bman

I believe that I have had TMS since I was a child. My introduction to TMS came in 2008 when I had severe back pain. I found Dr. Sarno's books and read them all. Unfotunately I was not one of the lucky ones who got better by just reading. I found one of Dr. Sarno's students in New Brunswick, NJ. He is on the list of practitioners - Dr. Gwodz. I attended the lecture and did the home exercises. Eventually my back got better. I had had back pain every 6 months or so for about 15 years prior to that but once I understood everything about TMS I was able to deal with the pain in one to two weeks.

In 2015 I had a heart attack which came out of the blue - I do not have heart disease, exercise regularly, had been retired for 4 years, was thin, and ate a healthy diet. I had been involved in a very stressful situation for a year which caused a tremendous amount of anger. My cardiologist believes that the stress caused the heart attack! I recovered from the attack but was psychologically wounded - like PTSD. In January 2017 I developed sciatica, then tingling in legs, pain in my neck which led to tingling in my right arm.

I had neuropathy in 2002 which got better in about a year, thne RSD in my left toe in 2005. Since then it has been mostly in "remission." Pain only after 3 hours of walking/hiking. In February the neuropathy came back and I also developed numbness - although mostly in my right foot.

I have been very successful in my life - I was a senior manager in state government, written two books, written over 100 articles for major magazines and newspapers, was an adjunct professor for 24 years, had a successful business, have been a public speaker and a number of other accomplishments. Neverthehless I have many personality traits of TMS and have had anxiety all my life.

I found the TMS site about 3 weeks ago and have worked on many different things here. Most of my leg and arm problems have improved significantly, but my neuropathy still hurts every day when I am on my feet, and at night. I am working hard to deal with my emotions and pain - it is a work in progress.