Tinnitus as TMS

[Mani]

I have some questions abouy tinnitus as TMS. If tinnitus is tms, then why do so many people with hearing loss get tms? Is tinnitus as a result of sound incident still tms? Same questions with hyperacusis.

Thanks

 

[Cactusflower]

@Mani
Tinnitus is pretty much very well documented as TMS.
Doubt and focus on the physical is also part of TMS (and part of OCD thoughts).
People with "hearing loss" are not particularly documented over other kinds of TMS. "So Many" is kind of relative. When Dr. Sarno was working, back pain was the most common symptom he saw - but it was also something common to his particular medical specialty. As time went on, his protogees and colleagues often found that there were many other common forms of TMS that were always given "medical" diagnoses and medically treated eg. digestive disorders, tinnitus, fibromyalgia, and other things...but through their work with their clients it was pretty clear that most of the patients were folks with TMS.

You asked about the physical trigger: an incident that you attribute to "causing" the hearing issue - the trigger is usually just a convenient method of grasping your attention. You've documented many other physical manifestations of TMS in your life...so the question is why would it not be your hearing after a loud trigger? The trigger does not mean it caused any "damage" - which you've said your doctors have all ruled out. You have no hearing damage, you have no hearing loss correct? It just FEELS like this is the case because your brain as latched on to this sensation.
Your hearing issues are 100% equal to my symptoms. I've over come many of them because they didn't frighten me nor really get my attention. Once I learned about TMS it was easy for me to just say "oh, TMS" when I would sense them - and they go away. Because I'm not focus or fixated on "fixing" them - I don't believe they are any big deal nor a health concern or anything scary. However my back pain - triggered several times in a row to begin with - got my attention and frightened me. Add to that the associations I've made over the years that build up into some kind of a story line in the head. You've got one: you make certain associations that have you hiding in attics and cellars.
If you had simply heard a noise and felt a sensation and did not have other TMS associations with it - it wouldn't be your main symptom at all...but I believe you'd still have some sort of symptom because TMS is not about the symptom at all. It's about the anxiety, fear etc. That is why we work on those areas and stop focusing on cause and effect. Completing the SEP is a great way to work on the psychological aspects of TMS - the true cause of the mechanism.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

Don't ever forget, @Mani, that every single sensation, every single process, and therefore every single symptom, is created by the brain. It is NOT created in the body part where we think we sense it.

This is why a victim of amputation can continue to feel the pain of the injury that happened to their limb, long after the limb has been removed. The pain is exactly the same as the original pain, because it is generated by the exact same brain process.

Phantom limb pain used to be a medical mystery, but modern neuroscience has managed to explain it. It is now a neuroscientific fact.

Don't get hung up on the details of asking "what causes this or that?". That's just the primitive TMS part of your brain, always trying to keep you in fear and doubt. You have to learn to be smarter and more rational than it is.

 

[Cactusflower]

Quote today from SIRPA UK

"It can be useful to ask ourselves at this point when we're experiencing those fearful thoughts about our symptoms, whether having these thoughts are actually helpful, and whether something more supportive such as saying "I'm simply feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment, and that's ok" could be more useful."

 

[Mani]

@Mani
Tinnitus is pretty much very well documented as TMS.
Doubt and focus on the physical is also part of TMS (and part of OCD thoughts).
People with "hearing loss" are not particularly documented over other kinds of TMS. "So Many" is kind of relative. When Dr. Sarno was working, back pain was the most common symptom he saw - but it was also something common to his particular medical specialty. As time went on, his protogees and colleagues often found that there were many other common forms of TMS that were always given "medical" diagnoses and medically treated eg. digestive disorders, tinnitus, fibromyalgia, and other things...but through their work with their clients it was pretty clear that most of the patients were folks with TMS.

