The Paris / TMS connection

Desi, this is the conundrum of TMS. I think that a lot of us who are older realize that we've had vague TMS symptoms off and on throughout our lives, but there almost always comes a point, in our much-longer-than-designed lives, and for varying reasons, at which the symptoms reach a crisis. We get vague diagnoses, as you have received (three different diagnoses from three different docs, I believe?) because health professionals have a hard time saying "there doesn't seem to be anything wrong". My diagnosis was "an irritated vestibular system" for unexplained dizziness after all the tests - this was from a dizziness/balance PT clinic, although my primary care MD was, in fact, willing to say "there's nothing wrong with you other than stress". This is what gave me complete confidence in my self-diagnosis of TMS when I discovered The Divided Mind. I had many other symptoms in addition to the dizziness - but they've gone away, whereas the dizziness is the one that comes back during stressful times.

Trying to compare your symptoms to others is not useful, because your brain is capable of creating any physical symptoms that it wants. It will create custom symptoms designed just for you, so you'll keep worrying, which means you'll keep being distracted, and you won't be able to acknowledge and accept the dangerous scary emotions that it is trying to repress.

I think you've probably made an important connection between your new pain and your travel plans. Travel anxiety is a big one amongst those of us with anxiety. I know I have it still, but for my first big European trip "A.S." (after Sarno) I made sure to go into it with a different attitude and outlook, and to remind myself that my symptoms leading up to the trip were TMS (and they were intense). Once I was there, I barely had any symptoms at all during the trip, which was awesome. You can have that too, I expect.

So I think you have to ask yourself: what would happen if you make the mind-shift to believe 100% that your foot pain is TMS? Have the docs said that you are in danger of doing more damage if you go on the trip? If they are unable to say this, then what harm can it do to assume it's got to be TMS? Because with that in mind, you can go to that list of fears and guilt, see how those negative messages are being used to attack your subconscious, and counter each one with constructive and positive statements of truth. And to believe each one. And repeat the exercise frequently during the days leading up to the trip. And breathe and unclench while you're at it.

The tricky part is believing the truth of the counter-statements. It's hard to believe the truth if you have doubt that it is true, right?

Good luck, Desi - Paris awaits!