Injury after TMS? What to do? Crossover point?

So the other day I partied a little too hard on my birthday and ended up puking in front of the toilet multiple times, after which point my lower back seized up (this was Saturday evening).

I have been icing it on sunday, and will continue to do so today, as well as take some meds.

What I'm wondering is... how safe should you be with what we believe to be actual acute "injuries" or "muscle pulls" ? On the one hand I don't want to be feeding into TMS, but if it's an actual injury the worst thing to do is to get back into my regular routine before its too early.

At this moment (monday) it seems to hurt to sit down for even a short time.

Emotionally I know I feel a little ashamed of this episode and I also feel the timing is bad as I am in the last 3 weeks of this semester in grad school, and additionally I have not aced any of my interviews for an internship for the summer so that is bothering me a bit. But like I said, I don't want to overstress what seems to be a real injury.

Thoughts?

 

I will tell you this does not seem like a real injury, since bending over and throwing up should not cause your back to seize up. To me, it sounds very emotional, and sounds like you are under a lot of stress. I would get a hold of your emotions and figure out what you've been holding in, or not dealing with, what does not want to be felt, before I would go down "is this an injury?" track.

 

I had done a core workout the day before this happened so those muscles could already have been tight before this. This made me think it could be possible.

As far as examining emotions, it seems like whenever I think about something stressfull I notice pain in my body. Im not really sure how to release the emotion without feeling pain in the body. It almost seems like I should avoid the negative thoughts to not make the pain worse. Aside from hating how I felt somewhat crippled when the pain was at its worst in the past, I am also afraid of what I will miss (responsibilities) if the pain is bad [school, work].

My TMS first got really bad last year about a month or two after my 30th birthday. I was hesitant about this, and felt guilty about going out to celebrate when I thought I should stay in and just study. I also feel bad about not landing any internships.

 

Hi Freedom,

Sounds like an episode of TMS. A back spasm that comes on without any major cause of injury in the moment is almost always TMS...keep telling yourself that. In the meantime, take it easy, it will take a few days or week for the back to come out of spasm at this point even if you know its TMS. Though that knowledge should help it heal and un-spasm faster

 

ARGH, I went to sit on an ottoman earlier and was eating some food at an awkward angle (leaning to side instead of forward (table was not in front of me). When I got up my back felt very spasmed and in pain and I had to go lay down for an hour, just got up now. The worst part is my mind immediately goes to "well maybe I shouldnt sit like that" but my back shouldnt go out from sitting at an odd angle for 10 minutes. THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING!

 

Aw I'm sorry. I completely understand. You shouldn't get mad at got self for having those thoughts it's just how you relate to those thoughts that's crucial and don't beat your self up healing is a process that requires patience. Maybe the next time you have a thought like that you can just catch your self and think "I know thoughts like that are meant to make me and be fearful of the pain but I know what the pain is and it's not from sitting like that , it's not physical, I'm healthy and I don't deserve to restrict my movements." Maybe even yell at your brain or laugh at it! "nice try but I know what's going"