First post and a question :)

Hey all! I am so glad to finally make a post on this forum. Reading you all has filled me with warmth and support.

I am also reading The Mindbody Prescription and take therapy sessions alongside the Simple Educational Program.

I am convinced I have TMS, and that the roots of my physical issues (major: chronic fatigue, chronic all over body pain, leg pain, back pain, chronic constipation & minor: sinus infection, skin rashes) are in my psyche. Being a writer, I thought I wasn't someone who repressed things. But I caught myself suppressing my emotions, esp anger, so many times since discovering TMS.

Now the only thing I need to figure out is this: In a blood test, my ESR rates came out really high. Around 90 when it should be between 2-20. The doctor said it could be arthritis (he had also said it could be fibromyalgia and CFS a while back) but I never felt like believing it. I am more interested in healing TMS than fighting arthritis through massages. However, that figure 90 hovers in my mind and worries me. If anyone reads this and has a suggestion please let me know. <3

Hope you all are safe in these times.

 

Hi Raju, Since this is a medical question, I highly recommend you contact Dr. Schubiner and ask about sed rates in blood. It's possible to have a high level from anemia or medications or other things and from what I read, it's just one factor doctors consider in making a diagnosis. The vagueness of your doctor raises a lot of red flags for "I.Don't.Know." lol which to me points to TMS. When doctors start throwing around terms like fibromyalgia, I roll my eyes immediately. My advice would be not to panic, which it doesn't sound like you are anyway, and contact Dr. Schubiner so you can eliminate doubts.

 

Thank you so much for your response. It makes sense to me. I will contact Dr. Schubiner. Thanks again

 

...and keep in mind, just because there is a laboratory 'test' that can be measured doesn't exclude a psychogenic origin, just as a demonstrable disc herniation doesn't mean that the disc is causing pain. My blood pressure went up during my divorce. It went down when it was over though I had changed nothing (diet, exercise, food,salt).

In spite of all of the advances in medicine and new diagnostic tools, I don't think we have changed all that much, other than being more harried, distracted and perhaps angrier.

I'm not a writer by trade, but I had done a lot of writing for my recovery from alcoholism yet got TMS anyways! It is worthy of note that my worst TMS came at a period when I had eased up on writing about anger and fear (part of the 4th step) because I had found myself a bore and all of my resentments seemed redundant. As soon as I read Sarno, I got back to it with a renewed vigor. I got better fast.

As Sarno discusses in "Mindbody Prescription" I was formerly only looking into 'perceived emotions'. When I got the knack of speculating what I might be feeling 'down there' where I can't access intellectually, the pain and distractions went away. I am not even sure I guessed correctly. I think it's just the humbling process of realizing that no matter how 'in tune' with our feelings we are , there are rage and fear inducing things down there that we just can't get to. I didn't learn new and more dynamic things about myself. On the contrary, I discovered how petty I can be!

My work partner is a very young (22?) easy going and intelligent man. He had a bout of back pain last year and after it was over, we discussed TMS. I found out he has been diagnosed with Arthritis and has been on meds for years already. When Covid came out he was directed to cease taking his meds as they are immune suppressors. However, since our discussion ,he now thinks a lot of the symptoms that sent him to the doctor to get that diagnosis were TMS. He has now been pain free without his meds! He hasn't had any of his regular symptoms.

In the vignettes in Sarno's writing , he tells of lots of similar situations. Always go to the doctor to rule out really bad stuff. But after you leave his office don't assume all anomalies are arbitrary.... chemical changes happen in Sarno's ischemia model, but since they are psychogenic in nature they can be normalized that way too!!!

peace

 

@Baseball65, that is a beautiful post; thank you for sharing. I have also heard similar stories about conditions such as arthritis. You explained everything perfectly and I couldn’t agree more.

 

Apologies for taking a year to respond to your super helpful response.. @Baseball65 I have resolved the pain issues I mentioned last year. Right now I am going through what you described as: "just the humbling process of realizing that no matter how 'in tune' with our feelings we are , there are rage and fear inducing things down there that we just can't get to." Thanks for your response once again.

 

I’m glad you resolved your pain issue. Did you ever figure out why your ESR was so high? Did it come down?

 

A doctor suggested it's a sign of inflammation. I did not check it again, but kept working on reducing the inflammation in other ways..