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Congratulations! I have personally had many wise mentors at different points in my life, so I'll share a few more things they taught me:

Believe it or not, I've studied a traditional Chinese Qigong for quite some time. My teacher often used to tell us 'quantitative change occurs before qualitative change.' When applying this to healing TMS and its offshoots, just think of it like little weights being added to a see-saw. Every time you make a positive change, whether it be a change of thought, habit, etc, it's like adding a little weight to the end of a see-saw. The other end of the see-saw is weighed down from previous habits and life experience, so patience is required to add enough weight to the other end to get it to finally change. That same teacher was also fond of saying 'by the time a physical change occurs, deeper changes have already taken place a long time beforehand.' This is where having some faith in the process comes in. Keep doing what you are doing, and even if you don't feel great, always see yourself (and think of yourself) as getting a little better every day. All of these things help the body to stop the constant over-production of stress hormones. And once that happens, it's just a matter of time before the body regulates and heals.

Another mentor of mine was a brilliant older Taiwanese doctor. He was fond of saying (in English it's not as eloquent): 'The hardest part of moving a boulder from one point to another is to get it rolling.' This idea can be applied to many things, but in terms of healing TMS, I like to tell patients that initially it's going to require more work to get the body and brain out of the state that it's currently in, but once it starts healing, you don't have to be as aggressive with treating it. I only say this because sometimes the whole process can seem overwhelming to people who have been suffering for so long.

So keep going, and if a technique you are using is working, just keep going with it. If it's not working, find something else. There are many, many tools to help fix this problem. You just have to be consistent and find what works for you. And it seems like you are already on your way, so congrats again!


One more thing I should add. Anti-anxiety meds tend to displace a neurotransmitter called GABA. And anti-depressants usually cause issues with serotonin. If you were on those drugs for more than a few months, I'd highly recommend supplementing both GABA and L-Tryptophan (it's a serotonin precursor). They will help your body chemistry rebalance far quicker, and should easy withdrawal symptoms. However, if you are still taking either of the drugs you mentioned, DO NOT take the supplements. Only take them if you are off the meds completely.