Horrible start...

Hi everybody, I am very new here, I only found this site a week or so back and I first heard of TMS about 3 months ago. Not really sure hoe to do this so I'll start by introducing myself?

I'm Nick, I'm 26 years old and I'm from the UK. I have always suffered from a wide range of mental health issues that I have self diagnosed as, GAD, social anxiety, depression and minor OCD.

About 6 years ago got pain and inflammation in the tubes into the back of my right testicle. I went to the doctors and was diagnosed with epididymitis and prescribed some antibiotics, it never went, 6 years, multiple treatments, scans and specialists later I still have it, in fact all I've managed to do is turn it into epididymo-orchitis and also pain in my left elbow which flares up at the same time as my testicle, about 3 years ago I made the connection between the pains and my mental health and told my doctor this who said it was an absurd connection and a mere coincidence.

Flash forward to finding this site, and reading that it is connected I spoke to my doctor and asked to see a therapist, he refereed me, 12 weeks later being today I see my first therapist...

Well, it was very awkward when we went into the room and after a few questions she asked me why I was here and what's up, well I mentioned I suffered from GAD, social anxiety and depression, I also said that I believe I have MBS/TMS and that my right testicle and left elbow swell with stress and that's when things went worse, she said that's not a mental health issue and we won't discuss or treat it here.

My anxiety kicked in major here and I felt like the walls were collapsing in on me. I said, well if I treat my mental health issues, this might go away and she replied "it's not a mental health issue. Do you want to continue or end the session?".

Well I wanted to continue but I felt like I was going to pass out so I stupidly said I'd leave it and I left like an idiot.

I was in there for 8 minutes. It took me longer to park. Now I feel real dumb that I even messed my therapist session up. What the fuck...

The worst bit is, I'm not even sure she was a therapist, she said when I went in that I won't see her again, she's just going to decide on treatment, being therapy or meds.

I haven't felt like this for years :/ I wish I never went.

 

That sounds like a nightmare and I'm sorry you had to go through it. You're dealing with incompetent health care providers, try not to compound the anxiety by blaming it on yourself. I think it's unusual for even mainstream doctors to dismiss psychological factors in physical symptoms so readily as that. It does not sound like they're terribly interested in helping you. Is it possible to see someone else?

I would start with the SEP, listen to some of the audio files here, and pick up Healing Back Pain and The Great Pain Deception.

One of my earliest TMS symptoms was testicular and prostate pain. I was 19 and, coincidentally, living in the UK at the time. The total ineptitude and uncaring of the NHS doctors only made my distress, confusion, and (therefore) symptoms worse. So I can commiserate. It can be a scary thing. Looking back, I can see clearly that that pain was TMS. I can still remember how scared I was. And it was nothing. It has since faded away and has been replaced by other things which scare me more. There are others on this forum who have experienced the same thing, particularly younger guys. This may be taking it a bit too far, but I think it's easy to understand why it's 'easy' to get pain in this area ... an area which is physically vulnerable, wrapped up in self identity ... it can be scarier thinking of the possible implications of testicular pain than say, a pinky finger. I bet I'd start hurting down there all over again if I worried about it for five minutes.

See if you can start to poke some holes in the structural "logic" of your pain. For example, doesn't it seem suspicious that elbow pain would have any correlation whatsoever, from a structural standpoint, to testicle pain?

Wishing you well

 

United Kingdom

Practitioner Liz DydeLiz Dyde, BACP (Therapist)
Lifeways Complementary Health Centre

Available via Phone
30 Albany Road
Stratford upon Avon
Warwickshire
CV37 6PG
Tel: 01789 295890
liz@lizdyde.com
Survey Response / Website / Profile Page




Practitioner Louise LevyLouise Levy (Therapist)
Louise has a Master's degree in Guidance Counseling and diplomas in both Clinical Advanced Hypnotherapy and Cognitive Behavioral Hypno-Psychotherapy (Hypno-CBT). Louise was one of the first practitioners to go through the SIRPA Practitioner Training Programme with Georgie Oldfield, MCSP, and became an Advanced Specialist of Chronic Pain in 2011. She says, “Working as a therapist means I am consulted on a range of conditions affecting the mind and the body. I am particularly passionate about supporting people with TMS and chronic pain as I myself suffered from severe TMS back pain for 12 years.” Louise offers both face to face and telephone consultations.

