My TMS Recovery Plan

Hi! Thanks for sharing your story Anita. You have provided a great level of detail and thoughtfulness and has clearly been beneficial to many people, myself included. I think that if you wrote a book detailing your story, your learnings and your advice it would be able to help even more people.

I've been using your approach on my 'tendonitis' and logically I'm pretty convinced its TMS, such is the inconsistency with which it manifests.

I'm having a harder time with plantar fasciitis. It's been there maybe 3 months but I've only been able to rest it properly for the last month, doesn't yet feel like an unreasonable time to have PF as a structural issue. It conservative care hasn't shown decent results in another 6 weeks or so, I think I'll have an easier time accepting it as TMS.

Thanks gain for your story!
 
AnitaV said:
Hi Sara,

I'm sorry for the delay in replying to you. I'm glad you like the plan, I hope very much that it helps you in your recovery!

You asked how I experienced my emotions. At the time of my recovery I worked with a psychotherapist, but now I continue doing this on my own, it is a lifelong process. I do it by forcing myself to think about what is bothering me (other than any physical symptoms). I force myself to focus on it and to think about it. I find that often I try to immediately come up with a solution and I avoid actually experiencing it. When I do that, I have to shift my focus back on what is actually bother me, instead of immediately looking for a solution.

We have to experience the emotions and let them move through us. Talking about them and writing about them is extremely helpful. At times when the emotions are strong you may actually experience physical sensations, such as nausea, or you may cry. Regardless, you have to actually allow yourself to experience your sadness, anger, shame, grief, and heartache. These are very painful, but if we repress them, we only create for problems for ourselves.

You ask about "why" we repress. I believe that there are reasons that are common to all people, reasons that are common to certain societies, and reasons that are individual for each person.

I think a common reason is that no one enjoys feeling emotion pain, and we find ways of avoiding it.

In many societies, it is unacceptable to complain or to speak about your emotions.

All of us have our individual reasons as well. Perhaps growing up you were reminded of "starving children in Africa" or "walking 5 miles to school in the snow" something along those lines any time you complained. You therefore internalized the belief that you had no right to be upset about anything in your life, because your life is better than that of starving children in Africa and people 100 years ago. This is a faulty line of logic - by this logic, there is only one person in the entire world who has any right to be upset about anything, the #1 most unlucky and miserable person in the world. Everyone else is better off that this person, so who are they to complain about anything? This is absurd logic, and yet many of us are brought up with it, and develop patterns of repression as a result.

Think back to your childhood. How did your family respond when you were upset, or when you complained about something? I think that a great deal of insight into our individual reasons for repression lies in the answer to this question.

~Anita
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Hi Anita
I am very new to all of this. I believe I have had TMS for a very long time and may actually have had both of my hips replaced due to TMS pain. I am currently experiencing low back pain ever since I had my second hip replacement. I have read both of Dr. Sarno's books and watched his lecture DVD. I am also in therapy but not sure it is helping. I am also experiencing other manifestations of TMS now that I am aware of what it is. I have headaches and "tennis elbow" in addition to my back pain. Just this week my entire eye has also been completely covered in blood due to a broken blood vessel and I am wondering if that may also be involved as it has occurred 3x now since I have been seeking the wisdom of this cure. I am becoming discouraged somewhat. I also am wondering about taking an antidepressant. Does that interfere with feeling the rage and emotions? Any help you can give is much appreciated.
Thanks
Terrie W
 
Steampunk said:
Hi! Thanks for sharing your story Anita. You have provided a great level of detail and thoughtfulness and has clearly been beneficial to many people, myself included. I think that if you wrote a book detailing your story, your learnings and your advice it would be able to help even more people.

I've been using your approach on my 'tendonitis' and logically I'm pretty convinced its TMS, such is the inconsistency with which it manifests.

