I took a break from this work after a (non-TMS related) surgery because it felt like too much to tackle. Surgery recovery has been more challenging than expected and triggered some other old symptoms, the upside of which has made me more confident in the TMS diagnosis.
While I do fully accept TMS, I am having a hard time sitting with the symptoms as they are psychological now. Nearly a year ago, I was struggling with long COVID (for several years) and when I learned about TMS I was able to completely accept my situation. My recovery from most of the long COVID symptoms was rapid - I felt significantly better physically in less than six weeks. It’s plateaued since then and my mental health is actually worse now than it was then/prior.
I listened to lectures by Dr. Claire Weekes and one thing that stood out was the more we focus on our anxious state, the worst our anxiety gets. Which is exactly the same concept as working through physical symptoms, but for some reason I didn’t think about it that way.
Does that mean the best way to work through the mental symptoms it is to distract yourself? Basically, staying busy? I am trying to understand the line between that vs what would eventually lead to repressing/becoming completely unaware of your emotions.
I have no functional gauge for what is actually a concern vs what is my hyper-vigilant brain. Anytime something out of the norm happens or even has the potential to happen, I think disaster is imminent. I know the idea is to sit through the distressing things - and I often do (to my distress!) - but it is not helping me to actually change the way I perceive things. I still see threats and risks everywhere and the best I can do is wait for them to pass. I have a hard time articulating it, but this doesn’t feel like I’m getting better as the initial reaction is still there, but now I’m not doing anything about it (trying to not feed the compulsion) and instead I’ve increased my stress by not addressing the myriad of things my brain is red-flagging. When the threat passes, my brain breathes a sigh of relief, then looks for the next one.
While I do fully accept TMS, I am having a hard time sitting with the symptoms as they are psychological now. Nearly a year ago, I was struggling with long COVID (for several years) and when I learned about TMS I was able to completely accept my situation. My recovery from most of the long COVID symptoms was rapid - I felt significantly better physically in less than six weeks. It’s plateaued since then and my mental health is actually worse now than it was then/prior.
I listened to lectures by Dr. Claire Weekes and one thing that stood out was the more we focus on our anxious state, the worst our anxiety gets. Which is exactly the same concept as working through physical symptoms, but for some reason I didn’t think about it that way.
Does that mean the best way to work through the mental symptoms it is to distract yourself? Basically, staying busy? I am trying to understand the line between that vs what would eventually lead to repressing/becoming completely unaware of your emotions.
I have no functional gauge for what is actually a concern vs what is my hyper-vigilant brain. Anytime something out of the norm happens or even has the potential to happen, I think disaster is imminent. I know the idea is to sit through the distressing things - and I often do (to my distress!) - but it is not helping me to actually change the way I perceive things. I still see threats and risks everywhere and the best I can do is wait for them to pass. I have a hard time articulating it, but this doesn’t feel like I’m getting better as the initial reaction is still there, but now I’m not doing anything about it (trying to not feed the compulsion) and instead I’ve increased my stress by not addressing the myriad of things my brain is red-flagging. When the threat passes, my brain breathes a sigh of relief, then looks for the next one.