My story of pain, I need help and your opinions

It all started in November of last year, I'm 19 and I really liked walking and exercising, however one day I started to feel sharp pain in one leg that I attributed to excessive walking days and days in a row, a full-blown repetitive strain injury that I ignored it and continued walking after a few days of rest, the pain continued and it also happened in my other leg, I decided to give it a definitive rest and only do weights which caused the same thing in my right wrist and I don't understand what is happening, until I stop exercising completely it has not spread anymore, however I have gone to the doctors and they have done multiple exams where curiously they have not found anything they have not done x-rays, ultrasounds or nerve conduction tests yet but I suspect it is TMS because somehow I have experienced improvement but the sensations of burning, throbbing and sharp pains from time to time persist, what do you think? I need help

 

Welcome to the forum, @JollyJokerJRA.

So you've been medically checked out, and "they can't find anything wrong". This is great news, because you can confidently proceed with TMS techniques, and why not? TMS work can't hurt, and the cost is little to none.

We have free resources here and lots of recommendations, but first we need to know how much (or little) you know and what you've read so far.

FYI, there is actually a book written a number of years ago by David Clarke MD, with the title "They Can't Find Anything Wrong". Dr Clarke is a founding member of the PsychoPhysiologic Disorders Association (ppdassociation.org) where they use PPD instead of TMS - but it's all the same thing, also often referred to as MBS - mindbody syndrome.

You've found this work very early in your life - Congratulations!

 

Hello, I have been doing a lot of research and I have seen the success stories but the truth is that I have doubts about the central sensitization and the TMS say that it is the same but I still have doubts about it, there are still tests to be done to rule out any structural anomaly, however now I've been trying to get the idea that it's just TMS into my mind, can TMS still come from an injury like mine? Where can I start with the TMS treatment and approach? I know that I have to reconfigure my brain but I am confused, I have many ideas and the truth is that I feel frustrated because I don't know if I will be cured, although the positive stories of situations as bad as I have seen keep me going

 

We get it - it's totally normal to have doubts this early on, especially at age 19!

I would be very surprised if "they" find anything wrong with further exams, especially at your age. It is NOT reasonable that a healthy young person would suddenly have something wrong that doesn't show up quickly with normal exams, blood tests, and so on. Of course, I am not a doctor, so you should have those other tests done just to be sure.

While you're waiting for that, consider this: it is widely reported that young people all over the world have been experiencing a mental health crisis for at least three years. Well, we all have, but it's far worse in the youngest generation. The pressue on young people in the last decade or so is extreme. Pressure often leads to negative self-judgement, and self-judgement leads to stress symptoms including pain. You might want to examine the sources of pressure in your life and at the role of expectations (yours, or others, such as parents).

TMS is the same as PPD which is the same as MBS, and these mind-body problems are frequently given diagnosis names like CSS (central sensitization syndrome), CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) CRPS (chronic regional pain syndrome), IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), FS (fibromyalgia syndrome, which means "pain in muscle tissues") and many other "syndromes" with names that only describe the symptom, not the cause. This tells us that the doctors don't really know what they're looking at. They also don't have effective treatments.

The one thing that all of these conditions have in common is that people have successfully recovered from them by applying mindbody knowledge and methods.

It is a scientific and neurological FACT that all physical sensations in our bodies are generated in our brains. Examples:
- When the stomach is empty, nerves in the stomach send a signal to the brain, and the brain sends back a sensation that tells us to eat.
- If there has been damage to a body part, there is an immune system response which alerts the local nerves that there's danger, so the nerves send a danger signal to the brain, and the brain creates an appropriate pain sensation to send back to the body part.
- When we are embarassed, our brains send brief inflammation to our faces, and our cheeks turn red and feel hot.

Look at that last one - that's an example of how our brains create a real physical sensation (everyone can see it!) in response to a purely emotional situation! This is the key thing to understand.

Our brains are perfectly capable of sending all kinds of sensations even when there is no physical reason for it. If you doubt this at all, look up "phantom limb pain".

YES! Our bodies were designed to heal. Once healing takes place, there is no need for any more pain, but as I explained above (and as the neurologists explain about phantom limb pain), our brains are quite capable of continuing to create pain when there is no need for it.

One reason our brains do this is to keep us fearful and anxious so that we stay alive and pay attention to dangers. This doesn't make sense in today's world where most of us are very safe, and that's the big problem - the part of our brain that does this is a leftover from very primitive times, and we encounter so many stresses in today's world that our primitive brains still think we're under attack by wild animals or dangerous enemies.

Another reason some people's brains create symptoms is to distract them from having to acknowledge deeply-repressed negative emotions from childhood. This repression is developed by the child in order to survive, but it continues in adulthood, and it inevitably causes mental and physical health problems in adulthood.

