Pavlov dogs mechanism - getting crazy with globus

[Filipe2025]

Hi,

It's been a while since I last posted here (just kidding).

As some of you know, this year I had all sort of TMS symptoms. Dizziness, atrial fibrillation, burning sensations all over my body, depression, head aches, despersonalization, insomnia, etc, but the most annoying, the one that started all this new TMS chapter in my life, it is still here, and that is the Globus hystericus. The sensation feels like I have a shweing gum stuck in my throat. It won't go away except for some very small periods.

I did all the exams, and don't have nothing blocking my throat, so I'm quite sure it is a muscle spasm, although when I try to relax the muscle tension in my faringe it doesn't feel any better.

I had the same thing with my arms, 17 years ago, when i discover TMS, but eventually It was easy to forgot it, but the problem is that when you feel a choking sensation, like globus, it is very difficult to forget it, because it affects your breathing.

So, let's just forget the TMS and emotions, and let's just focus on why the body seem to learn these strange nervous behaviours, the brain wiring.

My Globus started immediately after i look in the mirror and realised that my tooth fell down almost completely. That was the exact moment when the somatization begins. I look, saw that I didn't have the second molar in my mouth, panic, and the Globus started.

Now, how can I make my body forget it? How can I break this pattern? When I wake up, I don't feel this Globus, but then I remember it, after some minutes, and bingo! There it is. You need to breath, so you check if you feel your throat smothering you, or not. If it's not, if you don't feel something stuck in your throat, it sure starts. The "good" old globus came here to stay...

I believe it's the same mechanism as when a guy that is about to have sex, and thinks for merely some seconds "what if I lose my erection, now"?

There are guys that when are about to put a condom, have this same problem. They somehow connect The act of puting a condom to loosing erection . Why does your body seems to do what you are afraid of? It seem to do the opposite of what you want. It seems like your body works fine, but only if you catch him off guard. When you think about a certain annoying symptom like globus, it immediately come back, your body recreates it.

Like the pavlov dogs experience, that started salivating when they heard the bell ringing. In my case, my Globus starts and keeps on going every time I think about it, which is almost all day long, because it is an annoying, and it is related with something scary, that is, to lose your ability to breath and asfixiante

Thanks you.

 

[Ellen]

What you are describing is a conditioned response. I had this when I had migraine headaches and I was able to interrupt the conditioning by using the following technique. I used my logical, rational conscious brain to override the unconscious, illogical connection. Whenever I started feeling the very first signs of a headache coming, I would use logic to reason with my unconscious. I talked to my brain. I'd speak like a parent talking to a misbehaving child--firm, but not unkind. I'd say "There is no logical reason for me to have a headache. It's not necessary or needed. So just stop it, Brain! Stop it now!" Eventually this worked. I know it sounds overly simplistic, but it worked for me.

You have to get your higher, logical brain in charge of your life. You can do this.

 

[Filipe2025]

What you are describing is a conditioned response. I had this when I had migraine headaches and I was able to interrupt the conditioning by using the following technique. I used my logical, rational conscious brain to override the unconscious, illogical connection. Whenever I started feeling the very first signs of a headache coming, I would use logic to reason with my unconscious. I talked to my brain. I'd speak like a parent talking to a misbehaving child--firm, but not unkind. I'd say "There is no logical reason for me to have a headache. It's not necessary or needed. So just stop it, Brain! Stop it now!" Eventually this worked. I know it sounds overly simplistic, but it worked for me.

You have to get your higher, logical brain in charge of your life. You can do this.

Thanks Ellen, what is difficult for me is the type of symptom. It's in a vital area.

I remember when I first have TMS, my elbows start snapping. Everytime I was distracted I start bending my elbows, to see if they still snap. If I was quickly enough , and somehow got my inner child off guarded, they didn't snap, but some seconds later, when my inner child got to know what I was doing, they stat snapping again and it would stay like that way no matter what I did. It's like if I had a small child inside me that is just trying to irritate me (I can't hear you, I can't hear you. I do what I want. You are not my boss, you're not my boss...).

How cant science for once say that there are actually two people inside of us... The father/mother and its spoiled child, with its many whims.

 

[BloodMoon]

Thanks Ellen, what is difficult for me is the type of symptom. It's in a vital area.

