Post surgery ramp up of TMS

Hey all. I received an artificial disc replacement about a year ago in my neck. I learned about TMS before that time, but kept going back and forth about if the neck pain and arm pain was truly TMS. I got the surgery, but I was undecided up until the literal point of them putting anesthesia in me. After waking up, and up until now, I’ve felt intense regret, depression, anxiety about the future, and more pain. So much so that I’m on a mental health disability from work. Every day is a struggle. I keep reading about TMS. The work of Ozanich, Sarno, Heller. But now when I read it I always feel this intense regret of having done something wrong. That I can never heal because I flipped the trigger of surgery and it was a wrong choice. My neck pain and upper back pain is really bad. I’ve had multiple consultations with pain specialists and a few other spine doctors who all say the surgery looks fine and that my pain isn’t coming from my spine. But my mental health is failing and my pain is stuck. My breathing is also very shallow. If there’s anyone out there that has a success story or some words of encouragement or anything please feel free to share.

 

My guess is that your original problem that led to your pain was your inability to let go and accept reality, which creates this endless, escalating loop of regret and self-chewing. Not exactly caused by the same trigger as yours (I never agreed to a surgery for chronic pain), but the emotion of regret, anger at myself, desperation due to inability to go back and fix my past mistake is well familiar to me.

I was involved in that exercise for most of my life, over just about any misstep I made, small or large, recent or ages prior. Interesting that this obsession with the past almost disappeared after I successfully recovered from years of chronic pain, severe insomnia, anxiety and more, thanks to Dr. Sarno. How and why? Part of my journey was to learn acceptance, letting go of things that I can no longer change and self-compassion. The other part was to deal with my years of chronic anxiety, through meditation, mindfullness and listening to Dr. Claire Weekes audios.

Not only my physical pain is gone, I am a much happier person now. Anxiety and depression appear from time to time, but I know how to handle them, and they dissolve, within hours.

Going back to your situation, you know that the surgery is not causing your pain. The problem is that the surgery did not fix your underlying issues, which is the case with many surgeries that chronic pain patients subject themselves to.

Start focusing on accepting yourself, deal with your anxiety and emotional issues that predate your surgery, and you will recover.

My success story is here: https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/cts-carpal-tunnel-syndrome-crps-dystonia-raynauds-full-recovery.22242/ (CTS(Carpal tunnel syndrome), CRPS, dystonia, Raynaud's - full recovery)

 

I had back surgery before I learned about Sarno. Didn't make one iota of difference. It was a 50 thousand dollar placebo....one that didn't work at all. And when I had had enough, doing the TMS work was rapid and thorough.

Most people's "doubting" is actually there fear of emotional things. Mine was.

 

Good responses here.

You can use this TMS questionnaire to determine which negative thought patterns are causing your TMS. I call these thought patterns, such as worrying, pessimism, and so on, TMS triggers. Once you know which ones you need to focus on then look for resources on how to remedy them.

https://www.fredamir.com/questionnaire

 

Yes, i understand that my surgery was actually a nocebo, and that i do need to accept myself. My brain gets stuck though on accomplishing these because my artificial pieces of my body might create nonTMS pain. Maybe I’m afraid of losing them or another interaction with the medical system. It’s hard to get into a safe place in your head when you feel that you can’t accept this artificial piece of you.

 

Yes, it is very difficult, no argument over it. But your only way out of it is to do the following:

Start focusing on accepting yourself, deal with your anxiety and emotional issues that predate your surgery, and you will recover.