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Marathon Running and TMS

Hey Doug, I can relate to what you're going through. Go see Dr Zafirides! Maybe you need a power boost of belief from a person of authority in person.
 
Hi Doug,

If Dr. Zafirides was near me I would see him in a heart-beat or a click of my hip. A psychiatrist is a medically trained doctor first. He should be exponentially qualified to diagnose TMS, from the body to the mind. He's contributed to this board and I believe is in SteveO's neck of the woods in the Great State of Ohio. SteveO would be a good resource for you too, he does TMS consults by skype with TMS'ers around the world. You could get a head-start on things by doing a "SEARCH" here at the wiki to learn everything you can about Dr. Zafirides. That may get you started down the road to getting you out of the TMS dumps.

G'luck, keep us informed,
tt
 
Bad news:

He's out of the Medical Mutual network. Much, much more expensive for me to go out of network. Booked up for the next couple of months anyway. Will have to forge this path alone.

Doug
 
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I know what you mean about a lot of things to blame the pain on.
My book publisher boss is a workaholic super-perfectionist.
He gave me a ton of proofreading this morning and I spent nearly four hours
on it, almost going blind and crazy. My back ached a little but not bad.
I tell myself he's nuts and that helps.
 
RedRunner said:
6 years ago, I suffered my 5th and worst bout with TMS since the age of 18. Since then, I have managed to continue the life of a long distance runner. This Sunday, I finished in the top 12% at the 2014 TCS NYC Marathon (my 3rd marathon overall). I am now 42 years old and in the best physical shape of my life. This isn't to say that the journey was easy. Getting TMS under control is hard work. During the past 5 years, my TMS symptoms have ranged from back pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, numbness and tingling in both feet and legs. The good news is that it never lasted for more than a week. I was always able to get it under control and kept running. I often ran through the pain and ended up feeling 100% by the end of my run. There's always the general belief that running for too long or too far is "bad" for you. Keep in mind that I have read, "The Mindbody Prescription" (25 - 30 times), "The Divided Mind", and the Runners World Magazine article "Mind Over Matter" by Marc Bloom (April, 2006). Nevertheless, it's quite possible that I continue to internalize the status quo. I have decided to read, "Born To Run" by Christopher McDougall. This book explores the life of the Tarahumara Indians and how their history shows how all of us are in fact "born to run". That being said, are there any long distance/marathon runners out there who have persevered, run marathons, and continue to deal with TMS 'flare-ups'? What are some of your experiences? What advice would you offer?
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I am very inspired to hear stories from endurance athletes and physically active people with TMS. It certainly helps give me hope that I will be completely pain free at some point. I have a lot of improvement in functioning and am slowly getting back into regular, low impact exercise. Thank you so much for sharing; when I know other people have had the same physical symptoms it helps put my mind at ease. Best of luck on your continued journey.
 
Hi RedRunner: Great to hear about all your accomplishments. I am 63 years old and was a runner, however shorter distances, long distance cyclist and HIIT classes 5 days a week. However in the last year, MRI confirmed bilateral hip labral tears and torn menisci. Have been pretty athletic most of my life.Have resolved issues regarding IC, back pain, etc but the labral tear on left has gotten much worse over the last year. Diligently working on everything TMS but I have come to the conclusion that I know my body very well and the more I participate in all the activities I love, the more progressive my pain is getting. Hip pain is intolerable and I know from a gut feeling that this is not TMS even though this is exacerbating my pain from the anxiety. I do have another consult with top ortho doc as suggested by Dr. Schubiner in an email correspondence. I do not want to let this progress to the point where it is hip replacement time. I love Sarno's advice about doing all activities and thinking just psychological but this has gone beyond that point.
 
Just another point; Sarno always talks about oxygen deprivation as the cause of pain which I totally agree with but my tear is in a totally avascular area which gets no blood supply at all.....something to think about?
 
JoyceVT said:
Hi RedRunner, I'm a 44 year old marathon runner and recently did my first half ironman this past September and had a great result. Unfortunately 2 weeks later I came down with one of my worst TMS flare ups in my left hip/upper leg (after an initial flare up in the back of my right knee just hours after the half ironman but that went away). And I still can't run at the moment. I'm a classic TMSer. In the last 4 years I've paid for 8 marathons and only have been able to run 4 of them. My PR is a 3:07:56 (Oct 2013) and my slowest marathon was the Boston Marathon last April at 3:21 (something). So basically I'm a strong runner but my TMS causes me much anguish and grief and causes me to cancel races. I've dealt with chronic TMS shin pain from July 2011 until up to this past September. Luckily it's been off and on and I've learned to manage it after visiting Dr. Segal a TMS doctor in DC back in January 2014.

I believe my newest TMS flare up (hip/upper leg) is due to the fact that I'm no longer scared of my shin and run on it regardless. But this time I am having HUGE difficulty in getting through it. I'm currently working with one of Alan Gordan's therapists on a weekly basis. I am signed up for my first full Ironman in Aug 2015 so I really need to get through this TMS once and for all. I have read all the TMS books and have had consultations over the phone with Steve O, Monte Hueftle, Dr Sopher and even briefly with Dr. Schubiner over the years. So I definitely know this subject well.

The biggest advice I can give is to get over the fear of running or other physical activity. In the past it has worked for me. But right now I'm still struggling with this current flare up and the fear of making it worse if I try to run through the pain. It's been over a month now and I'm dying to run. I'm a mess when I go this long without running. That all being said, I have finally felt some minor improvements here and there. It's still sore to walk sometimes but there are times it waxes and wanes which feels hopeful.
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Just ran half marathon and 5 days later still have hip and lower back pinching. Your article hit home. I ran an easy 6 k yesterday no pain.
 
intense50 said:
Just ran half marathon and 5 days later still have hip and lower back pinching. Your article hit home. I ran an easy 6 k yesterday no pain.
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I'm really glad to hear that and not surprised. Although you did run a half marathon and may have just been legitimately sore in some way. The fact that you have no pain really speaks to Sarno's consistent point that the body has an incredible capacity to heal itself.

Last year (2 weeks after a half marathon) a portion of one of my spinal disc literally broke off and was pinging off of the sciatic nerve root for a few days. This rendered my left leg useless for a good month. I fought to rehabilitate myself with still only 25℅ sensation across the shin. MRI showed that the broken piece of disc literally stuck to the side of my vertebrae like a barnacle. CRAZY! I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes. A VERY EXPERIENCED spine surgeon sympathetic to TMS tokd me that eventually the body just disolves it and to keep rehabilitating myself. 7 months later I ran my 4th marathon.

That was last year. Today the I have about 70℅ sensation across the left shin. Showing that even the nerves can rebuild themselves.

The numbness gets worst when I'm having a TMS response. No surprise there.

So keep running. You're doing great.
 
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