Recent content by Anne Walker

Hi. I have/had a cyst on my back for over 20 years. Recently it got really big and bugged me because it had suddenly grown to the size of a large marble. Then one day I woke up and it had exploded. I was convinced it was infected and drove my family crazy by asking them to take pictures of...

Great news!! Glad you are feeling better. We can spend a lot of time thinking “what If this is something bad and doesn’t go away or gets worse.” It’s just fear talking and does not help anything.

Hi. Sounds like you have good awareness of what you are doing to yourself. This may be a really good time to take a step back, reassure yourself, and just rest. You do not have to fix this today. Managing your TMS is not always about pushing through. Weeding can be a strenuous activity if...

I wish becoming pain free would correspond to how hard we work and how much we desire it to be so. It is just human nature to try and track our success by the results we achieve. Do not loose heart or be too disappointed. You are on the right path. It is worth the effort and patience. I...

Julie, this is a very inspiring story. Thank you.

When I first started learning about TMS I often was puzzled over how our subconscious could choose pain as a distraction. I could not imagine what could possibly be worse than the pain. Once I really dove in and started exploring the emotional side of things, I got my answer. I think those...

I just had a flash of a memory from many years ago that somehow seemed relevant, at least for me. When my daughter was a toddler, she would occasionally dislocate her elbow from its socket. It was extremely painful and we would rush to the emergency room. One time as she was clutching her...

Hi Donavan, I first came to this site about six years ago and was very active for a year or two. Then my life slowly became better and I was good enough that I did not need to check in. I remember you well from then. I too have recently had a setback. I am feeling many of the same things...

Hi. My mother had a terrible case of shingles. She was hospitalized and had post hermetic neuralgia. She was on neurontin for over a year. She also had fear that the pain would never go away. It did though, and she has been fine for many years. It is not easy to cope with severe chronic...

Yes, I well understand the fear that the pain will get worse while you are doing something or doing something will make it worse. This is fear and unfortunately it can really aggravate symptoms. Some people have success meeting it head on, yelling at it, and not letting the fear stop them...

Wow, this is great! I am going to look at the Hoffman Process. I have this same pattern. Very illuminating. I have read quite a bit and often thought about the idea of self-sabotage and fear of success. This explains it very well! Always searching for home. Thank you.

Hi. I also have been having some trouble with early morning anxiety recently. In my minds more perfect world, the morning should be a time of relaxed peace when you wake up calm and do not really want to get out of bed. I walk my dogs in the morning and so for now I am just getting up and...

Hi Kalo. Just remember, it always feels structural. And its not like the pain is just in your head. It is physical, it is real. The only question it is, why is it there? Sometimes we get a clear answer, sometimes we do not. But the reason the pain captivates our attention is it feels...

Hi. You know the reason things move around or a new symptom appears is that the original pain is somehow loosing its power to fully distract you. You may still have the TMJ symptoms but part of you is beginning to believe that it isn't structural, perhaps it is just TMS. The new pain...

Hi. No, sorry, I was not trying to ask about a potential structural cause for the finger pain. What I was asking is do you think it would be dangerous to just treat your finger pain as TMS. I tend to treat most new pains as TMS unless I have a compelling reason to get it checked out.