Talking to your brain will work whether your mind-body/TMS symptom is in a "vital area" or non-vital area - that's just your 'lizard' TMSing brain throwing up excuses and keeping your conscious mind in defeatist mode. Talking to your brain is one of the best ways of drowning out and overruling your inner child's protestations; essentially, your brain will eventually get the message - that you are not in danger and there is nothing to fear and so it doesn't need to keep giving you symptoms - that is, if you persist with talking to it. From my and others' experience, Dr Sarno was completely right about that, but it usually takes time, so patience is requred. If you keep experimenting with what you say to it, you'll hit on what your particular brain responds to best. (With my brain, for instance, it responds to: "Don't be ridiculous!") And then, as I say, you need to be persistent with talking to your brain and I mean persistent... it won't work if you don't regularly talk to your brain.

 

[Filipe2025]

Talking to your brain will work whether your mind-body/TMS symptom is in a "vital area" or non-vital area - that's just your 'lizard' TMSing brain throwing up excuses and keeping your conscious mind in defeatist mode. Talking to your brain is one of the best ways of drowning out and overruling your inner child's protestations; essentially, your brain will eventually get the message - that you are not in danger and there is nothing to fear and so it doesn't need to keep giving you symptoms - that is, if you persist with talking to it. From my and others' experience, Dr Sarno was completely right about that, but it usually takes time, so patience is requred. If you keep experimenting with what you say to it, you'll hit on what your particular brain responds to best. (With my brain, for instance, it responds to: "Don't be ridiculous!") And then, as I say, you need to be persistent with talking to your brain and I mean persistent... it won't work if you don't regularly talk to your brain.

@BloodMoon, from what I said, do you think this Globus is TMS? I mean, the sensation started immediately. I still remember. I was brushing my teeth, then, my tooth fell, like a Piece of Lego, that detaches from another . I look, and there was no tooth left, except the root of the molar. Immediately, I felt the sensation on the back of my throat till this day. In the begining I still thought my tooth got stuck in my throat, but it was in the lavatory, complete. I felt a feeling of panic, and fear. I thought, what if my teeth start falling as easy as this one did? Do somatization starts in a split second?

Sorry, sometimes Im completely sure this is TMS, but it is such a awful symptom. Also, I did all the exams. I don't have a medical condition that justifies this. After one year this crazy symptom is stil here, and it's driving me crazy

 

[BloodMoon]

What you describe fits very well with it being mind-body/TMS, especially given the sudden onset during a panic moment, the normal exams (as always the onus is on you to have got yourself fully checked out medically as I am not a medic) and the persistence for a year without a structural cause.

Somatisation can start in seconds. The brain can switch into a “danger” mode in a split second; the body then produces real physical sensations (tightness, lump, pain, tingling, etc.). The initial trigger can be tiny; the nervous system amplifies it.

 

[Filipe2025]

What you describe fits very well with it being mind-body/TMS, especially given the sudden onset during a panic moment, the normal exams (as always the onus is on you to have got yourself fully checked out medically as I am not a medic) and the persistence for a year without a structural cause.

Somatisation can start in seconds. The brain can switch into a “danger” mode in a split second; the body then produces real physical sensations (tightness, lump, pain, tingling, etc.). The initial trigger can be tiny; the nervous system amplifies it.

Thanks a lot for your explanation. But what is suggestion? After I got to know about TMS, I stop listening to people when they talk about diseases, and symptoms, because I immediately start feeling those symptoms. My body starts to mimic those symptoms. At the light of TMS theory , why does the body does this? Why do most of the future doctors start feeling all the diseases they are studying? Thabks

 

[BloodMoon]

What you’re describing is classic ‘medical student syndrome’ / nocebo. In TMS terms, your brain is in a slightly heightened threat mode, so when you hear about a symptom it starts scanning for it and turns up normal sensations. And you already know what you can do about that… talk to your brain. It will retrain the response over time.

 

[Adam Coloretti (coach)]

What you’re describing is classic ‘medical student syndrome’ / nocebo. In TMS terms, your brain is in a slightly heightened threat mode, so when you hear about a symptom it starts scanning for it and turns up normal sensations. And you already know what you can do about that… talk to your brain. It will retrain the response over time.

Yep - in Dr Schubiner's new book there's a chapter dedicated to this, you won't get a better explanation than there