Series of success stories (back pain, RSI, elbows, shoulders, wrists, insomnia, dry eyes)

Hey guys, I am a 29yr old male who has been familiar with Sarno's work since late 2020 and have cured myself of many TMS symptoms in the past. I'm working through the latest symptom right now (dry eyes) but have been remarkable progress there too which I'll talk about -- I know that I will beat this last one back too. I want to share my story since if it helps at least one person that would be a HUGE win. I know I've spent long hours looking thru success stories on this forum and it's been huge in convincing me of Dr. Sarno's core truth. Having experienced it myself over and over and over, I can tell you 100000% THIS IS THE PATH TO BEING PAIN FREE! My story will be long, but I wanted to really give lots of details (since I clung to many such details in reading success stories myself). Rest in Peace Dr. Sarno, I am unbelievably lucky to have found you

Background on Symptoms
First symptom starred when I graduated college. I was an avid weightlifter and one day was benching and felt something sharp in right shoulder. It was no doubt an acute injury but even once it felt 'better' it didn't feel quite right doing shoulder presses. At some point I went back to doing shoulder heavy work like pullups and it flared up again. Then began a 1yr cycle of PT. MRI showed a small tear and a bone spur (bursitis) -- which in hindsight was totally TMS in the sense that yes, there was wear and tear but no, it was not causing chronic pain. The doctor / surgeon himself remarked that it was small and didn't really need surgery. Fast forward 1yr and nothing helped so I got the surgery was told it was a success.

Guess what, the pain didn't go away. Now a few months prior to surgery I bent over to reach something and heard a pop in my lower back. No immediate pain but sometime later it became really painful. I work a desk job and was told there was a 'structural issue' -- did more MRIs (seeing a pattern here?) -- and it showed a few bulging discs. Naturally this terrified me and lended credence to the idea that I had broken myself, which made the back pain even worse. Did PT for back and it never really helped.

Late 2019 I also developed mild depression and anxiety, mostly from being alone. My closest friend and a few others moved away for grad school, and I felt isolated. My mom came to live with me for a while, I went to the doctor to sort out nutritional deficiencies (FYI guys, magnesium and Vitamin D are CRUCIAL for mental health and 70-80% of Americans are deficient in them so if you suspect anything get the bloodwork done so you will know -- it's a super easy fix with supplementation). The supplementation helped, but what really helped was forming new friends (Meetup.com as awesome! check it out).

Covid hit and I had the back pain on and off, but I developed RSI (hand pain) while typing! Same thing with golfer's elbows on both elbows, tennis elbows in each, wrist pain on each. Got MRIs again on all (...) and everything looked totally fine. RSI was crippling because I work a desk job and do something I love, so it terrified me that my livelihood was being taken away from me. I desperately searched online and came across an article written by a programmed on RSI, and that Sarno's book (Mindbody Prescription) cured him.

The Cure
I read the book and did the journaling. The journaling is actually so critical because your brain is conditioned to believe you have an issue. Sarno's TMS journaling when done with some regularity is mean to rewire your brain back to its original, normal state. Like Pavlov's dogs that were highly conditioned, remember conditioning can take some time to break (which is why consistent journaling is good to gradually reverse the false conditioning)

I think my symptoms initially went away within a few weeks. I remember after I read the book and journaled the first time, the next day my hands felt like they had static electricity going thru them and I barely even typed that day! Sarno warns you about this, your brain will try to fight back once you've frustrated its strategy. I looked at my hands in amazement that day, and it only reinforced that I was starting to win the war and that Sarno was right. Steve Ozanich mentions some similar stuff in his book (see below). RSI briefly went away and then came back for a while (this is not uncommon btw!) so i read the book again and did more journaling. Eventually all my issues went away (RSI, back pain, shoulder pain, elbows pain, wrist pain)

Years later I had some insomnia as well (which was also TMS). Insomnia was tricky because while I 'knew' it was TMS, what's required to break away from this conditioning is pretty specific to this condition (at least for me). The book that cured me here was Say Good Night to Insomnia by Greg Jacobs, it just provides sleep-specific recs (but the principles align pretty much perfectly with TMS)

In 2024 I developed a stye for the first time in my eyelid which went away with some warm compresses. Months later playing a VR game my eyes hurt, and I found out it was dry eyes after going to a doctor. I briefly thought it was TMS, but dismissed it since I thought TMS was mostly just the mentally related stuff (i.e. anxiety) or physical pain in muscles / joints. I never thought there could be such an issue with my eyes of all things. There began a 1+yr cycle of discomfort and treatments. I went to 10-12 dry eye specialist optometrists and ophthalmologists who all told me different things in terms of treatments (red flag for TMS), I did expensive in office procedures (iLux, BlephX, Tearcare). I used steroids for the inflamation alogn with doxycycline. I avoided screens as much as possible. Basically went thru the entire ringer.

It didn't work. My dry eyes worsened and I was using artificial tears 20-25x per day (working my desk job, which was horrible). Like every 15-20min. It was awful. I couldn't understand why it was so bad for me. I did tons of tests with the doctors who diagnosed my with mild MGD (though some doctors added on another symtoms ocular rosacea, while others I spoke to said I didn't have that)....which is also a red flag for TMS

It was only this last September that I thought, maybe this really is TMS? Not sure what sparked it, but I read some success stories online (on this forum!) and it gave me confidence. I reread Sarno's book, but here I also ordered Steve Ozanich's book since I wanted more info and proof on TMS equivalents (like dry eye). This book is awesome, this man went thru a ridiculous series of things (his larynx seized up, his bladder felt like it had needles in them, vertigo, etc). This was HUGE and showed me that TMS could manifest pretty much in every organ system in the body (as Sarno himself says). I listened to Nichole Sachs's podcast (a former TMS sufferer who interviews tons of people with various symptoms who are cured now) -- Season 4, Ep 17 (Agnes) was huge for dry eyes. My story is so similar to hers with the doctors.

Where am I now? My dry eyes are ~80% better. I don't use drops at all now. I even wore contacts twice in the past week (which I hadn't done for 8 months). When they get a little dry sometimes, I think back to TMS and eventually gets back to normal. What I need to do now is continue to journal daily but I'm on the path here too. This is beatable people, I've 100% cured RSI / back pain / tennis elbow / golfers elbow / wrist pain / insomnia and I am on the path to beating the latest one. You can also beat your symptoms and life a full life -- god bless you all!


TMS Resources
- The Mindbody Prescription by Dr Sarno (#1 thing to read). 1000% journal like he says, it's huge to rewiring your brain
- TMS Wiki Forum Success Stories (you're on it. Read only the success stories, the other stories will cause more anxiety & doubts as these folks are still working their way thru their own journeys)
- The Great Pain Deception by Steve Ozanich (amazing how many symtoms this man went thru, it really helped for my dry eyes)
- The Cure of Chronic Pain podcast by Nichole Sachs (also read her latest book)