New and Torn between TMS and “Structural” – losing my mind?

[North Star]

If you get down to AZ one day, Jan, I'll bring you to my Zumba class. It is just so much fun. It's been doing me worlds of good. Not just for the exercise but to shake off (quite literally!) the years of body shame. LOL

 

[Boston Redsox]

I am with NS gym everyday selfcare and some meds at night. The meds is all about selfcare and getting sleep so i can bring on the day with as much positive energy and awarness that i can

 

[North Star]

Boston Redsox, I still take something at night as well. I decided not to make a big deal out of it instead of fretting over it. (It's just Benadryl.) I also don't get worked up over insomnia anymore either.

 

[michaelpm]

Thanks to all for your responses. It's so much to take in. It's amazing there are so many helpful and hopeful people here trying to support each other. I am still not sure what I am going to do. I have two Physical Therapy appointments scheduled for tomorrow (one for hip/leg, the other for wrist - 4 visit per week total) and I am dreading going because as much as I sometimes doubt the TMS, I also doubt the PT, so I feel like it's a waste of time and they aren't really going to help me. I started out a few weeks ago taking the PT seriously, including the home (gym) exercises I'm supposed to do. Lately, since seeing Dr. R and getting my TMS confirmation, I've been just going through the motions. And struggling to get out of work during busy days and race through midtown Manhattan to all these PT appointments is stressful enough as it is. Really feels like a merry-go-round. It almost makes me WANT all of this to definitely be TMS, LOL.

I did some time on the elliptical at the gym tonight, felt good although it's nothing like the level of working out I want to be doing. Hope I don't wake up regretting it with post-exertional increase in hip/leg pain. The exertion part is still something I am trying to wrap my mind around (i.e. how it acts up with use if it is TMS)

Anyway thanks again for the responses. I have some thinking and reading to do.

mp

 

[Boston Redsox]

Boston Redsox, I still take something at night as well. I decided not to make a big deal out of it instead of fretting over it. (It's just Benadryl.) I also don't get worked up over insomnia anymore either.

I also take benadryl and some gabapentim i also dont make a big deal of it. I need to sleep period.

 

[North Star]

Amen!

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

I love this exchange of posts. I am like Jan in that I am not a gym person or ever was. I played tennis and golf but even more I enjoyed walking my dog.

I get exercise every day by doing the exercises for seniors on Youtube. I like the ones best where I stand or sit doing them rather than lying on the floor.
It isn't easy to get up again!

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

Marco, I had some trouble sleeping (an overactive mind mostly), like many others who post here.
Dr. Sarno says we can use some medication, so long as we believe 100 percent that our pain is not structural but caused by TMS emotions.
So I have been taking "Sleep Aid" one pill a half hour before bedtime and have been getting much better sleep, sometimes not even waking once
until time to get up in the morning. It's from a company called Rugby and I got it from amazon.com. It's sold at Kirkland which is Costco.
Very cheap and one tiny pill puts me to sleep.

 

[SunnyinFL]

A lot of wisdom has been posted - thanks! I just needed to give my PT some credit. The first PT I went to was horrible on many levels - I listened to my inner "red flag" and cancelled all appointments. I went to a second PT and he is the one that told me to go home and read Sarno!!! He said it wasn't even worth working on my "foot issue" until I did. I was especially impressed because this advice went against his own best interest (making money). So, I read Sarno, found this wiki, and am very grateful to that PT. I got back in touch with him and he has now asked if he could suggest that a few of his clients talk to me if he thinks they might have mind-body issues, and he asked for my permission to give them my name and number. I was thrilled! Of course, it makes our suffering much more purposeful if we can pass on what we learn. So, my lesson is not that PT is good or bad; rather, listen to your gut and heed your inner "red flags." Wishing you the best of luck!

 

[JanAtheCPA]

...as much as I sometimes doubt the TMS...

It almost makes me WANT all of this to definitely be TMS, LOL.

Hope I don't wake up regretting it with post-exertional increase in hip/leg pain.

Yikes, listen to yourself, Michael - there's no "sometimes" about it - your level of acceptance for TMS is miniscule to non-existent.

Look, you've been checked out, and the only advice you've received from conventional practitioners is to do PT. PT is nice if you are actually injured. At age 58 (two years "Before Sarno") I crashed my bike at high speed and cracked my femur, resulting in surgery to insert three pins. Yeah, I did the PT, because they cut through all of my thigh muscles to reach the bone, and those muscles had to learn how to work together again. But they would have done that anyway, although probably not as well or as fast as by doing the PT. But honestly, I could have put off the PT and picked it up again later without any damage.

Now, I am not a health professional, I'm only a tax accountant, but I will tell you again that I quit going to about three PTs and a chiropractor cold turkey, and I've never looked back. I honestly can't see that stopping PT in your case is going to make any difference to your pain because all that the PT is doing is reinforcing your obsession over your body parts, AND reinforcing the idea that someone else should fix you.

If you want to recover, you need to give TMS a chance, which means devoting your time and energy 100% to a new belief system. I don't think, at this point, that you have anything to lose, but you do have a lot to gain.

 

[Boston Redsox]

Marco, I had some trouble sleeping (an overactive mind mostly), like many others who post here.
Dr. Sarno says we can use some medication, so long as we believe 100 percent that our pain is not structural but caused by TMS emotions.
So I have been taking "Sleep Aid" one pill a half hour before bedtime and have been getting much better sleep, sometimes not even waking once
until time to get up in the morning. It's from a company called Rugby and I got it from amazon.com. It's sold at Kirkland which is Costco.
Very cheap and one tiny pill puts me to sleep.

thx walt I was looking for something to help me sleep you said you can get it on Amazon?

 

[Boston Redsox]

Yikes, listen to yourself, Michael - there's no "sometimes" about it - your level of acceptance for TMS is miniscule to non-existent.

Look, you've been checked out, and the only advice you've received from conventional practitioners is to do PT. PT is nice if you are actually injured. At age 58 (two years "Before Sarno") I crashed my bike at high speed and cracked my femur, resulting in surgery to insert three pins. Yeah, I did the PT, because they cut through all of my thigh muscles to reach the bone, and those muscles had to learn how to work together again. But they would have done that anyway, although probably not as well or as fast as by doing the PT. But honestly, I could have put off the PT and picked it up again later without any damage.

Now, I am not a health professional, I'm only a tax accountant, but I will tell you again that I quit going to about three PTs and a chiropractor cold turkey, and I've never looked back. I honestly can't see that stopping PT in your case is going to make any difference to your pain because all that the PT is doing is reinforcing your obsession over your body parts, AND reinforcing the idea that someone else should fix you.

If you want to recover, you need to give TMS a chance, which means devoting your time and energy 100% to a new belief system. I don't think, at this point, that you have anything to lose, but you do have a lot to gain.

WELL SAID GREAT ADVICE ALL AROUND