Allergies

i think allergies are a big part of how TMS manifest for me. In my mind I have linked environmental and food allergies to the pain and now am trying to break that conditioning. Does anyone have any experience with this. I would appreciate any pointers or tips.

 

Hi Freeange. For several years I thought my headaches were allergy related. I live in an area where everyone I know has environmental allergies. Finally, I went to MD for help with the headaches. He listened and said, "they sound more like tension headaches than migraines." Wow! light bulb! So I began working on them as manifestations of TMS. I rarely get those extreme headaches anymore--and I'm no longer afraid to hike outside.
For me, it took that instant of awareness. After that, everything changed.
Good luck!

 

Thanks Gigi. I'm pretty new at this. Did you just sat to yourself that the allergy symptoms were in fact TMS?

 

It's hard to say if allergies are caused by TMS emotions, although Dr. Sarno says they are one symptom. I do think Spring brings on allergies for me because my next-door neighbor and many others around me use lawn services that spray poison to get rid of weeds and dandelions. But why so any flies are coming into my house, I don't know.

 

I think it took my doctor stating that they were tension headaches to convince me. So now if one shows up, I talk to my subC and try to deal with the emotions.

 

I used to have allergies in the spring, and be very sensitive to cats (allergy). Since working with the TMS symptoms in my feet, all of these allergy symptoms have dropped away. If they occur, I treat them as TMS --don't get too worried, don't take action to alleviate the tears or itching, and the symptoms go away very quickly. Allergies were not a huge part of my life, but I am convinced they are a form of TMS.

One more note. I had a friend who spoke to a well regarded consultant for food allergies, and the consultant's take was that the "gluten sensitivity" so many people are diagnosed with was strictly psychological. He constantly saw patterns of trauma and abuse related to this "sensitivity." This story may be supportive for you, although I can't provide more specific detail.

 

Hi Andy

That us very helpful. I believe most if not all of my allergies (multiple including gkuten) are psychological. They have grown over the years as my other symptoms have grown. I will begin treating them as TMS from now on. Good to hear that I am on the right track

 

Hi, I think I have some advice for you. I suffer from migraines and I've always had horrible allergies. I've had migraines for 5 years and it seems that everything can trigger one. Anything from food to allergies, hormones to stress etc..
I pretty much became obsessed with the food I ate. I did every migraine diet you can think of. In the end I was eating 50 grams of carbs per day and tracking everything. I eliminated gluten, dairy, corn, soy and any form of sugar. I didn't drink caffeine or alcohol and let me tell you I still had a migraine every day. I took a blood test and it showed I had sensitivity to peanuts and gluten. I knew cheese triggered migraines but it showed milk was fine. So go figure..
Also, allergies for me have been horrible. I can never breathe through my nose so I had been taking butterbur (75mg twice per day) and I have a dry nasal spray.
Like you I definitely linked this to migraine pain. It was so bad that if I ate brown rice and black beans for lunch I would get anxiety because I would think "oh no, what have I done? That was too many carbs. I'm going to get a migraine." If I did get a migraine I would constantly beat myself up over the food I ate. I was starting to think I was developing a food disorder. It was pretty sad because I love food and it was the most stressful situation.
It's been 3 weeks since I read Mindbody Prescription. I've layed off the strict rules in my diet and guess what, my migraines have never been better. Yesterday I ate ice cream and a few cookies. I try not to think about it now. I try to just have fun and nurture my soul. I think worrying about it and linking it to pain is definite evidence that it's TMS. It's part of my Evidence Sheet for sure.

Don't worry, just believe it's TMS and it will go away.

 

Ines

That is SOOO helpful! I was much the same way. Worried about if eating this or that (which turned into pretty much everything g) was causing fibromyalgia pain. I too was on very restrictive diets and seem to just develop more and more sensitivities. I've been doing the TMS program for 12 days and adopted the same attitude as you have and now I don't semester to react to another so far. It's absolutely astonishing!

It is really helpful to hear that the same approach worked for someone else. Thanks so much for responding to my thread!

 

Yes!!