New symptom or revisit to a previous one?

I have a general question and I hope it makes sense, it's hard to articulate.



So far every single thing I have had has been TMS. And sometimes months to a year go by and then I get a flare up. I think to my self "is this TMS revisting an old symptom or is this an actual sign of something wrong?" How do TMS veterans determine that?

I know most people will say go get checked by a doc. I was checked head to toe about 4 years ago. How long do these check ups hold up before we consider them to be expired?

I'm sort of asking because I wish I could be a little better at determining what I experience every so often is TMS. So far it has always been and I'm still getting fooled by it. It doesnt happen a lot but it last about 3-4 days about 5 times a year or so. So maybe you can see how I could get fooled since it's sporadic.

Again sorry if this doesn't make sense. I'm not always sure how to ask a precise question.

 

Jokeysmurf,
Start by simply doing the work, or never “ending” it. Realize that short bouts of pain are normal human experiences, and may not be tms.. but those resolve in a few days, about the same time you experience relapses or symptoms.. and if it is tms keeping up with the work will mostly likely also mean short term symptoms.
So chicken or egg, right.
I see one difference. That you are perhaps having tms symptoms that illicit fears, a short spike, or there is a particular tms skill set that might help you reduce whatever else makes your brain feel it needs you to attend to: self talk, being true to yourself, facing fear, perfectionism, self-soothing, relaxation, engaging in fun.. or any other common tms trait that you might become more of aware is a pattern for you before your mind has to revert to a symptom. A tms therapist once asked me to always ask myself “why do I need this symptom?”
At the same time, do you congratulate yourself for your wellness, and all the time you spend not needing a symptom! If your symptom is lasting longer than your normal reboot time, get it checked out. Tell your mind you are going to be able to discern tms from illness. You are the boss!

 

good observation. This is about self awareness at some level

I haven't got 'tricked' in awhile UNLESS some of the respiratory illnesses were 'conversion' symptoms (got covid and a cold this year...about a month apart during big time work-no-play period)

But in my first few years of TMS I got Knee, Carpal Tunnel, foot, shoulder...pretty much every muscle tissue version there was. I consider 100% of physical pain TMS but I often wonder at some of the other stuff that appears at opportune times.

 

It's been almost 10 years since my first TMS recovery, and I'm still fooled by TMS at least once a year. I get an unusual physical symptom and still wallow awhile in thinking it must be medical or structural. This has been exacerbated recently because I'm also getting old now, which just adds to the list of possible reasons why it isn't TMS in my mind. Only when I finally realize that it is in fact another bout of TMS, do I start to recover. One positive aspect now is that once I realize it is TMS, my recovery time is pretty quick, usually days.

I see this as a lifelong struggle and it is one of the reasons I'm still on this Forum on a regular basis. The Forum helps remind me that TMS is always a likely culprit for physical symptoms.

 

Haha, like Ellen, it gets a little harder to assume everything is TMS after a certain age - there's a reason why Medicare benefits kick in at 65.

Age does confer the benefit of experience, enhanced body awareness and learning to trust your instincts.

So, @jokeysmurf, what do you do for these symptoms that go away in 3-4 days? As the others have said, the key is to apply your TMS techniques that have worked in the past, and see what happens. For me, this is breathing, journaling, and maintaining good health habits no matter what (I always attend my yoga class even though I sometimes think I won't be able to manage it - somehow I do all the poses, and I always, invariably, feel better after).

I admit to sometimes using Dr. Google - but I'm always looking for the reasons why I don't need to panic and run to the doctor, because I WANT things to be TMS. I find that I can give it time to resolve on its own, which is when I get out the paper and pencil if the symptom is impeding my life. Often, however, I just try to be more mindful of my breathing and tension level, accept my self-diagnosis of TMS, and it goes away as expected.

100%

 

Hi Jan, usually I work on any panic or fear related to a health concern. It seems to take 3-4 days and it finally resolves. If I have to think about it a little the ways in which I am being tricked usually seems to revolve around someone I know becoming legitimately ill or something in the news about people getting something I dread. Then there is a gap like a day then the following day it sort of hits me out of the blue. I'm sort of left wondering during the 3-4 days if it's TMS. Then by day 4 I assume it is and let it play out. It also takes me a little bit of time to realize that I may have been hearing about other peoples illnesses and things on the news.

 

Hi Cactusflower, I still do the TMS work a lot. I mean I'm not in pain in all the time nor do I have symptoms all the time so there are gaps when I'm not doing TMS work. In these moments I still work on myself, my reactions, thinking positive, manage my frustration with work etc. So I feel pretty normal. Obviously there are some fears, deep rooted ones that are of health concerns. Ones that I am not aware of in the moment that take hold below my awareness and it takes me days to figure it out. I usualy figure it out that it's TMS when i let it run and do its thing and then all of the sudden this symptom will change into 2-3 others and then I realize I was duped from the beginning.

 

@jokeysmurf
@miffybunny has written about eradicating all fear. I honestly don’t know how to do that, but doing work when you don’t have symptoms might help you be able to work in that fear, when your brain isn’t so caught ip in a specific fear, when it might be more open to changing it’s “go to” thought patterns.