A question about scars and swollen tendons

Hello again....I hope you don't mind me firing off so many questions being the new kid on the block here. But here goes with a few more questions.

One issue I've had has been a long time shin splint. I eventually ended up with a achilles tendon the size of a walnut 3 years ago. The pain was ...horrible. It is much better but will still swell occasionally. Now, my OTHER tendon is trying to do the same thing.

I am seeing this totally as TMS. (As none of the many specialists I saw were able to pinpoint the cause.) I don't want to seek any more medical treatment but don't want to be foolish either. Can TMS account for such an obvious swelling?

Along that same lines...I am a keloid former. (Keloids are scars that don't quit growing.) When I was in a car accident, I required a chest tube. The wound from that healed just fine. But when my medical drama began...during pregnancy with my first child, many years after the accident,...the damn thing started growing.

Doctors (and I saw a ton of them for this and have EVERY treatment possible) tell me there's not much that can be done with keloids so I've been watching this thing eat up healthy skin (it's over 8 inches long!) for the past 20 years. And when it grows it hurts like the devil.

And now I'm starting on another nasty scar from a minor skin infection. I decided I was going to quit self treating (I was a nurse btw, so I have medical knowledge) and tell my brain to knock off this scarring business. It's not like my tending to it was helping anyway.

I know I've read plenty that of skin conditions (of which I have some) are rooted in TMS....might this keloid growth also be related to TMS also?

Thanks in advance for any help. I really appreciate wisdom here!

 

Hi Terry, I sure don't know medically, but just because something is TMS caused doesn't mean it isn't "real." Pain is real, swellings, redness, weakness, etc are all real, not imaginary. They can still have TMS as the root cause. Have you a TMS physician in your area? There is a list on the main website, and it is a good resource for physical problems you are unsure about.

 

Hi Terry,
Great advice from Tarala above. Consulting with a TMS physician is the best way to rule out structural/physical causes of your symptoms.

However, I've come to understand that the unconscious brain is infinitely creative in developing symptoms that our conscious brains just can't ignore. That is, of course, the purpose. Since you are medically trained, your brain has the information to come up with very scary symptoms like the ones you describe. From the reading I've done, it appears commonplace for TMS to develop at the site of old injuries. And I would imagine that there is a lot of unresolved trauma and repressed emotion from your car accident.

 

Thanks, Ellen and Tarala... I live in Montana - a place where, in the words of Seattle physicians, "medicine is primitive". So, no, there are no TMS docs or therapists around here.
Since no one has been able to pinpoint a cause for that one tendon to swell, I'm going to chalk it up to TMS with the other ankle. (I have seen more doctors and PTs shrug when they acknowledge they simply can't explain it!)
What a trip this is! Our brains are so wonderful but they can also be our worst enemies too.
Thanks again for your replies!

 

Oh, Montana. I guess it wasn't likely there was a TMS doc around the corner. I live in Australia, which is kind of like the Montana of the world. It can be frustrating, knowing there are great resources out there somewhere else. But you sound pretty okay with the whole TMS thing, I'm sure you'll do great.

 

A friend from Down Under! How delightful, Tarala! I have several Aussie friends....both in real life and through a homeschool forum that I belonged to years ago. And yes, there are a lot of similarities with Montana. We're very rural and a large state with a low population. Our harsh winters keep the population low.

When our son was little, he was diagnosed with several issues. (Coincidence that my medical stuff really cranked up then?) We had to get out of town to access decent services. And really...if a person has a serious or chronic health issue, I always urge them to go out of state. (Or at the minimum, head to Billings...a lo0000ng day's drive if one is from the other corner of the state.)

 

We might have been on the same homeschoolong forum, LOL It is a small world you know. When my youngest was little, he also had some issues. mainly Aspergers. I was on a forum for homeschooled Aspie kids, as well as others. And yes, it does wonders for promoting TMS. Sometimes, though, I think it was better that at the time I focused on my body as the problem rather than on my son.

 

Wouldn't that be funny, Tarala? True crazy story...we moved across the country several years ago where I met a new friend. As we drilled down in talking about mutual connections via homeschooling circles, we discovered we had been friends on a homeschooling site. Both of us were using screen names for privacy's sake. It was just crazy! And such fun!
Yep, I am confident autism spectrum issues (leaning toward Aspie), threw gasoline on my already smoldering TMS issues. My child is an adult now and is doing FABULOUSLY.

 

So glad to hear he is doing well, mine too thank goodness. But yes, it certainly fueled my TMS stuff. In fact, it all started two months before he was born. Very stressful time too. Somewhere I think there's an interesting old thread on TMS and the perils of motherhood.

 

I think there are similar perils in fatherhood, but being a bachelor I have no experience on the subject.

Montana and Australia sound wonderful. I grew up in Chicago and escaped to quieter suburbs when I
got out of college and the army. I loved living one summer in a real small town in Michigan.

 

Tarala....oh yeah...we were in school during my pregnancy. Many stressors indeed! And then the fun really started when we brought our colicky baby home.

Walt, I'm originally from Michigan....the Upper Peninsula. Beautiful country. Montana is lovely but we hope to get out of here sooner than later. We are not fans of winter and they are so very long here. And yes, fatherhood is fraught with peril too. My husband can testify to that!

 

Ditto on the perils of fatherhood, Walt. I am originally from California, but have been in Australia for 23 years. We love it here (Brisbane), beautiful winters and gorgeous beaches, plus a social service and education system that sure helps with the stress of raising kids. Though people in Australia have TMS too!

 

I sure know shin splints are TMS. I have many other symptoms which cause hard knots in my muscles. My heels get swollen and red. Like you I know they are all Tms. The base of both thumbs are painful. I need to journal. I know thoughts about my Mother are lurking in my mind whipping up my body.

Since discovering TMS i have numerous numerous physical symptoms moving all over. My initial thought is wondering what I have done to my hands, knee, etc. It is a constant distraction trying to get me to worry about the physical. But I know it is the psychological. Wonder what will pop up next. Oh come on...I am not thinking about anything....I promise....ha,ha,ha

 

Ha! Oh, the comfort I get hearing your similar story, Stella. Last night, I felt like my whole body was just acting like a live wire, snapping and sparking...sending bursts of pain to random body parts. It was ridiculous. I got up at 2:00 and told my leg that it was fine. And then I'd get a jolt of pain in my other leg. I'm serious. If the sensations weren't so intense, and it wasn't 2-a-frickin'm in the MORNING, I would have found it funny. (I can laugh now.)
I went back to bed, sans ibuprofen, and fell back asleep.
My symptoms were trying to act up again this morning but I went for a walk and was once again, pain free. Clever beast, this TMS.