Help, losing focus...could it be lyme?

[Lala]

Anybody have any experience with Lyme Disease and TMS? A few people have asked me if I have been checked for Lyme Disease (I live in a big Lyme area)...of course now this has planted a seed of doubt in my head.

Also it doesn't help that the pain has stopped in my hands, is still in my feet but has now also shifted to my left neck/collarbone area...sometimes the pain is so bad where my skull meets my neck that I can barely get through the day.

I know I should talk about or focus on the pain/my body...but lately I feel like I've lost my groove....I feel depressed, anxious, and foggy when it comes to reaching for the tools I need in my TMS box.

 

[Donna]

I'm quite new to the TMS field so maybe take my thoughts with a grain of salt ... but in Schubiner's Unlearn Your Pain, he says several times that everyone should have any possible physical reason for their pain checked out. I think the Lyme test is just a blood test anyway so maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal. If you find out you don't have it, it seems like it'd make doing the TMS program just a little easier for you - sort of convince you, just a little more - that it really is TMS. Also - and maybe people disagree on this point, I don't know - Schubiner wrote that if you're in pain, it's ok to take pain relief medication. On pg 296, he writes "It is fine to take medication for pain, anxiety, or depression while you are working on the MBS [TMS] program. If you are in severe pain, it can be very difficult to participate in this program, so pain medications are often necessary. ... After your pain ... gets better, you can taper off your medication." I like that he doesn't see it as an either/or and that he understands that if I'm in acute pain, I'm worthless. But if I take pain medication, then I can spend an hour or two working the program. Having taken the pain medication doesn't render that hour or two I spent working the program worthless; the pain medication made that work possible for me! (When I get pain at the base of my skull where it meets my neck, lying down with an ice pack right there can sometimes help.) I hope something in here helps ... you'll feel better soon.

 

[veronica73]

As Donna said, it might give you peace of mind to have the blood test for Lyme Disease.

I believe in Mindbody Prescription Dr. Sarno says that chronic lyme is a form of TMS.

Also my anxiety got WAY worse when I first started working on TMS pain--you can think of anxiety as another TMS-equivalent that pops up as the pain moves out. Just like all other TMS-stuff, anxiety eventually fades out too.