Anxiety or physical issue?

[Mario Martz]

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Question

Hello!!
first of all thanks for the opportunity
im a 29 year young guy from mexico city ive always been a super
anxious and it became worse after my mothers death (10 years ago)
with time the panic attacks ended and i was at peace again.
but I've always kept my anxious personality.

my "problem" started last year... while i was in a relationship with a guy (im gay, and in the closet to my family) he was really agressive and we had a loving but stormy relationship...but i was doing my best at work, my relationship and family, i guess i was living ok.

then all of the sudden i started to experience migraines, hard migraines
they were really bad and i had never experience them like that before.
they remain really bad for a week then i started to get medication.

After a week the migraines were gone, but then i started to
develop tachycardia (120 bpm) and i had to go emergency
a few times but doctos didnt seem to find anything bad with my heart,
they all started to tell me that i need to see a
psychiatrist and all that stuff,
but i really feel that i was going to die, and i started to get anxious and scared for a few months, i focus all my attention on that.
i would go to the doctor and tell him that i was still having tachycardia after eating but they would not give me answears, i wasnt having panic attacks.
i was just having tachycardia after eating.
this happend between july 2015 - Jan 2016
in the mean time i broke up my relationship, and
develop a urinary tract infection for 3 months also.
(it was a rollercoaster) but at the mid jan i started eat only vegatables and fruits and my tachycardia and Stomach problems faded.


but I still felt depressed, i dont know why...

a few days ago in this Month (February) I woke up and had a noise in my left
ear, and i went to an ETN and he told me i had like a sinus infection, and i was having this sympton called Tinnitus... and to be honest i started to panic again, and its been 7 days and it hasnt faded. but im remaining positive, and im not letting anxiety and fear control my life again.
but obvously the buzz and hissing is annoying sometimes....

Well... after all this long story haha, the only thing I feel is that "
symptoms or diseases"
are not physical , it is rare that these conditions some fade but then they turn into something rare and different. its just transforming itself into an annoying big monster , someone could advise me on this?
do you thinks its TMS related?

Thank you so much

 

[Derek Sapico MFT]

Answer

Hey Mario.

Thanks for your question and I'm sorry that you've been going through so much. The rapid cycling of your symptoms, which seems to have been accompanied by acute psychosocial stressors, just screams TMS. Furthemore, all of the symptoms that you've e experienced are common TMS/anxiety symptoms. The process that you are experiencing is something that Sarno termed the "symptom imperative." Symptoms will migrate and jump around with the purpose of scaring you and keeping you in a cycle of fear and preoccupation.

Even something as scary as tachycardia is usually a symptom of anxiety. Even if you don't feel like you had a classic "panic attack," your brain is perfectly capable of kicking in to a fight or flight state unconsciously and causing your heart to race (I know this on an intimately personal level because it was one of my primary TMS symptoms). If the doctors are ruling out any serious structural issue causing these symptoms, it is safe to consider them a function of anxiety/TMS.

When serious causes are ruled out, it's time to commit yourself to recovering using TMS principles. Do this by either using a program such as Alan Gordon's TMS Recovery Program or the Structured Educational Program (both right here on the wiki) or by seeking out TMS therapy or coaching. The Pain Psychology Center offers Skype coaching on a sliding scale.

Best of luck finding the certainty that you need to disrupt this process once and of all.

-Derek

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[Blossom]

Wow I had a lot of symptoms similar to you at the beginning when my TMS symptoms began. Interestingly I was also in a turbulent relationship and I had daily migraines and briefly had tachycardia, I also have tinnitus. If you look up Louise Hay and the bladder she says it relates to being "pissed off" at a lover. The SEP is a great tool, all the best to you in your healing journey