rowan51
New Member
Hello everyone,
I’m a 31-year-old woman. English is not my first language, so please excuse any awkward wording.
Since I was 18 years old, I have been experiencing a constant sensation of pressure and tightness in my head 24 hours a day, which has been diagnosed as tension headaches. I tried posture correction and stretching, but they never felt like they addressed the root cause of my symptoms. When I visited a well-known hospital, I was simply told that it was a “nervous” or stress-related headache.
I was aware that this symptom first appeared during a period of extreme academic stress and severe obsessive thoughts that I couldn’t control, so I always suspected that it was related to emotional or psychological issues. Because of this, I eventually sought psychiatric treatment and have been taking antidepressants ever since.
I first started taking antidepressants in 2017. At that time, my obsessive symptoms were very severe, and I was prescribed a high dose. However, I had a strong resistance to taking medication and stopped it on my own. After that, the tension headache improved, but I developed a different symptom: a feeling of pressure and congestion in my forehead and nose, along with difficulty thinking clearly. Some people would describe this as “brain fog.”
This symptom has continued up to the present day, and I am still taking antidepressants that are commonly prescribed for psychosomatic symptoms.
To be honest, the medication has never significantly improved my symptoms. I often felt frustrated because the psychiatrists I saw did not seem as motivated as I was to solve the problem, and at times it felt as though they did not fully understand what I was experiencing.
When I first read Dr. Sarno’s book, I felt that I matched the personality traits commonly associated with people who develop TMS almost perfectly. I have always known that I am more vulnerable to stress than most people, but I never really learned how to process or release that stress in a healthy way.
Because I have had these symptoms for such a long time, I do have some doubts about how long recovery might take and whether I will actually see meaningful changes over time. However, I believe that as I continue working through the SEP, these doubts will gradually fade.
At the moment, my main worries are about the future. I worry about whether I will be able to live the life I want. When there is something I want to study or learn, I worry about whether I will be able to do it with the level of focus, efficiency, and mental clarity that I hope for. I worry about whether I will make the most of the rest of my life. And I worry about what it will mean if I reach Day 42 of the SEP and still have not experienced significant improvement.
Thank you for reading.
I’m a 31-year-old woman. English is not my first language, so please excuse any awkward wording.
Since I was 18 years old, I have been experiencing a constant sensation of pressure and tightness in my head 24 hours a day, which has been diagnosed as tension headaches. I tried posture correction and stretching, but they never felt like they addressed the root cause of my symptoms. When I visited a well-known hospital, I was simply told that it was a “nervous” or stress-related headache.
I was aware that this symptom first appeared during a period of extreme academic stress and severe obsessive thoughts that I couldn’t control, so I always suspected that it was related to emotional or psychological issues. Because of this, I eventually sought psychiatric treatment and have been taking antidepressants ever since.
I first started taking antidepressants in 2017. At that time, my obsessive symptoms were very severe, and I was prescribed a high dose. However, I had a strong resistance to taking medication and stopped it on my own. After that, the tension headache improved, but I developed a different symptom: a feeling of pressure and congestion in my forehead and nose, along with difficulty thinking clearly. Some people would describe this as “brain fog.”
This symptom has continued up to the present day, and I am still taking antidepressants that are commonly prescribed for psychosomatic symptoms.
To be honest, the medication has never significantly improved my symptoms. I often felt frustrated because the psychiatrists I saw did not seem as motivated as I was to solve the problem, and at times it felt as though they did not fully understand what I was experiencing.
When I first read Dr. Sarno’s book, I felt that I matched the personality traits commonly associated with people who develop TMS almost perfectly. I have always known that I am more vulnerable to stress than most people, but I never really learned how to process or release that stress in a healthy way.
Because I have had these symptoms for such a long time, I do have some doubts about how long recovery might take and whether I will actually see meaningful changes over time. However, I believe that as I continue working through the SEP, these doubts will gradually fade.
At the moment, my main worries are about the future. I worry about whether I will be able to live the life I want. When there is something I want to study or learn, I worry about whether I will be able to do it with the level of focus, efficiency, and mental clarity that I hope for. I worry about whether I will make the most of the rest of my life. And I worry about what it will mean if I reach Day 42 of the SEP and still have not experienced significant improvement.
Thank you for reading.
