Pavlov dogs mechanism - getting crazy with globus

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Filipe2025

Peer Supporter
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.
 
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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.
 
Ellen said:
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.
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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 (đŸŽ¶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...đŸŽ¶).

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.
 
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Filipe2025 said:
Thanks Ellen, what is difficult for me is the type of symptom. It's in a vital area.
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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.
 
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BloodMoon said:
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.
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@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 😭😭😭
 
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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, feeling of lump, pain, tingling, etc.). The initial trigger can be tiny; the nervous system amplifies it.
 
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BloodMoon said:
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.
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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
 
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.
 
BloodMoon said:
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.
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Yep - in Dr Schubiner's new book there's a chapter dedicated to this, you won't get a better explanation than there :)
 
Filipe2025 said:
Now, how can I make my body forget it?
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This interview might help you understand that.

What Dr. Olds is saying here is that neuroscience recently discovered that the proteins that lock neural networks in the brain can be unlocked. It requires 3 things:
- electric activation of that network (like remembering the trauma)
- a mismatch of the danger prediction (for example, your anxiety told you you won't be able to get to the corner, but you go there and beyond)
- a safe environment

Then these proteins unlock themselves and you have a window of around 5 hours to update the information.

She also makes a point about it being easier said than done, mostly because the difficulty of feeling safe when these traumas get activated, but well, we know the work is hard.
 
What annoys me is that you are much more susceptible to negative thoughts, and you are flooded by them all day long. You live in a constant battle not to develope these brain patterns related to specific symptoms. That's why they talk about diseases all the time on TV. They want you to feel theses symptoms, through suggestion, so they advertise them. It's difficult to get rid of them, though. Your mind is your worst enemy.
 
Filipe2025 said:
They want you to feel theses symptoms, through suggestion, so they advertise them.
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Maybe, but personally I think not. Why? Because they simply don't need to do that to drum up business - an enormous amount of business is already there - the world is full of people suffering from mind-body/TMS symptoms (who don't realise that their symptoms are mind-body/TMS or they have rejected the notion)!

Filipe2025 said:
Your mind is your worst enemy.
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If by “mind” you mean brain, then no—it actually isn’t your worst enemy. It can absolutely feel like that (I certainly felt like that, especially when I was bedridden with my mind‑body/TMS symptoms). But the truth is that the brain creates symptoms because it’s trying to protect us and keep us safe. It’s resolvable. Our job is to show it that it doesn’t need to protect us quite so much—that we are actually safe and there’s no danger in feeling and expressing our emotions.

I’m looking forward to the day when, instead of getting stuck in a loop of feeling defeated and very critical of the world, other people, and life in general, you’re able to respond to some of the many suggestions people here offer in an “open to change” way—with something like, “Yes, that’s a good idea, I’ll try that.” (I say this because when people do suggest things, I've never seen you mention actually doing them or planning to.)

I’m not saying this to be nasty or to imply you’re ungrateful—you always thank people. I’m being blunt because, in my view, this shift is the only way you’re going to start to feel better and move towards recovery, and I genuinely want that for you. (And part of me even wonders if, a bit like Morrissey, your misery has become your “happy”.)
 
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BloodMoon said:
Maybe, but personally I think not. Why? Because they simply don't need to do that to drum up business - an enormous amount of business is already there - the world is full of people suffering from mind-body/TMS symptoms (who don't realise that their symptoms are mind-body/TMS or they have rejected the notion)!


If by “mind” you mean brain, then no—it actually isn’t your worst enemy. It can absolutely feel like that (I certainly felt like that, especially when I was bedridden with my mind‑body/TMS symptoms). But the truth is that the brain creates symptoms because it’s trying to protect us and keep us safe. It’s resolvable. Our job is to show it that it doesn’t need to protect us quite so much—that we are actually safe and there’s no danger in feeling and expressing our emotions.

I’m looking forward to the day when, instead of getting stuck in a loop of feeling defeated and very critical of the world, other people, and life in general, you’re able to respond to some of the many suggestions people here offer in an “open to change” way—with something like, “Yes, that’s a good idea, I’ll try that.” (I say this because when people do suggest things, I've never seen you mention actually doing them or planning to.)

I’m not saying this to be nasty or to imply you’re ungrateful—you always thank people. I’m being blunt because, in my view, this shift is the only way you’re going to start to feel better and move towards recovery, and I genuinely want that for you. (And part of me even wonders if, a bit like Morrissey, your misery has become your “happy”.)
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It is just frustration. I re-read people's comments on my threads several times. I even did some print screens of what you replied to me. I re-read them a lot of time. The truth is that you guys are the only people that understand what I mean.

Maybe what I write here, is expressive writing. I should do it privately , I guess, but I think people can learn from what I write, and forum
Users input, and realise that people are pretty much the same. When I write it makes me feel so much better.

I don't fear TMS anymore, nor it's many symptoms. The last time, I recovered 100% from TMS. This time I think I will recover 150%. But there are things that still annoys me like this obsession of my unconscious to not let go symptoms easily. I talk to my brain a lot, but I cannot change the world in which I live. You see, I hate RAP music, I hate people that don't know how to behave in public, people that are narcissistic, that listen music loudly, etc. It is stronger then me. I'm not immune to ostentation. I cannot stand the Kardashians, it messes with my ADN. I hate people that explore others, that think they are superior.

For instances, when you listen to the same music, over, and over again, you start hating it. It makes you feel rage. I remember the author of that cheesy song 'you're beautiful ", admitting that she now hates his song, and that he understands that it might irritates a lot of people. I ask why?

Anyway, yesterday I've seen a comic video of a very famous Portuguese comedian. The sketch has this name: "foreigners, please don't come". It makes me laugh a lot, because, I thought this avalanche of foreigners was only enraging me 😀

With age I feel it's more difficult to deal with the things we don't like. I remember my grandmother being shocked, and always complaining, when she saw people kissing in movies.

 
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