Available via Phone
Lily House
11/12 The Shrubberies
George Lane
South Woodford
London E18 1BD
Tel: 020 8530 8888
Tel: 07984 011429
Fax: 020 8530 5566
info@louiselevy.co.uk
TMS Wiki Profile / Survey Response / Website / Lily House Website
Main Wiki Page About Louise Levy
Insurance Accepted: NHS Complementary Health Registered Therapist (Funding through PCT)



Toireasa McCann, CABP (Therapist)
Integrative Body Psychotherapist
Clinics in London SW2 and NW6
07789 267171
voxnova1@yahoo.co.uk



Practitioner Georgie OldfieldGeorgina Oldfield, MCSP (Physiotherapist)
Georgie Oldfield is a physiotherapist based in the UK. She is the founder of SIRPA (The Stress Illness Recovery Practitioners Association), an organization dedicated to educating and training practitioners and other professionals in TMS treatment. Georgie is the organizer of SIRPA's inaugural conference, “Chronic Pain: to suppress, manage, or cure?”.

Georgie is the author of the 2014 TMS book Chronic Pain: Your Key to Recovery, which includes information about TMS as well as worksheets and exercises and stories from people who successfully overcame their TMS. She has also developed an online recovery program as well as a recovery CD, and runs monthly clinics in London.

In her survey response, Georgie writes:

“Despite being a Physiotherapist, Dr Sarno's concept and approach was not a surprise to me. For many years prior to coming across this work in 2007 I had been looking for the answer to the many inconsistencies I had been observing with my own patients. I had also already begun to realise that pain often did not appear to be related to the structural problems patients had been diagnosed with. Coming across TMS was an epiphany moment for me and has completely changed my whole understanding and therefore how I work. Having seen the remarkable and often life changing recoveries in my own patients, I am passionate about working with people with TMS/PPD and 100% of my time over the past few years has been developing this work and raising the profile in the UK.
“Since developing SIRPA I continue to work in a clinical role working with people who suffer from TMS/PPD. Although based in Yorkshire I also run regular assessment clinics in London and Bristol. Through SIRPA I also run training courses for other regulated Health Professionals in order to help them integrate this approach into their own work. Our aim is to raise the profile of this work by increasing the awareness of stress illness to the public and Practitioners as well as the Medical world.”
(Source)
A physiotherapist is very similar to a doctor, in that they can make diagnoses and order medical tests. A physiotherapist in the UK is very similar to a Physical Therapist in the United States.

Available via Phone and Skype
19 Longley Lane
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK
01484 452500
Survey Response / Website / Q&A Answers / Forum Profile / DVD and CD
Main Wiki Page About Georgie Oldfield
Miracles of Mindbody Medicine article
Why You Need to Stop Trying so Hard to Get Better
Insurance Accepted: Any plan that covers Physiotherapy costs, except BUPA.


Testimonials

Lettuce Dance said, "I eventually went to see Georgie Oldfield in Huddersfield in Yorkshire. It was a bit of a slog getting there, but it was well worth it. (Even filling out the pre-appointment assessment on my family, background and past illnesses was very revealing.)

I visited her in February, and felt an immediate improvement. For me, the fact that she comes from a physiotherapy background, and thoroughly understands the mechanics of one's body, was very helpful.

I chose to do her programme, which I followed in a fairly informal fashion, as I was bogged down with a big work project at the time. The programme included a series of follow-up appointments, which we did via Skype: these were really good. She went to great lengths to help me. I found her sympathetic and professional."



