Symptom Imperative ALMOST Got ME..

Hi Everyone,

Happy New Year!

Haven't been on here in years because well, I learned how to live and stand up to my headaches/migraines and they have been drastically reduced (and when they do come on, I float through it).

Came here to say something about how crazy and bizarre the symptom imperative is. About a week before the holidays I had a scratchy throat that turned into a sore throat and what felt like a bit of a chest cold. With COVID19 and Christmas approaching, I called my doctor and she said likely just a cold but she put in a test.

Well a few days before the test, I had a scary incident where my dog attacked one of my parents dogs out of the blue with no triggers and my parents were so shaken up and emotional they suggested putting the dog down. I bawled my eyes out for a whole day, felt so much guilt, shame, sadness and anger as a pet owner and the thought of losing the only companion that's been with me and didn't sleep for a whole day and a migraine came on (clearly emotional stress). Part of me also felt guilty for even having the thoughts and feelings that if this were to happen, I would be free of responsibility. I went back and had a serious talk with my parents and decided on different options before I talked to my vet (training, muzzle for when he's at their house) and they also agreed and mentioned they were emotional at the time. I called my vet and she 100% agreed with me too.

Fast forward to my COVID test I took the next day, which came back negative, being shaken up by that traumatic incident into Christmas and I still had a sore throat but no other symptoms. A few of my old behaviors of getting to the answer started creeping up and a few days ago I went to my local urgent care for a strep throat test which also came back negative and they said my tonsils/mouth look great.

So what could this be? After 3 weeks of this, I messaged my doctor in a bit of a concerned state (again an old fear pattern resurfacing) and called my ENT (whom I can't see for another month) and my PCP took a look and suggested it's silent reflux (which I know is TMS) and prescriped Famotidine (Pepcid) to take and restricting acidic foods.

I said eh whatever, I'll take it for a little bit and give it a try. Funny thing is when I took it, I could feel like this weird anxiety like feeling in my chest and a weird sensation in my throat, but the thing is...my sore throat went away. Then the chest feeling would go away and the sore throat would come back. Then today I felt a little sinus pressure/minor headache on the side of my head..but there is no sore throat. Then when my head feels fine..I have a sore throat. Symptoms were moving around back and. forth from each other.

It was at this point I was like I know what's going on and I know what you're doing, this is TMS. I know this was triggered by the emotional event with my dog and parents and I had a pep talk with myself in the shower, just saying "so what." I'm still going to follow my healthy diet I have been eating the past 3-4 months, workout, enjoy the things I like and refused to live in fear like I did when I got my first migraine 3 years ago. I came to the decision that the only way for the sore throat to really go away is to stand up to it.

Just thought I'd share and reminisce on how grateful I am to have found Sarno and this TMS work.

 

Hey there @MusicMan11, I remember you! And thank you for this excellent New Year's gift, which is a great reminder of how powerful and tricky our fearful brains can be! Like you, I've been experiencing multiple new and weird symptoms, which come and go as my willingness to give them attention rises and falls.

I have to laugh, though. I was surprised when you said it had been years, so I just had to see how long it really was, and it seems that we last heard from you in the summer of 2019 - well of course that was back in another era, wasn't it? It certainly seems like years ago.

Welcome to 2021, and thanks again for the update