Some Question

Hi all! I'm on Day 9 of the SEP, though I'm not actually posting about today's activity specifically today. I'm actually looking for some guidance on some things that I'm a little unclear about. I've mentioned before that I believe TMS has manifested itself as chronic nausea for me. I experience some bloating, and other irregularities that have to do with my GI tract, so I've been diagnosed with IBS, which is what I'm trying to treat as a TMS problem, because it seems more logical to me. I definitely know that when I am extremely stressed or anxious about something I tend to have flare-ups. Yet on a day-to-day basis, I've had chronic nausea. It doesn't seem to change based on how I'm feeling/what I'm thinking about throughout the day, nor does it necessarily improve if I'm meditating/relaxed, or if I'm journaling about something stressful. I know that with the TMS approach, emotions are thought to be the trigger of our discomfort. So I'm finding difficulty linking the two, and therefore controlling this negative cycle of emotions to physical manifestations, when I don't see such a clear connection between the two. That's not to say I don't believe in the TMS diagnosis, because I do, but I am having difficulty in finding how the mind-body connection has worked for me personally. I've definitely identified some common themes in my journaling- the need to be a people-pleaser, the fear of being left behind, letting others down, and of course, the fear and anxiety surrounding my physical state. I guess I just have trouble seeing how this is all linked up to feeling sick on a day-to-day basis. Any advice, guidance, or shared experiences? Thanks everyone!

 

Hi dcl1597,

I don't know what you've done to diagnose the nausea, so I can't give you clear feedback that this is TMS. I guess you have done other background on this yourself.

I will say that with TMS, you don't always find a moment-to-moment correlation in the way you may be expecting here:

One reason we look for these correlations is that, as you suggest, it gives evidence and reassurance that it is TMS, because it fits a pattern that you can perceive. Another reason is that you can address it in the moment better, when you connect symptoms with emotional states.

So my feedback is don't worry that you are not finding a correlation or connection. Sometimes they are there, sometimes not. Also, sometimes people discover a subtle correlation that they did not notice earlier. But it is not needed to treat your symptoms as TMS. Just look for the TMS personality parts you do know, like being a people pleaser, or the general way your Inner Child might feel about events and the way you treat yourself, and mentally connect those as the cause of the nausea whenever it comes up. Then move your mind to something else. Mindless repetition works.

Andy B

 

Thank you so much for your reply, Andy B! To answer your first question, I've gotten some very extensive testing done on my stomach, all for my GI to suggest that there are no structural problems and that it is probably just IBS, which is why I suspect that it is TMS instead. It definitely is reassuring to hear that it isn't necessarily a moment-to-moment type of connection. I read somewhere that some people's bodies filter stress and tension that everyone deals with daily in different ways, and my body just responds with stomach trouble, so I just need to find a way to be a more balanced person generally, and I think the SEP exercises will help with that.