Kerrybrett
Newcomer
I have a long history with TMS. I have experienced many forms of TMS over the last 30 years. It started with reflux that lasted for about eight years . This was from about 1984 to 1992. In 1992 I started experiencing back pain which turned chronic. I was diagnosed with a bulging disc, told to undergo physical therapy and all of the typical physical prescriptions for back pain. I struggled for many many months and buy a stroke of luck came across Healing Back Pain. The book screamed out to me and it was apparent that I fit the typical TMS personality and that my back pain was due to TMS and not to any structural problem. In addition to ridding myself of back pain, my reflux disappeared. My back pain disappeared literally after reading Sarno's book. Nevertheless I made an appointment to see him, went to his lectures and was very happy to be cured of my back pain.
In the ensuing years I experienced intermittent knee pain, ankle pain, extreme doubts of debilitating vertigo.
In each case a specialist diagnosed a specific condition that turned out to be wrong and I managed to conquer each condition after understanding that each was a manifestation of TMS (the Symptom Imperative at work).
The most amazing thing happened in 2001 after I underwent routine LASIK surgery. After the surgery I started experiencing the typical dry eye symptoms, however, those symptoms along with extreme eye pain continued for many months. My doctor had no idea what was causing it and was clearly worried. Fortunately a very close friend made the observation that the symptoms seemed to get worse when I was stressed and suggested that I call Dr. Sarno. It did not take long for Dr. Sarno to state with great confidence that this unusual symptom, not previously in my mind a likely symptom of TMS, was indeed another manifestation of my TMS. The horrible eye pain that had been going on for months and had brought on thoughts of suicide disappeared within a matter of days. Needless to say, Dr. Sarno save my life.
In 2002 I developed atrial fibrillation, which is a TMS equivalent. It clearly served as a distraction to me.
I became obsessed with the condition for 4 years. In 2006 I had surgery to correct the condition. The surgery was a total success in curing the condition. However, after the normal time for healing, I had chronic pain symptoms in the area of the surgical site. I didn't attribute this to TMS (unfortunately). After dealing with the pain for about a year, I followed the advice of a cardiothoracic surgeon who told me that after the surgery, my xiphoid process, a small bone at the base of the sternum, did not heal properly. All that needed to be done was a simple removal of the bone and the pain would be gone. Boy was that a mistake, as after that very minor procedure, as compared to open heart surgery, the pain symptoms exploded. What started as localized pain in the xiphoid sometimes emanating up from that area which made exercise almost impossible, the pain spread all through my rib cage. So now, intermittently, I have all kinds of pain or discomfort sensations, sometimes like the original pain, sometimes in the muscles beneath my rib cage, sometimes pain in the ribs themselves, and so on.
In 2008 after living with these much worse symptoms for a few months, I went back to Sarno. He assured me that the entire pain process from the beginning was TMS and I went back into his program, which in the fifteen years since I saw him, had morphed into an amazing treatment regimen. Not only lectures, but small support meetings, large monthly presentations and a plethora of written materials. I followed the program but to no avail. In retrospect, I don't think that, despite my vast experience with TMS, I fully accepted the diagnosis, which as we all know, makes healing virtually impossible.
After spending years thereafter, pursuing every form of pain treatment, I reconnected with my TMS and began seriously rethinking my failure to accept that my pain symptoms were entirely due to TMS. Perhaps because I had surgery attributing the pain to a physical abnormality seemed more plausible. For most of the time, I thought the structure problem itself was nerve damage due to the surgery. Perhaps its because I find myself sensitive to various foods, which for some reason caused the belief that it is more of a structural issue. Actually, I would think that sensitivities to various foods that affect the autonomic nervous system is consistent with TMS, although I haven't seen anything in the literature that discusses this. Perhaps some on this board have had similar experience and would like to weigh in. And I also, despite no doctor offering an explanation for the pain (except for scar tissue), thought that perhaps the removal of the xiphoid, which does connect various muscles to the rib cage, caused an orthopedic problem that causes stress to the muscles resulting in pain. I should say that Sarno assured me that this was not the case and that thousand of people every year lose their xiphoid process in car accidents and other traumas and don't experience chronic pain.
I should say that since then, I have had every kind of test possible to determine if there are any structural abnormalities. All tests are negative. Both surgeries were done properly, my body healed perfectly and everything is where it should be. And yet I continue to suffer the pain.
