Pain, Mobility and Functioning...opinions please.

I'm well aware that TMS is a syndrome/strategy that uses pain as a distraction technique and I'm just wondering if it is just purely pain that most people seem to experience with their TMS?

As part of my attempting to recover I keep a list of all the discrepancies I find that would point away from my pain being caused by a structural issue. One of the things I frequently notice is that regardless of my pain level be it a day to day back burner level or a full on painful as hell flare I never actually suffer from any mobility or movement issues in the least...heck, I could go and run a marathon if it wasn't just for the pain.

As you may recall my pain may 'possibly' be coming from a benign neuroma that is in my back but even the traditional medical experts seem somewhat divided on this with nobody really saying yep it definitely is or isn't and it being suggested that it could well be an incidental/unrelated finding on my MRI ....bear in mind I also suffer from a barrel load of other TMS equivalents as well. Nobody is pushing surgery on me and I'm just really being monitored.

It just doesn't seem logical to me that pain can be generated by something like this and there be totally no compromise in function in any single way...my reflexes are fine, my flexibility fine, strength is fine etc etc, it just seems that when a flare up occurs from the top of my buttock, into my hip and down the side of my thigh etc just feel intensely painful...it seems to start as what I would describe as a tightening sensation as it just gets worse and worse this can last a day or a week and flares can come and go really quickly and like I say even at its worse I'm still able to move through a full range of movement etc with no worries whatsoever. It's strange as very often I feel stiff and whatever but this appears subjective as I can actually move fine and dandy...it is literally just the pain.

I'm just wondering if others experience this and see it as confirmation that their pain is likely to be from a non structural causation? I really do see it as weird as one one hand I take solace from it but then again if muscles and nerves were being starved of blood and oxygen as it the TMS thesis then surely this would cause actual objective stiffness and compromised mobility?

Thats for reading guys.

 

Hi Huckleberry, it seems that you still have doubts about TMS emotions causing your pains. So long as you think this, the pain will continue.
Dr, Sarno says, and I believe it, that MRIs may indicate structural problems but they may not cause pain, and the pain comes from our repressed emotions.
If you could run a marathon if it wasn't just for the pain, I don's suggest a full marathon, but do some running or whatever you like, hiking, jogging. Don't put a distance goal on it, just do it and enjoy it.

 

Huckleberry it seems that acceptance of pain being TMS is one of our hardest hurdles. I was fortunate tonseeva Dr here in NYC and yet there was still a part of me that says please this is ridiculous! Time has shown me that yes indeed my body is reacting to stress. I can actually feel the different sensations in my body when I'm stressed. So I have become a believer. Yes for sure there is a real body mind connection.

I practice Pilates almost every day. And every so often i get a sharp remindet but i keep going!! My teacher had TMS 15 or so years ago her movements today are beautiful... She although is body biomechanicly aware believes with all her heart that YES sometimes it is indeed our mind that wreaks havoc with our body.

It's not easy but we can do it!

Warmly, Susan

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

Walt. I do actually manage to exercise a fair bit...I have always been a runner but have had to curtail this hugely to a large extent due to the pain but do hike a fair amount (almost daily) when my pain isn't too bad. It is strange how hiking doesn't cause me pain but as soon as I try to run this causes me pain. I understand how this fits with the idea of conditioning.

Susan. Oh, I totally 100% believe that pain can be generated through a mind/body process but as is often the case with so many of us I struggle with believing 100% that MY pain is being caused by a mind/body process. I am well aware that I intellectualise the whole TMS process and try to box everything off when this can't always be done. It was the TMS therapist I saw who mentioned to keep the list of those things that could reinforce as to why my pain was TMS and the thing about functionality etc was just one of those things. He asked me to do this to try and convince me of the TMS diagnosis as he knows this is where I struggle.

 

I've had back pain that falls into both categories. I've had outright back spasms that greatly restrict mobility, but more often my back just hurts, with no other symptoms, just as you describe. I have come to recognize both as TMS. My unconscious loves to create stand-alone pain -- it has done so in most of the body parts that I have at one time or another.

 

I have a client that had/ still sometimes has pain around her gluteus medius (which is the side of her buttocks) it was at one time debilating to her she went to PTs MRIs acupuncture didn't workout and long story short nothing worked but to ignore it...that has worked best. She is TMS personified!!!
Believe!!!

 

Ah, the insidious nature of TMS pain!! I've had years of success in banishing pains in many different locales in my body, but my unconscious is so darned sneaky that it manages to throw me a curve every once in a while! My biggest difficulty is in determining if the latest source of pain is an depression of TMS or not. At this point, I should just assume that it is!
Hang in there, Huckleberry! We're ALL learners when it comes to TMS!

 

Thanks for the replies again all.

The madness of this all. I just don't get the flare ups at all. It is truly amazing how a pain flare up can just strike out of the blue in what literally feels like a split second and then can randomly disappear just as quickly as it started with zero rhyme or reason as to why it should happen. Crazy.

 

Yes, it can be maddening. But I believe that there's always a reason for a flare-up. Something triggers it.

 

I'm chiming in because I've been struggling badly lately with nothing but nerve pain in my low back and now it's spread to my legs. I'm scared. All my blood wrk came back normal. I haven't had an MRI in 5 years. I am a long time sufferer of anxiety and am afraid I may have to go back on meds. I have to get through the workdays. I'm afraid I may have to stop teaching fitness, too. Has anybody noticed any if these patterns? I desperately need some encouragement. I think what scares me is before it feltike muscle tension only in my back but now it's nerve pain and it's spreading.

 

I agree that would make sense David but I never seem to be able to pin anything down...either from a physical or mental/emotional viewpoint. My stress levels are pretty much always high yet when I get a flare I never seem to be able to identify an increase in stress or whatever. The only thing I can really thing of is that it may be that I feel somewhat better and as a result I fear another flare and almost bring it on myself...like a self fulfilling prophecy. I don't really think this happens so much on a conscious level though.

 

This aspect is a big thing for me as well. I was a big runner but my pain allows me to hike but not to run and this has almost threatened what feels like my core identity. Before this began I was considering training for a career in outdoors work but feel that I am no longer able to do this. I am currently not working and need to find a new job and return to work soon and having to do this whilst having the pain makes me concerned for my future...it is stress upon stress really.

 

I agree there is always a reason until there no longer is one!