Marytabby, I agree with everything Walt said.
I never bothered getting a TMS diagnosis for my many symptoms, and I also never went far enough with traditional treatment to end up getting any MRIs. You can read my profile story to see how many different symptoms I had, and how I ended up diagnosing myself with TMS. I'm a life-long anxiety hog, which is something I still struggle with, but I haven't had a panic attack in five years (since I discovered Dr. Sarno, read Claire Weekes, and did the SEP), the majority of my symptoms disappeared and never came back, and I am able to control most of the others when they crop up during times of stress, by practicing mindfulness and/or some sort of self-discovery through meditation or writing.
The condition that we conveniently call TMS is a primitive brain mechanism that exists in every single human being who ever lived. One issue is that thanks to modern medicine, so many of us live far longer than nature intended. Another issue is that thanks to modern society in general, most human beings are living in relative, if not complete, safety and security compared to our primitive ancestors, so we don't have day-to-day survival issues to distract us from the negative emotions that our primitive brains think are so dangerous. That's when the TMS mechanism kicks in to distract us with physical symptoms.
As Dr. Sarno explained (and explains again so well in the new film All The Rage) your TMS brain takes these normal aging conditions, which your docs agree are not dire or life-threatening, and it creates pain around them because they offer a convenient point of distraction. You have the ability to relieve that pain by convincing your brain that it isn't necessary.
I would recommend scanning the SEP exercises to be reminded of which ones resonated with you. My view of the SEP is that it introduces us to many different ways to do this work, and that we take with us the ones that work for us, because we are all so different. Some form of writing is usually extremely helpful, as is some form of affirmations or self-talk, along with some form of meditation or mindfulness.
Re-reading one of Dr. Sarno's books is also a good place to go. But beyond Dr. Sarno, there are many many books and audio resources out there, recommended by the contributors to this forum. Just put "book recommendations" in the search box at the upper-right of this screen, and you'll get pages and pages of posts on that very topic. Pick something that appeals to you, because not everything will. For example, I am a pragmatist, and steer clear of resources that are spiritually oriented - but other people find enormous healing strength in the works of spiritual healers and leaders.
Good luck!
~Jan
