Day 1 Ready to beat TMS!

Hi there!

I'm a new member here and discovered John Sarno and TMS just over a week ago! I'm excited to be here, both personally and professionally!

I have quite a long story about my TMS but to make it shorter: I am a practicing physical therapist in the US. I have always subscribed to the theory of structural deficits causing back/neck pain. It is an integral part of our profession at the moment!

Over the past 6 months I have had worsening low back pain and sciatica that I was attributing to my physically active job and doing weight lifting. After consulting with other PTs and a neurologist and an MRI, I was found to have two herniated discs at L4-5 and L5-S1. Like many of you, was told I would have to limit my physical activity greatly. I had a recurrence of pain/spasm and am now out of work temporarily on FMLA due to a lifting restriction from my doctor.

I felt myself getting more and more anxious and depressed over this and desperately began searching online for alternative methods. I first found a mention of Sarno and TMS on a blog, cited as a miracle cure. I was fascinated by the person's story and immediately bought Healing Back Pain for my Kindle! I read it and was amazed and excited by the theories...I could already feel my pain leaving me!

It is only one week later and the knowledge is already working to reduce my pain, but I want to participate in the structural educational program to see how it works out. I am fascinated by TMS theory and believe it can fully change the way I practice as a PT. It is a wonderful discovery and I think this could be my beginning of healing and working to change my profession's viewpoint by bringing the psychological aspect of pain into the mainstream.

I am still pondering all of these issues professionally and plan to work on personally beating my TMS before I figure out what to do with it professionally, as I don't think it will be easily accepted by many in my community.

Great to meet you all, and look forward to posting more regularly here!

 

Hi, MindBodyPT. Welcome to this TMS healing community. It's especially good to read from a physical therapist. I will be very interested in reading about your progress in the SEProgram. From your reading Dr. Sarno you know he says slipped discs may not cause pain, and it comes instead from repressed emotions. You can discover what those are by journaling. I am 86 and healed three years ago from severe back pain by reading Sarno and journaling. I discovered anger and trauma going back to my parents divorcing when I was seven. Total 100 percent belief in TMS causing my pain healed me.

Good luck in the program, and wishing you a very happy holiday and a pain-free new year.

 

Hello MindBodyPT, and Welcome,

I appreciate your enthusiasm, and your willingness to bring into question the foundations of your professional training and experience. This is brave. I mean that in the way you are "dropping" your training in order to address your own pain. Your background, I think, makes accepting Dr. Sarno's work an extra challenge. Your PT work is the way you have achieved recognition, money, and helped clients.

In addition to the SEP, please do the TMS Recovery Program, which you can do at any time, and come back to the SEP. Great skills, recordings, guidance for your "Sarno" journey in this program. Remember also that these programs, or any of your work guided by Dr. Sarno's teachings have "non-linear" effects, in the sense that each person responds in their own way, in their own time. Patience, repetition, and not "counting days or weeks" is important. So is observing how you engage the work with your personality in ways which may "pressurize" you, and may feel similar to the ways you do the other parts of your life. Just to recognize how our personalities might activate our Inner Child --and the feelings which "don't want to be felt," is very powerful. Including as we engage this work!

You might be interested in reading this post in the success stories, if you have not already. I say this because as a physician, Alicia is battling much of her training and experience, I assume.

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/a-physicians-tms-story-rsi-hyperacusis-and-much-more.7658/page-4#post-68032 (A Physician's TMS story - RSI, Hyperacusis and much more.....)

Also, I will give you this link to my article on doubts, which shows how we might work with our doubts until they reveal their true nature, and relax on their own.

http://www.tmspainrelief.com/doubts-about-dr-sarnos-work/ (Doubts about Dr. Sarno's Work | TMS Pain Relief with Andy Bayliss)

Andy B

 

Hi Andy and Walt,


Thank you for the warm welcome! Indeed, this journey is going to be difficult for me, maybe more so than others due to my background and prior assumptions. I appreciate the links you provided and actually started looking at Alan Gordon’s recovery program the other day. I will plan to do it with the educational program. The success stories will be helpful too, especially the physician’s story! Hearing from other healthcare practitioners about how they dealt with TMS and have used it in their practice is inspiring to me.


Additionally, I found Georgie Oldfield, a PT in the UK, and her work with SIRPA (http://www.sirpauk.com (SIRPA UK)) which I think could prove very helpful to me as a fellow therapist.


Interestingly, for most of my academic and professional life, I have been interested in the mindbody connection. I have many family members and friends who work in mental health/social work/psychology. For years in undergraduate I debated whether to go into physical therapy or psychology, and ultimately chose PT for various reasons, though I often questioned my decision and wished there were a way I could do both PT and counseling/psychotherapy work with clients.


Because of my interest in brain and body systems, my speciality is working with neurologically impaired clients, particularly survivors of stroke and traumatic brain injury. I also work with the orthopedic population (many of whom I now realize suffer from TMS). I realize that my work with the neuro population is a very direct and obvious correlate of the mindbody.


After a little over a week of reading Sarno and discovering this community, I am having many fewer symptoms, but I realize this will be a long personal journey and that questioning and doubt will be part of it. I think the best part of all of this is that even when I do get the TMS pain, I tell myself there is nothing wrong with me and just keep going with what I’m doing, and it fades soon enough.


Thank you again for the links and support! I look forward to further discussion here!