Healing from female burning pain and IC-amazing to watch the healing happen!

I am posting to give hope to anyone that thinks they may have TMS pain. I have had symptoms due to TMS since I was 13, looking back however of course they were diagnosed as something else. Each time it gets easier and faster to recover now that I have the tools. I recovered from back and shoulder pain off and on for 10 years plus a bunch of other ailments thanks to the work of Dr. Sarno.

What I want to share is how the pain can trick you and make you think its due to an injury or illness. Mine, in this case was menopause. 18 mos ago I start having terrible female burning pain and urinary urgency. I thought it was due to some antibiotics I took. When it didn't go away I remember thinking it might be TMS but then it was dismissed and I was told I had IC combined with hormonal changes when I ended up in the ER with pain. None of my tests showed anything wrong and no medicine helped. My Dr. took me off some of the hormones creams I was taking and the pain gradually went away. I chalked it up to hormonal imbalance and thought it was the hormonal cream. When it returned with a vengeance this past February I freaked out because I was off the hormone cream. I started obsessing about what could be causing it, stopping vitamins, afraid to wear jeans, afraid to drink caffeine, afraid it would never go away or get worse, etc. Terrible female pain and my bladder felt inflamed even though all tests came back negative. Had to go the bathroom all the time so I was obsessing about that too. I decided it had to be hormonal and started reading anything I could find on the subject.

More tests, my hormones were normal for post menopause. I can't reiterate enough, that FEAR exacerbates the pain and in my case urinary urgency. Last week after having another exam and finding nothing, my Dr. said "your pelvic muscles are tight" That was all I needed to hear because I know tight muscles can cause all kinds of terrible pain. I knew deep down it was TMS and my body was screaming for me to pay attention. I guess I didn't want to admit it because I knew I would have to deal with the emotions and situations that were causing the pain. I told her I thought this was stress related and she responded as most doctors do, skeptical and prescribed physical therapy instead. I cried all the way home and then for another 2 hours at home. An incident from 10 years ago surfaced that made me realize that I had some grieving that I needed to process that I thought I was over.

Within hours I started to feel better, less than a week later my pain has diminished significantly. I don't have to go to the bathroom as much. I still feel it sometimes but I give the pain no attention. Instead I ask myself what is going on in my life? I canceled my physical therapy appointments (which made my pain flare up but I ignored it-trying to trick me that I am really sick) and I tell myself the pain won't ruin my life and I am getting better everyday. I told the people at the p.t. dept. I wasn't needed therapy, this was all stress related and the woman congratulated me on being so insightful and knowing what I needed (rare!) I drink coffee and wear my jeans again. I scheduled some therapy to work through the anger that is hurting me that I ignored. Lots of times anger causes burning pain. I must thank the person who said the body will do whatever it can to scare the crap out of you and make you think there is something seriously wrong. My biggest fear was that it will come back while I'm on vacation and ruin it but I already decided I don't care. I will ignore it and have fun anyway which takes away the power. Our minds are powerful and are desperately trying to get our attention that there is some work that has to be done. We are not sick, we are healthy people that just have advanced brain function!

You must be 100% convinced that it is TMS or the pain will creep back in. That is the work, to ignore it and keep going. Your brain tries very hard with all these aches, pains and weird sensations to convince you its physical. But we are smarter than that. I think we TMS people are the bravest, most courageous pioneers and are learning to help others. I reread the Sarno books, Dr. Schubiner's "Unlearn your Pain" book and CD and I wrote healing affirmations on note cards that I keep with me and read when I am in traffic in my car. I expect a full recovery and encourage you not to give up. I had back pain for 10 years off and on and am fully cured and very active. This is just the latest symptom that has cropped up to remind me to pay attention. Don't give up, don't be scared, you will get better! It's only temporary and I am grateful for this forum and support it provides!

 

Thank you so much for sharing such an encouraging post. I can relate to a lot of this. Hormones can be so challenging and difficult to understand. Have you ever tried using affirmations for hormones? When I think of it I like to declare, "My hormones are perfectly balanced." I love how you said we are people with advanced brain function! Amen!!!

 

Thank you for sharing your story Wiser Now. It is so encouraging. Hormone type problems are not often discussed on this Wiki and the few mentioned I have found seem to doubt hormones can be involved in TMS. My pelvic pain now changes week by week in line with my cycle which I've been told is due to hormones but I also wonder if it is due to conditioning. It seems like such an effective TMS symptom because our bodies can use these 'real' variations (hormones) to make us think something is really wrong.

I love your affirmation idea @kajspears !

 

I agree that hormonal fluctuations can cause a conditioned response of pain. This was the case for me I believe. I ended up having a total hysterectomy which stopped the hormonal fluctuations, but my TMS just manisfested in another way after that.

 

Bravo to you! I've been Dealing with The same manifestation as you for about 2 and a 1/2 years. I'm better than I once was and I practice outcome independence every day. If I plan to do something I do it regardless of how I feel. However, I do still have runs of good and bad days. Good days are great. Today unfortunately is not one of them, but I hope to get where you are confidence wise!

