TMS Validation

Hello,
After reading Dr. Sarno's book The Divided Mind, I realized that the pain that I have been experiencing is most certainly TMS. I've had back, shoulder and neck pain on and off since I was about 14 years old. I have also had asthma as a child, and there are many other ailments that I have had in the far past or recent past that can be attributed to TMS. I recently had the worst back pain that I have ever experienced that coincided with a visit from my parents (they live 2,000 miles away). I have never been incapacitated like that before. I couldn't tie my shoes, get in or out of my car, etc.. I watched the Sarno documentary, All of The Rage, and it spoke to me. The pain even lessened a bit and I picked up The Divided Mind. Upon reading the book, about 85% of my pain went away. I am convinced I have TMS, but there is the little nagging part of me that doubts it sometimes, and I feel like it is also keeping a tiny bit of the pain in my neck from going away. I love doing yoga, and am able to do it without any pain, which I think proves that my pain is not structural. I can do poses such as, plow pose without any back or neck pain. I understand that I should probably talk to a physician, but my distrust of the industry makes me think that I will get some type of wrong diagnosis. I guess I am just looking to push my doubt out of the way, and for someone else to tell me that yes, it sounds like TMS.

 

I read Healing Back Pain ( I think?) in a bookstore and the chronic back pain I had was gone by the time I finished it. A literal book cure. Years of PT, injections, managing my life around how I sat or laid down etc. All finished. The other pains I had from past surgery, some much worse than the back pain, stuck around. I have had success getting rid of some of them either entirely or mostly with Dr. Schubiner's Unlearn Your Pain book/program but not everything. Stuff also comes back from time to time but I can usually shut it off recognizing it's TMS. For example my back will "seize up" for no valid reason, not lifting some huge weight in some terrible way etc, just sitting and moving around, and if I say "Stop...this is TMS and I did NOT hurt myself" it goes away within minutes to hours entirely. The frustrating part is not everything is that easy to shut off if you can at all. The doubt is always there for anything that isn't 100% clearly TMS like the "no way I am injured" back pain above. Even TMS doctors saying "this thing is absolutely TMS" doesn't help really because its so easy to think "well maybe they are wrong this time" and doubt festers. I don't have a solution for that and am seeking it still myself.

So about being seen ny a normal doc and fear of confusion...I get it. Doctors ruined my life with bad and unneeded surgery. I found TMS too late or I'd have easily avoided that seeing how obvious it was I didn't have a structural problem then and instead created one with surgery. Get seen to rule out OBVIOUS stuff like "There is a tumor pressing on your nerve" or "you have a fracture in this bone" or "you have some clear disease process that is without a doubt the cause" because NOT EVERYTHING IS TMS and you need to know to move forward. Structural/medical causes are going to be found with proper testing and with paying attention to symptoms. A serious medical condition isn't going to happen "just on Wednesdays when your report is due" etc. It's not going to go away for weeks or months at a time. As you said if you can do Yoga (something physically taxing and that you enjoy) with no problem you probably don't have a structural issue. The reaching and guessing and exploratory this and that is what sends us spiralling into surgery and depression and I was a victim of that. But if you don't get a clear and obvious diagnoses...if it's "MAYBE this small anomaly on the CT could be a problem" or "well you have a small disc compression" etc or anything that isn't definitive then you can be as sure as any reasonable person can that it's TMS. Now that doesn't mean thats it and your pain will go away. TMS is a bugger and its own difficult fight where the same things clearly don't work for everyone. But getting MOSTLY rid of the reasonable fear some "other" thing is going on is required for most of us and I'd bet despite the affirmations and whatnot everyone here has some doubt about some of their symptoms especially since TMS is so good at emulating other things and picking the perfect spots to root in and rotate to.

I know all of that is easier said than done. I am a wreck right now and finding it hard to walk my own talk but even in the midst of that I can shut off back pain and some symptoms like a switch so I am 100% sure those are TMS. It's the ones I doubt that are the struggle. I don't remember who said it or in what book but we ALL have TMS. Most people just don't know that's what it is. The hard part is believing what is and isn't TMS and finding a method that works for the individual to deal with the root emotional causes.

 

Thanks so much for the insight, had! I appreciate it very much and it will help. I sincerely hope that you get some respite from the pain that you are currently having.