Uncertain if I have TMS

Good morning. While in the gym, I recently herniated the disk between 6 and 7. I had previously read both The Mind Body Experience and Healing Back Pain by Dr Sarno and buy into it 100%. I have seen two spine MD's and my regular internal medicine MD. I have tried "self talk", etc. for over a month with limited results. I also tried to get back into my normal routine (golf, etc.) and this seemed to aggravate the pain in my shoulder and down my arm. I am now beginning to question if I have TMS at all. I see the spine guy again tomorrow and if I ask him if I have TMS he will look at me like I am a nut. How do I know if I actually have it?

 

Hi memphis,

The way I think about it is this: we ALL "have" TMS - in the sense that TMS is a primitive brain mechanism, designed for our survival, which has not updated itself to account for our modern world. So it's not really a condition that can be cured, as such. It can, with knowledge and belief, be controlled.

Many people come here with what they think is THE knowledge - the knowledge of how TMS works. Typically, this knowledge has worked for them - for a while. When they experience symptoms again, it's because they do not have the deeper self-knowledge to maintain a symptom-free existence.

When Dr. Sarno says that some people need to go deeper and do the emotional work, it's tempting to think that he's not talking about us - but I'm here to answer your question by telling you that he is talking about you. And me. And just about everyone on this forum who "comes back" in order to do the real work.

That being said, it is still important for anyone with a new symptom (and doubts) to be checked out by a qualified health professional to rule out something serious. As Dr. Sarno assures us, a herniated disc is not serious, because he saw evidence of many herniations in people without any associated pain.

If the docs say that your back pain is due to a herniation, which as far as I know is not an urgent crisis, you can then choose to treat the pain as TMS, and proceed accordingly. By which I mean, make a commitment to doing one of the many available programs which will lead you to a deeper understanding of your unconscious brain and the emotions it's repressing.

Free on this site:
The Structured Educational Program at tmswiki.org
Alan Gordon's Pain Recovery Program, on this forum : http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/ (Pain Recovery Program)

Or to purchase:

Dr. Howard Schubiner's workbook: Unlearn Your Pain

The Curable app (with free introductory material) - check out the discussion here: http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/online-program-called-curable.17020/ (online program called 'curable')

And check out the work of Dr. David Hanscom, friend of the forum, and I believe also on a panel for the Curable app. Dr. Hanscom is a Seattle back surgeon at the renowned Swedish Medical Center - and he designed an emotions-based program called Back In Control, which he requests his pre-operative patients to go through. Here is his web site: http://www.backincontrol.com/dr-hanscom/ (About Dr. Hanscom – Back in Control) and here is his blog post describing his success with this approach (success being defined as cancelled surgeries!): http://www.backincontrol.com/optimizing-avoiding-spine-surgery/ (Optimizing (Avoiding) Spine Surgery – Back in Control)

Good luck!

~Jan

 

Thanks Jan-just completed Day 1 of the Structured Educational Plan. Appreciate the help!