prettayyygood
Newcomer
Hello Everyone,
My question is in regards to some chronic symptoms I've been having for the last 5 years. I've seen many doctors as well as alternative/holistic doctors and been "diagnosed" with a number of different ailments. I had severe back pain in college and was able to cure it through reading "Healing Back Pain" and "The Mindbody Prescription". I even had surgery before I read Sarno's work and that only provided temporary pain relief. I did not experience total cessation of pain until I read his books and accepted the TMS diagnosis.
My question is if all these other current, chronic health issues could also be TMS (symptom imperative)? I've had absolutely no success with a variety of different treatments so I suspect they could be TMS. However, I don't see many people who have experienced these symptoms on the forums. It's mostly people who are experiencing back, elbow, shoulder, knee pain, etc. My main concern that if these symptoms are indeed TMS, they seem very extreme compared to my back pain. It just seems unlikely to me that the brain would choose to cause all of these other symptoms rather than just create pain in another part of my body (knee, elbow, shoulder, etc.) I'm just so frustrated that nobody can tell me what is wrong with me and nothing has helped. I'm feeling pretty hopeless because overcoming these symptoms seems unlikely. I guess I don't see how this could be TMS. Below is a list of conditions/symptoms I have experienced and am currently experiencing.
Symptoms I have experienced since I was diagnosed with Crohns in 2004 (no longer experiencing):
Have had Crohn’s disease since 2004. Complications include:
I have experienced arthritis in my joints as well as swelling in both of my knees. My knees would swell up with fluid and need to be drained. It's been over 7 years since I experienced these types of symptoms.
Erythema nodosum on lower part of legs. This was attributed to Crohns.
Pyoderma gangrenosum on forearms (have scars).This was attributed to Crohns.
Symptoms I have been experiencing the past 3 – 5 years that are getting progressively worse (believe they could be symptoms of TMS but not sure which are/aren't):
- Brain fog / Neurological symptoms
- Can’t recover from workouts or build muscle (if I have enough energy to work out). I get extremely sore after workouts. Sometimes I become feverish/have the chills the day after a workout. These are short workouts focused on strength training (squat, deadlift, bench, etc.).
- Insomnia – I can fall asleep but my sleep is very restless. I never feel fully rested and getting up in the morning is extremely difficult. I feel like a zombie (not sure if this is what causes the brain fog).
- Very low body temperature / Feeling cold – especially hands, feet, tip of nose.
- Tingling in my hands. Feels like little prickles wrapping my entire hand like a glove.
- Anhedonia – No pleasure, excitement, passion, motivation, vitality, romance, happiness, sadness, compassion. These are feelings I used to experience all the time and in a very profound way. Now, my feelings are very muted but I don’t feel sad or depressed. I feel nothing. This is my most frustrating symptom. It's as if I don't know how to feel anything anymore. I feel like a robot. Could this be some type of repression? How do I start to feel anything again?
- Have been anemic/iron deficient for years. Iron infusions don’t help to improve my symptoms. Iron levels/ferritin is brought to optimal levels but falls back down to below the bottom of the range in 6 - 8 months.
- Hypothyroid symptoms – Have had thyroid checked but blood tests show normal thyroid function.
- Low libido.
- Left ear sometimes feels like there is pressure/water in it.
- Mild restless leg syndrome at night
Treatments I’ve tried without any relief in symptoms:
- Adrenal fatigue/hypothyroid (dessicated thyroid, pregnenolone, dhea,).
- Low T therapy – Clomid brought my Testosterone back to normal (from 200 to 800) but I felt no change in libido, motivation or energy.
- Change to a whole food diet and experimented with supplementing every vitamin, mineral, herb, probiotic, etc.
- Suspecting mercury poisoning, I have had my mercury fillings removed and done 7 months of chelation but have experienced no relief in symptoms.
- Fungal/Mold/Yeast protocol given to me by a naturopathic doctor. I was taking probiotics and anti-fungal herbs. Did this for a few months and did not notice any difference in symptoms.