I'm having a harder time with plantar fasciitis. It's been there maybe 3 months but I've only been able to rest it properly for the last month, doesn't yet feel like an unreasonable time to have PF as a structural issue. It conservative care hasn't shown decent results in another 6 weeks or so, I think I'll have an easier time accepting it as TMS.

Thanks gain for your story!
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I'm so happy that I was able to help!

For your plantar fasciitis, think back also to when it started. Did you injure yourself doing something really unusual? Then maybe there root cause of the pain is physical, in which case it will go away on its own. If it doesn't, and\or if it started when you were doing something fairly normal, then that's a sure sign that it's TMS!
 
werrietood said:
Hi Anita
I am very new to all of this. I believe I have had TMS for a very long time and may actually have had both of my hips replaced due to TMS pain. I am currently experiencing low back pain ever since I had my second hip replacement. I have read both of Dr. Sarno's books and watched his lecture DVD. I am also in therapy but not sure it is helping. I am also experiencing other manifestations of TMS now that I am aware of what it is. I have headaches and "tennis elbow" in addition to my back pain. Just this week my entire eye has also been completely covered in blood due to a broken blood vessel and I am wondering if that may also be involved as it has occurred 3x now since I have been seeking the wisdom of this cure. I am becoming discouraged somewhat. I also am wondering about taking an antidepressant. Does that interfere with feeling the rage and emotions? Any help you can give is much appreciated.
Thanks
Terrie W
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Hi Terrie,

If your symptoms are changing and moving around, that is a sure sign that it is TMS! Don't be discouraged at all, that is a great sign that you are making progress! Just stick with it, recovery can take a long time, as it takes a long time for us to change our beliefs, and your body is trying to fight that change as you go.

I personally don't recommend an antidepressant. I was on antidepressants for some time before discovering Dr. Sarno's work, and it was terrible. They don't help, they can be very difficult to withdraw from, and they will interfere with you experiencing your repressed emotions, which is a key to recovery.

Remember, you are healthy and strong, you don't need medication to become the person you want to be, you have that power inside of you!

~Anita
 
Thanks Anita,

It came on during a time when I was slacking off on the running, then doing too much (10k) after maybe a week of no running, and all the while in old shoes that no longer had adequate support. So it's perfectly plausible that it was physical at least to begin with.

But whatever the case, it's been getting a lot better. As it happens, my physio is encouraging me to trust my body more and start walking more and more, which is in line with that my TMS programme calls for. I'm walking about most days, nothing huge but occasionally a bit of a hike for about an hour or so. Most of the time, especially if I'm distracted and having a good time, there's no pain. I'm def making great progress.

There's no question that there is a TMS element, as I've been having quick bouts of random ailments that come and go as I refuse to get worked up about them! Hopefully a good sign.

Thanks again for your thoughtful words.
 
Steampunk said:
Thanks Anita,

It came on during a time when I was slacking off on the running, then doing too much (10k) after maybe a week of no running, and all the while in old shoes that no longer had adequate support. So it's perfectly plausible that it was physical at least to begin with.

But whatever the case, it's been getting a lot better. As it happens, my physio is encouraging me to trust my body more and start walking more and more, which is in line with that my TMS programme calls for. I'm walking about most days, nothing huge but occasionally a bit of a hike for about an hour or so. Most of the time, especially if I'm distracted and having a good time, there's no pain. I'm def making great progress.

There's no question that there is a TMS element, as I've been having quick bouts of random ailments that come and go as I refuse to get worked up about them! Hopefully a good sign.

Thanks again for your thoughtful words.
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I'm so glad to hear it's getting better! Once you recognize the TMS element, you can beat it.

Whenever I think about footwear for running, I think about those African champion long-distance runners who grew up running for miles with no shoes at all. If they can do it, we can too!
 
"3. Change your emotional behavior to stop repressing emotions."

Do you have any good book or video on this topic?

Thanks!
 
kersm said:
"3. Change your emotional behavior to stop repressing emotions."

