TMS is not recognized in New Zealand and it is virtually unknown

New member here

I am from New Zealand and have lived there since 1994, recently I came down with TMS after having left an environment which involved family violence, when I told my doctor or General Practitioner which we call them in New Zealand that my issue is the result of my past catching up and I am no longer in the present and it could be TMS due to my emotions being dysregulated as well. The response from my doctor was can the condition be treated by anti depression or anti anxiety medication, it got so bad that I had to write a document for Autism New Zealand and my General Practitioner to bring awareness to them and the lady as Autism New Zealand who saw me basically is now looking at making an urgent referral to a psychologist and at the same time using a document which I wrote to bring awareness of the existence of such condition and let the psychologist who will be treating me in the future know the existence of TMS.

Autistic people can also get TMS if they have been through adverse events

So far no research have been done on the Autism and TMS connection, from my opinion, the connection is very real having been through adverse events myself, in my opinion, many Autistic people who have the skill set of looking on the internet on the issues they go through from the adverse event catching up and look for strategies on how to stop TMS will eventually resolve their TMS issue and go back to normal functioning but for these people, it is important to have the right support in place as well

I have also attached a document which I wrote myself to bring awareness to the New Zealand Medical profession, autism advocacy group, family violence support groups, government bodies such as the Ministry of Health on the existence of TMS

 

@SchlachtSchiffe_Bismarck
I don’t think TMS is recognized by most. Medical doctors or GP’s anywhere. It’s not taught in medical school, and basically goes against all they have learned.
I absolutely agree with you that people diagnosed with autism or anyone neural divergent could experience TMS. They are human beings and the mind/body connection is part of how we were created.

 

Hello from Australia! Regarding GPs and their knowledge of TMS it's the same over here. I often tell the doctors I see that Australia is still in the dark ages when it comes to psychophysiological disorders (PPDs) or TMS if you like to call it.

I suffer from many conditions that are considered to be PPDs and the only reason I go to my doctor/s is if I need a referral to a specialist I may wish to see, simply to pick their brain, but I don't ask them if they're familiar with neuroplasticity because when I do they get a blank look on their face when I mention this. I utilise doctors for their knowledge of physical things and the fact that they have seen so many patients with the same conditions/s I have, and this way I get an idea of whether they (the patients) got better or not through mainstream medicine. Then I go on to educate the doctors themselves and I tell them about Dr Sarno's work, TMS, and I talk about people like Alan Gordon and Dr Howard Schubiner, and others, plus we do have one neuroscientist in Australia, Professor Lorimer Moseley, who is renowned in TMS circles, but he does not see patients. He educates health practitioners around the world so they can understand neuroplasticity and how this interacts with the brain. He has also written a great book entitled "Explain Pain", and in the book he explains how it all works and how after reading this book we (the pain sufferers) will end up knowing more than the regular doctors. This was my introduction to the world of neuroplasticity back in 2009.

Anyway, I live in the hope that little by little we will get some GPs onboard with neuroplasticity and then we'll have doctors who specialise in TMS/PPDs, but that's not happening in Australia yet. So in the meantime I will go on passing the information one doctor at a time. Some of them were extremely interested and wanted to know more so there is hope yet for those of us living at the bottom of the world

 

Autism is associated with a hypersensitive nervous system, which makes autistic people to be potentially predisposed to TMS. I would not be surprised if there is a higher incidence of TMS among autistic people, but it is not likely that any studies have been done.

As for practitioners in NZ and Australia, just days ago Rose Hoey, a much beloved and revered TMS practitioner from Australia passed away. Huge loss for those of you down under.

 

Yes, I just read about this and it is a huge loss. I didn't know about her, however, because I'm based in NSW and my search was for TMS doctors rather than ISTDP therapists. I managed to find a psychologist from the University of Sydney who treats with ISTDP, but his fees are astronomical. I also searched for actual medical doctors with TMS experience and I couldn't find anybody in Australia. There was one guy based in Lismore, which is country NSW, but he was not a doctor but a therapist of TMS. I contacted him, but he didn't do sessions by phone. That's about all I could find. I even contacted Professor Lorimer Moseley and David Butler (who is a colleague of Professor Moseley), they don't see patients, but they were involved with a group of physios in Sydney who were trying out TMS with certain control groups. I rang these physios, too, but they did not see patients per se; they concentrated on certain studies.

 

I know someone who is based in New Zealand: Brenda Wille, who does TRE Trauma Releasing Exercises. Her website is https://bluechairwisdom.com/ (Blue Chair Wisdom | Auckland TRE Life Coach | Chronic Pain)
She might also be able to refer you to other practitioners in the area who are aware of TMS.

 

The only TMS practitioner that I worked with was based about 400 miles away from where I am - and it worked! I know couple people in the US who worked with Rose and were very satisfied. Even remotely a good TMS practitioner can do wonders.

 

Thank you, I will check it out.

 

I had a chance to work with therapists in the US, but unfortunately right now I have so many expenses and I cannot work, so I'm only living off my savings. Times are tough, I'm afraid

 

So sorry

 

This only adds to anxiety about feeling safe and secure, which goes to the core of TMS, I'm afraid.

 

Speaking from the personal experience: yes, practitioners help, but at the end of the day, it is you doing all the healing. There are a lot of free resources and support from the community on this forum, you just need to build up your confidence and faith in yourself.

 

I'm fortunate to have many resources, especially the program by Alan Gordon, his book, Dr Sarno's books, Dr Schubiner's book, Dr David Clarke. I also have regular correspondence with Dr Schubiner--he is such a lovely man! And some time ago I had a session with Dr David Clarke.

The knowledge is there, but sometimes it's difficult living alone and not having someone close to share things with. This forum is great and I've been on it on/off. Lately, I've started to come here more often and also trying to help others.

Right now, however, TMS decided to develop two more conditions, just to make life more impossible and just as I managed to take care of some other conditions I was doing battle with. This brain of mine is being very stubborn, although I sometimes catch it by surprise and I am able to change the plasticity a little

 

Helping others was a major driver of my recovery! It gets you out of your shell and reinforces all the tms concepts. And yes, Dr. Schubiner is the best!

 

Recently SIRPA posted an excellent interview on facebook about a woman who ended up alone in life, and healed from tms. It has so many valuable insights, especially for someone who has had financial upheaval and is living alone.

 

100% agree

 

Will look for the article, thanks!
Ironically, I felt more alone than I am now when I was still with the evil-ex, who had no empathy whatsoever. Of course, now I'm a slave to my cat, and she's so demanding that oftentimes I forget about the pain in order to serve her Majesty, Queen of the Universe! LOL.