Fearing TMS...

Hi,

I've been pain free for almost 15 years. Unfortunately, I start having a strange sensation in my throat, which is still present, that made me very anxious, and made my pain come back.

The first time I cured myself, I convinced my self it was TMS, so there wasn't any structural damage. This time, I fear my brain, and what it can do to me, the pain it inflicts me. I mean, I don't feel pain in my throat, only a mild discomfort, but I start having pain all over my body again. Stupid TMS...

The other day I Was completely pain free, but then I remember, where did my pain go, and voilà, my pain returned, aggressively. So, is my brain really protecting/distracting me from my emotional conflicts, or torturing me? I see at an inner child, affraid, but also spoiled, and mean.

I'm having difficulty overcoming this obstacle, because I really fear my throat issue, although is probably related to my thyroid. How can you you make your brain don't perceive danger, when you have cancer, or something physical that is really scary?

I think that pain is due to fear/anxiety. People that had book cures, just loose their fear. But I wonder if those same people developed a serious condition, how do they turn off pain, if they develope something scaring as a cancer, etc.

On the other hand, how should one relate to fear? Maybe we should cope with it, so it won't be repressed.

Thanks

 

I find that I need to goto a doctor rule out anything serious. When they do it sets my mind at ease and then I can confidently treat it as TMS. Sarno said to do that. Have a doctor check it out to rule out anything serious and when they do you can confidently treat it as TMS.

 

Drs didn't find anything, despite hashimoto, which sometimes gives you the sensation of having something stuck on your throat, but it freaks me out. Because it is in my throat. Why do people get stuck in tms? Because they fear TMS, they fear the symptoms.

Most of my symptoms flair up when I'm sleeping. I wake up in the middle of the night very fearful. But you are right, I think pain has to do with being stuck in life, alone, and it's linked to OCD. You have to shift your attention from symptoms, but it's is increasingly difficult with age when most of the things just don't give you any kicks. You are also tiered of reinventing yourself, or looking for something that excites you. I am

 

Yes, I agree. It's rooted in my DNA. I always been afraid of life, and don't trust life. I don't understand death, or suffering. And guess what, today, I start crying and my throat discomfort went away. I think it is sadness. Loneliness, lack of love, it's TMS. I'm sticked in depression, missing the past. I just don't like things to change. Getting old is not easy. It takes courage to continue living, and finding a meaning for one's life.

Some of us that recover from TMS, get well, because they see it as a means to help others, they find a meaning for their lives.

 

Hola Felipe, ¡guau! Estar 15 años sin dolor sería un sueño para mí. Solo llevo haciendo esto un mes, pero incluso antes ya había empezado a reducir el miedo a los síntomas nerviosos, porque noté que cada vez que tenía ataques de pánico, todo se intensificaba al instante. Básicamente, le empecé a tener miedo al miedo mismo. No sé si a otros aquí les ha pasado algo similar, donde los ataques de pánico intensificaron sus síntomas al instante.
Creo que mis ataques de pánico pudieron haber desencadenado este problema en mis brazos. Durante uno de esos episodios, sentí una línea fría detrás de los codos, y con el tiempo los síntomas comenzaron allí: primero en los codos y los dedos, y luego gradualmente por los brazos. Ahora las sensaciones son variables y el tipo de sensación puede cambiar.
Me identifico mucho con tu situación actual. Hay momentos en que me siento desesperada, pero intento mantener la calma aunque mis síntomas son constantes y cambiantes, y podrían ser aterradores si no los conociera. Además, tengo ardor en las piernas y otros síntomas que aparecen y desaparecen en segundos.
Sinceramente, siento que las cosas se han intensificado desde que empecé a intentar no reaccionar a los síntomas; quizá sea parte del proceso. Si pudiste superar esto una vez y vivir tantos años sin síntomas, creo de verdad que puedes volver a hacerlo. Por lo que he leído, parece que este problema de garganta me causó unos dos meses de angustia, y creo que el miedo a su alrededor influyó mucho.
También me identifico con la ansiedad por la salud. Mis problemas parecen estar estrechamente relacionados con ataques de pánico, miedo a enfermar y toda una vida de ansiedad. Y es cierto: tener una enfermedad grave puede hacer que el miedo vuelva incluso después de la recuperación. Yo también tengo un pequeño problema de salud grave, y aunque a veces me asusta, ahora intento cuidarme en lugar de caer en una espiral. Cuando empecé, con el miedo incluso me hizo perder mucho peso y apetito.
Ahora estoy decidido. Con tantas historias de éxito, me pregunto: ¿por qué no podría ser uno de ellos? Sé que lleva tiempo. También tengo familia e hijos, y por eso rendirme no es una opción. Todos queremos vivir sin dolor. Puede ser frustrante ver a algunas personas recuperarse rápidamente, mientras que otras presentan síntomas más generalizados.
Quizás haya diferentes niveles de sensibilización. Algunas personas tienen un síntoma principal que cambia, mientras que otras lo sienten en todo el cuerpo, como tú o yo. Me imagino la sensibilización central como una radiofrecuencia que se reduce lentamente. Todavía no he visto un progreso claro, solo fluctuaciones: más un día, menos al siguiente, fluctuando. Eso dificulta saber cómo se ve la verdadera mejoría.
Por eso es tan importante que quienes se han recuperado sigan compartiendo sus historias, incluso si el alivio fue temporal. Y, la verdad, estar sin síntomas durante 15 años debe haber sido increíble. No pierdas la esperanza. Si lo lograste una vez, puedes volver a hacerlo.

