Day 1 Where I am right now

I am a 32 year old woman. I have had chronic pain for years but never even knew that that was what it was. Its all the usual "woman" related stuff- pelvic pain, migraine, and psychic pain in the form of depression and anxiety.
My pelvic pain started pretty much at menarche when I was 12 but has gotten worse over time. I am now just coming to an understanding of it as endometriosis and what that means for my body.
The pain that brought me to look into TMS is my migraine pain. I had single instances of migraine with aura through my childhood and adolescence. But then, at 25, my migraines became frequent and without aura. They have gotten worse with time and I now am at the threshold of a diagnosis of chronic migraine.
The health system, here in Australia such as it is, does not provide for people on a low income such as myself to have really good all round holistic health care that looks at all your symptoms and diagnoses and life circumstances together.
I've tried most types of prophylactic migraine treatments - none of which made a difference to my migraines but many had nasty side effects. I use triptans only plus essential oils and hot/cold treatments when I have an episode and try to control my triggers as best I can.
Migraine has meant I can't work fulltime hours, I can't exercise properly and I often have to cancel social events. It also negatively effects my mood.
I became aware of TMS through an app that was advertised on my phone. The app used mind-body techniques based on Dr Sarno's work. I used it for a while and had some success but soon couldn't afford it. I was so relieved to find the TMS wiki which is free so I can continue to have support to work through my chronic pain issues.
I tend to be a sceptical person. I've never been able to belive things I can't see. So I find it hard to do as recommended and just choose to believe in TMS and that I can get better without any other intervention.
However, as most people who come to this point, I imagine, I'm desperate and willing to give it a go! I have many doubts. I'm not even sure how to articulate them all.
I wonder if I shouldn't just be going to a new neurologist to try and nip the migraine in the bud before it continues on its worsening track. But good migraine neurologists are expensive and few. And probably there are none in my regional area. Additionally, I'd rather not spend my life on medications. And I like the wholistic bent of TMS treatment.
I want to want to thrown my whole self into this and give it a red hot go but as with most things, something in me holds back . . . something related to that old scepticism!!
Oh well . . . here goes!!

 

Hi sweetheart,

Welcome to the forum. Most us start out with a degree of scepticism especially when we’ve been through the mill of traditional and alternative medicines. And yes, most folk are desperate by the time they land here. But this is all ok because it creates a genuine compassion and empathy that tends to be lacking elsewhere.

It can take a while to figure out the TMS thing, but it sounds like you have the jump on that via the app you used (I’m guessing Curable?). One of the best ways to deepen understanding while building confidence is to read Success Stories. This is one of the best, written by @Ellen.

https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/recovery-from-20-years-of-fibromyalgia-and-a-lifetime-of-migraines.7924/#post-43808 (Recovery from 20 years of fibromyalgia and a lifetime of migraines)

Plum x

 

Thanks for your welcome and encouragement Plum! I will read Ellen's story!