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Need some support...Headaches

cirrusnarea

cirrusnarea

Well known member
Hi everyone,

It's only been a few months now since I accepted I have TMS and dedicated myself to this. I've been doing very well ever since, my original pain symptoms are gone, but I keep getting new pain symptoms and sometimes everything hits me at once. Saturday I started getting a headache, mostly on the right side but sometimes it spreads to the front and back. It's not a very bad pain, but it feels strange and I'm having trouble concentrating. Today's Wednesday and the headache hasn't let up since. I'm really tired of going to the doctor every time I have a new symptom; I've been doing that and everything always turns out okay, then I stop worrying about it and something new pops up.

I'm writing to see if anyone else has these strange headaches. Besides the pain on my right temple, the front and back of my head seem tense and my head seems cloudy. Just need some support right now as well. What worries me is that it doesn't seem to go away.
 
I get headaches and "stuffy head" and believe they come from worry or other stresses. If I watch a good movie I
forget I have a headache.

I think headaches move around and don't think they're worth worrying about. I also breathe deeply and think about
something pleasant and seem to forget I have one.

I wouldn't go to the doctor for every new symptom. Just find ways to relax. I even "laugh" off a headache, even when
there's nothing funny.

Maybe someone is upsetting you and triggering the headache. Try to avoid people who complain a lot or find fault
with you. Be around upbeat people. And don't watch television news. The news is on just to sell aspirin and other products that
give temporary relief from a headache the news gives you. haha.
 
Thanks, Walt.

Yes, I have that stuffy head feeling, it's so hard to describe...but that is perhaps the most worrying trait. I'm trying to get myself to avoid going to the doctor because I know it means several new tests, and waiting on the results, and having the doctor worry me about it. I've been through it about 10 times this year.Thank God every time the doctor gives me a clean bill of health, more or less.

Just last week I was seeing a cardiologist for chest pain and heart palpitations. Two days after I got the good news that my heart is healthy, I got this headache which will not go away. Also, my grandfather died on Friday.

I've given up watching the news, lol. So glad too because the way it is so doom and gloom lately is awful. Unfortunately my family is very negative and I'm stuck with them for better or worse.
 
Cirrus, I'm dealing with similar stuff. Headaches...new wrist pain...and various other aches. I feel like I'm at a point were I could get really discouraged about this OR count it as a sign that I'm on the right course. And yeah, I could go to the doc but I'm just screaming NOOOOOO! inside. I've had too many medical appointments these past several years and enough is enough! I'm ready to be free of pain. And it sounds like you are too.

Hang out here and draw encouragement from these wonderful folks. And Walt gives you some great suggestions. (Which I also appreciate, Walt!)
 
Hi MontanaMom,

Looks like you and I are in the same boat so to speak. I keep getting new symptoms and sometimes I'm hit with several symptoms at once. I get scary thoughts like what if I'm going crazy, or developing fibromyalgia. I'm getting little sleep and am fairly anxious, although I was much worse when this all started. I'm afraid that I'm dying, and with the new headache symptom I'm afraid of a brain tumor, or aneurism. Like you I feel that enough is enough when it comes to doctors. I've been for many things and it always checks out. However, once it checks out I can say with confidence, I have TMS, this pain is only a symptom of that. But when I get a new symptom, like the headache, it becomes hard to say that...what if this time I have something? I feel like I'm trying to keep myself from going crazy, that have to desperately hang on to my mind which was hard enough before the pain started. I think anti-depressants might help, but I'm afraid of them. I don't like the idea of changing my brain chemistry. Also, I feel like I can beat this on my own. I just don't know how long it will last. I'm afraid I'll be battling it my whole life. In a way, TMS can be seen as a lifelong condition, but typically people learn to rein it in. They are no longer concerned by the pain, so it's lost it's hold on them. When they get a new symptom they shake it off. I'm just such a worrier, I doubt I'll ever be able to get to that point.
 
cirrusnarea said:
When they get a new symptom they shake it off. I'm just such a worrier, I doubt I'll ever be able to get to that point.
Click to expand...


This is not true. You will get there. I had severe pain for over 18 years. If I was able to become pain free, then anyone can become pain free. This is one reason why accepting that your symptoms are benign and believing its TMS is so important. Having a new symptom can be very difficult to overcome. It is very easy to start worrying that it could be something serious. However, if you remind yourself it is only TMS and that the symptom is benign you can limit the amount of worrying you have.

Gaining this level of acceptance can be difficult, but it does come in time. For me, reading success stories really helped, along with posting on the forum. You can also read and reread a TMS book. The more you expose your unconscious to this information the more confidence you will have in it. You do not even have to read every book. If you have one you like, simply read and reread that one several times, until your response to new symptoms is simply ah that's just TMS, and not something I need to worry about.

