Day 1

Well, its been about 3 days since I first found TMS. Never heard of it before. Had been searching for a month to find relief to this burning mouth I have had since May of this year. I took a fall one day and had burning mouth shortly after that. Life had been very stressful and I had been very anxious for about 3 years. I saw a doctor and he said I had GERD and gave me an RX for Nexium and it did not work. I didn't think it would as I had no real symptoms of GERD. I decided it was stress induced and tried meditation which worked somewhat but not consistently. It would seem there is a burning mouth syndrome people have, usually women approaching or in menopause...that would be me I thought. The recommendation is to try anti anxiety meds...of which I considered. I just kept looking for an answer and found this forum quite by accident. Well, have already read a couple books and see some real validity in this. The brain is quite sneaky though. Last night I had some pretty wicked adrenaline surges...almost panic attacks, but I made it through them ok thinking it was just my brain really working hard to keep me stuck. I have been having neck and shoulder pain off an on for about 5 years as well, and this was acting up. Strangely enough, my ankle started hurting too. Boy my brain just doesn't want to give it up. I woke a couple times sweating profusely. One thing I always feared was depression. Never been depressed, but always sounded so awful. Well, low and behold, who woke up feeling sort of depressed this morning. Was able to shake it off for the most part as a defense my mind is working on. So amazing. I'm feeling that this is 100 percent the answer and that I can stop my search. I know we are not supposed to check in on the pain, but the mouth burn is a 2 on a scale of 10, so I am confident there will be full recovery. My neck and shoulder pain has never been crippling, but my anxiety was getting there. I think there needs to be a way to point anxiety suffers to this sight. Day 1...very hopeful.

 

Hi again, Leslie - great post for Day 1!

Anxiety is a real chicken-and-egg question in the TMS world. Dr. Sarno came to believe (and many other TMS practitioners agree) that anxiety is just another TMS equivalent. Other people think that anxiety causes TMS symptoms. I can see both points of view. I can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't anxious - and I think I got it from my mother - so I tend to think that it caused my TMS. On the other hand, I do think that depression, at least as I have experienced it (similar to your recent experience) is a TMS equivalent.

Thanks to Dr. Sarno, Claire Weekes, and this community, I have a completely different relationship with my anxiety compared to two years ago. It's still there, but I'm working hard on mindfulness and not letting it take over.

Jan

PS - we love to hear about pain scales when they are going down

 

I just found out about TMS last night from the Burning Mouth Syndrome ( BMS) online group I am part of. I have had BMS for a year and it started during an extremely stressful time. At times it feels like my tongue is literally on fire. Also, I still have anxiety daily. The burning comes and goes according to stress/ anxiety. What a revelation TMS is for me. Thank you, Dr. Sarno. I finally have an answer. I gave up going to doctors months ago. Thank you.

 

Maybe you saw my post there. I posted something on the BMS group yesterday and suggested people check this out. Going to try and start a thread where we BMS can share info. Happy for you!

 

Yes, Leslie, I did. Thank you so much for posting about this. It fits me to a T! I just hope the Dr. Will recognize BMS and uncover this info. For so many who have it. I'm sure that a very high percentage of people with BMS would find this to be the reason. And we've searched so long and hard... Just being able to understand this is already helping me. And I hope and pray others as well.

 

And yes, please start a BMS thread. People searching for help will hopefully find it!

 

Yes Yes Yes! Get the word out! And welcome, Lisa - you and Leslie are a great addition to this community!

I've had dry mouth off and on for a number of years, which is probably a cousin to BMS - BMS sounds much worse. And I have no doubt they are both TMS - I knew long before I discovered Dr. Sarno that my dry mouth was due to stress. Knowing that vs. knowing what to do about it were worlds apart back then. I have eliminated a number of chronic symptoms, but dry mouth (also dizziness) still plagues me whenever I get stressed out and let mindfulness slip.

ANYWAY... we have this page on the main wiki, with a list of symptoms and syndromes that have come to be recognized as TMS. I edited the Dry Mouth/Sjogren's entry to include Burning Mouth, added a link to the post that Leslie just started, and added the same link to the Mouth Pain Success Stories section lower on the page.

Jan