New to TMS. But I feel relieved that I've found this place.

Wow! This is such a great load of information! I just discovered the mindbody/TMS thing last night, as I was researching my pain and discomfort that has been plaguing me and ramping up since last December. I really am thankful for sites like this one that spread valuable information instead of scaring a person half to death, only to lead them from doctor to doctor, chasing a diagnosis that never comes. Funny thing is, a good friend of mine who now lives out of town sent me a link to a video last night regarding Sarno. It was after I'd already been reading about all this for a couple of hours. It was like the universe wanted me to come to this conclusion and was forcing it upon me. I'm really grateful!

Like I mentioned, my odd symptoms that got me searching began last December, whilst in the midst of a sinus infection/flu-type bug that had me sidelined for a few days. On this particular day, I noticed that my feet were suddenly ice cold. When I pulled off my slippers to investigate, they were ghostly white. I went to the shower to warm them up and they turned purple then bright red. Thankfully, that never happened again. but after that, my feet were constantly cold and achy, as if I was standing on blocks of ice all day. It was as if I could feel cold from the floor seeping up through the soles of my shoes. Fast forward a month or so, and I'd learned to live with the foot thing, as it seemed to come and go, even though I was still searching for an explanation. Once I was okay with that, I was at work one day when a surge of cold enveloped my entire anus, perineum, and genital area. This wave lasted for a good minute or so, and then passed. It then returned in a lesser intensity and lasted about a half hour or so. During this period I seemed to be urinating every few minutes. It happened on another occasion maybe two months later. But this time, without the frequent urination. At this point, the cold feet were seeming to plague me even more. That eventually led to neuropathic symptoms where my feet would tingle, sometimes up to the knees. There were a couple of times at work where the numbness and tingling would envelop all of my limbs and even my face. After these episodes, I would be completely drained of energy. The neuropathic feeling eventually became more permanent and was constantly manifesting from the feet up to the mid calf area. Sometimes it was so uncomfortable that I was unable to cover up with blankets while in bed, and wearing shoes and socks seemed to really get it going. If I wore sandals, things seemed to be better. The burning cold then began in the left side of the penis, and lasted for a couple of days then subsided. The foot/lower leg issue remained. I noticed that the symptoms would come and go. But I could find no correlation for anything. Then and the feet began to improve, the burning moved to the perineum/anus/penis area. The same place the cold wave had hit me months ago. These symptoms suddenly seemed to intensify and worsen after ejaculation. And they still do. That's where I'm at now. And I've managed to rule out any blood sugar issues. Since the pain and discomfort comes and goes as well, I could never fully accept that it's a structural/mechanical thing either.

After reading more about TMS, I'm wondering if a bout of "prostatitis and epididymitis" about eight years ago could contribute to all of this. I was never convinced that the condition was bacterial. Upon diagnosis, I was given a round of antibiotics that sent the pain from nagging to unbearable. One day, I actually had to pull over because of a similar cold burn in the region. The pain was also manifesting in the left testicle. I have no doubt that something really was awry during all this because the prostate was definitely irritated, along with a palpable inflammation in the left epididymis. The inflammation and discomfort lated for about three years. After being fed up with physicians and specialists, and undergoing ultrasounds, prostate exams, and rounds of antibiotics with no clear solution, I finally turned everything over to father time and told myself I'd wait it out. During this time, I discovered a naturopath in my area, who with some diet modification and supplements, was able to resolve my issues within a few months. Maybe it was merely my belief in his methods that cleared this thing up. But I do find it interesting that the same area is seeming to be affected again.

The last couple of years have been quite a ride. My best friend since childhood passed away just about two years ago. A week later, I came down with a case of the shingles. Almost a year ago, my father passed away unexpectedly, shortly after my job that I'd been at for thirteen years fell apart. At the time, I was living in my father's house, helping him tend to the place. So once he died, it was difficult to have a proper time to grieve, because I was instantly in panic mode trying to buy a house, figure out the logistics of moving all of his things, dealing with everything myself because my only sibling lives hours away. It was more stress than I've ever felt. So it really is no surprise to me that these symptoms could have manifested as a result of all that. Even if they didn't manifest until months later. Though when they did manifest, I had just bought a house, but hadn't yet had the energy to move everything from my father's place. I was still pretty much consumed with worry about the logistics of it all, and seeing my childhood home being turned over to strangers. Along with that, I was missing out on some emotional support from a friend of mine because he was suffering a great deal of depression at that time due to losing his sister. With all the death surrounding me, and seeing what it causes the surviviors, I was worried about my own mortality, and consumed with every little detail and "what if". My new job had also been a rocky mess. And the boss told me one day that they weren't sure if they could keep me due to not having enough business. The nature of this job is so boring, that it allows me to stand there and stew all day on any negative topic that comes into my mind. There is no talking, no fun, and the work is mind numbing. I think this contributed to it a lot. All of it was a perfect storm of emotional distress, now that I think back on it. Some of it still is a mess. But I don't know if it really is, or if that's just me holding on to unfounded worry.

