( head symptoms)can you point me in the direction of people who have had head symptoms .

Hi i would like to be pointed in the direction of people who have head related symptoms of tms . who are working with or have resolved there tms . I have read alot of back related storys . I have head sensations , strong pressure , creepy sensations . Id like to read some storys from people who also have had head related issues . Can any one point me in the direction ?. Thank you Nelle

 

Hi Nelle,

I'd be happy to talk with you. I have chronic migraine. It's been almost 6 years of constant pain every day. I've been doing TMS for 5 months now and it is finally going away. I'm a new person.
I always had a head sensation. It was either being dizzy, just like you said - creepy sensations like I felt a string of nerves in my head from my eye all the way down to my shoulder. Or, I could feel it in the middle of my brain. Sometimes around my nose or behind my eyes. Sometimes just a dull ache. It was always there though.
What are those sensations you have? Have you had an MRI or CAT scan?

 

I had chronic migraine for 9 1/2 years. Much worse during the last 3 years or so. I also had tinnitus, vertigo, cramping in my jaw which spread throughout my entire head (luckily this only happened a few times). Also, at the onset of a headache, my nose would get really cold. Now I realize it was all a huge distraction. Once I read "the book" in this case it was Mindbody Prescription, I started getting well so I was highly motivated to stick to the program.

My story is posted, probably under my name. I wanted to write it because the experience caused a kind of hopelessness that I never knew before and if I had just read someone's story, it might have saved me from years of pain.

Good luck Nelle!

 

Thank you very much Ines and Lady phoenix for replying . Its important i think to know of people who have had struggles in the same area . To know that too can be tms and can be improved. I find it so hard to see a way out , it feels out of control . Its also hard to see the head sensations as tms .
This is the secound time in my life i have had head sensations ( pressures ) . Both times it has started when i have had withdrawal of a prescribed drug and then it just seams to stay . My head feels incredibly stressed and uncomfortable .So i go from some one who barely has a head ache to having constant head sensations pressures and generally strange creepy feelings in my head .
I recently went to spain on holiday and i was troubled less by it , i wasn't trying to get rid of it or tackle the situation .
I struggle at the moment because im trying to effect it and get it to go away .
What has been helping you the most ?, what do you say to your self a bout it ?, have you been doing the structured program on this site ?. I have had a mri and there is nothing to see there thats bad.
Need to work now but will read your story Lady Phoenix
Nelle xx

 

If it's any consolation, migraines were Dr. Sarno's own symptom that clued him in to the psychosomatic nature of most chronic dis-ease, when a psychiattric colleague tipped him off to it. He was able to stop his migraines from coming full on, using TMS/psychological thinking, during the aura stage, before full onset of the migraine.

 

Thanks Tennis Tom i didnt know that .

 

The thing i find difficult about head symptoms verses say back symptoms is seeing the recovery .
Im doing every thing i would normally do ie working ,socialising doing hobbys being active etc but with the head sensations there .
I can see if you have limited your life due to say back pain with the tms diagnosis you could start to reabuild your life ,this would bring evidence and sense of achievement and there for change . But if your already living as you would with out the tms how can you see improvement .

 

In response to "what did I do about it". First, I watched the 20/20 video. Then I watched a few more videos back to back. By then I was psyched because I had a feeling this was the answer.

I bought the book immediately. The Mindbody Prescription by Dr Sarno. I read it over and over, about 8 times or so. I noticed a big improvement after reading the book. Near the back of the book, one of Sarno's patients makes a list of things to do and I followed these also. This included the retraining of your brain which is actually easy. When your brain tries to distract you (from disturbing thoughts) by sending you pain or vertigo or whatever it is, respond by concentrating for a minute or 2 on something that makes you angry. After a few days of this you will likely notice an improvement.

The hardest thing for me was ignoring it and living a normal, active life. The biggest thing I noticed is that when I acted sick, I got much worse. I stopped all meds and therapies. This is important because it sends an important message to the part of you brain causing the trouble. I am doing so well now. Make this your project. Keep at it and you will feel better too.

