TMS testimonials for inability to empty your bladder cured?

I suffer with the inability to completely empty my bladder since Nov 2014. In early 2015 a urologist diagnosed me with pelvic dysfunction. I was told I manifest stress in my pelvic area that tightens these muscles which is why I cannot empty completely.
I awaken 3 to 8 times every night, so I haven't had a good nights sleep in over 6 yrs.
Dr Sarno's book stopped my back pain simply after reading it approx 2007. And my post op hernia surgery pain disappeared in 2009 after the head of the hospital told me that pain cannot last this long and my mind has created a memory pathway. After I left his office, I have never had the pain again!
Why? Because I realized if my mind caused my former back pain and I got rid of it believing in Dr Sarno's theory, then this was the same.
Just this year I was told my bladder issue is caused by TMS, but I haven't had any relief yet.
One thing that would help a lot would be connecting with or reading about others healing for the same emptying issue using TMS.
But here or even googling this, I cannot find one testimony! Everything pelvic is only about pain, not about inability to empty.
Can anyone point me to testimonials? I need to wire my brain that indeed TMS will cure me for this condition.
Thanks!

 

Drink more water? There's lots of stories on pelvic issues in the success stories subforum.

 

I need to restrict my liquids intake or I usually awaken more, though not always.
Is this a guess or have you seen those with bladder emptying problems getting better by drinking more?

 

I checked your link - there is not even a subject for pelvic or bladder. As mentioned, I searched this site plus google and see absolutely no search results for bladder emptying and TMS.

 

I suffered from severe bladder spasms and urgency many years ago and I was diagnosed with IC at time. Back then I did not know about Dr. Sarno and it was a total nightmare. I had it for about a year but it mysteriously disappeared. Looking back it's very clear what was going on for me psychologically so I can see it was TMS. In any case, what you describe is TMS. Bladder issues are cited often in the TMS literature and it even came up in my class with Dr. Schubiner. It's quite common.

 

Thank you for your reply.

Did you have problems emptying completely and therefore kept awakening at night to use the bathroom?

I wish I could find some cases like mine, but they are not on this site, which I think they would be if they existed, don't you?

 

The thing that's important understand is that the brain creates all sensation. You may have the sensation that you are not completely emptying your bladder, but that's not actual truth. They are signals from the brain. I always had that feeling and it was torture. I was forever going to the bathroom even if only 2 drops came out. It was the sensation of needing to relieve myself but my bladder was actually not full. I went to top specialists in NYC and they did all sorts of voiding tests as well as a hydro distention and they showed me images of my bladder that looked all ulcerated and red. I had infusions in catheters. The whole experience was god awful but what I found out later was that it was ALL nonsense. Everyones bladder looks red and angry when it's distended. The sensations were not coming from my bladder at all. There was nothing wrong with my bladder. It was simply learned pain. Since that time I had a horrible childbirth (it left me totally incontinent) that required bladder surgery but I have had zero IC symptoms or issues because I know it's TMS now. My surgery was 15 years ago and I have never had a problem. There should be success stories on this site. I'll check now.... On a side note I met a woman online with IC and she is now totally fine because of Dr. Sarno. This is a common condition and manifestation of anxiety.

 

here i am c: i do over come this, dont get me wrong TMS its new to me, but non bacterial prostatits, pelvic pain was my main symptom for over 2 yearsm it started to went await ones i learned that it was just anxiety, it came back every two months but it last short, it complete went await when i learned about TMS.

 

==============================================
Miffy - as to your reply:

Not correct in my case because I have had several bladder sonograms that show I retain about 150-200 cc during the day.

At the request of my urologist, I purchased a measured container and kept an overnight diary of emptying for 5 days, as I empty the most overnight. I was voiding between 1000 and 1500 cc overnight- that is about 35 to 52 ounces.

I keep my drinking to the morning before 1130am, which is about 3o ounces. Then I limit my drinking after 12 noon to 4 to 8 ounces with lunch and dinner, and maybe 4-5 ounces of water during the entire day.

My pelvic PT explained this is because my pelvic muscles are more relaxed when I am sleeping, and all the liquid I couldn't release during the day is emptying overnight. Makes sense. But I do believe my tightened pelvic muscles is because of TMS, just that my feeling of needing to empty is real.

So I really do have retained liquid, it is not just a feeling in my case.

 

This is a tough one because if your prostate is enlarged, it's likely things will stay the same. Conventional medicine says the tendency for an enlarged prostate is hereditary; of course, the question could still go back to a psychological origin due to, e.g., inflammation.