People can also have symptoms because they are avoiding the fact that they are in a bad relationship, or a bad job, or they chose the wrong career, or any other thing they don't want to face - and their primitive brain is happy to help them keep avoiding it. Sometimes it's as simple as feeling bad about an interaction with someone, and continuing to worry about it without resolving it.

We call the symptoms TMS, but we're really talking about this brain mechanism, and as you can see, it can appear in many different ways, for many different reasons.

Is it any wonder you're confused?

I am 72 years old, I spent more than 30 years explaining US income tax laws to my clients and communicating with them about their tax returns, and I've been posting on this forum for twelve years, ever since I discovered TMS and Dr. Sarno in 2011 - yet in spite of all of that combined experience, I still find it very challenging to explain this to newcomers without going on too long. So I hope I haven't given you too much new information at once, and I hope that this helps.

I see you're translating this - into Spanish, I think? - so I hope it is understandable! (I can sort of read the translation of my first post, based on my elementary-school Spanish, and it looks pretty good). While you're waiting for the final tests, I would recommend reading one of Dr Sarno's books: either The Mind Body Prescription, or The Divided Mind. (John Sarno, MD), one or both of which I am pretty sure are available in Spanish. You can also go to our free Structured Educational Program and see if that will be useful for you, although it's all in English.

 

Thank you very much and if I am translating it all I was surprised by the fact that you could see it, thanks for all the information, I have been thinking about what suppressed emotion I can have and I have certainly suffered from depression before and I took antidepressants a few years ago then I had a obsession with losing weight that made me take long walks, however, it was liberating and I felt good doing it until the injury happened, which I ignored and I started with the weights, when I felt that pain in my wrist it was the end of the world for me because of Somehow I could survive with the pain in my legs but the one in my hand made me touch hell, thanks for all the information again, I'm going to look for the books in Spanish and I hope they are available, what has helped me the most are the stories of success but it scares me at the same time because I read so much medical information that it made me think about suicide as an option

 

We get it - and please know that you are NOT alone! And that this is why you should stay far away from ALL forums where people discuss their chronic pain! This is the worst thing you can do for your mental health. Many people who finally find our forum tell us this over and over again, which is that they felt better when they started learning about TMS and stopped going to those awful forums. Those sites are full of people who are determined to be victims for the rest of their lives. That is their choice, but you made the choice to try something different, and here you are, so celebrate that and give yourself a lot of credit for just being here!

You can also celebrate the fact that your symptoms seem to change and move around - this is more proof that it is the TMS brain mechanism trying to get you to think negatively, when there is nothing wrong with you physically.

You said it yourself - keep reminding yourself of this:

Notice that your very next word after "success" is the word "but...". This is your negative fearful TMS brain trying to cancel any hope and any positive thinking! Don't let it pull you down into the abyss - it's totally unnecessary! Pay more attention to what you are saying and whether it allows you to subconsciously feel positive or negative about yourself.

The translation thing is interesting. I see your messages in English, but when you quoted me above, I could see that my message had been translated to Spanish. And isn't that something to be grateful for? It's a miracle of technology, which allows us to communicate across the globe. You have to love it!

 

Thank you very much, honestly it is very difficult to fight with this so young maybe I imagined it in a more adult age but I am just entering university and I already feel that my life is over and I will never be able to get out of this however these messages give me hope , I feel that if it is TMS but at the same time I keep doubting within myself, I want to fully believe but it is complicated anyway I will start with the books and the techniques of people with TMS who have served, you have some exercises that I can put into practice to start while can i find the books in spanish? I know it will be complicated, thanks for all the support and also deep down I feel that I will get out of here even if it depresses me reading stories in which they continue to suffer or those horrible medical articles that I definitely have to get away from me

 

Here is some information on TMS in Spanish. I hope this helps.
https://www.dolorcronico.com.es/

 

OMG, Cactusflower - Alan's program in Spanish??? That is so Awesome!

 

¡ hola JollyJokerJRA! Aquí tienes info en español: https://www.thismighthurtfilm.com/en-espanol (Esto Podría Doler (This Might Hurt en Español) — This Might Hurt)
Si me escribes un mensaje privado te puedo enviar lo que necesites. ¡Un saludo!
M

 

Insight Timer is a free app
Type Spanish in the search bar, look for playlists of many beautiful meditations in Spanish!
Insight Timer es una aplicación gratuita
¡Escriba español en la barra de búsqueda, busque listas de reproducción de muchas hermosas meditaciones en español!

 

Thank you very much, all the information I find is in English since in Spanish there are only discouraging medical articles, this is very helpful, thank you very much!!!