Stupid question

This is a stupid question but I suffer from anal ache and pelvic floor tension due to mind body issues. Some say levator ani syndrome but they say people who have that feel an ache high up in the rectum. Mine feels about 2cm inside my anus. So is this levator ani or just plain pelvic tension??. May even be my internal anal sphincter. But at last I know 100 percent it is mind body related.

 

I know nothing of these muscles, but will say that my best advice is for you to focus on your statement copied here.

Dr. Sarno's work addresses all of the body, and although we want to know that someone else has cured from an exact same pain, this is not necessary! Read success stories and put your symptoms into the place of whatever you are reading. It is all the same cause of pain, so the treatment is the same also!

Good luck in this work, and keep it up!!!

 

Alfaman147.....there's nothing stupid about the concern. I wouldn't worry too much about it. I need to preface my experience by saying that this was pre-panic attack in 2012. I say this because ever since the panic attack, I've been hypersensitive about every sensation.

I had this off and on for a few months back in 2010 or 2011. It would come-and-go for days or weeks even, and while it was a tad uncomfortable I simply ignored it. One day it just stopped. I liken it to a semi-intense spasm. Unless there is blood in the stool, I'd say you'll be fine.

 

Oh wow you had this feeling too??? I've had it on and off for 6 years. some days its not there at all. Been checked out my loads of docs and all is well. It's just a tension thing.

 

I had a bad day of intense Internet research about my problem so it's been quite bad the last few days. it's so bizarre how it can feel so sore and then it just goes away

 

I need to give this forum a break again I think. Was doing really well and almost had no pain at all but got talking to someone on another forum and it's made me obsess again.

 

Bloody Google is the worst thing out there. I have the proof it's a psychological problem. It goes away sometimes. Boom that's the proof. A serious problem or nerve problem wouldn't just go away and come back again. I can see the patterns emerging. When I'm happy and distracted by things I'm feeling good. When I give in to temptation and look on the Internet or this forum and wait for someone to reply I'm bad again. My docs and therapist have said to stay off here. Just feel the need to ask questions sometimes but they are questions I know the answer to. I have way too much information in my head about anal and rectal pain. If I wasn't so anxious all the time I could probably ignore it and it would go away. I had a time where I was having the pain but never looked on the Internet. I stopped myself. And it eventually went away. I would have it come during a stressful time but when that was resolved it would go away. I remember feeling good a few times and then thinking to myself .... i havent had that pain for a while.... and as soon as I thought that I could feel a tingle in my anus as if it was building up again. But I was able to not think about it and it never came back.

 

And from an outsiders point of view if they knew I had this pain and kept on researching it I know what they would say... It would be get a life. You've been checked out by loads of docs and had scans. You have no blood and your still alive and well after 6 years so stop torturing yourself

 

I really wouldn't worry about it too much. It's obvious by your post, you're an internet sleuth; don't do that to yourself. I'm guilty of it too, but I'm getting better about it. You're only going to make things that more stressful.

 

I've had the whole spectrum of mind-body disorders, some worse than others. I can relate to most on these boards.

 

You had this anal aching?? levator ani syndrome or chronic proctalgia my doc called it. Yes I need to stop googling. Also I have been on this forum for the last 4 hours so that isn't going to help is it haha

 

Maybe I'm lucky that it's my only tms issue. When I first had it come about 7 years ago I was so worried and had no idea what was happening to me. I started having other symptoms like palpitations and finding it hard to take a deep breath. I found while I was having these other symptoms my anal pain went away. Infact when I was having the breath thing really bad I tried to think about my anal pain because it was easier to cope with. But the anal pain is one that I can't seem to get rid of now. Although I say I can't get rid of it I do have days without it. And when I had it earlier I could have weeks or months without it. I used to think to myself I haven't had that pain for a while and I would feel it coming on again haha.

 

Yes, I had this before. Like I said, it was some years back. It felt like something was jammed up there; obviously there was nothing. I also had spasms. It was annoying, but I just ignored it.

 

Spasms as in sharp pain??? yes that's my feeling exactly. feels like i have a golf ball in my ass haha. Or sometimes just aches. It's not agony it's just very uncomfortable. How long did you have it?? and how did you get rid of it?

 

HAHA!!! It's really hard to be serious about a pain like this. Seems like more of a humorous imposition than something psychosomatic. It was off and on for a while as I recall. Not 7 years, but then again, when I look back, it may have been there even longer. I literally just went on with my life. It never seemed to be a threatening problem. There was no lifestyle adjustment required. I just didn't care. Lord knows I'd have to reconsider my position should the situation become [explosive].

 

Dude, you seem to be stuck in the same loop that entrenched me for so long. When you are not in pain or symptom free you feel confident in the TMS diagnosis and have no need to research or obsess but as soon as you get a pain or a symptom flare the doubts surface and you return to the need to investigate for reassurance.

I think we are all often guilty of thinking that the next search etc will unearth some golden nugget of information that will somehow 'cure' us but of course this is magical thinking in the extreme. The bottom line is that we all really have the smarts about the concept of TMS, stress illness, somatisation etc and there really is nothing else that can be added to our knowledge base.

In many ways whilst I do think the need to research etc when we are on a flare is a reassurance seeking behaviour, I also think there is an element of us just being unwilling to sit with our pain/discomfort for any length of time...it is like we feel we HAVE to feel comfortable and whilst we are pain etc the act of researching can also reduce this discomfort...it is like scratching an itch.

I do think consistency of behaviour is important for anybody with TMS, stress illness or a chronic pain disorder. We need to be aware that whilst me may feel we are going to soothe ourselves when we research/obsess when we are on a flare the reality is that we are actually doing the opposite. We are negating our ability to self soothe and are placing our feeling of comfort in the external (and misplaced) belief that more information will calm us and solve our internal turmoil. I think we need to be strong in these moments and trust our resolve and sit with our discomfort and see it through without feeling we have to somehow resolve this discomfort. I think it is with every time we are able to do this we go stronger and move closer to recovery.

 

Explosive????

 

And yes I know I beat this last time by just ignoring it and I guess the brain eventually forgets about it. And I'm sure the more I'm on these forums and the Internet I'm just saying to my brain.... hey don't forget you have this pain.

 

Exactly.

While we may think that researching and information gathering will build an armoury that will help us to negate the pain our brain isn't processing the information in a logical or analytical manner (due to our being anxious and in an emotional frame of mind with the pain). Really all we are doing is reinforcing the fact/belief that there is something to be fixed and this can be done through actions taken outside of ourselves.

 

I need to look at this from another angle. I'm not going to be defeated. I know in my own mind I can improve or even get rid of this. For God sake a few days ago I was feeling great. I have let one slip define me again. And it all came from the brief obsession that I had a rectal prolapse which led me to the ibs forum and talking to someone who has the same symptoms as me who also was convinced he had a prolapse. I was telling him how he can't have one because he would have more symptoms. I was too busy telling him how it was a mind body issue that I may have convinced myself other wise. And yet I know I haven't which led me onto this forum again for reassurance. So basically yesterday I was jumping between both forums and Google in between. So it's no wonder why I'm having pain again.