What happens when TMS is really stubborn

25 years of TMS. Multiple readings of Sarno’s books (and others), regular repeats of the online program, and online therapy. The pain always comes back, but this is the first time in a while I haven’t been able to kick it. I acknowledge there has been a lot of stress in our lives lately. My husband has cancer. Last month I fell through the attic flooring and collapsed a lung. I did land on my head/neck pretty heavily. But my CAT scan was normal (outside of a mild concussion.) There’s no reason for my neck to hurt like this other than TMS.

But I just can’t kick it. All of the somatic tracking and cognitive soothing that normally help… aren’t. What’s the next step? I am taking CBD/THC to get through the days, but I don’t want to be dependent on it.

Is there another option for when TMS just won’t give up?

 

Dear @Lookingup

Stress.
That’s what keeps it there.
Understanding that stress isn’t an exterior thing but an interior thing.
It takes changing your mindset, thought patterns and changing reactions to responses. Examining what generates your unconscious stress by observation. I think it can be a variety of things: is it fear? Fear and general anxiety in life? Fear of reoccurrences, of things sticking around.. or is it getting stuck in personality trait cycles? The difficulty to slow down and unload your nervous system -to separate from internal stress for even moments of the day, or is it simply the inability to face the stressors; we often feel like we are but it’s the subconscious -the unconscious things we don’t want to face that Sarno says can lurk.
You have done much, much work, and I feel for you. Your situation must be stressful. Suggestions to try: write a list of all current stressors and examine it in quiet daily. What about that list may you not be willing to fully face? Can you get a step towards what lurks?

Have you fully considered that you have pulled some muscles falling, and with stress tension are simply really uncomfortable and focused on pain because it’s easier to deal with.. but that given a week or two you can heal, reminding yourself you have healed? Pretty much changing your reaction to the pain to responding with some self-compassion and recognizing the truth: that you are the master at healing symptoms!

Meditation - have you tried it to separate yourself from the stress, even for a minute? To help break the constantly firing neural circuits.

“My husband has cancer” is a very plausible reason for neck pain.

Lastly, are you able to consistently employ tms “work” in your life, beyond when you feel you have tms symptoms? Perhaps looking at your long-term, ongoing ability to disconnect to stress, how personality plays into things (especially with your current life situation).
For some folks, it seems like tms work is one and done. For others it seems our mind/body connection just needs to be part of your daily self-care.

Consider all the support you may need to partner with your husband through his healing. Sometimes it’s just time for some extra help. I am personally finding EMDR incredibly helpful. So is doing “tapping” at home on my own with some YouTube videos. They help me to accept and face emotions and choose how I’m going to respond.

 

@Cactusflower

Thank you. All these gentle reminders were remarkably helpful, and I will be looking at each suggestion mindfully.

(And yes… I think I need to make TMS work a daily practice in my life. Would love to be one of the “one and done.” Alas!)

 

Give yourself the space to explore the many approaches. Somatic tracking is a way of thinking more than it is a tool. If you approach it with an expectation of relief, then you have jumped the shark. Recall that it is about being curious, as if you are an outside witness.

The cancer caregiver situation is really striking me as fertile ground for a JournalSpeak practice. I cannot (and will not) imagine the flux of emotions you are experiencing. Do you enjoy podcasts? Perhaps listening to some of Nicole Sachs' podcasts would help you to really integrate.

 

@CaptivaLady

Thank you! No, I’m not familiar with that practice or that podcast speaker at all. I will look them up.

 

I started with episode 1 and caught up to current in about 8 months! ;-) Keep in mind that you may wish to try her approach and I do recommend giving it a whirl. You may vary. Either way, you are not wrong. Just finding your special sauce.

 

TMS can be very pernicious. Some people get the instant relief from reading the books. but for most of us it’s a lifelong process. It’s very frustrating to feel like TMS symptoms
won’t go away even when you know they are
totally TMS. The best you can do is keep taking care of yourself~ i definitely recommend Nicole Sach’s podcast and her Journal Speak concepts.