Everyone feels like they will never be able to overcome the doubts and worrying, but this is just your unconscious trying to get your to stop doing this work and to stop trying to allow your emotions to be present. You will be able to overcome your doubts. All you have to do is continue on this path, and you will get there.
 
Forest, what a great word of encouragement. Cirrus, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and like Forest, I've dealt with chronic (and sometimes severe) pain for many years. And I'm also a recovering worry addict. I can honestly say that that is an area that I HAVE succeeded in and I know you can too. Oh, still deal with vague anxiety and I think the tendency will more often than not look for a place for worry to take root. But GONE are the panic attacks. I'd wake up uncontrollably shaking at times it was so bad.

What I've done to kick worry in the head is read and reread Dale Carnegie's classic, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living." He has SEVERAL practical techniques that will kick that worry habit in the head. And also practicing mindfulness and living intentionally.

Just keep placing one foot in front of the other. You will get there!
 
cirrusnarea said:
Also, my grandfather died on Friday.
Click to expand...

Cirrusnarea,
Developing the habit of thinking psychologically about my symptoms, instead of physically, has been the most important part of my TMS healing. If I develop a new symptom or have a flare up of old symptoms, I immediately look to what is going on with me emotionally or psychologically. If I were you I would explore my feelings around the death of my grandfather and see if it is related to the onset of my headache. I doubt it is coincidental. I'd ask--Am I repressing my emotions about his death or has it triggered some other emotional/psychological issues that I haven't dealt with yet? I think you will find some answers there and hopefully some relief from your TMS. This approach has worked really well for me.

Best wishes,
 
Thanks for your response everyone. Yesterday was a better day, I stopped worrying about the headache and it actually did go away. It started coming back towards the end of the day though, and I just woke up with it again. Can't shake the fear I'm going to have an aneurism, lol. The pain is actually not that bad, but just enough to be worrying. If it was severe I'm probably have gone to the doctor. Oh yes, then I started getting stomach pains and was afraid all this worrying has given me an ulcer.

Forest - thanks a lot for your advice. Very encouraging. My favorite books are the Sarno books because he speaks with such authority. So I've been rereading them, but perhaps not as much as I should be. But then it's good to give yourself a break every now and then too. It's just difficult to convince myself that a new symptom is TMS. I've been to the doctor so much this year I imagine he thinks I'm cracking up, he hasn't seemed to have taken my last couple visits seriously, which I guess is a good thing in a way. If I came to him with the headache, I'm sure he'd tell me to take some ibuprofin and come back if it didn't get better, that's what he always says. Or he could order a bunch of tests that will just have me worried and waiting again. I can't be dying of everything, I'm going to have to pick one thing eventually, lol.

MontanaMom - I'm sure that's scary being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Even though we know that it is TMS as well, it just sounds like such a scary thing. Sarno writes about the one woman who chose suicide rather than to live with it. On a positive note, we know about TMS and she most likely did not. So for her there was no hope. I'm glad you overcame anxiety. I wake up shaking with panic attacks too, almost everyday for the past couple weeks. I was seeing a cardiologist because I thought I might have heart problems due to the palpitations. So once that checked out I started having the headache. Thanks for the book suggestion, I like Dale Carnegie so I might give it a shot. I just bought a book on overcoming health anxiety so hopefully it will help as well.

Ellen, I'm sure my grandfather dying is at least partly responsible for the new symptoms. I think I'm repressing feelings about it. He and I weren't especially close or anything so it's not really bothering me, but at the same time anytime a close family member dies it has to be stressful to our subconscious for several reasons. So I have worked on that, I wrote an unsent letter to him and I did a fair amount of thinking about it and got myself to cry a little.

I'm heading up to PA for the funeral this weekend so most likely will not have internet for until Sunday. Thanks for all your advice. I don't mean to sound too negative, things have really gotten better, it's just difficult getting through the nights. I wake up several times with panicky feelings, so your posts make it more bearable. Anxiety about symptoms seems to be the best identifying factor that it is TMS and I certainly have issues with that.
 
cirrusnarea said:
Hi MontanaMom,

Looks like you and I are in the same boat so to speak. I keep getting new symptoms and sometimes I'm hit with several symptoms at once. I get scary thoughts like what if I'm going crazy, or developing fibromyalgia. I'm getting little sleep and am fairly anxious, although I was much worse when this all started. I'm afraid that I'm dying, and with the new headache symptom I'm afraid of a brain tumor, or aneurism. Like you I feel that enough is enough when it comes to doctors. I've been for many things and it always checks out. However, once it checks out I can say with confidence, I have TMS, this pain is only a symptom of that. But when I get a new symptom, like the headache, it becomes hard to say that...what if this time I have something? I feel like I'm trying to keep myself from going crazy, that have to desperately hang on to my mind which was hard enough before the pain started. I think anti-depressants might help, but I'm afraid of them. I don't like the idea of changing my brain chemistry. Also, I feel like I can beat this on my own. I just don't know how long it will last. I'm afraid I'll be battling it my whole life. In a way, TMS can be seen as a lifelong condition, but typically people learn to rein it in. They are no longer concerned by the pain, so it's lost it's hold on them. When they get a new symptom they shake it off. I'm just such a worrier, I doubt I'll ever be able to get to that point.
Click to expand...