Do you have any good book or video on this topic?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I don't unfortunately. I learned how to do this after going to psychoanalysis and recognizing when I was repressing emotions. I would catch myself pushing away negative emotions any time I started experiencing them, and giving myself reasons why I shouldn't feel the way I do. Once I started catching myself doing this, I consciously started forcing myself to think about the emotions and experience them instead of pushing them away and telling myself that I wasn't allowed to feel the way I feel.

So in my experience, the first thing to do is to recognize and understand when and why you repress emotions. Then, you can make changes to experience your emotions instead of repressing them.
 
karinabrown said:
hi Anita,

thanks a lot for your practical and clear approach.
as a footpain suffererer i can use many parts of that.
found my own way and still making progress but for the full recovery
i can really use your tips! i am starting to agree on the part that 'monitoring your emotions ' is going to be a life long 'work in progress'. and fear and axiety being the real enemy instead of the pain : so true. thanks a lot
karina
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You're welcome Karina, I really hope my plan helps you!
 
AnitaV said:
Every time you experience a physical symptom, and the devil on your shoulder starts yakking its head off, you must do the following two things:

1. Focus on your emotions. Ask yourself – other than this symptom, what is bothering me?

You mind is creating this symptom to distract you from your painful repressed emotions. By focused on these emotions and probing into your subconscious to try to find them, you are telling your mind “nice try, but this strategy isn’t going to work, so you’d better give it up!”
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Hi Anita! Thank you so much for this wonderful outline. I especially like the angel-devil metaphore you used! I have a question though: You say "everytime you experience a physical symptom", many people on here talk about focusing on the psychological and the emotions when having a flare-up, but I'm dealing with a symptom that's been pretty much constant the whole time. Would you have any advice on how to handle that? I can't really be like 'what am I feeling' because the symptom is there the whole time really. Thanks!

Yasmine
 
Hi Anita,

Your story is incredibly inspiring and your TMS Recovery Plan has been very helpful to me, so thank you :). I have had a myriad of different TMS symptoms over the years. I have had some success with some of them, but my foot pain has been incredibly tricky to deal with. I fractured my foot a year and a half ago. I didn't even know it was fractured for a few months (I thought it was sore from stepping on a piece of lego) and walked around on it. After a few months I had it x-rayed because I had pain that was not going away and it showed a hairline fracture. Sometimes I wonder what came first though - the foot pain or the break, as I was having multiple chiropractic adjustments on my foot for the pain and sometimes wonder if this caused the fracture (I had broken the same bone years ago). My foot has been healed for a year now. The pain goes from being barely noticeable for a stretch to keeping me up at night because it hurts so much. My problem with fully being able to accept the TMS diagnosis is that there is a slight amount of swelling on the side of my foot (my husband says he can't see it, but I know my foot and I definitely see it! :)). The pain travels all over my foot and up my ankle into my calf (not really consistent with where the fracture was, which was on my fifth metatarcil). No foot doctor can give me a solid explanation as to why I still have this pain, other than that the tendons and nerves in that area can cause pain for a long time after a fracture. My question is - you mentioned that you had inflammation in your foot. Was this accompanied by any swelling? I am really stuck and am unable to successfully move past this because I see some swelling. I've even considered travelling a very far distance to see a mind-body physician to help provide some clarity. Any insight would be much appreciated! Thanks! :)
 
yoyo12 said:
Hi Anita! Thank you so much for this wonderful outline. I especially like the angel-devil metaphore you used! I have a question though: You say "everytime you experience a physical symptom", many people on here talk about focusing on the psychological and the emotions when having a flare-up, but I'm dealing with a symptom that's been pretty much constant the whole time. Would you have any advice on how to handle that? I can't really be like 'what am I feeling' because the symptom is there the whole time really. Thanks!

Yasmine
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Hi Yasmine,

I just read your story, I suffered from eye pain as well!

