Day 1 Trying to be convinced but I'm not sure this is TMS

I am now in my 40s and I have a long history of somaticizing pain. I know I do it. I suffered with neck pain for 4 years, which suddenly went away after I changed jobs. I never feel good... something ALWAYS hurts.

Right now, my struggle is urinary frequency. I've had this issue intermittently since I was 24 years old, following a UTI. I treated it with antibiotics, but the frequency continued. Eventually, the symptoms faded, but they've returned a few times since then. However, I have been pretty good for the last 15 years.

Then after having a super stressful month in January, at the beginning of February I developed urinary frequency again. At first, I wasn't TOO panicked since I've had minor flares. But then my talk therapist (who had experienced this herself) suggested pelvic floor therapy. I tried this, and it made my symptoms MUCH worse. I had a lot of vulvar burning and the frequency got so bad that I couldn't sleep. That's when things really took a bad turn.

I saw my regular GYN, who barely seemed to have time for me, and she just said it's not a UTI and shrugged it off. I saw a urogynologist, who said I had pelvic floor tightness and prescribed suppositories that burned like crazy and made my symptoms worse.

Right now, I feel like I have urinary frequency practically all the time. I get like 15 minutes of relief from peeing. It keeps me awake at night, which has ramped up my already super high anxiety. I can't even tell anymore if it's the frequency or the anxiety that's keeping me from sleeping. The burning pain is improved, but the frequency is not.

I read Dr. Sarno's Mindbody book as well as The Way Out. On some level, I relate, but all the stories are about musculoskeletal pain, and this is not that. Dr. Sarno only briefly mentions bladder symptoms in the book. I do know urinary frequency is very linked to anxiety, which I have in spades.

I am happy to dive into the program, but given that I don't have the typical pain syndromes mentioned in the books, I'm not entirely convinced I have TMS or that any of this will help me. I am just so desperate for relief and want to believe this is the answer!

 

Oh my goodness, I must reply!

There is nothing you’ve described that hasn’t also tormented me. I once thought as you do!

The vulva burning is known as Vulvadynia. It simply means pain around the outside of the female genitalia and it hurts like hell. It comes and goes. If you want to PM me, I can tell you more.

As you know, urinary frequency is most closely related to anxiety and it, too, can come and go.

UTI’s are also frequently reported and go hand-in-hand with Vulvadynia.

Pelvic tightness and discomfort is frequently mentioned in TMS literature.

Substantiating information can be found in many of the mindbody books referenced on the TMS forums. You are not alone!

I anticipate your next question will be, “How did you rid yourself of these issues?”

The short answer is that they still make appearances now and then. The long one is common to TMS people, preceded by sometimes years of doctor visits, bank vaults of money and time, until they learn about Sarno’s work and that of his acolytes who have refined his methods. When fully accepted and studied, people begin to heal.

You are in the right place! You must continue to study and do the work asked of you. Please share as you go! The support you’ll get is superb!

 

thank you. Your reply means so much to me. I am definitely willing to put in the work, I just want to heal. I’m sending you a private message as well.

 

I have vulvodynia. I went to PT and the exercises killed me. But when she would work in my back and work on the nerves in my back it would calm down those symptoms for a while until I had to go back next. Imagine my surprise when I find out that vulvodynia is a TMS diagnosis! I probably had a placebo effect with the PT when she worked on my nerves in the my back. And when I was diagnosed with IBS my vulvodynia went away for a while. If it comes back, then my abdominal pain isn't bad at all. It's like my brain can only focus on one pain thing at a time! And I'm always in pain somewhere!!!
I agree with you-we need more info about IBS and the others that aren't musculoskeletal pain! I feel like I have to dig deep to find people suffering like I am!

 

Hi, @Joulegirl
I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but we have a success stories page on the front of the wiki. Here’s the IBS section: https://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Irritable_Bowel_Syndrome_(IBS) (Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)) there’s a lot of good stuff there!

Dr. Sarno called symptoms that aren’t musculoskeletal pain, “TMS equivalents.” In his last book, The Divided Mind, he goes into TMS equivalents in depth.

I had IBS in my twenties—years before I knew about Sarno. It was brought on by severe stress. After a while, it went away. I know it’s TMS now.

 

Yes, I'm sure if I injured something else, the vulvodynia would calm down. Years ago, I was having bad neck pain, and that went away for a while when I was struggling with hemorrhoid pain. It's literally always something with me too!!! I have IBS as well.

The PT really set me off. That was what triggered a lot of my anxiety. PT never works on me. I did it twice for my neck with minimal improvement.

 

Hello @Diana-M !
Thanks for sharing that page! That was a lot of good information!!