After 17 years of being pain free...unfortunately...I'm back

[JTinLA]

No! you’re not dumping. Trust me. A lot of people got a resurgence of TMS over the last 4 years. We talk about it all the time on here. And if you’re of a certain age (60+) it seems to have hit folks especially hard because combined with the outrageous circumstances at large, 60 has been coined “the age of rage,” by @JanAtheCPA (I just love that, btw). So yeah. Welcome! Rage on.
Yes, TMS is a sham. And your history sounds like you’re a dead ringer for rage to bubble over and out via TMS unless you practice mental hygiene.

I'm turning 50 in a few weeks. Which is also part of this, I think. I'm not having fun with the thought

 

[Booble]

You don't need any advice from me so I'll just cheer you on as you work out the little emotional kinks.

Going as long as you did without TMS rearing its ugly little head until recently is quite miraculous.
Go do what you need to do, dig deep, let it out and you'll be feeling tip top again soon.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

TMS is a fking SHAM

It's so interesting how differently each of us relates to our unique variation of the TMS mechanism in action. @Diana-M is often laughing or alternately treating her TMS brain with compassion, @Baseball65 just thanked it and said it could F off now, and so many others...

I'm often pragmatic with mine, following the "primitive survival mechanism" theory, which is that what we still call TMS is a normal brain response which evolved in all humans in order to survive in the primitive world. Like many evolutionary quirks, the design doesn't seem great, but we didn't have to live very long in order to accomplish the only goal of a biological organism, which is reproduction. We didn't have a lot of different things to stress about, and we'd be dead from one of them sooner rather than later, but clearly enough of us survived and bred and raised the next generation to do the same, because here we are today.

We have to remember that the era of modern humans with our long lives, and of modern civilization with its many stresses, comprise a teensy little blip on the timeline of human existence. As a result, we're still dealing with this primitive mechanism, which is still being deployed by a primitive area of the brain that still thinks we live in a primitive wilderness.

All of which is why the TMS mechanism pretty much works for shit in the modern world.

My two cents!

 

[JTinLA]

It's so interesting how differently each of us relates to our unique variation of the TMS mechanism in action.

When I say "TMS is a SHAM"....it's one of my reminders that the pain is a hoax, that I'm creating. And that it's a shadow part of me, the "Pain Body" if you will.

It helps me to consistently tell it that it's fake, a hoax, a sham, a scam, a lie. I move forward from the pain a lot better when I repeat this over and over.

The entire premise of TMS doing what it does, to me, is a delusion. Even half of the "emotions" i feel that help me get here are concoctions of my imagined "self" having fear or doubt.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

When I say "TMS is a SHAM"....it's one of my reminders that the pain is a hoax, that I'm creating. And that it's a shadow part of me, the "Pain Body" if you will.

It helps me to consistently tell it that it's fake, a hoax, a sham, a scam, a lie. I move forward from the pain a lot better when I repeat this over and over.

And I get it! Whatever works!

The other thing I've found is that we often have very different takes and techniques for different manifestations of TMS. Well, I do, anyway. For example, reflux means I'm holding myself too tight, forgetting to breathe, and generally not being mindful about my general stress level. But an RA flare means it's time to get out the pen and paper and figure out what happened recently that my TMS brain thinks is worth repressing (quite often it's surprisingly inconsequential). My poor silly TMS brain thinks that pain in my hands and wrists is going to keep me from writing, but since I don't keep it and don't care if it's legible, I've figured out a way to hold the pen without needing to curl my fingers. The flares last less than 24 hours.

 

[Diana-M]

My poor silly TMS brain thinks that pain in my hands and wrists is going to keep me from writing, but since I don't keep it and don't care if it's legible, I've figured out a way to hold the pen without needing to curl my fingers. The flares last less than 24 hours.

Love this!!! Take that, you stupid lizard!

This seems to be a fairly common ploy. Hands not working, so can’t write. So what does feet/legs not working mean?

 

[JTinLA]

And I get it! Whatever works!

The other thing I've found is that we often have very different takes and techniques for different manifestations of TMS. Well, I do, anyway. For example, reflux means I'm holding myself too tight, forgetting to breathe, and generally not being mindful about my general stress level. But an RA flare means it's time to get out the pen and paper and figure out what happened recently that my TMS brain thinks is worth repressing (quite often it's surprisingly inconsequential). My poor silly TMS brain thinks that pain in my hands and wrists is going to keep me from writing, but since I don't keep it and don't care if it's legible, I've figured out a way to hold the pen without needing to curl my fingers. The flares last less than 24 hours.

You may be right. I have a theory that my legs burn and my TMS presents as "Sciatica" down both legs because I don't want to go outside, and I'm relatively active and love outdoors, and the more I regret "society", the more it comes on.

 

[Ellen]

This whole thing is patently absurd.

Truth.

Every year or so I'm fooled when I think I have some new medical/structural issue, and then I finally realize it's TMS. It then goes away pretty fast, but I'm left feeling like a complete ass for falling for it again.