Day 31 can retirement cause TMS?

[DebraW]

Does anyone think that retirement can bring on tms?
I've been retired for almost a year now. Consciously I love it. I can do what I want, when I want. I decided to retire because I got horrible new bosses and I was working in a toxic environment where most of my co workers hated each other. It was very stressful so I decided to get out. I have no financial worries so that's not it. I'm wondering if my subconscious mind is scared at the thought of getting older.
I'm not enjoying my retirement however because of the pain. I can't do all of the things I had planned. So it's a mystery whether or not this is a TMS cause because I've been healthy my whole life.
The TMS/pain started six months before I retired. Also at the time I had just had two major surgeries within a month of each other. After the second surgery about a month later the pain came at the surgery site (gall bladder removal) but on both sides of my body. Medical tests confirmed that nothing went wrong from the surgery. So I've had that pain for a year and three months now. It's also spread to my shoulders and especially my ribs. So it's a mystery if either the surgeries or the retirement brought on my TMS? I would love to figure it out and wondering if anyone else has had similar circumstances.
Thanks and hugs
Debra

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

Hi, Debra. I think your symptoms came on before you retired, but have no doubt they were caused by TMS.
Dr. Sarno writes that retirement is a major change in one's life and can cause physical pain.
Your subconscious gives you the pain so you will work on your repressed emotions.

Retirement can be great if you're positive about it, and you seem to be.
But before retirement you may have had serious doubts about how you would handle it.

Friends of mine retired about a year ago, both from very stressful jobs, but both are enjoying themselves
with travel and church and community volunteering. They said they never feared retiring. They had a plan,
which was what I just told you about.

My stepfather retired and did nothing but watch sports on tv and drink too much. But never was a happy man
to begin with.

I suggest you keep at the SEP and journal to discover what TMS causes there are to your symptoms.
They may go back to your childhood but were triggered by retiring. They may have to do with long repressed
feelings of insecurity.

Are you enjoying your retirement? Are you having any fun?

You deserve to have a happy, healthy retirement. Let TMS show you how.

There are lots of books on how to retire. Maybe google for them. Or look at Youtube videos on retiring.
Mainly, look into the psychological TMS causes of your symptoms.

 

[DebraW]

Thanks Walt. I'm not having fun because of the pain, unfortunately. I'm trying ignore it but sometimes it's so bad I just can't do it. I don't think I ever feared retiring at least consciously, I guess my subconscious has other ideas about it.
I was questioning it because it seemed to be linked more to the two surgeries. I was a high school teacher. I had time off in the fall because of pain which turned out to be gallstones. Funny it took them a couple of months to find it then a couple of months before I could get it out and the pain started a month after that. I went back to work in February, and worked through the pain, because I wanted to make sure that I wanted to retire in June (which was last year). I was very certain I'd had enough, and pretty much knew as soon as went back.
That's why I'm questioning whether the surgery triggered it rather than the retirement or maybe it was a combination of both. Perhaps it doesn't matter which or both, but I thought it would help my mind and recovery if I could figure out which one or both it is.
Thanks for any of your ideas.
Debra

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

Debra, I wish I could answer your dilemma about whether the pain is from the surgery or retirement concerns.
Dr. Sarno says most surgery doesn't leave lasting pain, so if it helps, think it is from TMS.
We all are repressing something or things.

Maybe have a doctor check you out, or get a second opinion.
My sister had great pain all over and doctors couldn't find a cause until an East Indian doctor discovered it was nutrition
and she had gluten problems. He put her on a diet and she was cured

I'm not saying you have a nutrition problem but maybe there is something else.

 

[BruceMC]

Retirement, death of parents, loss of income, divorce - in fact any big change can trigger TMS symptoms especially if you already have personality traits like perfectionism and goodism that predispose you to developing the syndrome. Must have a lot to do (and this is just my two-bits worth) whether you inhabit a very suggestible space in your consciousness. As Dr. Joe Dispenza makes very clear in the opening pages of his book, You Are the Placebo, some people are very much more prone to hypnotic suggestion than others. Therefore, you must be of an inward cast and highly imaginative too.

 

[DebraW]

Hey Walt,
I didn't mean the pain was from the surgery. Because I did have it checked out by my surgeon via ultrasound and everything was fine. What I meant was, did my subconscious become scared as a result of having two major surgeries.
It's mad because it's afraid to be ill, old, etc.?