You asked about the physical trigger: an incident that you attribute to "causing" the hearing issue - the trigger is usually just a convenient method of grasping your attention. You've documented many other physical manifestations of TMS in your life...so the question is why would it not be your hearing after a loud trigger? The trigger does not mean it caused any "damage" - which you've said your doctors have all ruled out. You have no hearing damage, you have no hearing loss correct? It just FEELS like this is the case because your brain as latched on to this sensation.
Your hearing issues are 100% equal to my symptoms. I've over come many of them because they didn't frighten me nor really get my attention. Once I learned about TMS it was easy for me to just say "oh, TMS" when I would sense them - and they go away. Because I'm not focus or fixated on "fixing" them - I don't believe they are any big deal nor a health concern or anything scary. However my back pain - triggered several times in a row to begin with - got my attention and frightened me. Add to that the associations I've made over the years that build up into some kind of a story line in the head. You've got one: you make certain associations that have you hiding in attics and cellars.
If you had simply heard a noise and felt a sensation and did not have other TMS associations with it - it wouldn't be your main symptom at all...but I believe you'd still have some sort of symptom because TMS is not about the symptom at all. It's about the anxiety, fear etc. That is why we work on those areas and stop focusing on cause and effect. Completing the SEP is a great way to work on the psychological aspects of TMS - the true cause of the mechanism.

I guess this is not so much about me but more about TMS as a whole. I have this with the Bible too. How did this happen? With religion there is also the fact that it is either real or not, theres not really an inbetween. People will tell you to just 'have faith' 'be more faithful'. I have always felt like this is too easy of a cop out.

I just wonder: has TMS been fully figured out? I dont have hearing loss, my ear is fine. Thus, it doesnt really apply to me. Why does hearing loss cause tinnitus if its TMS? You should see folks in the army, they all have tinnitus. I just think maybe theres more to this than weve figured out. Maybe i also dont really understand tms well enough, maybe no one does. I just like to understand stuff. This has been the only logical issue that I've found. Its tinnitus, why do military folks all have tinnitus if its just TMS?

 

[BloodMoon]

@Mani
Military tinnitus can begin with genuine noise exposure, but plenty of vets pass hearing tests while dealing with persistent ringing due to nervous system dysregulation—compounded by their heavy load of stress, anger, trauma, and a fearful brain that sees danger everywhere and feels chronically unsafe. You don't need to be in the military to experience this—our primitive brains haven't evolved much, treating everyday modern day stressors like traffic or deadlines as life-threatening dangers (as if we are being attacked by lions).

Consider blindness: someone might have flawless eyes and optic nerves yet see nothing because of Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) where stress or trauma glitches the brain's signal interpretation, leaving hardware intact. Think of it as a software glitch in brain processing, not hardware failure in eyes (or ears).

TMS works the same way for tinnitus/hyperacusis: Your ears check out fine, but a primitive fearful brain—stuck seeing danger and feeling unsafe, plus bottled-up stress or anger—cranks up tension to distract from real emotions that the brain feels if expressed could threaten survival (expressing anger may risk losing care from loved ones or getting fired). This uses neuroplasticity, the brain's rewiring power. It's no dodge; FND therapy retrains the brain like TMS does with journaling and other mind/body techniques that cause mindset shifts.

 

[Mani]

@Mani
Military tinnitus can begin with genuine noise exposure, but plenty of vets pass hearing tests while dealing with persistent ringing due to nervous system dysregulation—compounded by their heavy load of stress, anger, trauma, and a fearful brain that sees danger everywhere and feels chronically unsafe. You don't need to be in the military to experience this—our primitive brains haven't evolved much, treating everyday modern day stressors like traffic or deadlines as life-threatening dangers (as if we are being attacked by lions).

Consider blindness: someone might have flawless eyes and optic nerves yet see nothing because of Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) where stress or trauma glitches the brain's signal interpretation, leaving hardware intact. Think of it as a software glitch in brain processing, not hardware failure in eyes (or ears).

TMS works the same way for tinnitus/hyperacusis: Your ears check out fine, but a primitive fearful brain—stuck seeing danger and feeling unsafe, plus bottled-up stress or anger—cranks up tension to distract from real emotions that the brain feels if expressed could threaten survival (expressing anger may risk losing care from loved ones or getting fired). This uses neuroplasticity, the brain's rewiring power. It's no dodge; FND therapy retrains the brain like TMS does with journaling and other mind/body techniques that cause mindset shifts.

This is great, thanks