Advice on post exercise

Hey guys

hope everyone is well.

looking for a bit advice. As some may know from other posts I’m quite a way down the road and feeling much better.

tiny bit of background- throughout my TMS struggle I have always been able to engage in exercise, it has actually been my only time during the day where I’m not overcome with pain. This may sound strange to others . But exercise has always been my enjoyment and the only time I can escape from TMS. I know the opposite is true of others where the pain meant they couldn’t exercise. For me, as soon as I got those bars loaded with weight my pain melted away to nothing more than a minor inconvenience, having been terribly disabling before I set foot in the gym. Strange huh?

I’ve been training for years after a short career in sports. Recently I have noticed huge flare ups after training. I understand the sore and achy feelings we may get after weight training and I understand these feelings are completely normal and it’s normal for them to last a number of days, maybe longer depending on how strenuous the activity was. I’m experienced and if we go back 3 years I would never have questioned the post workout soreness.

this last week however has been very hard. It started on Monday after a session on Sunday. It was the usual soreness I would expect after a heavy session. But this continued into the following days at a level far higher than it should have done given what I had done. I have still managed to train, unaffected since- 3 times. Each session completed, mild soreness throughout due to the weeks training, but nothing that I would describe as ‘pain’.

no sooner have the sessions ended, I’m overcome with pain again. The pain all centres around my neck and trapezius muscles . I have also had an underlying headache the entire week, from waking to going to sleep. I have suffered headaches in the past too. Neck, traps and headaches has been my problem.

My neck has been the most prominent area during my TMS struggle so this is no surprise to me. My arms, which sometimes flare up have taken a back seat and aren’t giving me too much trouble.

my question is. Now I’m down the road with TMS and seeing improvements constantly, is this the way it is now manifesting itself? It’s now focussing on something (training) that I have always been able to do throughout, and it is now using that as it’s tool and exaggerating those normal gym pains, into totally disabling pain? And given that it is exaggerating those normal training pains, specifically in the area where I’ve always struggled, my neck and shoulders, would my assumption be correct? It’s now taking an enjoyment of mine, that had previously been unaffected, and it is using that and those normal aches and pains to increase my TMS pain, maybe as a last resort, because working by itself I have found myself defeating it?

i know I will get in that gym in a few hours and I’ll be suffering very mild pain. Some may be from the other sessions this week, some may be from TMS , but it will be mild and I’ll get it done. This is the confusing part. Once activity starts I’m good to go. But the lingering and increasing pain to the level im experiencing now, sat here, is something entirely new to me and has not happened, until this week, at any point on my TMS journey.

It is a mix of deep aching, sudden increase in pain and almost a sunburn feeling. Clothing across my neck and shoulders makes me feeling stinging sensations. When I don’t have a top on the pain remains but the stinging goes.

I hope that makes sense, I know what I mean, but I struggle to get it across sometimes in writing.

 

I think the answer to your question is yes. Over the years of reading this Forum I've noticed that often TMS manifests in a way that is sure to get one's attention. Musicians often get pain in their hands, singers have problems with their vocal cords, runners with their knees, etc. Just tell your brain you're on to it, and continue to do what you've been doing to treat your TMS, which seems to be working. Hang in there.