Will this ever end?

Walking alone or not -that is the question. You are both right, sometimes I like to walk alone, sometime with friends or a friend. Good friends for me are people I don't need to talk much while walking ...
I made a discovery: the nausea I experience could simply stem from the Vagifem I take since July. I felt nauseous after I started to take them - the timing fits perfectly. Vagifem are estrogen suppositories you put into the vagina. I don't think I really need them. And now I just read that nausea and stomach pain are one of the very typical side effects. I also wondered why my breasts start to feel a bit sensitive, something I only know from when I still had menstruation. This could be the simple explanation. I took the last Vagifem on Monday, it will take some days until it is out of the blood stream. Actually I forgot to take them two weeks ago and I remember that I didn't felt nauseous at that time. These hormones har not as harmless as they are advertised. I am always happy if I can stop taking medicine!!Now, I cross my fingers that this is the explanation. That doesn't mean that I don't have to consider all the things that make me frustrated and prohibit that I have a good life!! So, there is work ahead - ah, and also fun!
However, ladies, if you take hormones and feel your stomach acting up - there might be a connection!

 

Keep us posted, @Time2be

 

Perfect illustration that while TMS can cause nearly any symptom...not everything is TMS. I've had similar issues with various meds and side effects.

 

I agree, so very true.

Sounds to me that you've hit on the likely candidate...
I was prescribed vaginal estrogen cream a number of years ago; it didn't make me feel any nausea, but my body reacted with terrible back pain (which I wasn't expecting from it at all, so I don't believe that it was psychosomatic in any way).
More recently (throughout last year up to October 2017) I was suddenly experiencing repeated episodes of horrendous breast inflammation (severe mastitis coupled with pain/mastalgia and chills so strong that they made my teeth chatter uncontrollably) which the breast specialist (who my GP had referred me to) couldn't give me an explanation for. Even more annoyingly he also wouldn't refer me to anyone who might have been able to help me discover why this was happening to me 10 years post-menopause. So, I had to read up about the possible causes myself and eventually decided to try bio-identical hormone cream (containing mostly natural progesterone with a little natural estrogen) which I buy off prescription...and, fingers crossed, it seems to have done the trick as it's been almost a year since my last episode of mastitis (and I don't get any back pain of the sort that I got with the prescription stuff). The cream I use isn't put in the vagina, it's applied to other areas of the body - arms, legs, belly etc., in rotation.
As @westb says, keep us posted @Time2be. I do so hope you've found the cause of you stomach troubles.

 

It seems that I have found the culprit. Yesterday I felt horrible nausea, this morning a bit and during the day it stopped, totally. Let’s see how it continues, I really cross my fingers!
BloodMoon, wow, you really had some severe side effects. I’ll wait and and see if I think I need estrogen at all. Could you give me name of the cream you use? Just in case. Right now I would love to not take anything!

 

Had@, yes, everything can be TMS, some things though aren’t. To catch these things is important. Surely there are gray zones where things overlap. I haven’t had many incidents with severe side effects. However, now I remember that I did not tolerate the birth control pill very well. I should have remembered that earlier ...

 

Sure, I've sent you a pm with all the details.

 

Right now, I am not sure if the hormones are the only cause of the symptoms. In a way I I could reckon that. I had bowel and stomach related symptoms before. Only I was not used to the nausea - although 25 thirty years ago I had nausea for three months. Had a gastroscopy and the result was a very mild gastritis in one part of the stomach. The doc said it will go away by itself. And it did. I just forgot and haven’t experienced long term nausea for some time.
Today I waked with nausea, after breakfast better. Now I my stomach aches a bit, not bad pain, but I feel my stomach. I had two glasses of wine yesterday evening, maybe I shouldn’t do that. My GP thinks I don’t have gastritis, it’s functional he says (which means psychosomatic). I need to be patient, not focus on the symptoms. My guess is that there are different causes, hormones one of them, but not the only cause.
The next two weeks are stressful, I really need to focus on calming and soothing whenever I have the opportunity!

 

Time2be, you sound a lot like me. I have been in menopause for the last several years and too have had nausea from time-to-time. I also have had IBS *TMS* for decades, so the correlation is pretty firm. I have heard that hormone fluctation, if it’s high enough, can cause nausea, just as if you were pregnant, as well as a whole host of other symptoms. (35 to be exact) It’s hard to think this is all TMS, since menopause is normal - BUT, I do think TMS takes advantage of it and keeps you distracted on those symptoms. In other words, I believe TMS hi-jacks hormone issues to keep the distraction going.

I’ved had to think every time my stomach starts getting irritated, what’s going on emotionally. For instance, I just had a bout of IBS, thinking it could just be a virus, however, I never vomited or had diarrhea, just looser bowels than normal, but my stomach revoled just last Wednesday, and I ended up staying home from work for two days. I can tell when it’s a virus or food poisoning though, as 100%, I will throw up and have diarrhea. After doing some journaling and thinking about it, I realized I was stressed from trying to pull a video of one of our products together in one day, after everything fell through with my original plan. I’m still farily new at my job and this was not one of my responsibilities, but my boss wanted us to take one day and work on something related to marketing, (of which I’m a part of with copywriting) and work on last Wednesday. We were to have a barbecue at lunch and then continue working on it. However, we were late, (my partner and I working on the project) because of circumstances beyond our control. (TMSers HATE not being in control)

Anyway, we could only work on the project for 90 minutes, because the barbecue was set for noon and I had the beef and my partner was the griller. We were already 30 minutes late, so by the time we got finished and had lunch, it was already nearing 2:00. I leave at 2:30 on Wednesdays. So, a project that we were supposed to have 3 hours for, was cut in half, and of course that stressed me out. Cue the IBS symptoms later that night and BAM! I ended up sick for three days - that’s how powerful stress can be on the body.

