TMS flare-up after months

Hello! This is my first time back on the forum after a couple months. I thought I had successfully conquered TMS. I knew it would always try to worm its way back in, but I thought I had the tools to push it back down. I've had little flare-ups that have tried to make me doubt myself, but I've always come up feeling victorious in the end. However, this morning, I found myself googling "back pain coughing" and I knew TMS had taken ahold of me because I was questioning whether my pain was TMS.
Last week, I was really stressed at work, but I was really looking forward to a dear friend's wedding over the weekend. Suddenly, on Tuesday, I began to feel a cold coming on. I had just spent a couple days around my niece and nephew, and I often pick up their colds, so I was really concerned about being sick for the wedding. So I pumped my body full of vitamins and supplements and I managed to ward off the worst of the cold- with the exception of a lost voice and a tickle in my throat. I also decided to take a few days off from my daily workouts so that my body could rest and all my resources could go towards healing from the cold. I had a wonderful time at the wedding, but when I woke up the next day, my voice was worse and the tickle in my throat had turned into a cough. I'm now on day three of this annoying incessant cough, and every time I cough, I have pain across my lower back. For the most part, I only feel the pain when I cough, though I had a couple periods in my day yesterday when I felt it at other times.
Has this ever happened to anyone else? How did you deal with it? I have to admit, I've always had a fear of some horrible disc problem, and so there is a little voice in the back of my mind that keeps saying, "what if you blew a disc from coughing?" But I know that voice is TMS making me fear and doubt. Just goes to show what a sneaky beast TMS can be. I guess it's time I got back to journaling again. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

Hi Kris,
I can relate to the little voice in the back of your/my mind saying, "what if ????" Creating doubt, creating fear . . . which of course is going to feed the TMS cycle. For me, googling any symptoms usually makes me more afraid because of the long list of things that it "might" be. It sounds to me like you know what is going on, you know how to defeat TMS, AND you've done it before - and that means you can do it again! What approaches worked for you before? There are many different techniques, but how about sticking with what you know will work for you - you can be more confident using the same techniques that have led you to success in the past. I think it sounds like you already have the wisdom you need to succeed again! Best wishes!

 

Hi. Kris and everyone. I'm 85 and was born a worrier. I can worry a hangnail into losing my arm. TMS has helped me to deal with this
unwarranted fear. I am better now at not "catasrophizing." Fear only feeds the TMS cycle, as Sunny so wisely says. In times of challenge,
I tell myself, "I can do this. It's a piece of cake."

What I worried about last week and even yesterday did not happen, and things look better.

Kris, as Sunny also says, you healed before with TMS knowledge, you can heal again. Your immune system was probably weakened by work or other stresses and wanting to enjoy the wedding, and you picked up cold germs from the kids. But the reason you got the cold was very likely because of TMS anxieties, especially fear your voice problem would get worse. Gargling with salt water, soaking your feet in a warm tub with some Epsom salts
probably could have lessened the cold or got rid of it. And positive thinking and deep breathing. Epspm salts adds magnesium to the body and I've read that we're all deficient in it because the fruits and veggies we eat, even the most healthy of them, are grown today in soil deficient in magnesium.

But I do think your cold and voice problem came on because you were under emotional stress. Try to relax more and do and think of things that give you pleasure. I had colds all the time years ago, until I changed jobs 4o years ago and hardly ever get a cold anymore.