Update to Mental Symptoms/Intrusive Thoughts

Hello all,

I posted last month about my issues with a sudden barrage of intrusive thoughts and anxiety spikes, I was taken a bit aback since I've never had TMS manifest as 'mental' symptoms before, it's always just been physical pain.

I just want to update in case anyone else has had this problem (now or in the future) that it too is just another diversion tactic by TMS and is entirely beatable. I went from thinking about the same thing that caused me great distress several hundred times a day (it was very exhausting,) and now I've got it down to 2-3 times a day and on occasions where I'm relaxed, I can go several days without remembering it was a problem to begin with at all.

Obviously it's still a work in progress but I'm pretty happy with my results.

I guess I'm just writing this as a record so if anyone else suffers from the same problem they can feel comfort it's not a permanent issue, as all TMS symptoms feel like when you're in the thick of it. My first response now is to search the forums to see if anyone else has any good tips, so I wanted to contribute in hopes that someone else out there finds it useful.

1: This post by Callum Bosua was basically the magic line. If you're still online at all, Callum, I owe you a beer or something. You're a godsend. Recognising and calling out the thoughts for what they were and forcing yourself to watch your body's reaction in a neutral manner robbed it of all power. I saw drastic improvement after one day of doing this.

2: Vent through journalling, even if it's the last thing you want to do at the time. Sometimes I managed to hammer out essays over half hour, sometimes it was a few lines. It all helps. In the days where I couldn't get to my PC to splurge out all my worries I'd find a quiet spot and meditate for a bit instead.

Honestly this episode has shown me just how insidious TMS can be when it feels cornered. I hope that if anyone else develops these strange symptoms, don't be harsh on yourself and think that you've failed, or that you're a bad person for these thoughts. They're distresssing for a reason - it's to distract you.

Hope everyone out there is having a good day, and thanks for reading

 

Thanks Jan! I'm just glad I can come back with positive news!

 

Intrusive thoughts are a Hallmark of OCD. I used to suffer from it until I became aware it 'existed'...It is called 'the disease of doubt'. If you search this forum for 'OCD' you'll find a bunch of threads on the topic. In fact, TMS is 'OCD of the Body' . If you read the threads you'll also see the long one I wrote on 'STOP' therapy that a shrink taught me...it worked awesome. I wish TMS was as compliant.

Intrusive thoughts come from the same source as TMS symptoms.... that is, it is a distracting thought to keep you from the REAL thought/emotion/feeling that your unconscious doesn't want to deal with.

 

It's funny, I've never displayed OCD symptoms in my life before this, so it's sudden arrival was very suspicious.. I feel like I learn more about TMS (and myself) every time I get a relapse. I'll check out your post too!

 

There is a lot of stuff there. BTW, the guy I went and saw for my anger issues got his Phd working on one of the biggest studies of OCD ever... he said there are two types... "Born that way" and "Got that way" but from a clinical and symptomatic perspective they are indistinguishable !!!!

I would say the recent collective insanity around Covid is a great example....even people who were relatively sane and healthy Developed OCD like symptoms... Having been a germ phobe earlier in my life, I was actually relatively calm....sounds crazy, huh?

The intrusive thoughts are the 'pain' of it along with the compulsive cleaning,masking, rituals etc.... but not having all of the text book stuff doesn't mean were immune.... They were all good strategies just for mental health. Much like with TMS therapy, I really don't understand what's going on down there, I just want the torture to stop!!!

 

What a blessing your post is for me, Khetu. I've recently experienced huge, miraculous changes, going from being unable to eat nearly anything due to symptoms (over the past 10 years) to now, able to eat anything I want. Many, many symptoms gone, rare, or greatly reduced. (For this, I am profoundly grateful to Joe, who has a YouTube channel called "the histamine deception." He gave me the final, crucial piece I needed to effect real change in long-standing TMS symptoms.)

And then, the intrusive thoughts and anxiety, which I've experienced off and on for most of my life, spiked way up and I feel like I'm losing my mind. This morning, after reading about how to deal with all this, it occurred to me to check the TMSWiki (as you suggest as well) and there you were!

Yes, this is exactly it! I knew TMS symptoms were on the run and just they way it's worked for me to finally, finally (hopefully forever, but one day at a time) be able to eat a healthy food plan again is the exact same way to deal with thoughts. I appreciate all your suggestions as well.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with this and I wish you continued recovery.

 

Thank you so much as well, Baseball65. Looking forward to checking out your post on STOP therapy. Just read it and it was extremely helpful.

 

https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/could-tms-cause-ocd.20133/ (Could TMS cause OCD?)

I was tired when I made that post and I didn't search for the link...it was on someone else's thread so I had to search a little.

 

Having had it all of my life, I can attest to it being equally if not more distracting than pain.
Also, it made me do some VERY dangerous stuff that I thought was going to "bind the anxiety"
-peace

 

Thanks so much for sharing the link.

 

Hi Lyonsden10, I'm delighted my post was able to help you! I can confirm that I was able to beat 'intrusive thoughts' entirely as a symptom not long after I made that post, and it hasn't come back since - I'm so happy you were able to pin down and identify it as TMS also!

I wish you all the best going forwards!

 

Hi everyone, I guess this work for TMS-related thoughts too ? The last few months I've been having constant thoughts about TMS : the physical symptom, fear, my own thought processes, chances of recovery, etc...It has become some kind of an obsession, I think about it hours a day.

 

Interesting that you are mentioning David Hanscom, I am currently reading the section of his website dedicated to OCD/anxiety, and I find myself in everything he describes. It is a relief to learn that we don't have to fight these thoughts ; my initial reaction was to think "I have thoughts about not being able to heal, therefore i have to reframe them" which is impossible when these loops are present hours a day.

And no I've never been assessed for OCD, but it's pretty clear I have it. I don't have history of it though. Constipation has been my only symptom for a long time, with moderate anxiety. But since I had 10 months better with the constipation, and then relapsed, the anxiety has been out of control, to the point that all my life revolves around it and I sometimes think "my mind wants to destroy me". I think I'm going to follow the guidelines given by David Hanscom because it resonates a lot. Allowing, not identifying...same process as with physical symptoms

 

This stuck out to me as something I thought too when I was going through the thick of intrusive thoughts - if you're getting distressed about endless, even relentless thoughts on the same subject it is your mind working overtime to distract you, even if it's about TMS! I found the most effective way of robbing it of its power was to let the thought come, call it out as intrusive, and then sit back and observe my body feel those physical and emotional reactions to the thought without giving any response to it, like a neutral observer. Almost like I was a scientist in a lab watching a creature in a cage! Within a week of doing this they had become a fraction of their intensity.

I wish you all the best in fighting these symptoms!

 

Hey thank you ! Yes I find myself trying to avoid fear/obsession of the symptom because we hear everywhere that it reinforces the symptom...so maybe the middle ground is to allow these obsessions without engaging with them, the way you describe; I just don't find it natural, it may take practice for me

 

Oh man, the OCD anxiety intrusive thoughts. Those have gotten a lot better for me, before I found out about TMS. @Khetu 's suggestion was exactly what worked for me. Fighting the thoughts just made them worse. Letting them come and then recognizing them for what they were was the answer, but it took time before I didn't feel intense guilt and shame for them.