I think I may have TMS

Hi, Rocksolid. I think that the more you journal in the Structured Educational Program about your repressed emotions, the faster you will heal from dizziness and other maladies. Dizziness is no fun, and I know from having spells of it. The more I relax, the better. Deep breathing helps me a lot. It is profoundly relaxing.

 

Hi Rocksolid,
Thanks for your update.
Andy B

 

This thread has kinda stressed me out

I always worry that my dizziness has some other cause. But I went to a Harley street optometrist, surely they didn't miss anything?

I also experienced a reduction in symptoms while on anti depressants, so surely this points to anxiety/stress being the main factor?

Just writing this all out to reassure myself more than anything!

 

Don't fret over things like this. I know how they can easily cause a freak-out but honestly the to-ing and fro-ing over is this TMS? is part of the recovery cycle.

Most of the conditions we routinely see here have their own world of diagnosis, prognosis, symptoms and such-like. There are always medical correlates because the common ground is the nervous system. With TMS healing we recognise that the genesis of our woes rest in the emotional~psychological realm. They go on to manifest in the physical via the autonomic nervous system.

You can certainly treat the symptoms on this level and for many people this is not only productive but successful. However the old timers here know well (because we have seen it in others and experienced it ourselves) that unless you reduce the stress and tension in your life, with particular reference to your personality (how you cope or not cope), you are very likely to experience the symptom imperative.

There are also cases of TMS hybrid where a structural cause can be overlayed with TMS. Net result is the same. The more you calm your nervous system, the better you tame your mind, the better you get. Most of us get mirred in seemingly endless mindgames before we realise that the mindgames are the very thing that keeps TMS alive. For some people it's fear, for others it's the endless escape into their head, the need to work it out.

In my case, there is a lot of literature on my problem but no actual solution. My own brand of TMS healing is more successful than the establishments ideas and that is all I need to know.

Kick those worries into the long grass sweetheart. Focus on the soothing, the peaceful, the good.

Plum x

 

Thanks @plum ...I've known about TMS for about 2 months and have found all my symptoms worse since I found out about it.

I have this sense that I now know the answer and should be able to do something about it, but I struggle to do the SEP (I sit down and nothing comes to mind and I end up starting over again all the time because I haven't followed it properly - I leave a few days out and lose interest then feel guilty) and I get distracted by things like mindfulness, deep breathing, EFT tapping etc.

It's part of my personality - obsession. I get obsessed that one single thing is the answer and try it for 2 or 3 days then I decide it's hopeless and move onto something else.

Over the last week I've been really good at meditating daily, and journalling without putting pressure on 'doing it right' and then today I looked up dizziness on the wiki, looking for reassurance. And suddenly I found another condition I might have and the thoughts started to spiral! I decided to post in the hope I could convince myself but also get some reassurance from somebody like you, so thank you so much for replying!

You're so right, I know my nervous system is on high-alert. I can feel it - dizziness, panic, heart beating fast. And my mind runs riot all day every day. That's the root of my problem.

I KNOW that my symptoms began suddenly after the most stressful and traumatic experience of my life. And calmed down while I was on anti-depressants. They're also much better whenever I go on holiday and relax.

I just find it so hard to keep reassuring myself of that, and to give it TIME. It's just very hard when the symptoms are so much worse since discovering TMS. I know about the extinction burst but this is really lasting a long time.

I think it's time for some Claire Weekes in my headphones and maybe a list of everything I'm grateful for today - I shall include you and your advice

x

 

I read about what you endured. It must have been an awful time and little wonder that you are ailing now. TMS is both a complex, nested beast and yet strangely simple. The paradox is resolved by perspective. The more closely we look and enmesh ourselves in the minutiae of our situation, the more overwhelming the symptoms tend to become. The more we are able to push back into generalities and a wider acceptance of the human condition, the greater our ability to deal with it becomes. But we all facilate

I have never fared well with mind-oriented methods. I am better served by body-oriented methods. Too much time in my mind leaves me ungrounded and I need the sweet reprieve of being in a body that feels good. It took me a long, long time to work that out and even longer to feel ok about it because it contravened old school Sarno. Nowadays I do what works and keep my faith. Patience is one of the main boons of recovery. The cultivation of it is hard going though, I wouldn't deny that. But suffering is harder still.

