarno for 7 years. I was book cured of my symptoms when I first read Sarno. But like for most people, my symptoms reappeared some years later. And mainly after a very sustained period of severe stress during the pandemic era. The pandemic was part of what caused my TMS, but mostly my personality didn’t weather that time well. And I had other personal problems. Some I was aware of and some I learned about through journaling and psychotherapy.
So WHAT’S WORKING? It’s the question everyone asks on the wiki the minute they land. And I did too!
1. Pretending. Faking it. Believing it. I AM NOT SICK. My life is glorious and mine to live. There is no doomed future anymore. This is a very cheerful outlook. I’m cheered up. I anticipate good things just around the bend and I dream of them all day, every day. This is a turnaround from focusing on the tragedy and urgency of getting better from TMS. I think thankfully only of what I can do, not what I can’t do. This takes mental discipline, but it’s getting easier.
2. Distraction with FUN. Games. Books. Movies. Music. And a LOT of it. I’m playing n all my free time! This has helped me remember what it’s like to not think about TMS. Pain recedes when you’re having fun!
3. I stopped thinking I have to heal fast. I just gave it up. I’m prepared to do this forever. I started accepting it. I stopped obsessively trying to heal.
4. Doing the healing work daily in reasonable amounts. Reading and listening to TMS material. Journaling. Therapy. Listening to the advice I get on the wiki and DOING IT. These gurus have healed. They know what to do. It’s incredibly valuable advice. And much of it was alien to me at first. I just kept posting questions, discussing, reading and learning on the wiki from other people’s posts and the answers they got.
5.Positive head talk. All day. Every day. Countering every dark thought. Projecting only the positive. Talking soothingly to myself. Like I’m a child that needs comforting. It felt strange at first. No more judgement. No more driving myself. No more nonstop goal setting. The key is to make your entire head talk different. Make it ONLY GOOD.
6. Eliminating emotional strain from other people. For some, this has required parting ways with them. A difficult but needed choice. For others, it has required detaching from their emotional baggage so I can travel lighter under my own power. Carrying someone else’s pain or anxiety limits progress. I can see that now. (Journaling made all of this possible, along with discussing and support on the forum.)
Note: Recovery is not symptom-specific. All TMS heals the same way. Whatever that way is for you. I tried other things, but the things above clicked for me the most, so far.
Another note: I got worse before any changes came. I was very discouraged, but I just kept going. And I will still keep going. For as long as it takes.
This past week or so, some very small changes are taking place. My body is loosening. I have less pain. The electrical buzzing is gone. The gripping vice around my knees is gone. The cramping in the middle of the night: gone. I’m stronger physically. I still have plenty of symptoms left. But these changes are enough to completely encourage me that what I’m doing is WORKING!
These changes are so slow and so small as to enforce the concept that this will take awhile. I’m not a “book cure” this time. I’ve known about TMS and Sarno for 7 years. I was book cured of my symptoms when I first read Sarno. But like for most people, my symptoms reappeared some years later. And mainly after a very sustained period of severe stress during the pandemic era. The pandemic was part of what caused my TMS, but mostly my personality didn’t weather that time well. And I had other personal problems. Some I was aware of and some I learned about through journaling and psychotherapy.
So WHAT’S WORKING? It’s the question everyone asks on the wiki the minute they land. And I did too!
1. Pretending. Faking it. Believing it. I AM NOT SICK. My life is glorious and mine to live. There is no doomed future anymore. This is a very cheerful outlook. I’m cheered up. I anticipate good things just around the bend and I dream of them all day, every day. This is a turnaround from focusing on the tragedy and urgency of getting better from TMS. I think thankfully only of what I can do, not what I can’t do. This takes mental discipline, but it’s getting easier.
2. Distraction with FUN. Games. Books. Movies. Music. And a LOT of it. I’m playing n all my free time! This has helped me remember what it’s like to not think about TMS. Pain recedes when you’re having fun!
3. I stopped thinking I have to heal fast. I just gave it up. I’m prepared to do this forever. I started accepting it. I stopped obsessively trying to heal.
4. Doing the healing work daily in reasonable amounts. Reading and listening to TMS material. Journaling. Therapy. Listening to the advice I get on the wiki and DOING IT. These gurus have healed. They know what to do. It’s incredibly valuable advice. And much of it was alien to me at first. I just kept posting questions, discussing, reading and learning on the wiki from other people’s posts and the answers they got.
5.Positive head talk. All day. Every day. Countering every dark thought. Projecting only the positive. Talking soothingly to myself. Like I’m a child that needs comforting. It felt strange at first. No more judgement. No more driving myself. No more nonstop goal setting. The key is to make your entire head talk different. Make it ONLY GOOD.
6. Eliminating emotional strain from other people. For some, this has required parting ways with them. A difficult but needed choice. For others, it has required detaching from their emotional baggage so I can travel lighter under my own power. Carrying someone else’s pain or anxiety limits progress. I can see that now. (Journaling made all of this possible, along with discussing and support on the forum.)
Note: Recovery is not symptom-specific. All TMS heals the same way. Whatever that way is for you. I tried other things, but the things above clicked for me the most, so far.
Another note: I got worse before any changes came. I was very discouraged, but I just kept going. And I will still keep going. For as long as it takes.
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Thanks for all your support and help, 
