Post-exercise muscle stiffness & shortness of breath

I'm 35 years old and I have upper back pain & ribs pain, anxiety and extreme fatigue for couple of months. More recently I developed severe neck pain and TMJ as well.
I have noticed that 2 days after even extremely gentle exercise (lets say 15 minutes walk) I feel that my ribs are tight and I hardly take a deep breath.. This experience is terrifying and it does not seem to resonate with TMS. Its seems so medical - tissue related as I feel good and motivated at the beginning of the walk but at the end I feel worse no matter what was my mindset..

I completed most medical tests, including basic cardiovascular ones (EKG, blood tests, chest x-ray) and many other kinds yet the doctors don't know what is the source of my pains.
One Rheumatologist, however, suspects that I may have Ankylosing Spondylitis or CFS (which explains post-exercise soreness). The gene test for AS (hlab27) is negative but I may have still inflammation in my chest joints as part of AS or other kinds of Autoimmune Arthritis. No actual diagnosis is made yet.

I wonder whether TMS can be the cause of such post-exercise chest stiffness and pain? Is it possible that TMS, and not Arthritis or heart disease, causes these symptoms and shortness of breath after just 15 minutes walk?
These symptoms have nothing to do with usual post-exercise spasm and cannot be explained by any exertion scale or other "normal" idea shown in youtube as I had never experienced such chest stiffness when I was healthy (including after long periods of not doing sport at all).

I am aware that I have a TMS personality and have been through tough time just before the start of my pains.
I do realize that sometimes the rib stiffness/neck/TMJ pain are triggered also by suppressing anger and frustration. I'm working with the TMS structured program and have read Sarno's book but It still difficult for me to believe that TMS is causing such symptoms.

I would welcome any insights on this issue,

 

With the multiplicity of your symptoms alongside anxiety and fear and unremarkable medical test results, I would say TMS is definitely a consideration with you. The mind will find symptoms that are believable in order to cause the distraction through fear.

You are doing the right things to sort this out so I would suggest completing the structured program and also take a look at Alan Gordon's recovery program on this website. Work on staying calm, either way this will help the most.

 

I was misdiagnosed with that as well. You have TMS. Dr. Sarno said he had never seen a case of Anklosying Spondilytis that wasn't TMS. Its one of those bs, wastebasket diagnoses. The more doctors you see in the medical mill, the more labels you will get. Until you get off that merry go round you will only reinforce the doubt and fear, which is the fuel for TMS.

 

Thank you both for your comments.
miffybunny - it is interesting what you said on Sarno's approach to AS..
Do you have a reference for that?
I think that there is one related to Spondylosis which is a different syndrome (degeneration of the intervertebral disks but not spine inflammation).
Older post in this forum cited Dr. Hubiner saying that inflammation can cause pain and other symptoms
but many times doctors diagnose inflammation when actually there is none. In this cases it is absolutely TMS.
The question remains - how to know whether it is a real inflammation in the spine or TMS?

 

Hi again !

I can't find the exact quote but I paraphrased it. If you search on the wiki, Nichole Sachs, who is a therapist and writer, was diagnosed with AS as well. Also Norman Cousins, who wrote "Anatomy of an Illness" overcame this. It's all TMS. As far as inflammation, Sarno discusses this concept a lot. Acute inflammation happens right after an injury. Sarno has debunked the idea of chronic inflammation. I think this is another false belief we have in society.

 

Hello! I’m new here and have minor CFS symptoms. I don’t have exhaustion, but ribcage tightness shortness of breath and mild lightheadedness (although that went away after doing therapy for it). It’s refreshing to read your perspective and I’m inclined to agree that this is definitely a mind body disorder. Do you have any other advice or insight?

 

Hi @SeattleJ213 ,

In general just believe you are totally fine, because you are,... don't worry about what the symptoms are doing, don't avoid normal activities and "triggers", deal with the underlying emotions/inner conflicts, that caused your brain to create this defense in the first place, and just trust the process. If you implement Dr. Sarno's rules, you will get better!

 

Thanks again! Yeah I had a follow up pulmonary function test (a year after the first one) and my lungs are completely normal. TMS is the only option at this point. Knowing about TMS cured my dizziness but the lung sensation has persisted for a year

 

I had the same thing and it’s definitely TMS. How are you now?