My question is in regards to some chronic symptoms I've been having for the last 5 years. I've seen many doctors as well as alternative/holistic doctors and been "diagnosed" with a number of different ailments. I had severe back pain in college and was able to cure it through reading "Healing Back Pain" and "The Mindbody Prescription". I even had surgery before I read Sarno's work and that only provided temporary pain relief. I did not experience total cessation of pain until I read his books and accepted the TMS diagnosis.
My question is if all these other current, chronic health issues could also be TMS (symptom imperative)? I've had absolutely no success with a variety of different treatments so I suspect they could be TMS. However, I don't see many people who have experienced these symptoms on the forums. It's mostly people who are experiencing back, elbow, shoulder, knee pain, etc. My main concern that if these symptoms are indeed TMS, they seem very extreme compared to my back pain. It just seems unlikely to me that the brain would choose to cause all of these other symptoms rather than just create pain in another part of my body (knee, elbow, shoulder, etc.) I'm just so frustrated that nobody can tell me what is wrong with me and nothing has helped. I'm feeling pretty hopeless because overcoming these symptoms seems unlikely. I guess I don't see how this could be TMS. Below is a list of conditions/symptoms I have experienced and am currently experiencing.
Symptoms I have experienced since I was diagnosed with Crohns in 2004 (no longer experiencing):
Have had Crohn’s disease since 2004. Complications include:
- Anal Fissure
- Anal Fistula
I have experienced arthritis in my joints as well as swelling in both of my knees. My knees would swell up with fluid and need to be drained. It's been over 7 years since I experienced these types of symptoms.
Erythema nodosum on lower part of legs. This was attributed to Crohns.
Pyoderma gangrenosum on forearms (have scars).This was attributed to Crohns.
Symptoms I have been experiencing the past 3 – 5 years that are getting progressively worse (believe they could be symptoms of TMS but not sure which are/aren't):
- Brain fog / Neurological symptoms
- Short term memory is very bad
- Very hard to focus and concentrate on my work. Need to re-read sentences many times to understand them.
- Have noticed a slight difficulty in speaking. Sometimes I mix up my words or struggle with what word to say. I used to have a very strong vocabulary.
- Can’t recover from workouts or build muscle (if I have enough energy to work out). I get extremely sore after workouts. Sometimes I become feverish/have the chills the day after a workout. These are short workouts focused on strength training (squat, deadlift, bench, etc.).
- Insomnia – I can fall asleep but my sleep is very restless. I never feel fully rested and getting up in the morning is extremely difficult. I feel like a zombie (not sure if this is what causes the brain fog).
- Very low body temperature / Feeling cold – especially hands, feet, tip of nose.
- Tingling in my hands. Feels like little prickles wrapping my entire hand like a glove.
- Anhedonia – No pleasure, excitement, passion, motivation, vitality, romance, happiness, sadness, compassion. These are feelings I used to experience all the time and in a very profound way. Now, my feelings are very muted but I don’t feel sad or depressed. I feel nothing. This is my most frustrating symptom. It's as if I don't know how to feel anything anymore. I feel like a robot. Could this be some type of repression? How do I start to feel anything again?
- Have been anemic/iron deficient for years. Iron infusions don’t help to improve my symptoms. Iron levels/ferritin is brought to optimal levels but falls back down to below the bottom of the range in 6 - 8 months.
- Hypothyroid symptoms – Have had thyroid checked but blood tests show normal thyroid function.
- Low libido.
- Left ear sometimes feels like there is pressure/water in it.
- Mild restless leg syndrome at night
Treatments I’ve tried without any relief in symptoms:
- Adrenal fatigue/hypothyroid (dessicated thyroid, pregnenolone, dhea,).
- Low T therapy – Clomid brought my Testosterone back to normal (from 200 to 800) but I felt no change in libido, motivation or energy.
- Change to a whole food diet and experimented with supplementing every vitamin, mineral, herb, probiotic, etc.
- Suspecting mercury poisoning, I have had my mercury fillings removed and done 7 months of chelation but have experienced no relief in symptoms.
- Fungal/Mold/Yeast protocol given to me by a naturopathic doctor. I was taking probiotics and anti-fungal herbs. Did this for a few months and did not notice any difference in symptoms.
