Could it be TMS?

Hello everyone,
at first, I´m sorry for my english, I´m from central Europe and my english isn´t perfect.

I´m very grateful to find this website and information about TMS, because in the country I live, when your scans and tests are OK, you are OK and your pain doesn´t exist :-( but it´s still here with me and makes my life heavy...the pain I have isn ´t serious, but I can feel it almost every day so it´s hard to don ´t be worry about it.
I should say that I´m 23 old female, I live in perfect family, but my mum is ill and it´s really stressfull for me. My problems began 4 years before - suddenly, my arm hurt, then my wist, then my knee, ankle, my scoop, etc., usually everything in one part of my body-left or right. The intensity of my pain isn´t serious, the pain moves from one part to another...e.g. I wake up and my knee hurts, then my ankle too, then my wrist too, everything on my left part of my body (when i´m doing something i don´t feel it so heavily like when i have a rest and when i have time to think about it), and in the evening it´s ok but my right part of body has tender points. Interesting thing is - when i´m away from home and i don´t have to think about my problems i have at home, e.g. i´m with my boyfriend, the pain is absolutely away....
My question is: could it be TMS? I hesitate, because my back don´t hurt me (only sometimes), and i´m not sure if this could be TMS (pain of limbs without beck pain)...
i would be really grateful to you if you could tell me your opinion.
thank you very much

 

Hi, hvezdick. From what you write, I would say your pain is definitely TMS. One reason is that it moves around your body. Most structural pain doesn't do that. It also seems that you have had a doctor check you for reasons for your pain and he/she hasn't found the source. That means, to me anyway, that your pain is psychological, caused by repressed emotions. We all have those emotions and our subconscious mind knows that so it is causing our pain to make us reflect on what those emotions are. Yours may very well come from trying to help your ailing mother. I tried helping mine for two years and finally had to give up and it left me with guilt. That was one of the main causes of my TMS back pain. We don't even have to solve our repressed emotion problems. Just recognizing them helps relieve our pain.

You say you don't feel pain when you're away from home. That sure indicates your stresses and pain come from home. We all have those,
even if we think everything at home is okay. Our subconscious knows what we may be trying to repress.

I strongly suggest you read Dr. John Sarno's book, HEALING BACK PAIN. You're from Central Europe and you write English quite well, so you should have no problem reading his book which explains Tension Myositis Syndrome, what it causes (a slight deprivation of oxygen to our bodies which brings on pain), and how to become pain-free. You can buy an expensive used copy of the paperback at amazon.com books. But I can email you the first chapter and maybe one other from the TMSWiki.org/forum web site which will get you started right away.

I will help you, and others in our TMSWiki.org/forum community will, too. You came to the right place for help. How did you learn about us?
What, if anything, are you doing now for your pain? Are you in any stressful situations, involving people, school, a job? Take some time to write down what those stresses may be. That will lead you to discovering what is psychologically causing your physical pain.

If you have questions, ask them here and we will all offer suggestions. We're not doctors but we've had TMS and have healed, or others are working on it to heal. We feel your pain.

Also, look at the section of TMSWiki.org/forum below this one, where members tell how they healed. It gives lots of tips on how you can heal.

If you have family or friends with pain that may well be caused by TMS, tell them about us.

Have a great day.

 

Here is Part One of Dr. Sarno's HEALING BACK PAIN.
Maybe you can highlight it, cut, and paste it into a document so you can print it out to keep it.



Dr. John Sarno,

Healing Back Pain, Part 1
I have never seen a patient with pain in the neck, shoulders, back or buttocks who didn’t believe that the pain was due to an injury, a "hurt" brought on by some physical activity. "I hurt myself while running (playing basketball, tennis, bowling)." "The pain started after I lifted my little girl" or "when I tried to open a stuck window." "Ten years ago I was involved in a hit-from-behind auto accident and I have had recurrent back pain ever since."

The idea that pain means injury or damage is deeply ingrained in the American consciousness. Of course, if the pain starts while one is engaged in a physical activity it’s difficult not to attribute the pain to the activity. (As we shall see later, that is often deceiving.) But this pervasive concept of the vulnerability of the back, of ease of injury, is nothing less than a medical catastrophe for the American public, which now has an army of semidisabled men and women whose lives are significantly restricted by the fear of doing further damage or bringing on the dreaded pain again. One often hears, "I’m afraid of hurting myself again so I’m going to be very careful of what I do."

In good faith, this idea has been fostered by the medical profession and other healers for years. It has been assumed that neck, shoulder, back and buttock pain is due to injury or disease of the spine and associated structures or incompetence of muscles and ligaments surrounding these structures – without scientific validation of these diagnostic concepts.

On the one hand, I have had gratifying success in the treatment of these disorders for seventeen years based on a very different diagnosis. It has been my observation that the majority of these pain syndromes are the result of a condition in the muscles, nerves, tendons and ligaments brought on by tension. And the point has been proven by the very high rate of success achieved with a treatment program that is simple, rapid, and thorough.