 

Hi Nelle,
I wanted to add that migraines don't have to be pounding head pain. They can be weird sensations and pressure. There's even children who have upset stomachs that are actually undiagnosed migraines.
This is what I did- Read Mindbody Prescription and The Great Pain Deception. Then, I did SEP. By the end of the SEP I was doing much better. I tried journaling and meditating but I don't stick to it. Other than journaling about everything that bothered my I realized I was awful at self care and had a crazy inner bully and low self esteem. It's been 5 months and I can't believe that my life is so different. I would have never imagined.
On a daily basis I try to live in the moment and pay attention to my emotions and my breathing. I try not to hurry and fear the future. I try to do things that make me happy but it's a fine line between doing things and pushing myself too hard. Sometimes you just have do nothing as well.
Have you done the SEP yet? Do you have other pain issues other than the head sensations? Maybe those are a secondary ( I forgot the term) but, a secondary... ailment that comes up.
My sis gets that dizzy tired feeling a lot and she has OCD. She's constantly obsessing about something. I've told her all about TMS and she says when she recognizes it that it gets better.
I hope you get better. I know going about your life with head pain is awful. It's like you exist but feel like a zombie walking around.

 

I did not know about the SEP until I was about 90% well. I did it for a few weeks. I did journal for a short while and I loved reading success stories. There are many on Amazon when you read reviews of the book. There are over 1,000 I believe. This site has good ones too. They are inspiring.

 

I enjoy reading this. I can relate to it.

 

Is there any activity that you avoid due to head sensations? Also, many people live their lives somewhat normally. I taught classes every day for 5 years with terrible headaches. When I stopped working to focus on curing my problem (physically), it got much worse!

Some people make an evidence list. This would be anything that indicates that the problem is probably psychological rather than physical. This could include such things as: MRI showed no problems, pressure moves from one side to the other, goes away on vacation, etc. Things that don't make sense like this are evidence of TMS.

Feeling good is how you see improvement.

 

Hello Lady Phoenix and Ines

No idea what sep is ? , sounds interesting !!!
I have not read the great pain deception .
I have read the mind body prescription , which got my interest but didn't seam to bring about much change in me .
Im on the 4th week of this sites wiki program.
In the first there weeks i had alot of problems with my partner because i became so angry and journaling about our relationships spilled out into my daily feelings about him.
We were arguing alot !!! , and were close to splitting up , we then went on a two week holiday and are a bit better again . Im concerned if i start journaling again for the wiki we will argue again .
I have the book unlearn your pain at home , which im considering doing after the structured program if im not improved enough.( did either of you know of this one ?).
I really wanted to watch the doc Sarno lectures , i looked in to it ,not so easy from uk .
After some research i tracked it down to a website were you can order it ( the website said it was not affiliated with dr sarno ) and the dvd was very expensive plus overseas postage.

My head pressure , headaches and weird sensations are a constant with varying degrees of getting my attention.
The worry that its never going to go ,makes every thing worse as it makes me feel trapped and claustrophobic in my own body .
The more i resist it the worse or want it to go away the worse it feels when it dosen't .
I have had lots of tms problems in the past ... ME,muscle pain , anxiety ,stomach problems ,and coxics pain and sciatica .
All of which i recovered from not knowing they were tms related at all.
Its quite funny really i was given both the books mentioned above when i had sciatic pain but they just went on the shelf .
So when i started to read about tms , in connection with head symptoms i was surprised to find i already had the books !!!,

Did either of you get neck and back of the head ache when you had it bad . ?

Thanks so much for sharing with me i really appreciate it .!!

Nelle x

 

Hi Nelle,

SEP is the Structured Educational Program on the wiki.org site.
http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Structured_Educational_Program (Structured Educational Program)
Maybe that is the one you are already doing?
My advice is to keep going and keep journaling. Don't worry about annoying your partner. You've got to get through this.
I never read Unlearn Your Pain.
I can totally relate to the part about resisting. I think part of resisting is judging ourselves and the pain, feeling like you have failed at TMS and being a perfectionist. You must have some patience and compassion for yourself. Realize your brain is fighting you. To me it feels like a little demon in my head causing trouble. I know if I am more stubborn that him I can win and it's been working. I've gone 1 month with no pain meds and just weaned off my preventative meds with no headaches. It's working.
When I was having headaches every day yes neck pain was a constant issue. I went to acupuncture, massage and chiro every week. It was such a relief but I was only getting worse. Once I started SEP I quit going and part of my Evidence Sheet was that I wasn't getting worse because I quit going so I figured it wasn't helping anyway. The neck pain is gone completely now and I used to lose a lot of sleep because I could never get comfortable.
Keep going, it will ease up.