I can really identify! I was able to shake my symptoms off until my current one- hair loss- which seems like it will never go away. The denial part of this disease is very strong- it wants to keep me in the disease so it keeps me doubting my TMS and then even if I believe it is TMS a big fear is that it will never go away. THIS time I won't be able to beat it. THIS symptom I won't be able beat- the other yes, but THIS one will take me down. Can you relate. I wish I could get through my doubt. It's a powerful part of the disease.

There's a great line in The Divided Mind that has helped me a lot with my doubt- Sarno says " Not uncommonly, patients develop an entirely new set of symptoms that are part of TMS, but do not remember my admonition at the end of the lecture to call me should that occur. Since the symptoms are unlike anything they have experienced before (this is the symptom-imperative at work) they do not think of TMS."

In the Mind Body Prescription he mentions headaches specifically in his own personal experience. He says that when he felt a migraine coming in he would think of something bothering him instead of obsessing about the pain and that would avert the headache. If he mentions headaches as TMS that is a powerful endorsement that headaches are a common symptom!
 
Hi Beachgirl,

I guess the troubling thing is that we don't have Dr. Sarno to turn to when new symptoms arise. Most of us don't have physicians that understand and will diagnose TMS either. So when something new pops up, we're back to our old way of thinking. I know my headache is TMS. Or I am considering the possibility that it could be from a wisdom tooth I've been putting off having removed. Either way, I know that my TMS is at least in play. At the same time, even when I accept that I'm anxious as long as I'm in pain. Once the pain goes away I'm fine. Not sure what to do to overcome that.
 
cirrusnarea said:
Hi Beachgirl,

I guess the troubling thing is that we don't have Dr. Sarno to turn to when new symptoms arise. Most of us don't have physicians that understand and will diagnose TMS either. So when something new pops up, we're back to our old way of thinking. I know my headache is TMS. Or I am considering the possibility that it could be from a wisdom tooth I've been putting off having removed. Either way, I know that my TMS is at least in play. At the same time, even when I accept that I'm anxious as long as I'm in pain. Once the pain goes away I'm fine. Not sure what to do to overcome that.
Click to expand...
It's so easy to look at yours or anyone else's symptoms and see how clearly they are TMS- in a good and helpful way- but when I look at my own I get stuck in a quagmire of doubt and fear and can't REALLY believe they will ever resolve. I don't feel the need to have DR Sarno to consult to get better. I saw him live when I had my back pain and always knew if I really needed to I could call him. Luckily I have always found reading and re- reading and reading again the books has been powerful enough to get me through symptoms. This latest one- the hair loss- though I am struggling horribly believing it is TMS and will ever reverse or grow back. I am getting lots of help reading the wiki. Again and again and again. As many people that I can have on this wiki remind me my symptoms are TMS and wil go away the better. Can't hear that enough. Hope it's the same for you.
 
Hey everyone,

Well, I'm getting pretty anxious again and I seem to really be going backwards here.

Right now I'm having aches in pain in my head, back, and legs simultaneously. I'm afraid I'm going to go crazy.

I've read the books and I know that this is called the symptom imperative and that it means my subconscious mind is trying new tactics becoming I'm overcoming it. But I'm just afraid that I'm getting worse instead of better.

I read today that chronic pain such as this is often a symptom of bi-polar. That really frightened me because I'm afraid of going crazy and having psychological problems. The new pain symptoms really aren't helping. I know this is just my anxiety and I will overcome it, but really I thought the anxiety was getting better. Now it's coming back for seemingly no reason, and my symptoms are getting worse. Can somebody please tell me what's going on? I couple weeks ago I felt so good that I was thinking of posting a little something on the success forum. Now it looks like I've really relapsed here.
 
I also have one more question, if someone who really knows a lot about TMS/psychology can help me out with this.

In Jan/Feb of this year I was hit with several pain symptoms at once and severe anxiety along with them. The pain came first, and then the anxiety. Every time I would calm down I would get a new symptom. It took me several months to get where I am. I was having only one symptom, mild back pain that came and went, and anxiety was gone too.

Now I'm hit with several symptoms at once, the anxiety is back, and I have the fear that I'm going crazy. I can handle the pain, but the anxiety has to go. Does anyone know what causes this? I know there are some psychologists on the forum. I am seeing a psychologist, and he has been very helpful, but he doesn't get TMS.
 
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