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Answer

To answer your questions in order: a lot, very, a lot, it depends, yes.

Unless there’s some other physiological cause identified (which is rare), chronic fatigue syndrome is a TMS equivalent.

Chronic fatigue syndrome was one of the symptoms I had as a TMS equivalent. It’s the worst. The treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome is no different than the treatment for headaches or back pain. Accepting that the condition is psychologically generated and that it’s there to serve as a vessel for preoccupation, etc. is an important first step.

Many people think that TMS just manifests as pain, but it’s much more than that. I’ve seen TMS manifest as fatigue, itching, nausea, numbness, tingling, burning, dull pain, shooting pain, nerve pain, muscle pain, and weird sensation-type thing that isn’t quite pain but is still pretty unpleasant. Not to mention anxiety, depression, and OCD.

Howard Schubiner once said to me that the mind can generate any physical sensation in any part of the body. Or maybe I said that to him. Regardless, it definitely came up in the conversation.

So yes, barring some type of rare physical finding, chronic fatigue syndrome is TMS, and is just as responsive to TMS treatment as back pain or fibromyalgia.

Alan

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