In your case, with constant symptoms, I would say that instead of "every time you experience a physical symptom", use "every time your physical symptom bothers you". When we have constant symptoms, most of the time we manage to stay distracted from them. The purpose of the physical symptom is to take our attention, and distract us from our emotions. So, every time you find yourself bothered by the physical symptom, shift your attention to your emotions, and probe "OTHER than this symptom, what is bothering me?".

Does this make sense?

Best,
Anita
 
AutumnIsMyFave said:
Hi Anita,

Your story is incredibly inspiring and your TMS Recovery Plan has been very helpful to me, so thank you :). I have had a myriad of different TMS symptoms over the years. I have had some success with some of them, but my foot pain has been incredibly tricky to deal with. I fractured my foot a year and a half ago. I didn't even know it was fractured for a few months (I thought it was sore from stepping on a piece of lego) and walked around on it. After a few months I had it x-rayed because I had pain that was not going away and it showed a hairline fracture. Sometimes I wonder what came first though - the foot pain or the break, as I was having multiple chiropractic adjustments on my foot for the pain and sometimes wonder if this caused the fracture (I had broken the same bone years ago). My foot has been healed for a year now. The pain goes from being barely noticeable for a stretch to keeping me up at night because it hurts so much. My problem with fully being able to accept the TMS diagnosis is that there is a slight amount of swelling on the side of my foot (my husband says he can't see it, but I know my foot and I definitely see it! :)). The pain travels all over my foot and up my ankle into my calf (not really consistent with where the fracture was, which was on my fifth metatarcil). No foot doctor can give me a solid explanation as to why I still have this pain, other than that the tendons and nerves in that area can cause pain for a long time after a fracture. My question is - you mentioned that you had inflammation in your foot. Was this accompanied by any swelling? I am really stuck and am unable to successfully move past this because I see some swelling. I've even considered travelling a very far distance to see a mind-body physician to help provide some clarity. Any insight would be much appreciated! Thanks! :)
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I'm so happy to hear that my plan has helped you!

Your story sounds so much like mine, with the foot pain with no explanation! I had both MRI and ultrasound imaging showing inflammation, and one of my feet was visibly swollen on the bottom, it looked like I had a big sausage inside my foot. This inflammation was also a big barrier to me accepting that my pain was caused by TMS, but once I did, I was free! TMS can cause serious inflammation, I am proof of that! I hope that my story gives you the encouragement and knowledge to accept your pain as TMS. Once you do, it's all downhill from there, even though the pain will still stick around and jump for a while. But inside, you are free, and will be on the road to being pain-free.
 
AnitaV said:
I'm so happy to hear that my plan has helped you!

Your story sounds so much like mine, with the foot pain with no explanation! I had both MRI and ultrasound imaging showing inflammation, and one of my feet was visibly swollen on the bottom, it looked like I had a big sausage inside my foot. This inflammation was also a big barrier to me accepting that my pain was caused by TMS, but once I did, I was free! TMS can cause serious inflammation, I am proof of that! I hope that my story gives you the encouragement and knowledge to accept your pain as TMS. Once you do, it's all downhill from there, even though the pain will still stick around and jump for a while. But inside, you are free, and will be on the road to being pain-free.
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Anita, I stumbled on your comments and it's like divine intervention....years ago I had horrible foot pain (1986) after the birth of my son. traumatic birth...almost died. It took a year for it to go away only because I had a doctor and priest that worked with me to constantly tell me nothing was wrong. The pain was unbelievable. The kicker was it was obviously TMS...then again I suffered in 1997 ....and again it was in my feet, sciatic pain and hip pain. Every test came back normal ? You got it TMS, but still didn't know. Then 2014...feet pain, hip pain sciatica pain, but MRI's showed structural abnormalities, I tried everything including back surgery. I didn't buy into TMS at the time because of the MRI's and doctors.....but now I do. Read Dr. Sarno's book as well as SteveO. My current symptoms are all over the place. My back pain has lessened, but foot pain is thru the roof and getting new symptoms. SO here is the million dollar questions....how did you change your emotional behavior ???? How did you deal with the pain when it was so severe ??Thank you for sharing your story.
 
