Day 10 How is treatment going

I remain positive about my treatment. As I was Journaling today I would stop and think about what emotions I was feeling if I felt any painful sensations in my body. Recently I am hopeful about positive affirmations and positive self speak and have been practicing this.

There are times when I feel disenchanted by the process, and some times when I feel like this whole thing is bullshit. But these are the exceptions. I am steadfast in my belief in this diagnosis and continue to put in the work daily.

I will continue to work on this even when it seems like it is moving more slowly than I'd like, even when it seems like it isn't working.

I am no longer physically restricted in any way and I can't say that any other treatment has accomplished this for me. I am playing guitar and skateboarding close to every day, and for the most part pain free.

 

Congrats on getting as far as you have, Kickflip! If you were physically restricted and couldn't play guitar or skateboarding close to every day before and now you can, then I think that is HUGE progress... albeit the process seems slow! I'm on day 10 as well as you. The past two days I've had way less symptoms, and that makes me super happy. I'm motivated with this program, as well as with the rest of "my program", which is working out more consistently (half an hour of running three times per week, and body weight exercises for half an hour three other days of the week). For me, I think that exercise is my best stress reliever, so feeling so crappy has motivated me to be much more consistent... I ended up making a workout calendar to hold myself accountable. I'm also starting to learn to meditate, because I think that I am sure that some of the techniques that I will learn along the will might help me manage stress... and I'm intellectually curious to see where else mediation practice might take me.

A couple of days ago when I read the external article that suggesting that the pain symptoms were being "told to you" by a three year old... I loved that! Several times when I have got my headaches, I have actually visualized a three year old tugging at my leg, trying to get me to pay attention to the headaches while she is crying! Like the article suggested, I look down at the three year old with compassion and console her, but I ultimately do not pay much attention to the headaches that she is crying about. Instead, I realize it as the "alarm system" to remind myself to look into my emotions, as the author of the article suggested. This article was a great tool for me.

Kickflip, if you don't mind me asking, would you mind saying how old you are? Just out of curiousity. I'm in my mid-thirties, and I'm kind of surprised to so quickly find someone on this forum who is seemingly so much younger than I am, skateboarding and playing guitar.

 

Congrats, @Kickflip ! You are killing it! And I know you’re working your butt off. Fantastic attitude. Awesome you’re doing what you love again! I love your quote above because that’s my feeling as well. In for whatever it takes, for as long as it takes. Your story is inspiring!

 

I am 70 years old. I have been dealing with leg pain for 8 years. I found Dr Sarno 6 years ago but when I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease I thought I had a reason for everything including my dirty truck and gave up on everything TMS and “Neuroplastic Pain”. Well….fast forward to a time when I was on 7 different medications, still had chronic leg/sciatic pain, and was now dealing with all the side effects of these various meds. I read The Way Out and found that helpful, but also thought that this “newer” version of TMS lacked focus on many of the tenets espoused by Sarno that I still think are key to recovery. So I am now rereading The Divided Mind by Dr. Sarno, working to figure out Somatic Tracking, and after weaning myself off one more med I will be down to….ZERO MEDICATIONS. The Parkinson’s is a bit bothersome but I find myself wondering how much of that diagnosis was driven by my TMS. I exercise so much my neighbor is certain I am training for Ironman. And that is enough to slow the progression of Parkinson’s - if in fact I really have that disease. I love no longer looking for the quick pharmaceutical fix for what ails me. Sorry for writing War and Peace! Jim

 

Ha! Jim, your post isn’t so long!
What a great story! Good for you for fighting back and not giving up. It’s hard after you’ve suffered for a long time to generate optimism and get the will to fight. But look at you go! I agree that both sides of healing are good: the Way Out, plus Sarno. I think if you continue to read success stories and follow the threads where some of the veteran TMS healers share, you will see that they usually employed some elements of both sides of the fence. Wishing you a great healing journey. Glad you’re here!

 

Good morning and thank you for the kind and informative reply! I will order the book by Dr. Mate that you suggested. More and more I become convinced that escaping the horrible trap that is traditional Western medicine is what I must do. Doctors today are just drug dealers, for the most part. I must now also begin to work on my diet in earnest. I’m not overweight, and I exercise like a maniac, but if I were to find myself homeless I would live under a table at the bakery. Bread/bagels/pasta are my weak spot. But I actually find it very rewarding to get monkeys off my back. I haven’t had a drink of alcohol in 18 years so I would guess I could say goodbye to a good bagel. I so appreciate that you took the time to write back! Jim