Day 13 Most helpful thus far

Hello community,

Today's question to ponder concerned what has been the most helpful in accepting my TMS diagnosis. I can't say there has been one specifically, it's really been all of it... I began with Sarno's Healing Back Pain, that was a great push in the right direction. Then all of the articles, videos, and testimonials throughout the SED have really reinforced the issue being TMS, not structural. I've done some outside reading as well. I read the first several chapters of Steven O's The Great Pain Deception, which I found helpful. More recently I've been reading Dr. Schechter's Thing Away Your Pain.... - I must say, I haven't like this one very much. He seems to incorporate a lot of the traditional medical notions in his practice. I've found myself on several occasions doubting my own TMS diagnosis because he seems to rely a lot on MRIs and also seems to believe that disk herniations CAN be part of the problem....I think I just like the more black & white approach of Sarno. It seems my mind will cling to any sort of doubt, because of my own damned MRIs. But there are still many good points in the book, so I aim to finish it anyhow.

The crazy thing is that my own personal experience the other day has really helped a lot in accepting that my back is fine. I was riding my bike to the gym and was doored by some guy not paying attention, as is common in NYC...luckily I wasn't going very fast and was wearing my helmet. Nonetheless, I flew off my bike and crashed to the hard asphalt. I was in shock for a second, but I stood right up and sorta checked my body, and I was fine. I has a few cuts on my shin, and my shoulder had "popped" a little, but that was it. The guy was scared and asked if I was OK, I said I was, got back on my bike and went to the gym. Now I'm sure part of it was from adrenaline, but while at the gym I felt AMAZING! I was lifting weights and felt pumped. I had zero back pain and was walking loosely around the gym, no limping or stiffness, as it usually is. In short, I believe that this accident helped me to see that I am structurally fine, and my body is strong. If my back and disks were really that messed up, a fall like that would have been extremely painful and likely would have made my back pain WORSE, certainly not better.... so to me that is real-life proof that I have TMS.

Unfortunately that rush of enthusiasm wasn't as strong the day after, and I was a bit sore from the fall, but I still believe that experience was helpful in taking me one step closer to 100% acceptance of TMS. I am also seeking out therapy, so it feels like I'm making progress.

Thanks for reading!

Kevin

 

Hi, Kevin. A spill like you took is bound to leave some residual pain and that often happens the day after.
But it's great that you told yourself you were not hurt and got through the gym exercise without pain.

This has all led you to have a stronger faith in TMS causing your symptoms and nothing structural.
MRI can show some structural problems, but what causes them? Dr. Sarno and others say the probable cause
is TMS, from repressed emotions or a perfectionist and goodist personality, wanting to a perfect person
and wanting everyone to like us.

We often put too much pressure on ourselves to succeed. Look what happened to Brian Williams, who lost his multi-million dollar
tv anchorman job because he made up news. Now he admits it was because of his ego, wanting to be important.

Our ego can take us to strange places and give us pain. That's a big reason for TMS.