Applying TMS principles to Lyme

Hello! Does anyone here have personal experience applying these principles to the Lyme disease experience, or know any TMS practitioners who have been through that particular experience? Reaching out for my mom. I have a history of recovered neuroplastic pain and we see a lot of similarity in the way she reacts to symptoms that may benefit from this approach. She's hoping to connect with someone who might know her experience more intimately so she can feel safe about trying this out. Thanks!

 

Hi @tkizzles,

Dan Buglio is a TMS coach who has a couple of videos about chronic Lyme symptoms being treated with a TMS approach. He didn't have Lyme himself (his TMS was back pain) but one of the two videos is a TMS approach success story of a lady who had Lyme. Apparently, the famous TMS practitioner Dr Schubiner is in agreement that chronic Lyme Disease symptoms are likely to be TMS. Here are the videos:

 

Thank you, these are great! It’s tricky, as she’s in that stage of recognizing some of her experience is likely mindbody, but not at all ready to completely let go of the structural diagnosis and switch to the belief that chronic lyme is wholly a mindbody syndrome.

Videos like the one with the woman who has been through it herself are what she’s looking for, or ideally someone she can speak with (practitioner or otherwise) to feel safe and seen enough to try out the first steps.

 

I have two friends diagnosed with Lyme. One has fully healed. He tried medication and vitamin regimens but over time realized it was doing emotional work, slowing down, moving his body, and dropping the anxiety that changed his life. He stumbled upon this on his own, and never knew about TMS. He has had 0 symptoms for many many years.

 

Thank you for sharing this- do you know if your friend would be willing to chat about their experience?

 

No, he is not a TMS coach. You can however contact Dan Buglio, above, and this older thread explains therapist Amber Murphy has worked with people thought to have Lyme https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/tms-and-lyme-disease.10486/ (Alan G. - TMS and lyme disease)

As you know, finding “exact” symptom matching is part of the TMS cycle and is, in the long run not really helpful because of course neuroplasticity pain is a psychological pain and all symptoms are equivalent.

 

Ooo thanks again, I’ll check that out!

And no actually, I don’t know that, first time I’ve heard of it. That makes some sense to me, especially already being on the other side and having fully bought in to this belief system. So does someone’s skepticism, however, and their desire to feel safe and understood- especially when they have not been through the journey yet and built up the evidence for themselves.

I’ve engaged in PRT twice- once with someone whose primary symptom matched mine, though we had different other symptoms. The second time with someone who had been through mindbody pain, but not my new primary symptom. That first time, speaking with someone who really got my experience was a great doorway to me feeling safe to try it out.

 

There are some Lyme Success stories on this forum:
Ann https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/fibromyalgia-chronic-lyme-vertigo-backpain-all-gone.26744/ (Fibromyalgia, chronic Lyme, vertigo, backpain, all gone!)

Here's an older story: https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/recovery-from-ms-mcs-lyme-ebv-mold-lead-using-neural-retraining-sarno.21319/ (Recovery from MS/MCS/lyme/EBV/mold/lead using Neural Retraining + Sarno)

Another success story on Youtube:

Here's a functional medical doctor who discusses repressed emotions and Lyme:

 

I believe that chronic lyme disease is TMS. I say this because I had it and resolved it through TMS techniques.

 

Thanks for replying. If you're open to talking about it, I'd love to hear more about your experience- I'll message you.

 

You make good points here. It's hard to move past that skepticism! It took us a long time to develop the personality traits/conditioning/even neural pathways that led to TMS. It's different for everyone how easy it is / how open they will be to accepting that what they're dealing with is TMS.
There's a balance between trying to identify and find connections that could be helpful (this person had what I had and it was definitely TMS for them, and they're now symptom-free) and obsessing over finding an exact match for your own symptoms. That obsessing can really get us stuck.
Also, symptoms can return in a different way entirely and that can get us stuck that this latest issue might not be TMS.