Are food sensitivities TMS?

I never used to have sensitivities to certain foods as a child. I never really noticed how my body responded to dairy or gluten, however, I notice now (as an adult) that wheat in particular irritates my IBS-C. I know that gut problems and IBS are TMS, however, for some people to be sensitive to certain foods and even experience a more severe intolerance, I can't help but wonder if it is all just TMS? Howcome we never heard about issues with gluten 50 years ago? I also can't help but wonder if all the hype about gluten free diets is really just another way our brains force us to focus on "the body" as the problem, especially because it's so accepted as being a real issue in today's world.

 

"Are food sensitivities TMS?" imho, YES

"I can't help but wonder if it is all just TMS?" I stopped wondering - I am sure it is (see my profile story)

"I also can't help but wonder if all the hype about gluten free diets is really just another way our brains force us to focus on "the body" as the problem, especially because it's so accepted as being a real issue in today's world" ABSOLUTELY

 

The gluten sensitivity thing is a firmly established cultural thing now. Everyone has heard of it, so when our digestion goes tilt (for some emotional reason maybe...) the connection to blame wheat gluten is perfectly set up. And now witness the rise in perceived "nightshade vegetable sensitivities." The reasoning for this is I suppose that because there are toxic parts of these plants, then there must be some toxicity in the parts we eat. People are avoiding staples like potatoes and tomatoes... which seems crazy, but they are desperate for a (physical) reason they feel terrible.

 

LOL, potatoes, pizza, and tomato-based pasta dishes are my go-to comfort foods. Gluten and nightshades, go figure. But then, I've never really been a follower of fads.

 

It’s so interesting! I’ve definitely fallen into the trap of thinking I was sensitive to gluten and believing just how bad people have made it out to be. It really makes you think..

 

I am new to the form. I really want to believe I don’t have a problem with what the doctors have told me I do. I have been told I have an issue with dairy, gluten, wheat, molasses, tapioca,oats, even gluten-free ones. This is not all the foods I have been told not to eat! I was diagnosed by Dr Howard Schubiner that I have MBS! I have severe pain in my entire body 24\7! Severe insomnia! I feel hopeless and depressed most of the time. I do talk to a therapist once a week with the pain psychology center in California. Not sure if this is helping? I have been in pain for so long, not sure how to get through this! Any advice from someone in a similar situation would be appreciated!

 

Sammie, you're in a classic bind, where you've been told one thing by traditional practitioners, and another by one of our most highly regarded TMS/MBS practitioners. Although I wonder who is actually telling you to stop eating ALL of those foods - the list sounds ridiculous to me, and it also doesn't sound like advice from traditional Western medicine - I'm going to guess that it's one or more of these new diet faddists who depend on the placebo effect for their so-called successes. They simply don't hold up in the long run.

You need to make a choice. You can devote the rest of your life to fear and fad diets, or you can completely change your mind about what is actually wrong with you, and embrace the TMS/MBS diagnosis 100%.

Talking to a TMS therapist once a week is not going to get you anywhere if you are not committed to the work 24/7. The therapist can give you a boost if you are struggling, help you figure out where you're veering off-track if you're losing focus, and try to remind you about how TMS works... but it's only an hour a week. If you are spending the majority of the rest of the week worrying and doubting and obsessing over food, instead of taking the plunge and committing to doing the real emotional work that is required, an hour with a therapist will do little to nothing, as good as he or she might be. That's the truth about reality.

It's okay to have doubts as you start the process, but you have to be willing to let them go if you want to make progress.

We have lots of great resources for working on your TMS every day. A lot of them are free, and others have some cost - the question is whether you have done any of them, and if so, what was your experience?

 

I was so unsure about this forum, but now feel so much better about it! Thanks to you JanAtheCPA. Thanks for your heartfelt message! To tell you a little about my journey so far, it’s been a long and painful one. Was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia 21 years ago by four different doctors! Diagnosed by a “Functional Medicine” Practitioner with food sensitivities listed above through a blood test. Put on all kinds of “great” supplements that turned out to be a waste of time and money...LOTS of money!

Found out about MBS/TMS from a friend of my husband about three years ago. The rest is history! Saw Dr Schubiner about two years ago. I have read his books, read Steve Ozanich, The Great Pain Deception, very familiar with Alan Gordon, etc. In the meantime, “mitral valve prolapse”, arthritis in my knee, and “Plantar Fasciitis” (all of which I’ve been told is MBS/TMS) is weighing me down. I fear this is my future but I have a life I want to live with my husband. Fear has taken over my thinking. After all, this has been going on for years, not months or weeks or days...years.

How can all these pains at once not be something serious? Keeps me ‘bogged down’! I belong to the YMCA, have a great trainer, works me hard, but... I never seem to feel better. If anything, it seems to make my pain worse.

 

I spent seven years on a severely restricted diet long before such things became fashionable. I was thin... and er, that’s it. It didn’t cure me. These days I eat whatever I like with impunity. Most especially dairy.

 

So many of us have been through this same journey! I have written several posts here about my similar experience with the fear of food. This new functional medicine fad I think is just the new cutting edge alternative for chiros and naturopaths to make a lot of money. No insurance covers it and they can sell you a LOT of expensive supplements. My husband and I have spent thousands with functional Docs that were no help at all. It was only when I started working with the TMS information that I have begun to feel better, add things back to my diet, in fact just about added everything back to my diet that all those allergy tests showed. I have tiny little niggles of stomach pain here and there but I see them as wonderful opportunities to practice TMS which I do by simply reverting my attention from the old habitual worry thoughts about what i might have eaten to cause it, to absolutely knowing with my knower that it is only my tricky mind. Life is so much simpler now and I'm actually beginning to enjoy eating again and my excitement about being here in this body is returning.

