My Evidence Sheet

Whew. What a ride, folks. Up and down but I'm making progress. I get so scared sometimes in an illogical visceral way that there's something structural wrong inside my rectum, but the fact is with exposure to activities and continued mind/body work, I'm slowly improving. That's the best evidence of all.

Still, to calm me during my more intense moments, at the advice of my pain therapist, I made a TMS evidence sheet that is focused only on the present, not the past (where things get a little fuzzy). Thought I'd share. Any encouragement is welcome!

My TMS Evidence Sheet

• Variety of sensations at different times (burning, stabbing, tingling, tightness, etc.)
• Intensity of sensations (can jump to a 10/10 without warning)
  
• My experience lines up with other people's TMS experiences
• Moves to many locations (incl. rectum, hips, glutes, legs, lower back)
• Comes and goes
  
• Persistent (had it for a year)
  
• Same activity = different results (for example: same chair can be fine or debilitating)
• Better in the mornings
• Better in the evenings even after lots of activity
• No visible issues
• Received multiple clear medical examinations
  
• Pelvic PT detected tender muscles as a source of pain
  
• My personality type fits (perfectionist, hyper vigilant, etc.)
  
• Experienced intense extinction bursts recently before improvement
  
• With this work, I'm slowly getting better

It's hard to be calm when you have a pain in your butt, but I'm really inspired by those who have gone before, faced it and eliminated it. I intend to do the same. Love to everyone who is on their own TMS journey!

 

Good idea about the TMS evidence sheet. Going to work on one too!

 

That is an AWESOME Idea.
One of the strategies I don't see talked about on this forum much is Sarno's Twelve reminders. They are essentially a less personalized version of your 'proof sheet'.

1.The pain is due to TMS.
2.The direct reason for the pain is mild oxygen deprivation.
3.TMS is a harmless condition caused by my REPRESSED EMOTIONS.
4.The principle emotion is my repressed ANGER.
5.TMS exists only to DISTRACT my attentions from the emotions.
6.Since my body is perfectly normal, there is nothing to fear.
7.Therefore, physical activity is harmless.
8.I am resuming all normal physical activity.
9.The pain is unimportant and powerless.
10.My attention is on the emotional issues.
11. I am in control of all of this.
12. I’m thinking PSYCHOLOGICALLY AT ALL TIMES.

7 and 8 were really important because everytime I got scared or was being careful they reminded me to do ANYTHING I wanted to do.... so like your;

It made it clear that the MORE stuff I did and the harder I challenged it, the quicker I beat it. I had a rapid and thorough recovery'

Having scribbled those out of your own experience might be even more efficacious as it's your own empirical evidence .

Even after 20 years recovered I occasionally get a tickle in a new place...usually for hours, sometimes a day or two. I scribbled my own list like yours in the margins of all my Sarno books (e.g. successes and observations of contradictions and such).... remembering when you were in pain/scared before and having beaten it, written down in your own words is the best way to prevent any new dumbness from taking hold.

good work!

 

Thanks. I’m definitely in between worlds right now—good moments and bad, confident in my approach but occasionally briefly relapsing into fear. But the progress is there and it’s worth noting.

This morning, for example, I had a total flashback to a year ago when I was seeing this one doctor weekly who kept trying things on me that only made me feel more terrified and worse. So awful. I was ready to jump off a building.

But I have to tell myself that time is over and my challenges, while still here, are not nearly as bad. I have knowledge I didn’t have before and I do feel better much of the time. So staying in the present is really important.

Thanks for the support, folks. I’m doing it.