Hi Jason,
I was looking through your old posts and saw that you thought that your TMS was probably more to do with sensitization than due to repressed emotions . Did you find that to be the case in the end? If so, what particular things did you do on a day to day basis that helped you the most to cure yourself? (I ask because I don't think I've got repressed emotions - I seem to experience them fully in my body without having to journal etc.) Thanks in advance.
Yeah I'm the same way- I feel if anything, I'm too emotional. In the early days when I first got into this I did exactly what Sarno said- journaling, etc. and it did absolutely nothing. Then I started reading Lorimer Moseley, Dr Clauw, etc. who talk about Central Sensitization, where the brain still processes pain even after an injury has healed. Elaine Aron's "Highly Sensitive Person" takes it even a step further and fit me well too (like with the sensitivity to bright lights, certain sounds, crowded cities, etc). But none of the sensitization stuff can explain why, for example, I developed terrible chest pain shortly after getting rid of PN. Or why, after the chest pain was evaluated and determind to be nothing, I then suddenly developed terrible headaches and vertigo (also evaluated and determined to be nothing). There must be some sort of strategy at work here to keep me distracted or afraid.
Some of my symptoms were clearly tied to an event but I didn't see it at the time- for example, five years ago when we moved into our new house, I developed terrible ear pain and fullness whenever I was inside. I insisted I must be allergic to something in the house. After the ENT could find nothing wrong and literally told me I was getting ear pain because I was probably stressed out and unconsciously clenching my jaw, it vanished almost overnight. I was clearly just stressed over the move, but I didn't see it at the time. Same thing this past June, when I developed dental pain right before a trip that I was worried about (it disappeared after the long flight was over). Even right now, I'm currently dealing with some allergy symptoms- is it really coming from our newly adopted pair of rabbits? Because we had a pet rabbit for ten years before that, and I never had symptoms. But maybe only certain animals can give me allergies. Or maybe the high levels of mold spores outside due to record rainfall. See? It always gives me something I can sorta buy into. The primary purpose seems to be fear.
The trouble with PN was that once I was given the all clear, it didn't go away because I found the Pudendal Hopeless forum, all full of stories of people like me who were told there was nothing wrong with them and all the tests were normal. And then you read that PN doesn't show on tests and there are only a handful of smart Doctors and PT's who know about the condition- only they can help you and oh, by the way, none of them take insurance either. (Seriously stay away from that place, if you've ever been there). And I had an initial injury just like Ezer that could "explain everything" (again, TMS always tries to give me something that has a semi-plausible explanation).
So there has to be more at work than just a brain sensitivity issue. The idea that TMS is fear and distraction does seem to make sense. The best thing to do is get it evaluated (especially if its a serious symptom) and then ignore it if nothing is found. It's why I said to find a good primary care Dr- one of the things they're best at IMHO is figuring out whether something needs to be looked at by a specialist or whether its nothing to worry about.
So day to day, how I got over PN was basically ignore it completely. Don't even try saying "today I am NOT going to focus on my PN" because that's like saying "I do NOT want you to think of a red ball" - what's the first thing that just popped into your head now? LOL Trying to figure out the how and why just fuels it. As I said before, I think some of us have brains capable of generating symptoms. Is it genetics? Childhood trauma? I have no idea.
Also don't fall into the trap of thinking you're "too severe" to be TMS- last year I was in nearly 10/10 pain and looking at a lifetime of disability and now I've been sitting here typing this with zero pain...
Hope this helps.