Please share your thoughts!

CMPD

CMPD

Newcomer
Hi!

I’m 28, and have had debilitating pain for the past 2.5 years. 2.5 years ago, I had suspected Baxter’s nerve entrapments in my feet. It was quite bad, but for the most part I was able to live my life. To see if that was the problem, I got bilateral cortisone injections in the Baxter’s nerve entrapment site. After the freezing wore off, I developed a new severe pain on the bottoms of my feet. It was like an electric shock and burning feeling, and was so bad that I had to have ice on my feet almost all the time, and started using a wheelchair. My life changed drastically. I’ve seen countless doctors and specialists, and no one knows why I reacted like that. Around the same time, I found out that I was pregnant. My foot pain persisted, but did start to get less intense. Eventually it was usually still there, but it wasn’t as intense and all-encompassing. Now, it’s still bad to the point that I can’t walk much (a couple of minutes usually), but it’s much less severe, and mostly right at the Baxter’s site, instead of also on the bottom. A doctor said that she saw inflammation around the Baxter’s site, and is confident that’s it’s Baxter’s entrapment. The only way to know for sure is to do the injections again and see if it helps. However, I’ve been worried to try an injection again since no one knows why I reacted as I did.

When I gave birth, my pain went away for a few days. I was on various medications for unrelated pregnancy issues, so assumed it went away because of that. After giving birth, my pain persisted at my episiotomy site for a while (longer than expected). It eventually got better, but I developed bad lower back/glute pain. I gave birth 20 months ago, and this pain has been for a year now. Sometimes the pain is a bit higher as well. I’ve been seeing various doctors and a few different physiotherapists throughout this. My physiotherapists think my problem is SI instability, and that strengthening the SI joint will help.


I recently read The MindBody Prescription and Healing Back Pain, and it seems like TMS could definitely be the problem with my back pain. It makes a lot of sense with my situation, personality, past, etc. However, I haven’t been able to find anything about Baxter’s nerve entrapment. Has anyone experienced this? Could this be TMS as well? Could TMS start to resolve on its own without realizing it’s TMS/therapy/etc.? If it is TMS, should the pain from my back and my feet go away as I follow the process?

Thank you! I’m so glad I found this forum!
 
Hi @CMPD. Your story really resonates—2.5 years of debilitating foot pain after those injections, shifting with pregnancy and birth, then back/glute issues with SI instability symptoms... that's a tough road, and it's brave you're exploring TMS after reading Sarno.

I had 'plantar fasciitis' (which has symptoms overlapping Baxter's, such as burning and heel pain) and 'sacro-iliac instability' myself (I wasn't pregnant), plus shifting symptoms. I skipped steroid injections or prolotherapy, and very gradually increased activity instead—and they resolved as TMS. My brain created the inflammation, flares, and equivalents that came and went.

TMS can mimic entrapments/instabilities, trigger swelling, and improve spontaneously (like your post-birth relief) without realizing it's mind-body until later. Feet and back pains can lift together as you learn about TMS—do mind/body work—and gradually resume activity.
 
Welcome @CMPD, I feel like this is a good place for you to be, so I'm glad you found us.

I echo @BloodMoon, and want emphasize that you don't want to get hung up on findings of "inflammation", because inflammation is a normal response of our immune system in the presence of stress. Blushing is a good example of inflammation - totally harmless, yet it causes even more emotional discomfort on top of the discomfort we already felt which caused the blushing to begin with. I ask you, what's the point of that!? Right?

SO - Stress is the name of the game here, whether we're dealing with outside stress, inner emotional distress, repression of emotional conflicts, close personal and relationship pressures , or existential world threats. Do a search on "stress and inflammation" and you'll find plenty of authoritative resources which confirm that they go hand in hand.

In other words, any physical response without a clear cause (such as a broken bone) should be questioned in relation to emotional stress. Heck, even a broken bone is subject to variable recovery depending on the emotional outlook of the patient - this is a phenomenon well known by medical practitioners.

If you are a naturally anxious person (everyone here is) then stress will be a significant contributor to many physical symptoms that don't seem to make sense. The Baxter's thing is probably not the first example if you look back over your life, even to early childhood.

We have a very helpful self-scheduled free program broken down into 42 easy-to-complete "days", perfect for a busy new mother to manage a few times a week. That seems like a long time but rushing through it and putting pressure on yourself with expectations of recovering as fast as possible is actually counter-productive. Listen to BloodMoon as you give yourself the gift of taking off the pressure, and accept that this will take a while. It's worth it.
Check it out: the Structured Educational Program on the main TMSWiki.org. There's no cost, no ads, no registration. It's just there when you can do it.

Keep us posted!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top