Just some things to think about.

 

Thanks Jules! Yes, lots of similarities here! I also can stress out because of time pressure - especially if I find the time pressure unfair! I am doing much better without these hormone suppositories. I still have a bit irritation in my stomach -that's clearly TMS. But no nausea! I also know the difference between TMS IBS and a real virus or food poisoning. I try to get more robust and don't let time pressure stress me. And organize myself better! Not accepting to many tasks. But right now I need to work the weekend, otherwise I cannot finish this tasks in time. To say no is really, really important!!

 

Saying no is the hardest thing for me! I am a people-pleaser, just as my husband is, and we both have TMS - him just with sinus, asthma, and heartburn. We both have a really hard time saying NO! Especially, when it comes to our grown up children and they are struggling financially. We will go into debt to help them and then put off our own needs, which irks me. I figured the money we earned when they were home went to them, of course, but now, I am selfish and want the money we earn to finally go to us!

So, with me working, we have been able to replace carpet, repaint, rennovate, and repair things, but still struggle with the day-to-day expenses that always come up in the least expected time. Couple that with my son asking for money nearly every two weeks to support his family, with his wife working evenings, and it becomes tight. We are also trying to save for our trip to Thailand in November- another big stressor for me with all the prep and planning, plus the loooong plane ride. (Another TMS stressor)

I think the older I get, the more I think, “Hey, I’ve had TMS for 25 years, it’s MY time!”

 

Something to think about in this thread - be mindful when saying you "have" TMS. That sometimes makes us feel like it's an actual medical condition, like you have pink eye or you have breast cancer. You might be more comfortable saying that you're just dealing with emotionally-driven symptoms. Every single soul on this planet deals with emotionally-driven symptoms, and sometimes it's helpful framing it more like that.

 

Hahaha agreed the MGKs beat was dope and much more catchier thought em’s latest diss bars were pretty fire.

you know what’s funny is days when I got much better I would bike at the gym and rap/read lyrics of em’s best songs I would get so lost all sensations would disappear so weird

 

Omg @Dorado yess so true.

I actually had the best recovery in 2017/2018 when I didn’t know anything about all terminology or TMS or nerve pathways or nervous system dysfunction or overload or danger signals. I feel since talking to a therapist who kept saying nerve pathways or my old PT saying u have neurological pain for life I have been so internally confused as to what is going on with me and how do I reverse it: even since getting deep into TMS I’m more confused now that I feel I have TMS and central sensitization what do I do to reverse it seems way more tough now as I don’t know if there is a concrete plan.

 

Your PT was an idiot.. you just need to stop the focus and concern and your body relearns. Trying to have plan is counter productive.. give up the fight

 

@Drew, don't listen to your PT. Many people who have true nerve damage and/or other conditions diagnosed by medical tests can retrain their brains to stop accepting constant pain signals: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/training-the-brain-to-beat-pain/news-story/45ad7b7daaaf3c4bbbab6c76b0190ac7 (NoCookies | The Australian)

I didn't believe in or have much awareness of this concept until I went to what is ranked as the #1 hospital in the world. An internist and a neurologist both explained what this meant to me. They also said I did not have any nerve damage, but I do have an overactive autonomic nervous system from Ehlers-Danlos (dysautonomia), and I have the ability to help my nervous system relax. This is why I believe that Ehlers-Danlos patients are particularly susceptible to heightened emotions such as stress. There are also studies out there researching the link between Ehlers-Danlos and psychological conditions - an overactive nervous system makes physical, mental, and emotional symptoms worse, and those symptoms can also ramp up the nervous system even more. It's an interesting and deep cycle. As part of this cycle, having a bad day filled with stress brings on the allodynia, limbs that fall asleep, racing heart, etc. for me. This is where the mind-body connection/TMS comes in for me and why I'm more sensitive to stress.

I could be posting on one of those Ehlers-Danlos forums right now, complaining about my nervous system and strange symptoms that also include visible physical changes that sometimes prompt others to ask me if I'm okay such as skin indentations, purple feet, red hands and ears, freezing cold limbs, etc. And there are Ehlers-Danlos patients who have it much worse than me (I'm fortunate to not have my fingers dislocate from typing, etc.). However, I occasionally browse those forums and I always see people with the same exact symptoms I had. I wish I could share my experiences and story with them, and perhaps I will one day (with the caveat that we're all different and my story may not apply to everyone), but right now I honestly don't have the energy to explain this to people who may not want to hear it. I've seen verified stories from people who had postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) so severe they fainted whenever they stood up heal eventually using mind-body work. Now, I'm not a medical professional and I can't say mind-body work is the answer for all POTS patients, but don't you think those people were also told by doctors and other professionals that they'd never get better? These are people who were in wheelchairs because they just couldn't stand up.

Before I went to that hospital, another fantastic neurologist from a prestigious university said I didn't have neuropathy and referred me to his pain psychologist to teach me biofeedback and relaxation techniques. The pain psychologist said he believed I did have neuropathy because I've always had strange symptoms since childhood (we just didn't know this was Ehlers-Danlos). It's laughable to me now, but it was devastating at the time and my neurologist was beyond pissed. Regardless, the pain psychologist was wrong and thank goodness I did not waste any further time on him!

 

This post is helpful to me. Another way to frame TMS. I'm in pain now, and part of that is that I'm unable to do lot of the things that give me pleasure because of a foot injury and limitations to my body. Other circumstances as well--Covid-19, for example--has got me just slogging along, working on getting through this pain, taking care of the house, working. Plenty to be grateful for, but hard to find joy lately, to get un-anxious about pain, and so maybe it'll help me to get in touch with those "fun activities." Good post.