Recovery?

[Vixen9368]

I have recovered from TMS pain before, often going years without pain. I didn't even treat it as TMS, I treated it as a physical condition and still recovered completely from the pain.
I have been doing PRT for a year now and although my fear of the pain has improved, my actual pain symptoms have not really improved. I'm wondering if I should try something else. Also wondering how uncommon it is to be in this situation... a year of TMS treatment, changing my brain/thoughts to not fear the pain, but not improving in pain sensations.

 

[BloodMoon]

I didn't even treat it as TMS, I treated it as a physical condition and still recovered completely from the pain.

Maybe that's because something changed in your life that reduced your overall stress, fear (or whatever). That said, I’m not suggesting you go down a potential rabbit hole trying to figure out whether that was the case or if something else played a key role.

I'm wondering if I should try something else.

Mind-body pain and other symptoms can be due to repressed (or, imo, suppressed) emotions, à la Dr Sarno, and/or to neuroplastic pain processes, à la Alan Gordon.

Suggest you could try doing the free Structured Educational Program, which is more based on Dr Sarno’s approach (rather than on PRT): https://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Structured_Educational_Program

Also wondering how uncommon it is to be in this situation... a year of TMS treatment, changing my brain/thoughts to not fear the pain, but not improving in pain sensations.

It’s not uncommon (a lot of the recovery stories on the success stories sub forum are a testament to that, as well as posts on these forums from people who aren’t fully recovered yet but have still seen reduction in pain). For instance, in my case, it took around two years to see more profound changes. What I found was missing for me was that I hadn't been doing enough self-soothing (self-soothing being something that Dr Sarno suggested in his book The Mind/Body Prescription could sometimes even be all that is required for the brain to stop creating the symptoms).

 

[Adam Coloretti (coach)]

Suggest you could try doing the free Structured Educational Program, which is more based on Dr Sarno’s approach (rather than on PRT): https://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Structured_Educational_Program

Agreed

 

[JanAtheCPA]

year of TMS treatment, changing my brain/thoughts to not fear the pain, but not improving in pain sensations.

I agree with @BloodMoon - the rational knowledge component is important, but many people, over the 15 years I've been here and observing, myself included, have discovered that the subconscious and repressed emotional component must be addressed eventually, as uncomfortable as that is for most of us.

The SEP is the way to go. Be sure to read ALL of the recommended introductions for tips on getting the most benefit from it.