Can idiopathic/physically unexplained symptoms always be considered TMS?

(This is a question on broader TMS theory more than one for personal use)

I ask because I'm listening through the Tell Me About Your Pain podcast where this topic is partially discussed, and because I am currently being assessed for a diagnosis which definitionally fulfils 10-15 of Schubiner's 19 F.I.T (Functional, Inconsistent, Triggered) checkmarks for neuroplastic symptoms. It boggles the mind that if this condition (and many others like fibro, IBS, CFS, etc.) are such neat fits for TMS, how many people suffer being treated with the wrong methodologies if they don't stumble across the world of mindbody medicine?

Is there nuance to it? Are some conditions which fit the FIT criteria not actually TMS? Or should it always be taken as Occam's Razor that "if it walks like a TMS and quacks like a TMS, it's probably a TMS"? Interested in opinions on it; because for example, a lot of neuropathies (incl. diabetic neuropathy, etc.) would tick over half the 19 FIT criteria, but would be considered structural conditions when evidence of nerve damage is found. (Same goes for SFN which is considered by Schubiner to be 100% TMS.) Are conditions like these also TMS, or at least similiar enough despite a structural root that they will benefit from either psychological/neuroplastic treatment?

At this stage I more than believe in TMS as a whole, but struggle with the fact that some disorders meet the standard TMS criteria 100% of the time - because that would be millions of people suffering from issues that are rooted in mindbody, and could be cured from these methods, but instead often get no treatment at all. It feels both very simple and extremely bleak. But maybe that's part of the flawed medical model, and the answer really is "yes, most people with idiopathic diagnoses could be treated with mindbody work and it's a tragedy that they're not." Wondering what you all think.

 

When people blush - it is the mind/body connection: a physical reaction to an emotion. Everyone does this.
We cry when sad - not everyone does this but it is a physical reaction to an emotion.
Why would people not have any other physical reaction to anything emotional or brain oriented?
Sarno saw most of his patients with back pain. That was "trendy" at the time.
Dr. Schubiner talks about other symptoms he has seen come in waves over time.

Sometimes people have real illnesses and issues whether triggered by a mind/body issue (as @JanAtheCPA describes her RA), or a disease. Fear, heavy emotions, panic, anxiety ... they have all been proven to make any diagnoses feel more difficult.

What I think is that it really all doesn't matter what or why. That is your brain trying to rationalize, problem solve and create issues (or thoughts) out of things that are essentially not important to your situation. I know, I've been there. Your mind will try anything to keep you from discovering exactly what it has been trying to protect you from (Sarno says it's anger/rage, Schubiner agrees and throws in sadness, I've read some posts of Steve O and in his book - he talks about any thoughts/emotions which make you feel broken/or essentially separated from self which many people describe as lonely) - they key is knowing that after getting checked out ONCE, and cleared by your Dr., that there is nothing wrong with you. Your brain/mind is convinced there is .... but your thoughts are not truth. They are merely thoughts.

Focusing on your wellness, on dealing with the anxiety and the fear and finding the confidence that is buried within you is the most important thing. The rest is just a smoke screen.

 

Idiopathic means "we have no blooming idea what the cause is" lol, so yes that's tms. It is scandalous and appalling that millions of people suffer needlessly and yes it is an epidemic of iatrogenesis and fear. This is the timeline in which we live and hopefully we are on the cusp of a revolution , but paradigm shifts tend to take centuries. In the autism world, they are not shifting in terms of school methodology. It's actually going backwards because schools depend on funding and bureaucracies that only recognize old paradigms. It's complicated but mostly financially driven. The way medicine is practiced today is driven by profit and corporations, not ethics. Private practices have been taken over by interest groups. Doctors have become employees who see the patient for 7 minutes. Specialization has led to a myopic view where the patient as a person has become invisible. On a societal level, it is indeed tragic because it doesn't just affect the sufferer, but the whole family and the community. It boggles the mind to imagine how many people and how many years of their lives and bank accounts could have been spared untold suffering and fear and misery.

 

I appreciate what you've said here but don't worry, this isn't a "someone convince me TMS is real" post, this is a general thought on the principles of TMS as it stands. A lot of disorders that are termed as physical/structural/functional issues do fulfil most of the criteria set out by doctors like John Sarno or Howard Schubiner, which is interesting from the TMS perspective because does that indicate they would at least benefit from an ELEMENT of neuroplastic treatment, as part of a broader care package? Was just thinking about it.

 

Unfortunately, I'm inclined to agree, and have nothing to add. My own experience with doctors has certainly been like what you describe, and it's difficult to understand on a human level how doctors can often feel so callous to patients. But I guess that's the result of years of desensitization and being forced to see patients as faceless numbers, it makes it difficult to appreciate the extent they may be suffering.

 

I have told Drs. when I am paying THEM that I highly suspect something is of a psychogenic origin and they always roll their eyes. Dentist gave me the same treatment when I had pain in a tooth with no nerve.

Yep. So Glad I discovered Sarno Before I lost my health insurance. I haven't read your story, but all of us go through a sort of progression... angry at all of the stuff we were told (they didn't know any better) angry at the system for straining a gnat and swallowing a camel (What @miffybunny brought up) and feeling sort of helpless against the inertia of all of that MONEY propping up the 'conventional diagnoses'

Sarno once said (paraphrased) "If the Great Architect disabled the placebo effect, the pharmaceutical industry would crash".
Yes and No. Yes, they benefit from the Placebo effect at probably 50-60% of their gross, NO because they would find something else to scare us with. Medicine has become such an ossified construct that it has little ability to change ....even if they had lofty ideals and weren't monetarily motivated.

Blessed are the Poor.

 

I am not so sure Dr. Sarno would agree. In The Divided Mind, he wrote: “After many years of experience, it is our impression that not more than 10 to 15 percent of the population would be willing to accept a psychosomatic diagnosis.” By psychosomatic, he meant “physical disorders of the mindbody, disorders that may appear to be purely physical, but which have their origin in unconscious emotions.” Later in the book, he added: “Because acceptance of the diagnosis is essential for a positive outcome and because so few people are open to such a diagnosis, I have a telephone conversation with all who call for an appointment. After years of experience it is not difficult to determine whether someone is a good candidate for the program, and for those who are not it is a kindness to them and to me to discourage them from making an appointment. This is not discriminatory but simply faces the reality of what is required for successful treatment. It is analogous to a surgeon’s decision not to operate on some who is not a good surgical risk."

 

This is fair and yeah, reasonable enough that there'd need to be a certain level of buy-in for people to benefit from TMS/PPD/MBS or whatever treatments, but I did sort of mean "putting aside the issue of belief" because in a perfect world, there wouldn't be such an intense degree of skepticism towards a mindbody diagnosis anyway. You are right that many people would simply reject it too fundamentally to ever believe in, but I guess I'm thinking just of whether the symptom sets could be treated if belief WAS present