 

Have you seen Georgie Oldfield, she is in London, I believe you are in London too, it seems you have spent much time and money going to non-TMS physicians and practitioners, and now an eye doctor fearing you have an un-diagnosed mystery disease. I was recently bitten by tiny little fire ants and googled that, by the time I got through the possible consequences, I had to STOP reading because the next consequence was death--basically googling any symptom, including ingrown toenail, will eventually result in DEATH. If you have been cleared by your physicians that nothing serious is wrong, why don't you believe them? Why haven't you seen Georgie Oldfield or one of her practitioners?

 

@Tennis Tom I saw the optometrist years ago.

I didn't google the symptoms it was the original poster of this thread who mentioned he found out his dizziness was down to this eye disorder. So it scared me a bit but rather than googling I posted here and got some reassurance from plum

I have spoken to Georgie Oldfield, I can't afford to see her, it's £500 a month for three consecutive months. Or thousands for a 6 week intensive programme.

I'm about to switch jobs and I can't do it right now financially I'm afraid.

Agree I've spent lots of money in the past on non-TMS docs but I don't do any of that anymore, for a couple of years actually. I'd given up finding help.

But I plan to see her as soon as I can.

I wonder myself why I cannot just believe that nothing is wrong with me!

 

Hi Coll, sorry I didn't catch when you went to the opto, I thought it was more recent. Doctors and especially TMS practitioners go into the "business" to help people and are usually generous with providing sliding scale payment plans. If you haven't proposed a deferred payment plan, you may want to give it a shot and you never know--you do sound like you are in excruciating pain and need some help from the TMS pros. All the TMS counselors I've talked to emphasize that it does not take them many sessions to get the TMS point across, versus you're "normal" shrink who seem to keep their patients for life--or until their wallets run dry.

My message to you would be that all you have to do is read a TMS book and "have a change of mind" as to the source cause of your pain and quit looking for mis-dx'es. TMS'ers being "goodists" and "perfectionists" seem to feel that they have to do the "work" to be "set free" from their pain--No! You don't have to earn your TMS stripes--you just have to read a book and ACCEPT AND BELIEVE the Good Doctor's theory. All that meditating and journaling I hear about here, if you're not getting better, maybe it's a waste of time to keep doing it. I don't recall in any of Dr. Sarno's books him emphasizing doing those things--I think like many things, they tag onto TMS because they are out there in the collective current complementary self-actualization meme. Dr. Sarno did say, "When you feel the TMS pain, shift your thinking to the psychological." You don't have to start writing a memoir or sit with your legs crossed OM'ing. In fact I hear years ago that the head of the Berkeley Zen Center, had to quit sitting in lotus due to "back problems".

Hope I din't get anything wrong or offend--but I can't say I care if I did--because I'm a recovering goodist/perfectionist and now take satisfaction from screwing-up if it doesn't land me in prison or cost me beg bucks.

Cheers & Namaste'
tt/lsmft

 

Hey @Tennis Tom , not at all offended. No matter when I went to the optometrist, you're right when you say what else do I need to hear in order to understand there is nothing wrong with me?!
You're right, I have spent ALOT of money on doctors, supplements, acupuncture, massages, diets and mainly painkillers!!
I'm not in huge amounts of pain but I have this dizziness/off balance feeling that hasn't gone away for years. I also do get migraines frequently. But you're right, enough is enough now.
I proposed a deferred payment plan to Georgie Oldfield and she accepted - thank you, thank you, thank you for your suggestion as I did not think this would be an option.
In the meantime, I went back to the beginning with SteveOs book and really got under the skin of it over the weekend, I do accept and believe Sarno's theory. I think I need more help dealing with all the underlying emotions - it seems to be a complex web.
Hopefully Georgie can help me with that part
Thanks again for your help x