Recent content by armchairlinguist

I agree, there are many similarities between all these descriptions of a condition that the mind/brain and body are in - several of which I highlighted, notably the focus on structural soundness and reduction of fear and anxiety. But as similar as they are, there are some notable differences...

I've been doing some reading as part of figuring out how to deal with my ankle pain, and I came across a couple concepts that seem related to TMS but somewhat different - central sensitization (or sensitivity) and chronic nonmalignant pain syndrome. I find these concepts interesting because...

Those ankles, man, they just don't listen! Mine doesn't either...although these days it can be better or worse, it's rarely really gone. It sounds like it's still hooking you in emotionally, because you so much want to be painfree, it can distract you just by existing. Sometimes giving it any...

Hey Alexandra! I don't know if you took note at the time you first read them, but there are quite a few descriptions in Dr. Sarno's work of people having bouts of pain during "positive" changes in their lives, like marriage, graduation, or new babies. Marriage is a big change - even thought it...

I can do this, and I'm 5'6" and have tiny hands. Pretty sure I don't have Marfan's. :) I just have small wrists as well. I am mostly replying not for that, but to say that I've also had the experience recently with doctor telling me I'm fine, and suddenly I am (which you mentioned). And then a...

Wow! It's wild to hear these stories about doctors. The ortho I saw last said "I'm sure you can find someone who will do surgery" but I've never personally encountered that kind of attitude - instead they all tell me I'm fine, they don't even want to give me a cortisone shot. Which I guess means...

Oh man, so much pressure! I'm sorry you're feeling so bad. It sounds like you need a trusted friend or two to listen - if you're in pain and struggling, you don't have to go it alone, even if you think that maybe your own brain is generating the pain. It's still real and dealing with it is hard...

You say that there aren't physical triggers, but it happens when you stand or walk. But those are physical triggers :) It's pretty common for leg pain to present with standing and walking. My guess, because most of us would find it implausible if our legs hurt more when we didn't walk!

Anna, I wonder if it would help you to check muscles in your calves for trigger points (muscular knots). Trigger points are in my mind a manifestation of TMS, but working on them can ease immediate symptoms sometimes and give you confidence in the TMS diagnosis. I noticed that my book on them...

I've had trouble distinguishing issues following my ankle injuries from TMS for a while. I wrote a post about being gone to try PT, and coming back when it seemed like I was repeating the better/worse/better/worse pattern again. When reading along I noticed there are at least a few people here...

So a really interesting thing happened to me today. I was all worried about my right foot - while I've had a bit of pain in it before this, seemingly from unbalanced use, it never bothered / worried me. All of a sudden I'm worried, and not only does my foot feel weird all day (but show no...

I am going kinda crazy in this same way. I had a relapse after about 4 mo doing pain as TMS (my earlier post in this read), went back to doc, MRI, PT, same deal, since it didn't seem to help to treat as TMS, permanently. But I have the same pattern as before, some improvement then more pain for...

I spent quite some time here earlier in the year, especially while I was doing the SEP, and then I went away for a while because I could not convince myself that my ankle pain was not structural, and had had a relapse. I intended to pursue (and have pursued) physical treatment and TMS...