Day 1 Nervous but hopeful

I have recently read both Dr Sarno and Steven Ozanich's books and can fully see how my current nerve pain problems could be TMS. I had convinced myself I had a whole series of rather benign injuries, none of which came from any actual severe fall/activity, just time and stress/anxiety. TMS makes so much more sense, especially as my symptoms occurred during a nervous breakdown. I went through hell wondering about a possible medical diagnosis that never came to be (I had to have a brain scan for pulsatile tinnitus and was convinced I had a tumour or a clot in my brain), and the next thing you know, my body starts to go numb, mimicking the symptoms of these diagnoses I was terrified of! The mind is an amazing thing. Then, as I began to assume I had a pinched nerve, I researched how nerves heal/develop and convinced myself the numbness would become pain. Lo and behold, I now have nerve pain head to toe on both sides. However, the academic sceptic in me still struggles to believe it! I'm about 90% there.

I think my hardest task is going to be to reframe my attitude towards/relationship with the pain, as well as learning to focus on something else/the present. But these skills will help me in all other walks of life too, so I am looking forward to learning.

All best to everyone else diving in to give this a try!

Sophie

 

Great job already finding the psychological connection to your symptoms!

Indeed this can be a little difficult and take some time. However, the program's exercises are good at helping you build habits that will support this goal. A key thing to remember is that there is no timeline. If you get there really quick, slow, or go back-and-forth for a while, that is all okay. Good luck!