That's my story. It feels like I've finally landed in the right spot.

 

Mrmarker, welcome! You had a lot of stress lately and you had this episode with pelvic pain, so, these episodes with cold feet, tingeling etc. could be TMS. But, have you seen a neurologist? Or, maybe you could find a doctor with TMS experience and expertise? I find it important to rule out anything structural. If this is done, you can fully concentrate on your TMS journey....

 

The stress can't be helping, that's for sure. I'm convinced that the stressors in your life will contribute to your overall well-being and the ability for the body to fight off some real disease. The pain hits where you are most likely to worry about it the most, so as to keep you from addressing the real cause. Once you have ruled out the physical, you can work on the mind and how it's affecting you.

 

Sorry for the late reply. I've not seen a neurologist. But I did visit a GP in January, who was able to determine that my circulation was fine, based on pulse in the feet and the instantaneous return of blood to the toes after pressing on them. He also tested nerve response in a rather low tech manner, by using a filament to see if I could feel light pressure and strokes on different parts of the feet and toes. For the past couple of weeks, I've seen a marked improvement in my neuropathy symptoms in the lower legs and feet. They got to where they really didn't bother me at all until this past weekend, when I had a slight relapse. I began feeling shooting cold streaks along the lower legs and between the toes. So far, the sensations in the crotch area have subsided. And as of today, the lower leg and feet sensations seem to be easing up as well. Unless it gets progressively worse, I'm going to chalk this up to TMS. It's interesting that the symptoms can let up for days or weeks at a time, only to return, but not at full force. This is what leads me to believe that it truly is TMS and not a mechanical physiological issue. I would think that symptoms regarding an issue like that would be steady and steadily get worse instead of improving. Especially as quickly as mine did. I'm going to monitor how long this relapse takes to rectify itself and pay close attention to what happens should there be another. The only thing that I can come up with that may have set it off this time was the fact that a woman I have been dating decided to cancel on me two days in a row, Friday and Saturday, after planning to get together for a couple of weeks. Frankly, it pissed me off. But of course, I couldn't tell her that. Suppressed rage? Perhaps.

 

Mrmarker, that would also piss me off - the cancellation of the dates. Dating can be very frustrating. I learned to not to get emotionally all too much involved until I really (face-to-face) learned to know the other person.
I think you should continue on the TMS path, sounds like you are on the right track ...good luck!

 

I wish I could find a TMS specialist in my area. But from my searches, there aren't even any in my state, or the state closest to me. I think I could really benefit from the psychotherapy side of things, as mentioned in Sarno's books. As I've got a slew of gripes from childhood and early adulthood that I'd love to air out, as well as the trait of being almost void of all emotion for about the past decade. I can't seem to come up with any reason for this. But during this time, I've taken the "water off a duck's back" approach. I never stopped to realize that all that water has to go somewhere. And I could be starting to drown in it.

 

You won’t drown in this water (emotions) - you will learn to swim!

 

It may be worth having a chat with one of Alan Gordon's people. Alan has contributed tons of free information to this site (including 2 programs) and many people have engaged in Skype sessions with his staff and experienced great success.

Here's the link to his centre:

http://www.painpsychologycenter.com (Pain Psychology Center)

 

Oh, thanks so much for that link and the pertinent info. I'll definitely look into Mr. Gordon and his folks. I'm in the midst of another relapse after surviving the last one. This one began to set in yesterday. And today I began experiencing the cold sensation in the feet and lower legs, as well as a a bit of numbness in the perineum area. I did however come to the realization that I was listening to a particular audiobook today at work that dealt with male/female romantic relationships and all the ins and outs that go along with them. A bit of a self help thing desperately trying to make sense of the one cosmic riddle that seems to be unsolvable. I'm wondering now, if this may have inadvertently caused the unconscious mind a bit of stress, as I've not had the best of luck with relationships over the span of my four decades on this planet. It's something to think about. As the symptoms intensified, the mind began to go into worry mode again. Worry about what underlying cause may be contributing to all of this. And desperately searching for a correlation. Be it food, drink, lack of exercise, posture, etc. I found it difficult to tell my mind to stop all of its nonsense today. But I'm hoping after a hopefully relaxing evening and a decent night's sleep, I'll have better luck tomorrow.