Day 10 Accepted diagnosis but still suffer

Hi and welcome, jf77 and John.

For both of you, I would recommend starting the Structured Education Program (we call it the SEP) on the wiki: http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Structured_Educational_Program (Structured Educational Program) The SEP was designed by some of the original founders of the TMS Wiki.

The key word is "Structured". The SEP is a daily routine with a few different activities each day - usually including a writing/discovery exercise. I found it to be really helpful when I started doing this work in 2011. The writing exercises are designed to help you uncover some of the negative emotions that are being repressed. They might not even be very devastating - but your brain doesn't know that - all it knows is there's a negative connotation, and it immediately goes into repression mode.

There is another free program on the wiki which is less structured and more emotionally based - it's the TMS Recovery Program, graciously donated by the wonderful Alan Gordon, friend of the wiki and the forum, and found here: http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/TMS_Recovery_Program (TMS Recovery Program)

Now I'll tell you what worked, and still works, for me on a day-to-day (or symptom-by-symptom) basis: it is to recognize and then change the negative messages that my brain is constantly bombarding me with. That's because our primitive brains are wired to constantly be looking for danger! It's a very negative state of existence, and not useful in the modern world. Back in primitive times, when we didn't live past our twenties, all we had to do was to live just long enough to grow up, breed, and raise the next generation. There wasn't a lot of time to be introspective. Modern humans live too long and have too much time on our hands. Most of us, thankfully, don't have the distraction of daily survival or imminent danger to keep our minds focused away from negative emotions. But our primitive brains are still scanning the horizon for danger - so when one part of your brain goes into repression mode with a symptom, your primitive/reactive brain immediately goes into fear mode.

First you have to recognize the negative messages (you already know what they are, but you have to really really SEE them for what they are).

Then you have to change them to something constructive and/or positive. And I don't mean covering up with fake cheerfulness. I mean something constructive, such as: "I know this is TMS - there's not anything wrong with my back/stomach/feet because I've been checked out, so, brain, this symptom is not necessary!" Saying it out loud, as strange as that seems, or writing it down, is more powerful than just thinking it.

Finally - a dose of self-acceptance is a big part of the prescription for healing. You have to love yourself enough to give yourself permission to recover. And that's the toughest requirement of all, because we TMSers/perfectionists/goodists are SO good at beating ourselves up. You know what I'm talking about

Good luck - and keep us posted!

~ Jan