Beginning my TMS journey for my stomach

Hi all!

Amongst all my issues (which are all TMS, except for 1), my stomach is the most problematic for me, basically my whole life.

I’ve gone the IBS, Leaky Gut, Candida, SIBO, intolerance, gluten, all the cleansing, all the detoxing, blah blah blah for about a decade now and I’m beyond done. (Keep in mind, I’m only mid-20s so this is a VERY beyond done individual).

Naturopath after naturopath, doctor after doctor, eliminating foods, loads of supplements, cleanses.... I can’t anymore.

So far, NOTHING has worked. Despite having an immaculate diet, literally anything makes me ill and bloats me to 8 months pregnant and hurts my back. My diet makes me dread eating. Add that to feeling sick. I take zero enjoyment from food. I’ve stopped eating sometimes just because I can’t take the consequences anymore.

My whole life I’ve had constant messages of being ill, I’m always the one with stomach issues, I’m the friend who no one wants to take to a restaurant, my stomach is a mess, there’s so much wrong with me (long list of diagnosis), my stomach doesn’t work, it doesn’t know what to do, it’ll take a lot to heal- if it ever heals, etc. Basically fix, fix, fix...problem, problem, problem...

Thus I’m taking the TMS route!!! Due to childhood trauma, mealtime was always traumatic. Then I started emotional eating. So my brain now says food=anxiety. Every time I take in food, my stomach immediately goes in to fight or flight out of habit. No wonder! My brain doesn’t know HOW to eat!

*My mission is to rewire my brain to stop seeing food as a THREAT and to start seeing it as a SAFE, nourishing experience.*

My plan:
-I’ve started eating whatever I want to! (Within reason of course) Since everything makes me sick, it doesn’t matter what I eat. The strict elimination diet only enforced that I have serious stomach problems. The goal is to ENJOY what you’re eating.

-Affirmations of food being SAFE and tasty

-Affirmations of my stomach being healthy and strong.

-“There’s nothing wrong with my stomach!”

-Visualizing my body working

- Doing yoga after meals to relax

Some “food” for thought (LOL) which may complicate things:
-I do have bowel endometriosis, just had surgery. IBS usually goes along with Endo. Also, I was given IV antibiotics to prevent sepsis during my surgery so I could probably benefit from a probiotic (only supplement I plan on adding)

-I do have PTSD. So lots of relaxation to get out of fight or flight and relax that “second brain” in my gut

If anyone has advice or recommendations, I am open!!!! This journey has me very excited because I’m at the end of my rope with dealing with this.

 

I think you've got it! I could only add that it makes sense to take a probiotic just after you've had antibiotics, but possibly only for a limited time. I found they bloated me and made things worse after a point. I got cocky once after I had decided to stop taking most of my supplements and was feeling good, so I thought I'd pop one of those probiotics, since it wouldn't matter anyway, right? Well, within an hour I got so bloated and uncomfortable, it brought on an ocular migraine and I was a mess again for a while. Maybe I still had an unconscious association with it, or the damn thing was just too strong. Not sure. All I know is we certainly do not need to be taking in 40 billion bacteria a day just to get to normal!

 

Hi Getting Better,

Welcome to the forums, and it sounds like you're on the right track so far! You're right to identify that these stomach issues are TMS equivalents. It sounds like you've been through a lot, and have good insight into your experience. As some folks on this site know, in addition to TMS work i'm passionate about using an intuitive eating mindset and the Health at Every Size framework in my personal and professional life...I suffered from some disordered eating in the past as well (though for different reasons than you spoke of). Healing from both TMS and issues around food can be linked, so feel free to message me if you want to chat at all! Glad you found us, and best of luck on your healing journey!