 

Tight pelvic muscles = TMS
At least go for TMS combo

 

I found a ultrasound study from about 20 yrs ago - my prostate size listed as 38g.
I had an MRI in late Jan of this year - it also stated 38g,. so it appears it didn't change at all in 20 yrs, so presume prostate is not the issue.

 

That is what I am doing now. But no one has replied to my initial post that I cannot find one post here about success with TMS with bladder emptying and pelvic muscle stress. Would help a lot if I knew others with my symptoms were helped with TMS - as I was with my back pain 15 yrs back and post op hernia pain 12 yrs back.

 

The retention of fluid is still symptom though, and a harmless one at that (since it does eventually leave your system through voiding at night). The question is what is the cause? The cause is due to the fact that you are tightening the bladder and essentially "holding it in" because you can't relax enough to relieve the bladder. That is muscle tension which is a direct result (a somatic pathway) of emotional tension that you are generating from the brain and your thoughts on a second to second basis. It makes sense that your bladder would wake you at night while you are not tensing as much. I remember driving myself crazy with all those voiding tests and hydrodynamic studies the doctors would have me do. All that did was make me focus and obsess more on the symptoms. Do you see how this works? It becomes a learned habit of the brain and body. Symptoms are symptoms...whether it be holding in urine, diarrhea, dizziness, swelling, pain, itching , burning, rashes etc. The question is what is the underlying emotional process and stressor casing the brain to continue firing these false alarm signals?

 

My urologist stated it was my pelvic muscles tightening and I am pretty sure that is what I also feel.
You do not need to convince me it is TMS .
From early 2015 on when my urologist told me I manifest stress in my pelvic muscles, I believed it. The only difference was I didn't know the label was TMS and the urologist had me do PT therapies, meditation and stretching, which according to the TMS methodologies, are not the way to healing this.

I just wish I could find testimonials that TMS helped others with my symptoms.

Years back just reading Sarno's book healed my pack pain without going through any of the psychological methodologies in his book. I wish it could be so simple with this and am not sure why it isn't since now I know the label is TMS for the past 3 months.

 

If it helps at all, I had a very similar experience and most people with bladder syndromes (IC, PBS.... all those labels) do too. I actually had bladder surgery after a terrible childbirth and now have a sling holding up my bladder. I don't suffer at all from spasms, urgency, or retention anymore. Hope that helps!

 

The bladder surgery didn't help - it was TMS that stopped your symptoms?

I also had bladder and prostate surgery - a Trans Urethral Incision of the prostate (TUIP) in 2019 - didn't help the emptying.
Bladder diverticulectomy surgery 2000 - to cut away and repair the ballooning out area (the bladder diverticulum) caused by years of extra bladder pressure trying to empty. This helped immensely 100% for 6 yrs when I noticed occasionally I didn't feel like I finished emptying to which my urologist told me to think of something relaxing and that worked - just one thought, and I felt I emptied.

It wasn't until Nov 2014 when I was emptying that I felt like a gate closed and stopped emptying in mid-stream. That I believe is and was my sphincter muscles tightening and closing which is still continues to be my issue.

Hence my new urologist in 2015 telling me I have pelvic muscle syndrome which means I manifest my stress in my pelvic muscles.

So now I understand that stress is labeled TMS.

Are you able to lead a normal life now?

 

My bladder surgery actually happened a few years later, a few months after after I gave birth. I was already better from the IC. After childbirth I was left totally incontinent and in diapers. It was hell. The surgery did "fix" it and I lead a totally normal life now. I think the "chronicity" you are experiencing is brain based. Your brain and body keep recreating the same symptoms on a consistent basis. You may notice moments, or minutes, or hours, when you are not aware of sensations and symptoms. That sort of gives you a window into the dynamic nature of your issue and how it is "learned" pain in a sense. "Pelvic Muscle Syndrome" is definitely a red flag for mind body (tms)...it just means the doctors don't know and they can't find a structural reason.

 

Just want to add, you have a lot of medical PTSD imo as well. It makes sense that your brain would latch on to that area of the body to express emotions and anxiety.

 

It's good news that your prostate has not grown in 20 years and that apparently your urologist isn't concerned about its current size. In general, depending on your age, a prostate of 38g may or may not be considered large. That said, we all know that medical measurements, MRIs, and so forth can take us down rabbit holes that don't get at root causes.

I assume you've had a bladder scan that didn't alert the urologist that you are not voiding normally, e.g., during the day. If so, that would further the idea that your nocturia is likely TMS related.