Medicine’s preoccupation with the spine draws on fundamental medical philosophy and training. Modern medicine has been primarily mechanical and structural in orientation. The body is viewed as an exceedingly complex machine and illness as a malfunction in the machine brought about by infection, trauma, inherited defects, degeneration and, of course, cancer. At the same time medical science has had a love affair with the laboratory, believing that nothing is valid unless it can be demonstrated in that arena. No one would dispute the essential role the laboratory has played in medical progress (witness penicillin and insulin for example). Unfortunately, some things are difficult to study in the laboratory. One of these is the mind and its organ, the brain.

The emotions do not lend themselves to test tube experiments and measurement and so modern medical science has chosen to ignore them, buttressed by the conviction that emotions have little to do with health and illness anyway. Hence, the majority of practicing physicians do not consider that emotions play a significant role in causing physical disorders, though many would acknowledge that they might aggravate a "physically" caused illness. In general, physicians feel uncomfortable in dealing with a problem that is related to the emotions. They tend to make a sharp distinction between "the things of the mind" and "the things of the body," and only feel comfortable with the latter.

Peptic ulcer of the duodenum is a good example. Although some physicians would dispute the idea, there is a fairly wide acceptance among practicing doctors that ulcers are caused primarily by "tension." Contrary to logic, however, the major focus in treatment is "medical," not "psychological," and drugs are prescribed to neutralize or prevent the secretion of acid. But failure to treat the primary cause of the disorder is poor medicine; it is symptomatic treatment, something we were warned about in medical school. But since most physicians see their role only as treating the body, the psychological part of the problem is neglected, even though it’s the basic cause. In fairness, some physicians make an attempt to say something about tension, but it’s often of a superficial nature like, "You ought to take it easy; you’re working too hard."

Pain syndromes look so "physical" it is particularly difficult for doctors to consider the possibility that they might be caused by psychological factors, and so they cling to the structural explanation. In doing so, however, they are chiefly responsible for the pain epidemic that now exists in this country.
If structural abnormalities don’t cause pain in the neck, shoulder, back and buttocks, what does? Studies and clinical experience of many years suggest that these common pain syndromes are the result of a physiologic alteration in certain muscles, nerves, tendons and ligaments which is called the Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS). It is a harmless but potentially very painful disorder that is the result of specific, common emotional situations. It is the purpose of this book to describe TMS in detail.

The ensuing sections of this chapter will discuss who gets it, in what parts of the body it occurs, the various patterns of pain and the overall impact of TMS on people’s health and daily lives. Following chapters will talk about the psychology of TMS (which is where it all begins), its physiology and how it is treated. Conventional diagnosis and treatment will be reviewed and I will conclude with a chapter on the important interaction between mind and body in matters of health and illness.

Who Gets TMS?

One might almost say that TMS is a cradle-to-grave disorder since it does occur in children, though probably not until the age of five or six. Its manifestation in children is, of course, different from what occurs in adults. I am convinced that what are referred to as "growing pains" in children are manifestations of TMS.

The cause of "growing pains" has never been identified but physicians have always been comfortable in reassuring mothers that the condition is harmless. It occurred to me one day while listening to a young mother describe her daughter’s severe leg pain in the middle of the night that what the child had experienced was very much like an adult attack of sciatica, and since this was clearly one of the most common manifestations of TMS, "growing pains" might very well represent TMS in children.

Little wonder that no one has been able to explain the nature of "growing pains" since TMS is a condition that usually leaves no physical evidence of its presence. There is a temporary constriction of blood vessels, bringing on the symptoms, and then all returns to normal.

The emotional stimulus for the attack in children is no different from that in adults – anxiety. One might say that the attack in a child is a paranightmare. It is a substitute for a nightmare, a command decisions by the mind to produce a painful reaction rather than have the individual experience a painful emotion, which is what happens in adults as well.

At the other end of this spectrum, I have seen the syndrome in men and women in their eighties. There appears to be no age limit, and why would there be? As long as one can generate emotions one is susceptible to the disorder.

What are the ages when it is most common, and can we learn anything from those statistics? In a follow-up survey carried out in 1982, 177 patients were interviewed as to their then current status following treatment for TMS. (See page 87 for results of the survey.) We learned that 77 percent of the patients fell between the ages of thirty and sixty, 9 percent were in their twenties, and there were only four teenagers (2 percent). At the other end of the spectrum, only 7 percent were in their sixties and 4 percent in their seventies.

These statistics suggest very strongly that the cause of most back pain is emotional, for the years between thirty and sixty are the ages that fall into what I would call the years of responsibility. This is the period in one’s life when one is under the most strain to succeed, to provide and excel, and it is logical that this is when one would experience the highest incidence of TMS. Further, if degenerative changes in the spine (osteoarthritis, disc degeneration and herniation, facet arthrosis and spinal stenosis, for instance) were a primary cause of back pain, these statistics wouldn’t fit at all. In that case, a gradual increase in incidence from the twenties on would occur, with the highest incidence in the oldest people. To be sure, this is only circumstantial evidence, but it is highly suggestive.

