TMS lurks like horrible memories

Hi all - I had been away from this forum for a while. I used to suffer from severe neck and arm pain with constant vertigo until I found this forum and started journaling. I can proudly say that I have had significant recovery from TMS pain. I have been thinking of posting a "suceess story" but there are still a couple of unresolved issues, and I am working with a psychologist to deal with them.

The thing I wanted to share today is that I got a relapse of my pain this weekend. This happened after a difficult encounter with my abusive father. To me, this means that TMS can lurk in the background. Its not much different from bad memories. Like them, it hides in secret places and attacks you when you are at the weakest.

I have spent the last day journaling. I gave myself the liberty to cry, and I am confident the pain will subside. But this experience proves to me that recovery takes time and persistency.

 

Hi, levfin. That difficult encounter with your father very likely brought a return of your neck and arm pain, or the vertigo. You must still have more to journal about your relationship. A good cry is great. Yes, recovery take time, patience, and persistence. As for vertigo, I had a case of it a few years ago, most likely from emotional stress. My doctor said I should take some meclizine in an OTC brand from Rugby pharmaceuticals called "Travel Sickness." It worked right away and I rarely take it anymore, but do when I feel dizzy. I bought it at the drug store but it also can be bought at amazon.com

Vertigo and dizziness are usually caused by emotional stress. That causes most of our TMS pain. Keep believing in TMS and discovering the emotional causes of your symptoms. If you haven't started the Structured Educational Forum, I urge you to begin, free in the subforum on this web site. It is a great help to those of us with TMS. It healed me. Here's what another member of this wiki said about it:


Kevin healed 95 % from SEP

Welcome to the SEP and to the path of recovery. I am on my final two days of the program and I can say with complete confidence that I am a changed man. I started after 6 months of nasty low-back/butt/leg pain, could hardly walk, stand, etc. was in physical therapy, chiropractor, acupuncture, pain medications, etc.. the usual. My MRI showed 3 disk bulges/herniations touching nerves, so that is what I believe it to be....that is until I read Dr. Sarno and found this site.

I encourage you to really get involved, follow the instructions, do the journaling, take time to read all the suggested readings, and watch the videos. I'd say I'm 95% cured. There is still some very light lingering "annoyance", but I still have some work to do. I've been walking miles with hardly any pain these last few weeks. But even more, if the pain comes on now, it just doesn't bother me like it used to, I sorta just see it, acknowledge it, and go about my business. It took working the program to get to that point, but 6 weeks compared to 6 months is nothing! I made more progress in the first week than I did from two months of PT!!! It's going to challenge you and your "beliefs" in medicine, but you have nothing to lose. We generally wind up here when all else fails.

So give it a shot, especially before considering anything invasive like surgery. If you put the work in, you will get better. Have you read Dr. Sarno yet? I assume you have since you're here, but in case you haven't, definitely read Healing Back Pain. Again, it will challenge everything you've believed about your pain, and backs in general. You'll be encouraged to resume life as normal, i.e. stop ALL "therapies" (PT, chiro, etc.), stop taking medications, and most importantly, stop thinking STRUCTURAL problems are the cause of your pain and shift to psychological as the reason.....again, this can be difficult and takes some time to sink in, so be patient and kind to yourself.

It was a process for me. A few of the bigger moves in my case were: I ripped up and threw out my MRI test results (I found myself obsessively reading over them and comparing them to other results I could find on the web and even here on the TMSwiki site...); I got back to the gym and stopped using a weight belt; and I even cancelled an appointment I had made with a TMS doctor because it was more than a month away and it was hindering my recovery (that is, my 100% belief in TMS was lagging because I had this pending appointment, but as soon as I cancelled it, my recovery sped up significantly). Everyone's journey is unique to their situation, but I've found that really committing to the program and brining what I learn from it into my daily life has had profound results. Also, sharing along the way here in these forums has been extremely helpful - there's something about knowing that you're not alone in your TMS recovery that really helps. I encourage you to look through my past posts for some insight into my experience with SEP. Like I said, I'm just now finishing, tomorrow is my final day, and I feel like a changed person. It's amazing. And I feel as though it is something that one carries on with, not just like a one time 6 week thing and that's that...it has helped me to get to know myself and taught me tools to "deal" with my emotions. Learning and accepting TMS is a life changer for sure.

 

Thanks Walt - Last time I started SEP, I dropped out halfway because I started feeling so much better. This time I will try and complete it.

Its been pretty bad last couple of days, and I have not beenble to control my thoughts. I am meeting my psychotherpist today for a much needed session.