TMS more severe in people with autism?

I’m a 35 year old male with high functioning autism (Aspergers). I’m an extremely emotionally sensitive person and have always been predisposed to psychological issues like social anxiety and depression. I figure my TMS is so persistent and severe because my nervous system is so highly sensitive. I’ve been suffering from TMS symptoms for many years in the form of back pain and migraines and have been successful for the most part in making them go away. However, this last year I’ve been suffering from severe depression, anxiety, and obsessive thinking that I’ve come to identify as TMS. I realize the reason I can’t improve this time is because unlike my physical symptoms, I can’t tend to the depression and anxiety without reacting with fear and obsession. It’s seriously so bad I’d take migraines and back pain over these mental issues any day! Anyways, I’m wondering if taking anxiety medication could potentially improve my symptoms and make my brain feel more “safe” by forcing it to calm down. My brain is just so hypersensitive due to my autism that I don’t think doing therapy alone is enough. Or is it likely that taking meds will simply cause the symptom imperative and convert my symptoms into physical ones? Any thoughts?

 

Hi @Davideus85 - long time no see, and I'm sorry you're struggling so much. I sense that you may have lost sight of the need to find some compassion and kindness for yourself, which I believe (having a brother with high-functioning autism) is probably harder for you than for others.

I would really urge you to remember that 2020 was a complete garbage dump of a year, and that anxiety, depression, and TMS setbacks are at epidemic levels right now. None of us are immune.

I don't personally have experience with meds, but I know exactly what you're talking about when you say that mental symptoms can be worse than physical ones. Anxiety almost disabled me back in 2011, which was also the first time in my life, at age 60, that I experienced real depression, and it scared the living daylights out of me. Thankfully I discovered Dr. Sarno and this forum just in time. But as you know, success doesn't mean cured, because TMS is a built-in mechanism of the human brain and not something that can be cured. It can be managed, and a lot of people were doing pretty well until 2020. The pandemic on top of a combination of other stressors put me over the edge last year, culminating in a diagnosis of RA in June, which I believe is stress-based. So now that I've got a physical and measurable condition, I have to be a good patient and take the meds or risk serious damage to my joints and heart. But I've got remission in my vision of a better future. Only 9 days until my second vax - that's a start, along with the great news just this week about availability for everyone. Hope has powerful healing properties.

I'm pretty sure that Dr. Sarno himself advocated the careful (and of course supervised) use of anti-anxiety meds and/or anti-depressants. I know we've had discussions here on the forum where individuals with experience of getting off the meds nonetheless advocate for their use. The thing is that you must view them as a tool to kick-start your process, or to give you a boost during a bad setback, and you can't let your brain seduce you into a belief that they need to be lifelong.

I listened to a good podcast about anxiety today which I was already thinking about posting on the forum. Judson Brewer, MD, PhD, describes how to "map" your anxiety in a way that forces you to step back and take a critical and curious look at it. He does prescribe medications in his therapeutic practice although that's not the focus of the episode. The podcast series is Ten Percent Happier and down the page, under Featured Episodes, it's #329 How to Break Your Anxiety Habit | Judson Brewer (Mar 10, 2021).

~Jan