Day 11 Hormones & Irregular Cycle - TMS?

Hello,

It's been 4 weeks since I read MBP and I'm on Day 11 (taking the days slowly at my own pace).

I am doing this because of my constant migraines. Before I read MBP I always tried to make a pattern between either food, hormones, stress, weather.. and my migraines. Now that I am ignoring everything my brain is seriously not backing down.

Does anybody else have problems with hormones and irregular cycles? In MBP Dr. Sarno only briefly mentions that it can help thyroid. I did test for borderline slow thyroid but did not want to get on medication. I have irregular periods but nothing like this month. It is out of control. I keep telling myself that millions of women get irregular periods. It has nothing to do with my migraines. Those millions of women don't get a migraine every day because of it.

I think my brain is really trying it's hardest to trick me. Does anybody have any experience with this?

I appreciate your feedback and Happy Memorial Day!!!

 

Hi Ines,

I had migraines for over 50 years and many many problems with hormones and my menstrual cycle during much of that time. The hormonal problems seemed to be associated with migraines but weren't the only trigger. I ended up having a hysterectomy and for awhile it seemed that my migraines improved. But it wasn't too long before they were back again, and I could no longer blame them on hormone fluctuations. It wasn't till discovering the concept of TMS and treating them that way, that I was able to overcome them. So for me it was all psychological and conditioning played a big role. You can read my Success Story on my profile page for more information on how I overcame migraines and fibromyalgia.

Best wishes to you in your healing journey...

 

Thank you Ellen. I believe your success story was one of the first I read but I'm going to read it again. Thanks for confirming it IS TMS. It's unbelievable that you overcame so much. That gives me so much hope. It's funny because my brain has been pulling out all the stops this past week. It's starting to become funny like there is a toddler in my head trying to get attention. I hope you have a great week and thank you so much for your reply and sharing your story.

 

Hi, Ines. I'm a guy, so I can't really comment to your post. But we guys have hormones, too, and I do believe they can cause headaches.

My mother often had migraines, but since I've learned about emotional stress, I believe hers were caused by financial worries. Those give me headaches.

Ellen and her success story are tonics to us all.

Last night I watched a television documentary on wolves. I am a great lover of dogs and wolves. It was wonderful until the documentary began to tell how grey wolves are again endangered in some of the northern states as hunters shoot them for sport. Worrying about that gave me a headache. I had to take some deep breaths and remind myself that all I can do about it is to donate to "save the wolves" campaigns.

 

Thank you Walt. I've known for a long time that my migraines are caused by pressure so when I read MBP I saw myself on every single page. I know I can figure this out but my brain is really taking my body on a rollercoaster ride. Poor wolves. I'm sorry that gave you a headache. Thanks for your reply Walt. I hope you had a good holiday weekend.

 

I read that sometimes the inner child fights harder just before relinquishing some of its power. That might be what is happening. This did not happen to me but I had some other painful problems when I wanted to cancel a doctor appointment and also on the date of the cancelled appointment (which I thought was amazing since I did not even remember the date).

 

Lady Phoenix, I would be so happy if that were true. I feel like it is a bit. I caught myself today when I was having a conversation with my mom. I was saying "I'm worried about you." Then, I realized I'm worrying about things out of my control and now my headache is gone. Also, I've had some really strange dreams. Thanks for the advice!

 

I have had some really strange dreams too. I feel like it was my inner child. It's the only explanation I can think of.

 

I just wanted to chime in and say that a lot of women find their symptoms, whatever they are, tend to get worse leading up to and during their period. (This is a challenging issue for me because my TMS is manifesting as pelvic pain!)

 

I wish I understood the TMS, menstrual pain and hormone thing. My mom had 2 migraines per month for 30 years and thought they were hormone related. Now I think they were TMS. My daughter has extreme menstrual pain and she is hoping it is TMS so she can work on that. So many unanswered questions.

 

By pelvic pain, do you mean not menstrual cramps? Do you mean perineum pain?

 

Pelvic pain ia any pain, male or female, that occurs basically from the hips down (imagine a line between the hips and above is abdominal pain and below is pelvic pain). It includes vaginal, anal, perineal pain etc. Also includes menstrual cramps. Can include urinary and bowel problems too in some people.

 

This might be useful:

http://www.unlearnyourpain.com/testimonial-21

 

To truly understand the relationship between possible tms and hormonal disruption you'd need to read around neuroscience and neuropsychology a bit. You would find answers to a lot of questions there but I appreciate most people would find that onerous. It can be a bit dense but really a little bit can take you a long way in terms of understanding.

Basically most of us have long lived our lives carelessly; we endure traumas (which includes medical procedures), chronic stress, poor diets, insufficient exercise and a range of disfunctional relationships. These factors stew in the salty soup of bodies and overtime they contribute to less than optimal functioning. One of the places particularly affected by stress and therefore relevant to tms is the HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal). The HPA axis is vital for hormonal balance, stress management, and immune system strength so in tms terms, stress may be the mischief maker. However I don't think we can completely discount all other factors, especially given the fact that when we talk about hormonal disruption, we bring the endocrine system into play.

The endocrine and nervous systems work closely with each other. The endocrine can be seen as the message centre of the body. Hormones are the messengers it uses. This system can be affected by very real things other than stress. Poor nutrition, xenohormones (such as the pill, plastics, PCB's, solvents etc), too much sugar, too much booze, certain medications, body fat...

This is one of those areas where the tms argument is not very cut and dry and where allopathic medicine is in the dark ages. Be wary of falling foul of reinventions of the 'wandering womb' and other demonisations. The most powerful healing we can perform as women is to learn to love and nourish our bodies for the wonderful, natural, life-giving treasures they are and in large part this means we honour their physical needs, not ride roughshod over them. When we disrespect our bodies we create a whole new level of stress for it to deal with.

Speaking personally as an occasional migraine sufferer, I believe they are tms. There are lots of folk here (men and women) who have endured and triumphed over various pelvic pains so that may be an individual call. I wouldn't treat hormonal imbalance as tms though.

 

Thank you Sara. This is helpful!

 

Thanks Plum. That was really helpful.

 

Ines, you are more than welcome. I'm peri-menopausal and am experiencing a couple of changes. One is hot flashes which herbalist Susun Weed juicily describes as waves of kundalini energy which I am happy to own. Who the hell says women stop being sexy, sensual beings over 40? If anything I find we are much more embodied, confident and less inclined to care about the rubbish the media endlessly drip feeds. The second sign is that my cycle is shorter. This too is ok. I am open to these changes and to the life that they usher in. Sometimes I add herbal tinctures to my care of self but I am not religious about it and listen to what my body says it wants. Rest is a common request.

I absolutely know my migraines are not related to my cycle/hormones and are due to stress because they have arrived like buses one after the other this month. I am going through a stressful experience (involving going to court), so tms has done what tms does: it blows it's cover by trying too hard. I'm not at the point where I can stop them yet but I take some meds and then carry on as before.

I really wish you well with this. I'm sure we'd all prefer an easy life but when I look at the fruits of our celebrity culture I am glad of the challenge.

 

Thank you so much Plum. I like your advice about just embracing our womanhood and listening to what our bodies need. I feel like my migraines are due to stress and pressure. This month I have not been paying much attention to my cycle. For the past 2 days I've been telling my brain I forgive myself for being so hard on myself and I love all of myself no matter what. Every day is different though.

 

Thank you Plum. I think we agree that it's hard to know where to draw the line when it comes to hormones vs. TMS. Hopefully someday this will become more mainstream and these questions will have answers.