 

Here's a list of TMS practitioners in the UK:

http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Find_a_TMS_Doctor_or_Therapist#United_Kingdom (Find a TMS Doctor or Therapist)

Georgie Oldfield holds frequent conferences and has a TMS newsletter:

Georgina Oldfield, MCSP (Physiotherapist)

Georgie Oldfield is a physiotherapist based in the UK. She is the founder of SIRPA (The Stress Illness Recovery Practitioners Association), an organization dedicated to educating and training practitioners and other professionals in TMS treatment. Georgie is the organizer of SIRPA's inaugural conference, “Chronic Pain: to suppress, manage, or cure?”.

Georgie is the author of the 2014 TMS book Chronic Pain: Your Key to Recovery, which includes information about TMS as well as worksheets and exercises and stories from people who successfully overcame their TMS. She has also developed an online recovery program as well as a recovery CD, and runs monthly clinics in London.

In her survey response, Georgie writes:

“Despite being a Physiotherapist, Dr Sarno's concept and approach was not a surprise to me. For many years prior to coming across this work in 2007 I had been looking for the answer to the many inconsistencies I had been observing with my own patients. I had also already begun to realise that pain often did not appear to be related to the structural problems patients had been diagnosed with. Coming across TMS was an epiphany moment for me and has completely changed my whole understanding and therefore how I work. Having seen the remarkable and often life changing recoveries in my own patients, I am passionate about working with people with TMS/PPD and 100% of my time over the past few years has been developing this work and raising the profile in the UK.
“Since developing SIRPA I continue to work in a clinical role working with people who suffer from TMS/PPD. Although based in Yorkshire I also run regular assessment clinics in London and Bristol. Through SIRPA I also run training courses for other regulated Health Professionals in order to help them integrate this approach into their own work. Our aim is to raise the profile of this work by increasing the awareness of stress illness to the public and Practitioners as well as the Medical world.”
(Source)
A physiotherapist is very similar to a doctor, in that they can make diagnoses and order medical tests. A physiotherapist in the UK is very similar to a Physical Therapist in the United States.

Available via Phone and Skype
19 Longley Lane
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK
01484 452500
Survey Response / Website / Q&A Answers / Forum Profile / DVD and CD
Main Wiki Page About Georgie Oldfield
Miracles of Mindbody Medicine article
Why You Need to Stop Trying so Hard to Get Better
Insurance Accepted: Any plan that covers Physiotherapy costs, except BUPA.


Testimonials

Lettuce Dance said, "I eventually went to see Georgie Oldfield in Huddersfield in Yorkshire. It was a bit of a slog getting there, but it was well worth it. (Even filling out the pre-appointment assessment on my family, background and past illnesses was very revealing.)

I visited her in February, and felt an immediate improvement. For me, the fact that she comes from a physiotherapy background, and thoroughly understands the mechanics of one's body, was very helpful.

I chose to do her programme, which I followed in a fairly informal fashion, as I was bogged down with a big work project at the time. The programme included a series of follow-up appointments, which we did via Skype: these were really good. She went to great lengths to help me. I found her sympathetic and professional."

 

I had neck pain all the time. I would massage it and it would get worse. If I saw a chiropractor or acupuncturist, it would go away briefly.

You might think this sounds strange but you might try telling yourself that you know there is nothing wrong with you and you are very healthy.

Then try telling your inner child that you know what it's trying to do (distract you) and you won't tolerate this anymore. Then deliberately focus on something that scares or angers you.

This worked for me. It improves gradually. You also might want to read the Sarno book several more times and underline the things that remind you of yourself.

 

Yes

 

Ladies, did u had any jaw issues along with a neck/head??