I have made good progress in working on my doubts, but I'm not sure I am 100 percent there yet. Nevertheless, I decided to commence this program. I have recently read "Think Away Your Pain" by David Schechter, which has helped me greatly in accepting that my TMS is the cause of my symptoms. So the journey begins.
In the ensuing years I experienced intermittent knee pain, ankle pain, extreme doubts of debilitating vertigo.
In each case a specialist diagnosed a specific condition that turned out to be wrong and I managed to conquer each condition after understanding that each was a manifestation of TMS (the Symptom Imperative at work).
The most amazing thing happened in 2001 after I underwent routine LASIK surgery. After the surgery I started experiencing the typical dry eye symptoms, however, those symptoms along with extreme eye pain continued for many months. My doctor had no idea what was causing it and was clearly worried. Fortunately a very close friend made the observation that the symptoms seemed to get worse when I was stressed and suggested that I call Dr. Sarno. It did not take long for Dr. Sarno to state with great confidence that this unusual symptom, not previously in my mind a likely symptom of TMS, was indeed another manifestation of my TMS. The horrible eye pain that had been going on for months and had brought on thoughts of suicide disappeared within a matter of days. Needless to say, Dr. Sarno save my life.
In 2002 I developed atrial fibrillation, which is a TMS equivalent. It clearly served as a distraction to me.
I became obsessed with the condition for 4 years. In 2006 I had surgery to correct the condition. The surgery was a total success in curing the condition. However, after the normal time for healing, I had chronic pain symptoms in the area of the surgical site. I didn't attribute this to TMS (unfortunately). After dealing with the pain for about a year, I followed the advice of a cardiothoracic surgeon who told me that after the surgery, my xiphoid process, a small bone at the base of the sternum, did not heal properly. All that needed to be done was a simple removal of the bone and the pain would be gone. Boy was that a mistake, as after that very minor procedure, as compared to open heart surgery, the pain symptoms exploded. What started as localized pain in the xiphoid sometimes emanating up from that area which made exercise almost impossible, the pain spread all through my rib cage. So now, intermittently, I have all kinds of pain or discomfort sensations, sometimes like the original pain, sometimes in the muscles beneath my rib cage, sometimes pain in the ribs themselves, and so on.
In 2008 after living with these much worse symptoms for a few months, I went back to Sarno. He assured me that the entire pain process from the beginning was TMS and I went back into his program, which in the fifteen years since I saw him, had morphed into an amazing treatment regimen. Not only lectures, but small support meetings, large monthly presentations and a plethora of written materials. I followed the program but to no avail. In retrospect, I don't think that, despite my vast experience with TMS, I fully accepted the diagnosis, which as we all know, makes healing virtually impossible.
After spending years thereafter, pursuing every form of pain treatment, I reconnected with my TMS and began seriously rethinking my failure to accept that my pain symptoms were entirely due to TMS. Perhaps because I had surgery attributing the pain to a physical abnormality seemed more plausible. For most of the time, I thought the structure problem itself was nerve damage due to the surgery. Perhaps its because I find myself sensitive to various foods, which for some reason caused the belief that it is more of a structural issue. Actually, I would think that sensitivities to various foods that affect the autonomic nervous system is consistent with TMS, although I haven't seen anything in the literature that discusses this. Perhaps some on this board have had similar experience and would like to weigh in. And I also, despite no doctor offering an explanation for the pain (except for scar tissue), thought that perhaps the removal of the xiphoid, which does connect various muscles to the rib cage, caused an orthopedic problem that causes stress to the muscles resulting in pain. I should say that Sarno assured me that this was not the case and that thousand of people every year lose their xiphoid process in car accidents and other traumas and don't experience chronic pain.
I should say that since then, I have had every kind of test possible to determine if there are any structural abnormalities. All tests are negative. Both surgeries were done properly, my body healed perfectly and everything is where it should be. And yet I continue to suffer the pain.
I have made good progress in working on my doubts, but I'm not sure I am 100 percent there yet. Nevertheless, I decided to commence this program. I have recently read "Think Away Your Pain" by David Schechter, which has helped me greatly in accepting that my TMS is the cause of my symptoms. So the journey begins.
