Is there such a thing as TMS for eating?

Hey guys.

So, for 2 years I had chronic pain. Like, really bad.

The pain dissipated after studying TMS and journaling for TMS.

But, a few months in I went from calorie counting 2100 calories per day to being unable to go under 4000 calories.

Now nothing different happened other than my chronic pain going away.

Since then I gained 100lbs+ and find myself having stomach issues, anxiety and angst when I go under 3500 calories in one day.

Have any of you ever heard of this as a symptom imperative?

Can calories in be affected by TMS?

Thank you for any tips you have!

 

Yes! There is. It's not exactly termed as TMS, but there are eating symptoms - Nichole Sachs podcast The Cure For Chronic Pain has had a guest in the past (I think a few times) dealing with these issues.
My thought is that this is simply a form of the obsession, the OCD style thoughts. That your brain feels like *Something* will happen if you eat less.
What had you done for your chronic symptoms in the past?
What have you been doing for these new symptoms?

 

I read the MindBody Prescription, journaled in the Nicole Sachs/John Sarno style and listened to podcasts to increase my believe.

Once my chronic pain was gone I stopped because I had no pain.

I did all that for 6 months then never did it again.

But during those 6 months my calorie problem started.

Currently I am doing no TMS work

 

Perhaps this is just a symptom imperative. You are paying attention to the symptom by giving it what it wants.
So when you do not give in to eating, you get anxiety and anger. Part of TMS work is to be ok with this kind of symptom and move on with your day. You need to be ok with being uncomfortable and know the anxiety is nothing more than thoughts, the anger will pass if you allow yourself to experience it - it’s a physical sensation, nothing more and you also need to become comfortable experiencing emotions in the body and mind.
My suggestion is to journal when you need to! Maybe there is something lurking under the angst/anger, maybe the eating is a comforting safety mechanism for whatever else is going on with you.
Here is Dr. Hanscom’s work on RUTS which is probably a form of what is happening to you. The unpleasant OCD like thoughts driving behavior. The eating is probably a form of addiction, another common distraction from emotions and the true source of your anger: https://backincontrol.com/ruts/ (RUTs - Back in Control)

 

I see.

Do you have any podcasts, videos or YouTube that I can watch as well?

 

This TMS clinician also has recovered from TMS and addictions. He often relates addictions to pre occupations/OCD like thinking as equal to the distraction of pain. I think this will be of some help

I mentioned episodes of the cure for Chronic Pain by Nichole Sachs - they are early episodes you can look for on Audioboom and are tagged with eating as a symptom.

I did not listen to this, but it’s Dr. Hanscom on intrusive thoughts which he now terms RUTS

Listening to any and all of these will support you
, but you may still need to actively engage in things that help your nervous system regulate, and get you in touch and accepting your deep inner rage and any other emotions that your symptoms are distracting you from, which is exactly what Dr. Sarno says fuels TMS.