Practitioner Jane ParkinsonJane Parkinson, UKCP (Therapist)
Jane Parkinson is a registered psychoanalytic psychotherapist in the United Kingdom. She trained at the Bowlby Centre and has over twenty years of clinical experience, 7 of those years has involved patients with TMS. In October of 2012, she attended the PPDA Conference: When Stress Causes Pain, where she developed relationships with other TMS practitioners. Parkinson uses an Attachment-based form of psychotherapy that has at its core an understanding of the importance of relationships to human growth and development throughout life. In addition, she works with TMS physician Nick Straiton, and does conduct therapy sessions using Skype.(Source)

Available via Phone and Skype
Brighton, United Kingdom, BN1 3RR
Tel: 01273 739281
Website / Survey Response
Insurance Accepted: Bupa


Additional UK Practitioner
Rachel Stevens


Nicholas Straiton, MBBS (Physician)
Dr. Straiton is an English doctor based in Brighton. He writes: “I am a medical practitioner and registered osteopath who works in the NHS but also has a private practice where I treat patients suffering from musculo-skeletal disorders. For the last ten years I have been working in the NHS for the Back Pain Service at the local hospital. I have always been interested in psychosomatic medicine and a few years ago a psychotherapist colleague introduced me to Dr Sarno's books. His description of the frustration of working in a hospital environment where high tech investigations and treatment strategies fail to alleviate many people suffering from back pain mirrored exactly my own experience . I became fascinated by his approach and eventually went out to New York to sit in at his clinics at the Rusk institute in order to learn first hand the process that he uses to diagnose and treat patients with TMS. This experience was truly valuable and enriching to the degree that I would say that my practice has changed significantly since that time. I believe that many, but not all, of patients suffering with chronic back pain are manifesting emotional distress through a physical symptom and for any long lasting relief to be achieved the factors relevant to this distress need to be recognised and addressed.” (Source)

Dr. Straiton also works at the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine. This is an NHS hospital, which means that patients can be referred him for TMS treatment at the hospital without having to pay.

Available via Phone
1, Glover's Yard, 121, Havelock Road
Brighton, East Sussex BN1 6GN
01273 540303
Survey Response / Website
Insurance Accepted: Most major providers


Additional UK Practitioner
Honora Totman

 

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. I think you were unlucky with your therapist. I was referred by my GP for counselling here in Stafford (UK) for swallowing problems (psychological as test showed nothing wrong) where I developed a phobia of choking which would make my throat tighter and make swallowing even harder etc. The counsellor was fantastic and used CBT to help me overcome it 75%. I didn't know about MBS then but believe it is yet another possible symptom and I think using the Structured Education Program would have worked as well as the CBT and would have the advantage of dealing with the root cause and therefore all the other symptoms I get. I too get pain in my right testicle on and off and that will go away for years but then come back when some other symptoms reoccur like migraines or tinnitus.

You could give the counsellor another go through your GP but obviously see someone who isn't quite such an uncaring, dismissive, ignorant c*w or see one of the counsellors Tom has listed above. I have spoken with other counsellors who aren't aware of TMS or MBS but when I explain it they agree with it and say that they have always believed that there is a connection between the mind and body and symptoms, they just don't know that it has a name.

Try not to feel bad about what happened. With your anxiety and possibly low self esteem (I don't know if you have that but I have both of them but they are improving) and the situation it is no wonder you reacted how you did. The SEP is fantastic and a great start. I also found the counsellor I saw really helped me become more aware of myself and my feelings and if I I started catastrophising or 'what if-ing' and playing out the worst possible scenario in my head then I became aware of it and stopped it. It takes time but now after I have been catastophising for a few seconds I spot it and shut it down. That really helps with my anxiety I suppose because you cut off a source of its power. Again the SEP can help you with beaming more self aware which is helpful.

Stay strong.