Click#7 said:
Anita, I stumbled on your comments and it's like divine intervention....years ago I had horrible foot pain (1986) after the birth of my son. traumatic birth...almost died. It took a year for it to go away only because I had a doctor and priest that worked with me to constantly tell me nothing was wrong. The pain was unbelievable. The kicker was it was obviously TMS...then again I suffered in 1997 ....and again it was in my feet, sciatic pain and hip pain. Every test came back normal ? You got it TMS, but still didn't know. Then 2014...feet pain, hip pain sciatica pain, but MRI's showed structural abnormalities, I tried everything including back surgery. I didn't buy into TMS at the time because of the MRI's and doctors.....but now I do. Read Dr. Sarno's book as well as SteveO. My current symptoms are all over the place. My back pain has lessened, but foot pain is thru the roof and getting new symptoms. SO here is the million dollar questions....how did you change your emotional behavior ???? How did you deal with the pain when it was so severe ??Thank you for sharing your story.
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I'm so glad you found my story!!

To change my emotional behavior, I started psychotherapy with Dr. Frank Padrone, a former colleague of Dr. Sarno. I was living in New York at the time. He was amazing and really changed the way I live. I was an emotional repression machine! I learned to allow myself to experience negative emotions, instead of rationalizing and finding reasons to push them away.

I was so happy once I discovered Sr. Sarno and once I finally accepted that my foot pain was TMS, that even when the pain was really bad, it didn't really make me upset. Sometimes I would have to take a break from what I was doing because of the pain, but I just thought about my emotions at that time. That is the key, thinking about your negative emotions any time your pain is really bad!
 
Now that's a plan! Remember though that TMS (the brain) can cause inflammation. Dr. Sarno had swelling with TMS, so did Dr. Sopher, me, and hundreds of people I have worked with. Dr. Sarno was referring to back pain in his initial observations on TMS. The brain can and does create anything in the body, from the mundane to the oddest things I have ever witnessed.

"There are so many things that are TMS that I wouldn't have time to write about them all." John E. Sarno MD

SteveO
 
Anita,
This is so inspiring and helpful! Im so grateful you took the time to write this! I am a longtime TMS sufferer working through a tough spell right now. Thank you!
 
Diana-M said:
Anita,
This is so inspiring and helpful! Im so grateful you took the time to write this! I am a longtime TMS sufferer working through a tough spell right now. Thank you!
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It is my pleasure! Please don't hesitate to reach out if there's anything I can do to help.
 
"2. Experience your repressed emotions, understand why you repress emotions, and change your emotional behavior to stop repressing emotions."

Experience your repressed emotions.
So...as I understand, let's say I have fears of x or y. When I was a child and had fears, I repressed them. I didn't cry, scream or run, I could not defend myself when attacked for instance. So I repressed that emotion. OK.

Understand why you repress emotions.
OK, I understand. It was like a learned behavior in the past and now in certain situations I act the same as I did as a child. It's like a groove formed in my brain. OK, I get it.

Change your emotional behavior to stop repressing emotions.
But now as an adult, let's say I am fearful in x situations. How can I change my emotional behavior? I can only use my rational mind, think that I'm an adult woman now, I can defend myself if/when attacked, try to breathe in the moment, to stay with the fear and then to let it go. Still, there is this initial tension in certain environments. I don't exactly know how to react in a different way.

About journaling...let's say I write what's bothering me today. In order to think psychologically, as Dr Sarno said. OK. It bothers me x, y and z. But then, I have to write/journal tomorrow again. What if there is the same list (x, y and z) that bothers me tomorrow? And the day after tomorrow. Or I'm happy and nothing bothers me today. Or another day. But I still have pain.
 
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