What if?

[Carma7]

Hi everyone,

I'm brand new to the program and would like your thoughts. I first read Dr. Sarno's books about 8 years ago and really liked what he had to say. At the time, I was reading them in the hope of helping a family member, completely unaware that I was in the same TMS boat. My family member was interested but not really engaged to do the work, and so the books sat. Fast forward, and now I am dealing with debilitating pain of my own, following standard medical care for osteoarthritis and looking at hip surgery sooner rather than later.

It occurred to me to revisit Dr. Sarno's teachings and within a day or two of re-reading the books, my pain disappeared. It does still come back, but even this short amount of time beginning the deeper learning process here has allowed me to manage the pain much more effectively.

I am 100% on board intellectually, but what I'm noticing is a strong resistance to embracing it on a cellular level (for lack of a better word - I know I've read somewhere here a better way to phrase it). That deeper level of embracing the teachings - living them completely and letting go of the mainstream medical "solutions" to my problem is terrifying. I keep thinking what if the doctors are right? What if I walk away from everything they've said and everything I'm "supposed" to be doing, and it doesn't work? Will I cause irreparable damage to my body? It feels kind of like jumping off a cliff in a free fall.

This frame of mind is NOT helpful and I'm having trouble getting out of this loop of thinking. Does it just happen out of the blue one day -- when you KNOW you know? Or is it cultivated inch by inch by working the program?

I'd love to get some input!

Thank you.

 

[Diana-M]

@Carma7
Read a lot of posts on here. Read success stories . You’ll see that most people actually followed doctors orders first. They got those one, two, and three surgeries first. Then give up and tried Sarno.

Surgery actually comes with risks. (Doctors don’t usually talk about that.)

Is hard to let go. But the first time you recognize your body doing something that doesn’t make logical sense for what your doctor is saying, you’ll start to believe more. As you do the work, you’ll see improvement—then you’ll believe even more. Faith in it builds over time.

Can you afford to try TMS for a while safely? Will you crumple to the ground and have your hip snap in half? I don’t think so. So why not give it a try? Don’t let the doctors scare you. You aren’t prisoner to their opinions. Study and learn. It’s your body. You can heal it.

 

[Bonnard]

I keep thinking what if the doctors are right? What if I walk away from everything they've said and everything I'm "supposed" to be doing, and it doesn't work? Will I cause irreparable damage to my body? It feels kind of like jumping off a cliff in a free fall.
Thank you.

Picking up on these fear-based questions, I can relate as I had a similar situation.
I had a recommended back surgery. Instead of accepting the surgery, I put it off and gave myself a self-determined time to continue to try the TMS way. I was able to get a helpful answer from the doctor recommending the surgery when I phrased it right. When I said, "What if I have to push the surgery back a bit?" (I made up some white lies about what was happening schedule-wise in my life.), his first answer was it was needed immediately. After I pushed, his second answer was that I would just have to deal with the pain until the surgery, that it wasn't going to get significantly worse in that kinda short time-frame. When I talked to that doctor about TMS, it went nowhere (and that was instructive, because his block to accepting Sarno's methods was an indictment on him as a doctor, a supposed healer).

That time frame sealed it, because the symptoms went away when I dug into the work.
The other important part was I had the support I needed. For me (at that time), it was a simple as a supportive physical therapist I saw regularly and books by Dr. Sarno (recommended by my PT). The physical therapist bought into my plan and really helped me along, always reminding me that the PT wasn't really doing anything for the symptoms b/c they had a TMS basis. I had to quit PT with him, but I kept it going for the TMS support for a while.

 

[Diana-M]

Picking up on these fear-based questions, I can relate as I had a similar situation.
I had a recommended back surgery. Instead of accepting the surgery, I put it off and gave myself a self-determined time to continue to try the TMS way. I was able to get a helpful answer from the doctor recommending the surgery when I phrased it right. When I said, "What if I have to push the surgery back a bit?" (I made up some white lies about what was happening schedule-wise in my life.), his first answer was it was needed immediately. After I pushed, his second answer was that I would just have to deal with the pain until the surgery, that it wasn't going to get significantly worse in that kinda short time-frame. When I talked to that doctor about TMS, it went nowhere (and that was instructive, because his block to accepting Sarno's methods was an indictment on him as a doctor, a supposed healer).

That time frame sealed it, because the symptoms went away when I dug into the work.
The other important part was I had the support I needed. For me (at that time), it was a simple as a supportive physical therapist I saw regularly and books by Dr. Sarno (recommended by my PT). The physical therapist bought into my plan and really helped me along, always reminding me that the PT wasn't really doing anything for the symptoms b/c they had a TMS basis. I had to quit PT with him, but I kept it going for the TMS support for a while.

Awesome story! You were smart.

 

[Rusty Red]

Oh your thoughts are my thoughts. As someone who is trying to persist in activity, I think every day well damn, what if I'm just doing irreversible damage to my body? But then I remember I once had a doctor tell me if it hurts, don't do it. It hurts just sitting here write now typing this. It hurts to lay in bed at night. Can't avoid those things. At that point I started to wonder about what I was actually capable of vs what the doctor thought.

 

[NewBeginning]

Can't avoid those things.

YUP - same here even with eating / digesting! I HAVE to be able to EAT. Realized this the hard way by limiting and limiting.
In fact, that led to more complete dismantling.
So, believing the thought that was trying to prevent the "hurt" caused more issues than the symptoms of doing it!
I have to keep remembering this as digestive symptoms have ramped up now and start contemplating how to make sure to get nourishment while not aggravating symptoms...but at some point, I have to just realize I can't believe the lie that some perfect combination will be the answer otherwise, I would have found that long ago. Just need to trust, have faith in my body, and keep moving forward.