Alan G. TMS and PTSD

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Question

Is there a relationship between PTSD and TMS? How does one distinguish if they have one or the other or both?

Thank you very much,
Kelle

 

Answer

Hi Kelle,

I'm not sure I explicitly realized it until just now, but in some sense, TMS is the consequence of PTSD.

Let's say for instance that you grew up with a dad who's a rageaholic, or a mother who's really anxious, or a brother who's physically abusive. Through repeated exposure to these threatening stimuli, the primitive brain comes to believe that the world isn't safe, and you find yourself living in a state of fight or flight, finding fears everywhere, scanning the environment for threats. This is PTSD; maybe not the formal diagnosis with the nightmares and flashes and symptoms along those lines, but a dysfunctional way of existing as a result of repeated trauma.

TMS, or psychogenic pain, is an evolutionary autonomic response that serves to warn us of a perceived threat (google "Lorimer Moseley" and "snake bite" for a more elaborate example of this...) When someone inherently feels safe in the world, psychogenic pain passes once the threat is removed, but for those that are chronically hypervigilant, our primitive brain believes that we are constantly subjected to threats, and these symptoms can become chronic.

Everyone with TMS has PTSD (to some degree) as PTSD is a necessary prerequisite to developing hypervigilance, and hypervigilance is at the root of all TMS symptoms.

Alan

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To me they are all the same. They all started with our negative emotions, negative experience, traumas... They are just different forms of our mind's expression when we are subject to extreme or chronic "negative" thoughts/emotions. Doctors gave different label depending on symptoms. Fibromyalgia, CFS, IBS, TMS, back pain, knee pain, insomnia...... and thousand others. All of these started due to something negative happened in our life and all of them can be rid of in pretty much the same way. Whatever we labeled them, they are all Mind body syndromes and it would benefit us to think of them all as tms or anxiety.

 

Interesting. Hadn't thought of it this way before. Thanks.

 

Yes. I agree entirely with Alan. My doctor who is unfamiliar with tms (but very receptive) connected it to PTSD. I guess that may be exactly what I am experiencing (as Alan describes it).

Great discussion. I should add I'm getting better everyday. I'm developing a new way to retrain my body to not be so on guard of threats constantly and live in the moment.

Crissy

 

Hey Crissy,
Great response. Can you elaborate on what you've done to retrain your mind and body to not be so on guard to threats? Teaching the primitive brain that you're safe is the goal, but it's always helpful to learn different techniques that people use to work toward that goal.

Alan

 

Awwww. Thanks Alan. Well a big part of building these strategies has been working with a tms therapist who is trained to help me recognize fight or flight/anxiety (which often tried to cover up emotion and maybe more importantly covering up my emotions with behaviours (smiling as a coping strategy or trick to outwardly disguise discomfort).

Another huge strategy for me is recognizing when I'm in fight or flight and replacing the destructive behaviours (cleaning or making things that are uncertain certain) with utilizing either self love strategies to support myself through it or acknowledge and accept that that's just where I am and that's okay. Accepting just what I'm giving myself or feeling without too much judgment has been big for me.

Another thing is working through the fear. And accepting that there is nothing actually wrong with me but then!!!!!!! Retraining those neural pathways by replacing that thought pattern with new behaviours (doing that physical movement anyways because I'm just fine)

I had a huge moment this week where I realized that success for me isn't measured by how often I'm feeling in fight it flight or feeling pain etc but it's measured by what I do when that happens. Every time I feel those things it's a great opportunity for me to practice that so now they just don't scare me the same.

I have a long way to go but I've come super far and happy about that. I've challenged myself and celebrated huge successes! (Like holding my son and returning to work!)

I think that was rather long winded...hopefully I answered your question...

Crissy

 

I absolutely love this and am also working diligently on adjusting my "TMS Success Barometer" from "How good did I do at eliminating my symptoms today?" to "How good did I do at reacting to my symptoms today?" It's a a subtle but very powerful shift that I am confident will serve us both very well!

 

Yes! I love how you framed that Dexy. Very powerful indeed.

 

What a great thread! Alan, I loved what you had to say. And Crissy, thanks for asking such a great answer and contributing your strategies on destructive behaviors. (I really get the trying to turn uncertainty into certainty. Another way to spell c-o-n-t-r-o-l.) Loved what you had to say too, Dexy.

 

"Hypervigilance"............that's my middle name, unfortunately. I find myself often easily preoccupied with any feeling that I don't perceive as normal, of which there are many.

 

I hear ya it's difficult to do but with constant practice you will not care