Alan G. Need some help to embrace diagnosis

[Guest]

This question was submitted via our Ask a TMS Therapist program. To submit your question, click here.

Question

Hi All,

This is a tricky one, I was recently diagnosed with TMS by a MD in NYC (Dr Ira Rashbaum.) I want to believe I have tms, but there are a few things holding me back, in addition to tendon pain in most of my joints (which I attribute to tms) here are some other things:

1) I have pinched nerves in each of my elbows, these came after having an RSI in my arm and obsessing about it, I think had a pinched nerve in one elbow and then when I stressed about it and was worried about it coming in the other elbow, it ended up in both. An MRI showed no pinched nerve, a nerve conductivity study showed very mild pinched nerve. Can I have a pinched nerve with TMS in my elbow as opposed to my back?

2) My elbow hurts (Comes and Goes) MRI (Which I had done for the nerves) showed very mild inflammation in the tendon, after having my MRI about 2 weeks later it started to hurt more often and didnt got away...if I have inflammation, can I have TMS?

3) Lastly, since I have knee pain an MRI showed slight swelling in my knee in addition to the tendinitis in my knee tendons.

I have also met with Ortho's rhuemeotlogists etc who all said everything seems fine and to just to Physical Therapy as there is nothing surgically they can do either than move my nerves in my elbow. I want to believe I have TMS but these 3 things are holding me back from 100% believing the diagnosis, any response helps.

Thanks

Pete

 

[Alan Gordon LCSW]

Answer

1. First of all, nerve conduction studies often result in false positives so frequently, some TMS physicians rarely even conduct them. Having TMS symptoms the same part of your arm on both arms are a telltale sign of TMS. Your extremities evolve independently so that would be an enormous coincidence outside of a TMS explanation.

2)Many people with no pain have inflammation. Even if there is inflammation, inflammation goes away with rest. Think about twisting your ankle. It hurts, there's local inflammation, after a couple weeks the inflammation goes down and it doesn't hurt anymore.

3) I'm not sure about this. I can't definitively say that all your symptoms are TMS, but the more independent symptoms you have, the more likely there's a universal underlying cause. Tendinitis can occur, but it goes away with rest.

It might benefit you to see Dr. Gwozdz in NJ. He's a TMS physician and is great. It sounds like you need more confirmation to fully wrap your mind around this.

Alan

---

Any advice or information provided here does not and is not intended to be and should not be taken to constitute specific professional or psychological advice given to any group or individual. This general advice is provided with the guidance that any person who believes that they may be suffering from any medical, psychological, or mindbody condition should seek professional advice from a qualified, registered/licensed physician and/or psychotherapist who has the opportunity to meet with the patient, take a history, possibly examine the patient, review medical and/or mental health records, and provide specific advice and/or treatment based on their experience diagnosing and treating that condition or range of conditions. No general advice provided here should be taken to replace or in any way contradict advice provided by a qualified, registered/licensed physician and/or psychotherapist who has the opportunity to meet with the patient, take a history, possibly examine the patient, review medical and/or mental health records, and provide specific advice and/or treatment based on their experience diagnosing and treating that condition or range of conditions.

The general advice and information provided in this format is for informational purposes only and cannot serve as a way to screen for, identify, or diagnose depression, anxiety, or other psychological conditions. If you feel you may be suffering from any of these conditions please contact a licensed mental health practitioner for an in-person consultation.

Questions may be edited for brevity and/or readability.