Help with Mindset - Please!

Hi all,

I believe this is my second time posting on this forum, and I'm feeling incredibly challenged today in maintaining my mindset and not focusing on my symptoms, which is currently nasal congestion (stuffy nose), post-nasal drip, and sore throat.

I've had a long, long journey in recovering from over 20+ symptoms over the last 3 years since the initial onset of symptoms, and the nasal congestion has been the one that's stuck around the longest (at this point its been 1.5 years). The stuffy nose literally came on the day after I lost my fear over the last symptom (arm numbness). When I woke up with a severely stuffy nose, I didn't understand what was going on as I had NEVER, ever, ever dealt with anything like that in my life, and it BOTHERED me more than anything else that I had ever felt in my body...and I had felt and experienced a lot. A few days later after the nasal congestion coming on, I started developing chest tightness, and so then began my journey dealing with respiratory symptoms.

Well, after doing medical exams and evaluations, everything was clear in my nose and lungs, and knowing about TMS, it made sense to me how a chest could become tight, so my belief in this being an expected symptom imperative resulted in me finally overcoming the symptom after about 8 months, only to have the chest tightness and pain get replaced with *post nasal drip*.

As of a few months ago, the stuffy nose and post nasal drip were joined by a newcomer symptom that goes by the name of a raspy/sore throat....

My mind must know that I hate these respiratory symptoms the most and that's why they've "ganged up" on me so to speak.

Does anyone have any tips or strategies that helps them get immediately over the doubt, fear and anxiety of having to sit with uncomfortable symptoms? At the moment, nothing that used to work for me in the past is helping me.

Thank you so much!

By the way, for those that are curious, I've included a list of my previous symptoms below, in order of occurence.

1. Eye flashes
2. Gastritis
3. Nerve pain
4. Dental/tooth pain
5. Ear pain
6. Heart palpitations
7. Facial flushing
8. Head pains
9. Chest pain
10. Muscle twitching
11. Dizziness/Vertigo
12. Ear popping
13. Tinnitus
14. Itching
15. Nausea / stomach fullness
16. Arm numbness
17. Nasal congestion (stuffy nose)
18. Chest tightness/pressure and chest pain
19. Back pain
20. Knee pain
21. Post nasal drip
22. Raspy voice / sore throat

 

Hi @merrymery13,

It doesn't sound to me that you doubt that your current symptoms are TMS.

What you need to be doing is 'thinking psychological'. Doing this turns your attention away from symptoms.

In your other posting about your symptoms on the forum (in another thread that you started almost a year ago now) @Cactusflower asked you a question and made some comments which you didn't answer or reply to. I've quoted what @Cactusflower wrote below, in italics.

I believe what she asked and her comments are still relevant...

If you write about what you've been doing that isn't working for you now, then maybe someone will be able to suggest something that you haven't thought of doing or trying. (Otherwise people are liable to spend time making suggestions, only to find that you might have already tried them.)

"Your post spoke of a previous, wonderful recovery from symptoms.
What practices did you use to recover?
In your post, I also notice you do not mention anything psychological. You don’t talk about any stress you felt at the onset of your current symptoms, you purely discuss the physical discomfort and your reactions of what sounds like fear and frustration.
It’s always helpful to remind ourselves that TMS is a psychological phenomenon - purely the sensory manifestation of psychological pain and internally generated stress."

 

hi @BloodMoon thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.

That's interesting that you noted that it doesn't sound like I doubt that my symptoms are TMS. You're right, from a logical standpoint, I don't, since it's the only thing that makes sense given my long trajectory of symptoms. But every so often I have the tiniest bit of doubt that it is... reason being because every other symptom I've ever had I've managed to work through in a much shorter period of time, and yet, here I am 18 months later still dealing with the chronic nasal congestion. Now that I've written that, however, it looks so obvious to me that it is what it is.

I have not turned to the psychological aspects of these symptoms for nearly a year at this point. Could it actually be something emotional or psychological when the symptoms are there 24/7 to some degree? About a year ago, when the symptoms were about 6 months in, I could almost always attribute a spike in sensations to a stressful event or something that was happening in my personal life. I suppose since I've had this for so long without them budging, I've stopped looking at the psychological side of things because it felt like too much work. What if there was nothing really bugging me or I could not find the stressor?

