Wondering if struggling with long-term Covid19 symptoms could be linked to TMS?

[dream75]

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting to this forum!

I unfortunately have been struggling with suspected Covid19 for around 11 weeks now. I live in the UK so, as my symptoms have never gotten bad enough for me to admitted to hospital, I have never received a test. However, every doctor I've spoken to has been almost certain that it's Covid19. Like many people, I've been struggling with symptoms going away and then returning on a cycle - at this point my symptoms are pretty much limited to fatigue, chesty cough, shortness of breath, and at times my heart beating particularly heavily. It's not so severe to have me worried about ending up in the hospital (hopefully) but it is debilitating enough that I still have to spend most of the time resting.

I am also very prone to TMS and believe I have a lot of trauma stored in my body which manifests in various ways (I suffer with post traumatic stress, so this would make sense). A few years ago I dealt with a debilitating chronic pain issue which left me unable to do almost anything for an entire year, which I recovered from only after discovering Sarno's work and realising how much it resonated with my experiences. Since then I've experienced lots of other psychosomatic symptoms (though never to such a debilitating degree), often arising when I'm repressing emotions, and again have worked through them (luckily relatively quickly) using Sarno's method. I have also struggled with CFS in the past.

It occurred to me the other day that potentially TMS could be playing a part in the way Covid19 is manifesting in those of us who are experiencing these long-term symptoms, and frankly I'm feeling pretty scared. I'm starting to worry that this is going to become a chronic issue that I'll never recover from, and that there'll be little help and understanding from medical health professionals.

So I'm really asking - what are people's thoughts on this? And if you believe there could be a link here, do you have any advice for me on how to manage this?

 

[Andy Bayliss]

Hi dream75,

Firstly, I want to express my sympathy for your --likely or possible-- infection, and you're worry about symptoms.

I'm starting to worry that this is going to become a chronic issue that I'll never recover from, and that there'll be little help and understanding from medical health professionals.

We've had a few discussions here recently predicting a sort of "post Covid" syndrome related to TMS, with the main idea that it is inevitable, and that perhaps the first thing important to do is recognize this possibility ----which you're doing. I think you might be the first here who is pretty sure he/she has had it.?

There is much the medical community does not know about the effects of the virus. But you know the mind-body connection. If you're worried about this becoming chronic TMS, then I think you're pressuring yourself to succeed where in fact you already have. If you know there is a TMS component, then that aspect of your symptoms will fall away in time, with your skillful practice.

If you're worried about real physical symptoms persisting, then what can any of the Medical folks do anyway?

Knowing your TMS history, and knowing how to deal with TMS is already a huge advantage which you have.

One way to treat this is to accept not knowing whether the symptoms might be TMS equivalent or physical, but to address the fear around them. This would be beneficial no matter what the source. Maybe you'll never know. But that does not mean you can't focus on the health and enjoyment you do have, in a multitude of other physical, emotional, spiritual dimensions. In other words, focus on the health and good, vs fear about chronic stuff. This is bound to help, in my opinion.

Part of addressing the fear might be to observe the urge to fix, or your attachment that symptoms get better. While it is natural to want health, your relationship with symptoms is something you can work to soften.

Alan Gordon's program listed above is a great resource for this because it focuses a lot on relationship to symptoms. If TMS is inner tension, then this is good to know, and try to not pour more fuel on the fire worrying about symptoms.

If it was me, I would expect that the medical community will know more and more about treating the long-term effects, and that you can get that help when it is available, and in the meantime treat symptoms as "exaggerated by my TMS propensities, which I know how to (and can get better at) self-treating."

I hope this helps a little.

Andy