TMS or piriformis syndrome

Hi guys
I’m a new member here and am looking for some help. A little about my experience.

I’m a 34yo male and am very athletic and a big runner, training for marathons etc. In January I began to experience some tension in my right buttock/piriformis area which prevented me from running for a week or so.
I didn’t really think anything of it as was in the midst of training for the london marathon and put it down to repetitive strain/micro trauma to the muscle.

I took up swimming and this seemed to allow me to recover quickly. Since then though I never really got back to full/pain-free movement despite being able to do most things as before.
I work as a model and travel all over the world and before we went into the coronavirus lockdown here in the UK I had been working in the US, Italy, Asia, Spain, all in a matter of weeks. I was exhausted from all the flights and time zones. Truly exhausted.
When I returned to the UK and we went into lockdown in March I remember becoming very stressed by the whole situation. I’m someone who likes to be in control of the situation (classic TMSr) and found the lockdown very troubling- as if my freedoms had been taken away forever. I also have a baby daughter and became very concerned for her. I was also worried about losing all my work as I’m self employed (haven’t worked since beginning March now which has been difficult). I started to watch the news everyday and read any news article I could hoping this would provide me with more of a handle on the situation. However, this all seemed to make my symptoms worse. The pain in my buttock just went into overdrive and became full blown sciatica. I also experienced symptoms similar to those reportedly belonging to Coronavirus for about 2 weeks. I read STEVE OVANICH, the Great Pain deception recently, and found the causality with immune system issue and TMS striking, especially the function of socially held memes (coronavirus could be seen this way).
I stopped running and started stretching and doing yoga. Very clean anti-inflammatory diet. Cold water swims in the sea. Massage. Nothing seemed to work.

Finally I went for a run in frustration and as I set off I felt my right ankle just drop and I fell and sprained it really badly causing severe ligament damage. Weirdly the backpain and buttock pain stopped at this point. I remember thinking I actually preferred the ankle pain and didn’t mind it so much.

After being back on the sofa and back on painkillers for two weeks, I gradually started to get on my feet again. A few weeks later and I was up again and the pain returned in my right buttock. Theoretically the down time of zero running would have healed any lingering muscle fibre damage. It got so bad at one point that there was no position I could be in that was uncomfortable. I was actually physically sick because the pain just overwhelmed me. The worst sensation is the vice-like grip on my right hamstring. Like someone is standing on it all the time.

My wife gave me John Sarnos book Healing Back Pain (angel) and a lot of the information sounded very familiar to me. I instantly felt better and within a few days I was up and moving around. I started to run and found that I could sprint and run and there would be no pain at all. I slowly started doing push ups, sit ups and leg raises, no pain. But getting out of the car, out of a chair, or standing on the spot for more than a few minutes (having a shower standing up is fine weirdly) are still absolute agony. The pain moves around. Sometimes it’s in my buttock then it will move to a vice like grip on my thigh or then my calf or then my ankle. Or I will get restless leg syndrome at night (this is the worse )

I came off painkillers completely now. I went cold turkey and the day after was absolute hell but I managed to get through it and the next morning it was so much better.

From what I have read these are classic TMS symptoms and as you can see I certainly fit the bill of a TMS’er who stubbornly tries to run and run . I feel like I’m at a point where I can manage the pain okay through mediation and relaxation techniques but some days it’s just really hard. Hence the reason I’m Writing today. It’s back with a vengeance- I think because I was wondering about muscle damage again. I think this last stage of healing has a lot to do with a lingering suspicion in the back of my mind that this is a muscle or structural issue.

I’m sorry for the long intro, I thought it might be helpful for the diagnosis to give the full background.

I am back at home in Greenwich london now and am going to meditate and relax today. I didn’t manage to morning meditation because I was just so pissed at the whole situation! I’ll try again

I look forward to hearing from you. Many thanks