New to TMS. Help / Advice Please

Hi there,

I am very new to TMS having only discovered Dr Sarno’s works about a month ago. I recognise my traits within his writing.

Sporting Background:

• Played high level rugby union for approx. 10 years.
• I injured my back initially squatting with a barbell. Diagnosis was a bulged disc.
• I rehabbed and this healed and I resumed playing, however my back was never the same, with a fear of re-injury.
• I maintain an active lifestyle and have a love for the deadlift. However this usually ends up with me tweaking my back from time to time and it never feeling completely right.

Some further background.

• I have a father who has been in and out of hospital for depression and drug addiction related illness and bipolar.
• In February of this year he got out of Hospital and said he was leaving to live away.
• This has had a profound effect on my family especially my siblings whom I worry about.
• I worry about my mother and the effect of her having to look after 6 children. (I am third with two older sisters, two younger brothers and a younger sister)
• My father’s mood swings / bipolar have had a horrible impact on my youngest siblings.
• My older siblings do not speak or if they do it is always spiteful and there is constant tension within my family.
• Couple all of the above with my pending wedding in October and it has been a pretty big year.

My new back pain has been around for about three months now. I initially saw my old rugby physio and she believes that I have a fear of my back. But in saying that she also said that my back was tight and I have some neural disruption (sciatic nerve). It has impacted on my day to day life and I have a major fear of working out. All upper body workout oes not cause an issue.

I have found that since reading Dr Sarno’s works I have improved and last night I walked pain free from the bus stop. Taking his advice to resume activity I got out my deadlift bar and did a session. At first it was ok and then as the session progressed it worsened until I felt something. I then stopped. Found this site and signed up.

What is the best way to commence the healing process? Essays? The Structured Program? Recovery Program?

I really want to be pain free, fear free and live normally. I accept what TMS is, and want to believe it just not sure if I have convinced myself on a deeper level.

Thanks in advance.

Pat

 

Hi Pat, I am at a similar stage as you.. I am improving little by little but every little helps

• Its important to live in present.
• Do not count the calendar days.
• Go at your own pace no need to over stretch yourself.
• Always say to yourself, I wont fear this pain.
• If you think the pain is less the brain will help you reduce the pain.
• You dont need to find that specific emotional thing which caused you pain.
• For some, the process of thinking towards anger, anxiety etc issues will reduce the pain.
• Re-read Psychology and Treatment chapters.
• Yes do Structural Educational programme.
• Keep stretching yourself at your own comfort but in mind think that you are doing it for overall health not for your back.
• Read lot of success stories.

 

Personally if it is me. I wouldn't do the dead lifts at this stage as physical pressure will trigger the TMS even further as told in the HBP book. May be once you reach full symptom free you can go about your dead lifts.

 

if you are in the UK check out SIRPA and Georgie Oldfield, will cost you around £150 but has a definite structure to ensure you 'stick to the program'

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm actually in Sydney Australia.

 

Your goal is equal to your journey.
I did absolutely no TMS program, journaling or anything. What I did was simply ignoring my pain and living normally, like I would if I didn't have any pain.
This way I already felt cured on day 1.
Instead of "I won't play my games because sitting hurts and ruins my experience" it became "I'm healthy, time to play some games".

Live.
Start right now.

 

James Alexander is an Aussie and posts here. also Peter O'Sullivan and Lorimer Mosley are both doing great work in the pain arena but haven't gone the whole hog and discovered the TMS mechanism.

 

Hi, Pat. If you live in Sydney, you may be a fan, as I am, of David Hobson, the marvelous Aussie tenor.
If I attended any of his opera or popular concert performances, I'm sure the pleasure would distract me from any pain.
I have many of his CDs.


The others replying to your posts have given you great TMS advice.
I would like to add Herbie’s Extended Version of Dr. Sarno’s 12 DAILY REMINDERS

1. The pain is due to TMS. This is real pain or anxiety but its caused by subconscious tensions and triggers, stressors and traits to your reactions and fears and also when at boiling point your conscious tension can and does cause real pain too.
2. The main reason for the pain is mild oxygen deprivation. This means that when you get in pain or in anxiety then the blood is restricted from going to your lower back, for instance. The blood being restricted causes oxygen deprivation which causes the pain. Remember, where there is no oxygen, then there is pain in the body. Also, The pain stays because of fear and focus to physical organic symptoms and repressions.
3. TMS is a harmless condition caused by my REPRESSED EMOTIONS so even though you think you can harm yourself from the years of pain you have felt and how you feel in general -- so far no reports have been heard from TMS healing knowledge causing damage to anyone; it only helps.
4. The principle emotion is your repressed ANGER -- this means under your consciousness lies something that happens automatically to everyone. Tmsers have repressions that are stored because of our personality traits,traumas, stressors, fears, strain, etc... When these stored repressions build and build then eventually they cause the brain to send pain into your body to keep you from having an emotional crises. The mind-body thinks its helping you.
5. TMS exists to DISTRACT your attentions from the emotions, stressors, tensions and strains of your personality traits because if you can get distraction then you wont have to be in emotional turmoil. When you don't face and feel your emotions and they get repressed cause you didn't want to deal with something -- they are just adding up in this beaker, ready to pour over and create real pain and anxiety in your body.
6. Since my body is perfectly normal, there is nothing to fear. So in reality when I fear the pain or anxiety I just cause myself undo strain and tension adding to the beaker of pain. If I fear then I feed the pain, If I fear Its impossible to recondition. Fear keeps the pain and anxiety alive in the body through focus.
7. Therefore, physical activity is harmless.If I want to work against the pain I could but its better to lose some of the pain so when I start my life over I=t have to be in pain trying to heal cause facing the repressions and all the other activities that cause the pain and reversing my fear and focus to them then I can heal.
8. I am resuming all normal physical activity. I don't fear moving anymore. I believe in my bodies ability to heal now. I can move how I want. I will not fear moving with a bent back anymore. I will also practice going out and acting normal again, not in fear of what pain might do to me.
9. The pain is unimportant and powerless. Its only power is how its hidden -- its illusion, Its fear.
10. I will keep my attention on the emotional issues. I will think about my emotions and feel my emotions throughout the day. I will not judge, criticize or fear my emotions. I will not run from my emotional issues but face everyone of them. I will feel my emotions fully and cry if I need to. Then I will release the emotion and get my mind and thoughts back to my life and living in the present, in flow.
11. I am in control of all of this. This is how I recover.
12. I will be thinking PSYCHOLOGICALLY AT ALL TIMES. This means I will keep my thoughts on psychological issues like happiness, fear and anger -- traits and triggers, conditioning and journaling. The science behind mind-body/tms healing, etc.... This way I will not feed my thoughts to the body -- that is a trick of tms. Tms will always try to get me to focus on the body caused by the pain until I break its show and flair. When I get my attention off psychical symptoms and on emotional issues and psychological issues then I will not feed the fear of the physical issues anymore thus making the tms of no effect. This will in return, give us the cure.