It's been long overdue but thank you @Cactusflower for your response to me last year. I truly appreciate your feedback. I had gone down a long and dark road since my posting (having gone through a dark knight of a soul period since the start of the nasal congestion last year) but I'm in a much better place now, relatively speaking. I did have amazing recoveries of all other symptoms. The main tool (and possibly the only one) that helped me overcome those previous ones was working on my mindset - I got to having 100% rock solid in my belief that the symptoms were just TMS and that there was nothing structurally "wrong" with me. When I had colorful days the mindset got me through it, until one day, the symptoms disappeared or transformed into something else. The mindset helped me remain as calm as possible and helped me sit through all of the uncomfortable sensations until one day I reached the point of feeling indifferent towards them. At the time that these particular symptoms started (May 2023), I was in a very stressful place in my life as I dealt with (a) having my job potentially going away, (b) taking care of my child who had been sick for 2+ weeks while my husband traveled out of state for work, leaving me to take care of the home & child, (c) the thought of having to search for a new job, (d) and thinking how I was going to manage all of that while trying to launch my own business all at the same time. I felt overloaded with life. One way that I described it was that I felt like I was suffocating with all of my responsibilities when trying to match how the symptoms showed up to the way that I was feeling.

 

You need to basically force yourself to view the symptoms are safe, but without self-pressure. Compassion is the way to get out.
“This sucks, I don’t like these sensations but.. I have proven all of this is temporary and I know the way out.”
Or
“I know this is an extinction burst, and in time all will be fine”.

Basically some people need to train the brain over and over. TMS is a sneaky cockroach looking for any crack to get in. You have done well.

Tell yourself you know the score and congratulate yourself on all your successes.

Remind yourself that safety is a roof over your head, a warm place to sleep, a full belly, and love. You are safe.

You may need to say these things a thousand times and alter them to reflect your personal thoughts, but they will sink in.

Your brain just keeps going back to its old patterns in an attempt to be safe, but the truth is, you are safe !

You can also journal ( maybe reasons why you may feel unsafe will come up, including emotions) and do things that you l0ve, which cultivates a sense of safety. Give yourself some time.

 

Yes, absolutely it could. One of my TMS symptoms was chronic fatigue. There was never even a second where I didn't feel exhausted to some degree.

Sound advice to you from @Cactusflower and @JanAtheCPA. I second their advice and suggestions.

My contribution is to suggest that you increase your self-soothing. Dr Sarno suggested to self-soothe, about which he wrote in his book 'The Mindbody Prescription' as follows:

"Suppose, however, there is another element in the equation; that it is not simply the quantity of rage that brings on symptoms, but the presence or absence of counterbalancing soothing factors … the occurrence of symptoms reflects too much rage and not enough counteracting soothing elements in one’s life."

If/when you self-soothe I'd recommend to be sure to do so without focussing on any particular TMS symptom (otherwise your TMSing brain might take it that you're believing that there is actually something physically wrong with you and that you're not safe).

I've found the ideas in this book wonderful in helping me self-soothe; they are quick and easy to do and can also become part of one's daily routine: https://www.amazon.com/101-Ways-Fin...hqVZ9OWv5ty7GXFFva71pJ4&qid=1728834014&sr=8-1

 

Hi, @merrymery13
The thing about TMS is it almost always returns. That’s the part that we don’t like to hear but you get better at making it go away faster. If you aren’t skilled in dealing with the setback, it can get worse and settle in for a long time. But the good news, it’s possible to make it go away.

Getting rid of TMS ultimately takes effort on a number of fronts—and all of them require a lot of self reflection,
And ultimately hard work. I know you aren’t looking forward to that, but unfortunately it’s the only way out. The SEP class Jan mentioned can teach you what you need to do. There are definitely things to learn on your healing journey, so don’t worry that nothing is bugging you. Something definitely is. Probably many things. And along with it, you could have anxiety. Keep coming back here and do what people advise. Take the journey. Because what other choice do you have?

 

You might like Dan Buglio videos then, his approach is less based on trauma healing or emotion release. He focus on dealing with symptoms and perception of danger, responding to the amygdala right at the moment, and nothing much else hahaha



Also, even therapists who go deep into the emotional stuff, like Howard Schubiner say that sometimes there's not much to be treated there, it's just the stress caused by the pain that's keeping the loop.

Now, just to put things in perspective, 20% of the american population suffers from chronic pain (I got this number from the book Paindemic. I believe it's also in The Way Out). It's safe to say the majority of it is not tissue damage related anymore. It's a number that's been growing by the decade, due to the stressful and far from healthy lifestyle we all sank in. We who suffer from TMS are not a small group at all. The medical system has been failing a lot of people, completely lost to what is happening to them and their minds. It just happens we here already know the root of the problem, and now know the cure happens from inside to outside, which unfortunately requires hard work, but easily pays off in the end (just ask anybody who succefully "crossed this bridge").

 

Yes, absolutely! Great question and the answer is Yes, Yes, and more Yes.

That's a trap I have fallen into--thinking that these current symptoms are so bad that it couldn't be TMS. And, it was exactly TMS.
Maybe the reason the symptoms are 24/7 to some degree is because you were successful in dealing with your TMS symptoms and your brain had to ratchet up the distraction for it to work.