 

Lose your fear, lose your pain. TMS it's caused by health anxiety. It is fear. The cure, is to shift your attention from pain, doing something you really love, and not giving a damn about the symptoms, they will go away, I promise you.

Unfortunately, if you scared yourself to much, and if you feel stuck in live, it will take longer. You have to have the will to move on.

Right now, fear it's still rooted in my subconscious. It show when I go t sleep. I'm also still very anxious, and afraid. I go to bed fine, no pain, than I'm betrayed by .t subconscious, that inundated me with stress hormones during the night/fear. And I get so frustrated.

 

Most of the posts here are in English, so I’ll share my experience as well. I don’t know how it was for others, but in my case fear played a big role at the beginning, because the nature of my symptoms was extremely confusing. It wasn’t a simple muscular pain—it was neuropathic pain in my arms that kept changing in intensity and even in quality, shifting from burning to electric sensations.
Over time, it worsened in terms of spread. At first it was only in my elbows and hands, and later it extended to more areas of my arms and became more mobile. What I find interesting is that as my fear started to decrease—first out of survival, and later because I understood that fear was connected to the symptoms—the sensations began to move even more, almost as if they were scanning. That makes them harder to ignore at times.
There are moments when things feel calmer, but when I use my arms, I may suddenly feel pain in a finger or another spot. It’s a strange pattern. I’ve asked if others here experience something similar, and some do, though usually not focused on one specific area. I know detailed symptom descriptions aren’t very common here, even though at the beginning many of us look for patterns to feel less alone.
Fear is probably always present in some form. I’m not so afraid of the symptoms themselves anymore, but I do fear the idea that this might never improve. That’s why your words gave me a lot of hope. From what I understand, your symptoms come and go rather than being constant, and they’re widespread and neuropathic. I wish I had more symptom-free moments in my arms. Today started relatively well, with fewer areas involved, so I’m choosing to see it as a good day—knowing it can always change.
I’ll be following your updates. You’re starting this work again, but you’ve already recovered once before. I haven’t. At times I still wonder how something this complex could truly resolve—but in the end, they are symptoms. And if the brain learned them, it can also unlearn them.

 

Since you’ve been through this process before, I wanted to ask you a few questions, just out of curiosity. When you first started reducing fear and trying to ignore your symptoms, did you feel like things got worse at first? That’s how I’m feeling right now. And how did your pain fade over time—did it gradually become less intense when it appeared, or did it simply show up less often? I hope you don’t mind me asking, and I’d really appreciate your response.

 

The first time it was slow because I still wasn't convinced about TMS. Once I embody it it was fast. But I was married back then, I had a little child, my parents were still around. Now, I'm alone. The problem now is that, I already know This is not structural, but I'm afraid I cannot distract myself from pain, because there are few things that absorbed me. I'm also feel a lot of guilt because, I knew about health anxiety, but I didn't stop it in the beggining, despite being warned. I never thought my pain would come back, never. I was really stupid. You have to look at your brain as a child. You have to distract it. You have to reduce anxiety and fear, intentionally. You can get stuck in pain because it's difficult to move on when you have no hobbies. Your increase in pain is due to the resistance of your brain to keep the symptoms going. It happened to me in different times, during my recover. Sometimes you just feel fear, there doesn't have to be a reason.