Day 1

[HighAspect]

About 12 years ago I underwent bypass surgery (triple artery which was complicated by infection resulting in about 11 different infections, 10 additional surgeries and a four month stay in the ICU and two weeks of inpatient cardiac rehab.

Some time between the surgeries and 2 years ago, I developed some chronic pain in my neck along with intermittent headaches. I began psychotherapy about two years ago to deal with the potential unresolved trauma from the surgeries. About 18 months ago the headaches and neck pains subsided and were replaced with chronic tension in my lower jaw on both sides. The sensation was as if a coil spring had been inserted between my gums and my teeth (23 and 26). The springs varied in intensity and compressibility day by day. The tension is persistent and increases periodically, every 2-3 months. The jaw tension is persistent, the neck and headache have returned intermittently, I am constantly fatigued, have increased post-nasal drip along with a sometimes wet and sometimes dry cough, and tickle in my throat all I presume are TMS symptoms.

I have been in Psychotherapy for over two years first with a therapist specializing in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and then a level 2 IFS (Internal Family Systems) Therapist. Neither one has been successful in helping me reduce the pain in the jaw.

This is the second time I will be starting “The Work”. I am using a combination of The TMS Wiki Structured Education Program, Schubiner’s Unlearn Your Pain and Gordon’s Pain Recovery Program (from TMS Wiki). I have read Schubiner, Gordon and most portions of all of Sarno’s books.

I have consulted with a number of medical professionals and all I talked with confirm they can find no physical/structural cause for the tension in my jaw. I feel with a high degree of certainty that I have Tension Myositis Syndrome. I was formally diagnosed by Dr. Strachs in Chicago.

While I have certainty that Sarno, et al. methods do work, I’m uncertain that I have the capability to work through the program. I tend to be overly negative/pessimistic. I have ADHD, which makes it difficult for me to focus and last August I broke my shoulder in a treadmill accident at the gym, which complicates things from a physical perspective. I am also chronically fatigued.

I look forward whatever support I might enjoy as a member of this group. Wish me luck.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

I do wish you luck, @HighAspect!

I see that you appear to be focusing entirely on the trauma of your heart surgery and the years since then. What is your stance on going back before that? You know, back to childhood, as Dr. Sarno and Dr. Schubiner and many others (Nicole Sachs, for example) suggest? I know that a lot of people are resistant to this, but if you're still stuck, that's ultimately where ya gotta go. This is has been shown to be true time and again.

As an adjunct to your work, I encourage you to look into the new book by Gabor Mate, MD, The Myth of Normal. It's a pretty dense book, building on his many previous publications on separate subjects, and bringing them all together in one volume. He additionally examines the effects of today's culture on what he originally called "the stress-disease connection" back in 2006. That was when he published When the Body Says No" which was the third book that helped me recover (after Sarno's The Divided Mind and Claire Weekes' Hope & Help for Your Nerves).

Dr. Mate is 100% about the lifetime effects on physical and mental health that are caused by childhood events - ranging from the adversity of trauma to the normal everyday frustrations and interpretations of childhood relationships and incidents, starting with being forced to leave the womb and having to live in the harsh reality of this life.

He briefly discusses ADHD in the book, and refers to his separate book on the topic, Scattered, which you might look into. But I have copied for you here what he says specifically about cardiovascular disease:

One fascinating example is the demonstrated link between the brain’s fear center, the amygdala, and cardiovascular disease. The more stress someone perceives or experiences, the higher the resting activity of the amygdala and the greater the risk of heart ailments. The pathway from amygdala overactivation to heart problems runs through increased bone-marrow activity and arterial inflammation.[15]* Emotional stress affects the heart more generally as well.
*[15] Ahmed Tawakol et al., “Relation Between Resting Amygdalar Activity and Cardiovascular Events: A Longitudinal and Cohort Study,” Lancet 389, no. 10071 (February 25, 2017): 834–45.

Maté, Gabor. The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture (pp. 45-46). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
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I first listened to the audiobook version of The Myth Of Normal which I borrowed from my public library after a 5-week wait. The ebook version was still on hold two weeks later when I cancelled it and bought my own Kindle version. I can't recommend this book enough - it's like an encyclopedia for the mind body connection, written in Dr. Mate's compassionate and accessible style.