Why You Hurt Where You Hurt

Aloha,

How does your body manifest TMS?

• If you are really angry and cannot stand it anymore, your back, legs, knees,or feet hurt and you have to lie down.
Conventional diagnosis: herniated disc, osteoarthritis, plantar fasciitis, torn meniscus, and so on

• If you can’t go on anymore, your legs or knees begin to hurt. Your legs may even become numb.
Conventional diagnosis: pinched nerve, torn meniscus, chondromalacia patella

• When you are really angry but can’t talk back, your jaws begin to hurt or you may lose your voice.
Conventional diagnosis: TMJ, spasmodic dysphonia

• You can’t face it anymore. Your face begins to hurt or it may show your discontent.
Conventional diagnosis:trigeminal neuralgia, Bell's palsy

• You can’t handle it anymore. Your arms and hands start hurting or go numb.
Conventional diagnosis: repetitive stress injury, carpal tunnel syndrome, and so on

• It’s too much burden on you and you are really angry about it. Your neck and shoulders begin to hurt.
Conventional diagnosis: torn rotator cuff or bulging disc

• You can’t stomach it anymore. You get stomach ache or other digestive problems.
Conventional diagnosis: IBS, acid reflux, etc.

• You feel you are under attack by your boss or a relative. You want to hit back but can’t. Your shoulder,arm, elbow, or hand begins to hurt.
Conventional diagnosis: tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, RSI, etc.

• You are sick and tired of seeing the problem.You become nearsighted or farsighted, depending on your perception:
1. If the future looks grim and you do not wish to look that far ahead, you might become nearsighted.
2. If you do not wish to see the problem in front of you, you might become farsighted.
Conventional diagnosis: myopia, hyperopia,

• You are so mad subconsciously that you feel like gnashing your teeth during the day. But you don't. You end up grinding your teeth in your sleep.
Conventional diagnosis: bruxism

• You are sick and tired of hearing it, you mind drowns out the sound by producing its own sound in your ear.
Conventional diagnosis: tinnitus

Of course, you need to seek medical advice and rule out physical causes, such as infection, cancer, diabetes, and so on, depending on your symptoms. However, once you make the connection between your symptoms and what's making you upset, you are on your way to overcoming TMS.

 

Hi, Fred. Your post is wonderful and should be helpful to a lot of people. You share some very important insight into the TMS journey toward healing.

 

Hi Fred,

I love the easy correlations between what we feel, and the symptoms. I think it may be a little over simplified, in that many symptoms' locations are not so clearly related to the inner world, in my experience. But I love the directness of this approach. It is easy to grasp.

I relate to this thinking for my own symptoms: I had terrible foot pain, and I think it was related to inner and outer boundaries. So I had a realization you could add to the list:

• If you are not clear in your boundaries with others, then you are not able to "stand your ground" or "put your foot down" when appropriate. Foot pain ensues.
Conventional diagnosis: Plantar Fasciitis, Tarsal Tunnel, Nerve Damage, and so on.

Andy B

 

Thanks Tom. You are very kind.

Good one Andy.
"• If you are not clear in your boundaries with others, then you are not able to "stand your ground" or "put your foot down" when appropriate. Foot pain ensues."

Our subconscious may choose many other ways of manifesting tension. Sometimes it could even be worrying too much about a condition (CTS, RSI, IBS,...) that we hear about from others or is in the news. If we create enough tension by worrying about it, we may experience it ourselves.

In some cases it could simply be due to genetic factors. So we can be predisposed to manifest tension in a certain way. Here's a case I mention in my book.

"Once I called Victor, a design manager acquaintance of mine, to ask him a question. He sounded very ill on the phone. I asked him whether he had a cold.


He said, “No. I have a condition called hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, or HHT for short. It is a hereditary and chronic condition that causes nosebleeds. I have had it for ten years and have tried everything from laser surgery to medications, but nothing has worked.” He told me that he usually bled at night, in his sleep, and first thing in the morning. He rarely bled at work. “Aha!” I thought—a possible case of TMS equivalent.


I set a time to meet with him. He was late due to excessive bleeding right before our meeting. He told me that most people with this condition experience bleeding after puberty and continue to have problems throughout their lives. His grandfather had to receive transfusions because he lost so much blood, and he eventually died from excessive bleeding. Victor was allergic to tea, coffee, and chocolate. If he had even a little bit of these, his nose bled. He had recently attended a national conference on HHT. Although many issues related to the cause and treatment of HHT were discussed, tension was never considered as a factor.


Considering that the bleeding began after puberty, when most teens experience a lot of tension, and that Victor bled at night and early in the morning, I surmised that the bleeding was his body’s way of manifesting tension. When I explained to him that TMS seemed likely to be involved, he agreed completely. In fact, he had noticed that when he was under stress, he experienced more serious bleeding.


Victor was ready to try the techniques. He was bleeding three times a day at the time. He also bled when he bent down. So we set the goal of reducing bleeding to twice a day, with ice cream as his reward. He was to bend down and not bleed after one week.


I called him two days later to find out that he had not bled at all and was doing great. Later he had some minor bleeding, but through applying stress-reduction techniques and balancing his responsibilities, he eventually had very few problems. He was able to bend without bleeding after one week, and he even drank coffee and ate chocolate with no aftereffects."

What is important here is to make the connection between tension and our symptoms so that we can avoid useless treatments and recover.

 

I love this story. I was able to stop my severe asthma by promising my inner self a reward of: sitting on the porch drinking mocha ice coffee while listening to music after successfully climbing a steep hill without wheezing. I got the idea from The Great Pain Deception.

 

It's amazing how many metaphors relate to basically feeling pissed off, unappreciated, helpless, and resentful. Because our society is uncomfortable talking about emotions directly, we soften the blow by speaking in code.
I often think, "Do I have to break my back just to feel like I'm doing a good job?"
Or, "Why am I breaking my back for this person (company, group, etc.)?"
Who do you want to get off your back?
Are you tired of bending over backwards for someone?
Who in your life is being a pain in the neck?
Are you being stiff-necked?
So you feel like you're under a lot of pressure?
Do you feel suck in a situation, unable to move?

 

Great post Eric.

Language is a powerful tool. The words we use to describe a situation or talk to ourselves and have a profund impact on our health. The phrases you mention shows how we can easily set ourselves up for back and neck pain. Ouch!

 

In a social setting I often hear people complaining about pain and comparing symptoms, treatments, etc. This can also set them up for more pain. Feeding the distraction.