So the answer to the question "Who gets TMS?" is "Anybody." But it is certainly most common in the middle years of life, the years of responsibility. Let’s now take a look at how TMS manifests itself.

 

I have more to send you, but I think other members of our TMSWiki community would like to offer their suggestions, so I will wait a while to send more of mine. Reading Part One of HEALING BACK PAIN will give you a good start.

Dr. Sarno's 12 Daily Reminders in the book are the main paths to healing. Here they are:


1.The pain is due to TMS,not to a structural abnormality
2.The direct reason for the pain is mild oxygen deprivation
3.TMS is a harmless condition caused by my repressed emotions
4.The principal emotion is my repressed ANGER
5.TMS exists only to distract my attentions from the emotions
6.Since my back is basically normal there is nothing to fear
7.Therefore,physical activity is not dangerous
8.And I MUST resume all normal physical activity
9.I will not be concerned or intimidated by the pain
10.I will shift my attention from pain to the emotional issues
11.I intend to be in control-NOT my subconscious mind
12.I must think Psychological at all times,NOT physical.

 

one more... One of our members posted this some time ago and I think it could be very helpful for you.


chickenbone said:
↑
Hi, I don't know if this will help you, but I can describe what I do that usually gets rid of bouts of pain. I use 3 things. Generally, if I can accomplish these 3 things, my bout of pain will gradually disappear.

1. I realize that I must be 100% sure that the pain is TMS related. I find this to be fairly easy with back pain because so much of it is TMS. I always keep in mind that it is my brain that decides to have pain or not. I have had enough experience with TMS symptoms that I can usually distinguish physical pain from brain induced emotional pain.

2. I believe the pain is harmless. In other words, pain does not mean damage to the body, it is only a signal from the brain.

3. I must reach a point where I don't care if I have pain or not. This is the most difficult step. Alan Gordon calls this "outcome independence". I guess you could also call it "letting go". This step is so important because the pain is not the real distraction used by the TMS strategy. It is the upset and distraction that the constant worrying, checking, evaluating the pain causes me mentally.

Once I succeed in getting the pain into the background, my goal becomes living my life normally with the pain. I don't fight the pain. I just let it be. Then I often discover, just as an afterthought, that the pain is receding. I usually don't talk to others about my pain because my focus on the pain and their responses can make the pain more important than it is, thereby increasing the pain.

With me, getting rid of pain is often about how successfully I can withdraw my attention from the pain and live my life normally even with pain.

There are times when I have gotten mad about a particular symptom, like an allergy attack. This is so clearly TMS, that I just let it know I am wise to it. However, I only do this if I am pretty confident that I have the jump on it. I always keep in mind that getting mad about a symptom is giving attention to it, so I pick my spots carefully and this sometimes works.

 

Dear Walt,
thank you very much for your replies. It´s really great to read all these information, thank you very much for your time. I´m going to read everything you send me

 

I sent a lot so take your time with it. The 12 daily reminders are the main things to work on each day.

What country/city do you live in? Are you a student or do you work or do both?
I live in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, with my dog Annie, a big black Labrador Retriever, a real darling.
I was a Chicago Tribune newspaper reporter, then a magazine editor, and have been a fulltime freelance writer
since then for many years. I love writing. A list of my books is at www.walteroleksybooks.com

Happy healing.

Walt

 

Walt, thank you very much. I read what you send and I think it could help me to try to think "positively", to accept the fact that my pain is the result of my stress and of my emotions.
I´m from the czech republic and i ´m a student of the university, i´m in the last year of my studies, i´m studdying social work and I think itś maybe one of the reasons of my problems-my pain started in the first year of my studies at university. I had many practises, e.g. I worked in organisations helping people with mental diseases, with seniors, with ill people, with people without home atc., and it was very stressfull for me to be at home and here to help my ill mother and then to be at school and help other ill people...there was (and still is) so many ill people around me and it´s hard for me to live with it every day...now i know that it was a mistake to choose this university, itś only for really strong people to help ill people...i´m going to pass my final exam last year and than i would like to work e.g. somewhere in administration.
I will try to learn 12 daily remainders and to live according them. i know it will be hard but i really want to change my days with pain, which is not grave, but itś stressing me.

 

You're well on your way to healing. You've already recognized TMS symptoms from stressful conditions at home with your ailing mother
and at school and dealing with others who are ill or have mental problems or are homeless. That can wear you down. Good to think of going into administration instead of direct social work with people. I have a niece who is in social work helping troubled teenagers in high schools and it has given her a lot of stress. I think she should get out of that work. I hope you can spend more time on things that make you happy and relaxed. Sports, a hobby, exercise, listening to music, reading, being with your boyfriend.

One of the best ways to unwind is to breathe more deeply. Inhale so your stomach is like a full balloon, then hold the breath for a few seconds,
then let the breath out and say "Peace." Try to breathe deeply all the time. It really helps to calm. If you have any trouble sleeping, breathe deeply and repeat a mantra such as "I am calm. I am at peace."