Alex B. How do I begin?

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Question

I am suffering from sharp shooting nerve pains from last few months.They occur 24*7 and some times they are dull sometimes really like sharp that I cry out in pain.
If I am busy I feel them less but they are there in my body.Firstly I thought I has some serious illness like MS,fibromylgia but then I read about TMS.Now I want to treat my pains with this.Please help me how to begin and what should I do.

 

Answer

Hi Riya, thanks for the question.

The place to begin with TMS is to get in touch with a physician who is familiar with TMS (there is a resource on the wiki here), meet with them and go over your symptoms, history of pain, etc. This is a very important place to start because you need to be able to rule out structural issues in order to pursue the TMS approach with confidence. To that end, begin looking at your pain analytically so that you can give a good picture of how your symptoms behave. What makes it worse? What makes it better? What are the kinds of activities that can distract you from the pain? The fact that being busy and distracted lessens your symptoms is a really good sign, a starting point that you can develop further.

Also, it is important to look at what has been happening in your life in these last few months that have seen the development of symptoms. Have there been any major changes? Relationship issues? Emotional or psychological challenges? All of these things will be important to examine as any number of them can trigger symptoms. If you can, try to look back on how you have handled such things in the past, or if they have been previously connected to physical symptoms. Discussing these details will help give a TMS physician an idea of what it is you might be dealing with and potential directions for you to pursue as you try to help yourself!

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