 

Just knowing someone understands and knows what I’m going through is incredible! Enough said!

 

Good synopsis, Sammie. Now, I could recommend our SEP (Structured Educational Program) but in your case, I am going to recommend that you check out everything that @Nicole J. Sachs LCSW has to offer (click the link for her forum profile, where you can go to her posts and find links to her work).

Start with her book, and with her very first podcast episode (you can find her with any podcast app), and consider her program, which is, I think, around $250, but that's like one or two therapy sessions, right? - and you get a whole program along with a bunch of side benefits by joining her community. Even if all you do for a while is read her book, check out her free online resources, and listen to her free podcasts, I think you will be inspired, and convinced, that it is not only VERY possible to have all of these pains at once, but that this is actually good proof of TMS.

You've seen the traditional practitioners, and THEY can't find anything wrong. You've seen the food faddists, and that doesn't do anything except stress you out and take away one of the few true pleasures we have in life. You've seen the wonderful Dr. Schubiner, but you don't trust his diagnosis. That distrust is your fearful negative brain, doing everything it can to keep you in pain/discomfort, in order to keep your fear at a high level. In other words, your natural fear response has gone haywire and totally out of control.

Who was it who said, that when the possible solutions have been eliminated, the only thing left must be the impossible? Or something like that, LOL

TMS seems impossible, but we have many many MANY stories from those of us who, when we truly embrace the diagnosis, experience nothing short of a true miracle.

 

Thank you JanAtheCPA. I will check Nicole Sachs out. I am familiar with her, and have listened to some of her work. I also have listened to some of the Structured Educational Program. Very good! I agree Dr Schubiner is a wonderful doctor, I am so glad I had the great privilege of meeting him!

I agree Plum,dairy is WONDERFUL! I missed out on it for years. Welcome back old friend! I am so enjoying cereal again also, I so missed that! I eat a really healthy diet...most of the time.

 

I'm on a similar path. I was diagnosed with IBS (bloating. bowel issues) in 2011 at age 62 on my recovery from a back injury. I had tests and an endoscopy was told that as far as the NHS was concerned it was a question of simply living with it. I saw an (expensive) naturopath recommended going sugar free, gluten free, yeast free etc etc and sold me loads of supplements. Now initially, this change to a healthier diet (lots of veggies) did pay off and the symptoms abated, but after about six months they crept back and have been with me ever since. I've also recently been diagnosed with diverticulosis (age-related wear and tear of the colon) which I was told could account for my symptoms but I've also discovered many people live with this condition without any symptoms whatsoever! So I'm pretty convinced that it is primarily a Mind/Body condition - the description of the TMS personality type could have been written with me in mind - and am working on the acceptance of the symptoms, inner work and getting on with my life as much as I can. Above all I'm letting go of the need to know how long the recovery process is going to take.

I had an eating disorder for most of my young adult life and even in later years my food intake was often all over the place, so the one thing I am grateful to the naturopath for is establishing me on the path of regular, ordered, healthy meals. I am now gradually introducing different types of foods, slowly and gently and we'll see where it goes.

I too follow Nicole Sachs. I also recommend looking at Dan Buglio's Pain Free You FB page. He does short daily videos and has a calm, common-sense, soothing approach to TMS which I find very helpful, particularly when I'm feeling overwhelmed by it all.

Good luck, you're not alone with this.

 

I so appreciate all these posts! They let you know we are not alone! I have felt so alone in this battle. So scared to eat, for fear of getting sicker. I to was put in hospitals for bulimia and anorexia at the same time, put on IVs, you know the drill! My childhood was horrible! Lots of abuse and control. So like you westb, I fit the MBS\TMS profile perfectly!

I get out of the bed scared each day wondering if I can get through another day of the pain and emotional turmoil again! I have severe anxiety and depression. My husband always says, “one day at a time”, I know he’s right, very hard to do!

Thank you all for helping me want to hang in there in the hopes tomorrow will be a better day!

 

An interesting thing I've noticed with people who have a "problem" with gluten or dairy. Once you stop eating the supposed problem causing food, other foods just take its place and start bothering you. My IBS-C mostly disappeared for months after I stopped dairy. Then all of sudden other foods started bothering me. I have a friend who, despite never having digestive issues with gluten, was told she has an allergy (she got tested after a relative was diagnosed). She stopped eating it, now gets sick whenever she has even a tiny bit. Further, she now has been told by a doctor that she has new sensitivities to nuts, because as the doctor said, "that happens sometimes when you take away gluten." Total shenanigans. I go off of Dr. Sarno's advice...allergies/sensitivities that are present from birth are real. Stuff that developed later in life is almost certainly TMS. And just because a test shows you are sensitive or allergic to something doesn't mean you actually are. It just means your body reacted to it. The question is why did it react to it? Hint...it has to do with your brain and stress.

 

Everyone with a so-called food sensitivity would do well to print this out and read it before each meal!

 

@Sammie also check out the Curable app. It is a great program that is designed to take you through the healing process through a series of different activities (brain training, meditation, writing exercises, and education). It will target the activities based on your symptoms and it keeps track of what works for you as you progress through it. Easy to use and really helps break it all down. As with any program you choose to do, the writing exercises are key!

 

Thank you so much freedomseeker for your support, so appreciated! I have been with Curable app for a while now. You’re right, some of the advice and education about MBS is very helpful. Thank you

 

so, plum, did you gain your weight back? what did you do, just ate whatever you wanted like you said? i eat anything i want (except wheat which i'm still a bit leary of until i conquer that silly belief, meanwhile...) i'm just not gaining and it's a little disconcerting. digestive stuff for me tho - pain/cramps/bloat - which may not been a problem for you? you just went on that diet b/c you thought you were too thin...that's really it?