 

Thanks for the replies. It's nice to know there are others like us. This so far has been the trickiest symptom but since my last post, I experienced shoulder pain and ankle pain which I find amusing and didn't freak out. I know how to banish those and am not scared of them so they both went away in a few days. The female pain still comes back intermittently so that tells me I'm not 100 % convinced. I have had every test run multiple times as I was SURE something was very wrong by my gyno and a urologist, all negative. I went to a biodentical hormone specialist as I was sure it was that. All the estrogen I tried (3 different types) made my symptoms much worse. I also tried, DHEA, testosterone, no improvement. Progesterone has always helped my sleep and hot flashes but does nothing for the burning pain. No creams, pills or anything helps the pain which confirms the diagnosis of TMS for me. If you really did have an infection, your body would get better when you took the medicine.
My doctor suggested interstitial cystitis and/or vulvadynia/pelvic floor dysfunction. She is stumped as to what it could be. What I find interesting is no one knows what causes any of those conditions nor is there any good treatment for them. Duh, your mind is creating them. I told her I thought it was psychological. Ellen, I find that interesting that you had a hysterectomy, so your body just found new symptoms. That happens to me. You overcome a symptom so your body will find another one. This all flared up after a family argument which led to the flu first for me and then the pain started. Ha, no wonder. It takes a lot of courage I think to look at what is truly going on. We will all get better. She333 thanks for the info on outcome independence. Good stuff and totally true. You have to work very hard (at least I do) not to put a timeline on when you are going to recover. We all will recover, keep the faith!

 

Hi Wiser now and everyone here.. Its so true that how TMS creeps in crazy.

I have had shoulder neck back & RSI pain since 2014 and after finding about Dr. Sarno and TMS in 2015, I have had much success. But lately lots have happened in my life and I came back from a business trip and had sever sinus and viral. I have recovered from that but my ears have been shut. ENT says, its nasal inflammation. To me any inflammation is TMS lol. ENT says I could have allergies and thats causing my ears to be blocked and have this pressure. I feel its TMS since 5 days back, I had 10 days of no ear pain and pressure. I am not sure if its physical or TMS. My heart says TMS but mind keeps telling me this symptom is not listed by Dr. Sarno as TMS so its just allergies.

In past, all I have done to recover is give complete authentic indifference to pain. I dont go on the wiki, internet, in books searching for any cure. I dont do journaling, meditation or anything to heal. I just live my life and the pain fades away.

But this time, this new symptom has got me. Specially because its so different and not many people have it. I need some feedback from you all on what it could be and what to do? Its really hard to be indifferent when your ears are blocked 100%.

 

Hi shmps,
If I recall allergies is listed in The mind body prescription as a TMS manifestation by Dr. Sarno. I had nasal allergies appear sometime after my back pain went away for years. Never thought of it as TMS but when I finally got them under control, guess what? Back pain came back after a while but got rid of that again too. The body symptoms will keep moving around.

 

Thanks.. its the ears are blocked just like you have during the plane landing. Weird symptom.

 

If you just put allergies in the search engine here on this website, a bunch of posts come up that might be helpful for your symptom. Your attitude about being indifferent to the pain is great!

 

Firstly - thanks Wiser now for your post!! so positive, I hope you continue to improve daily

Also - shmps

When I first started having TMS symptoms last year I had a lot of tinnitis (sharp high pitched ringing in my ears) and also developed an allergy to my own dogs (a skin allergy on my face!). I got my ears tested and used anti-biotic creams on my face and nothing really helped.... After researching and reanalyzing the timing of all this happening I am 100% convinced that it was all just TMS manifestations and now both symptoms are mostly gone. Hopefully your ear-blocking will pass soon, I know how annoying it can be!

 

THANKS !!! Yes, believing in TMS approach and applying just pure authentic indifference.

 

Thanks so much for your encouraging report, Wiser now! I'm 75 years old and have had IC for over 20 years. I tried everything (except medical approaches), including holistic, spiritual, acupuncture, natural remedies, etc., to no avail. Over the years, other symptoms cropped up, since as numbness in my feet, difficulty walking, tightness in my chest, allergies, etc. I found Steve Ozanich's book a couple of years ago and tried to follow his advice, but I had been so grounded in spiritual healing that I kept going back to that and finally gave up on TMS. But not altogether, because here I am! What brought me here was a total meltdown...I was finally so enraged by what this has done to my life. It has essentially ruined it. I've been housebound for three years. I guess I felt I didn't have the courage to accept TMS and do what I had to do to heal. I think I'm ready now. In my heart, I feel that I am WELL, and in spite of my chronological age, I don't feel old. I feel like being active again, resuming my musical career, and so forth. The only thing stopping me is this IC and its side effects, because I have no energy and spend half my life in the bathroom!

 

I presume you'd recommend this book. There seem to be so many books on the subject, I'm wondering where I should start. Thanks

 

Yes, Unlearn your Pain is a great place to start. His workbook is very good. Reading the success stories here is also very good. You will get better, just be patient. Also, try and find a good female doctor you can talk to. I had a very competent doctor who I really liked but she wasn’t helping me. Just kept treating the symptoms which wasn’t the problem. I did a lot of research and found a new doctor. Also, I tried biodentical hormones which was a mistake, at least for me. Too many variables and it aggravated my symptoms. I did pelvic floor therapy too which was helpful. A lot of this pain stems from tight muscles and will produce all kinds of nasty nerve pain. My biggest hurdle was just fear that something was horribly wrong, which it wasn’t. Your body will just trick you into thinking something is wrong by the pain it can produce. Dr. Schubiners talks about fear a lot which is essential to understanding how the recovery works. Hang in there, you will get better

 

Thanks so much for your encouraging words - it feels great to have people on the same page! I'll order the book, though will first read Nicole Sachs' The Meaning of Truth, which I just ordered.