What Worked for You

There are many aspects of healing TMS symptoms, from Somatic Tracking to Journaling. I understand that some therapies work for some but not for others. I’d like to know what worked for you. Would you mind sharing your experiences in terms of what worked for you?

 

@mikeinlondon Bear in mind that, although there are quite a few recovered TMSers who give up their time to answer questions on the forums, most people who recover don't hang around. They do, however, usually write their success story on the success stories subforum on this Wiki before they leave. So, I'd suggest you have a good read of the success stories subforum here: https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/forums/success-stories-subforum.27/ (Success Stories Subforum)

 

@mikeinlondon ,
Mike, check out this post I put up recently. It has my thoughts on this. https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/the-quest-for-a-tms-holy-grail-of-healing.29803/ (The quest for a TMS Holy Grail of healing)

 

What has worked for me is dealing with the anxiety first and foremost: understanding how it developed and that as a TMS symptom, it’s harmless and another distraction.
Dealing with the fear, recognizing it as another harmless symptom when in the presence of TMS and is another distraction.
Enjoying life, which I had to force myself back to doing while employing strategies to deal with the above symptoms - in action (was hard!)
For me, finding ways to move while feeling safe enough to push myself to move more.
Rest and relax! Chilling, not doing, just taking a few minutes a day to slow down.

 

Hey Diana - What do you mean by Sarno exploration like a wizard?

 

Ha! It’s @Baseball65 He's really good at figuring out what’s making him angry. And when he does, he gets his symptom to leave. He's always talking about p. 77 of Healing Back Pain, by Sarno. It’s where he gets his method.

 

The biggest thing is moving forward with life, doing things, hobbies, soothing yourself. This was a big part of TMS recovery, at least for me.

 

Nearly everyone I know has been telling me this very thing!

 

If someone told me this over a year ago when I started my recovery my response would've been "But how!? How can I enjoy life when my back/pelvis is on fire?"

Baby steps. Teach your brain you are SAFE.

And then I re-discovered reading again and I remember sitting and thinking to myself, "if I can just read and enjoy myself and feel this joy then I don't care if I have pain" and then my symptoms began to fade...

 

Nice one! The chink of light for me was when I realised that I could still laugh at comedy programmes on TV, at funny articles and books, and to share looking at the amusing side of life with my husband (who, God love him, almost always finds my quips and my attempts at witticism funny) despite the pain. And with regard to this I also found the memoir 'Anatomy of an Illness' by Norman Cousins encouraging. Cousins was a journalist and put his recovery from ankylosing spondylosis down to amongst other things, the therapeutic use of laughter through watching comedy films such as those by the Marx Brothers.

 

Love this! I remember authentically laughing one day while deep in the throws of burning/stinging skin and literally thinking to myself - that was laughter, you're able to laugh!!!! It was such a moment of sheer utter wonder and amazement and showed me that it is possible.