Daily Headaches Out Of Nowhere

"Headaches" are on many lists of the many symptoms that many people experience during their "pre-Sarno" suffering. They are certainly on my list and I've mentioned them many times in responses. But I'd had them for years, and they were not migraines and not my primary symptom, and not the reason I became so desperate in 2011 that I was latching on to anything I could find, and I suspect that's true for many of us. For me, headaches were "normal", whereas dizziness, palpitations, panic attacks, shaky legs, GI distress, pain everywhere... these were not. The headaches simply left along with the rest of it.

 

I am not a medical professional, and you have not indicated if you have been checked out by a medical professional - which is essential before a "peer" on this forum can engage in any form of advice or possible speculation. Be sure to see the disclaimer at the bottom of every forum page. By peer I mean that the members on this forum are simply fellow TMS-sufferers, and not medically trained. I'm a retired CPA, myself.

People who end up here have been checked out medically, but have either been told "we can't find anything wrong with you" or received a diagnosis that is unsatisfactory due to an inability of the medical profession to clearly state what is wrong, why it's wrong, and what can definitively be done about it.

IF you've been medically checked, and they can't find anything wrong or can't provide satisfactory definitive treatment, then by process of elimination, the "TMS" approach is a logical place to try something different.

I put "TMS" in quotes because the term is a bit outdated. We still use it here in honor of John Sarno MD, who coined the term decades ago to describe chronic pain resulting from what he then thought was muscle tension and oxygen deprivation due to the tension of emotional stress. The physiological basis of that theory is probably mostly not valid, while other explanations have taken its place, and TMS now includes a lot more conditions than just muscle tension (Sarno's original focus was back pain). Today's practitioners use MBS (mind body syndrome) or PPD (psycho-physiologic disorder) rather than TMS.

You asked if a symptom can be "easily resolved" using TMS knowledge and techniques. I know that people who are desperate for an answer are not going to like this, but sadly it is not answerable. We are basically talking about physical symptoms which result from emotional stress and distress. Thus every individual with a mindbody condition is going to have different reasons for it, and they will, as a result, have wildly different symptoms, numbers of symptoms, and intensity of symptoms. The path to recovery is different for everyone, and it is anything but linear. Unfortunately for the perfectionist "TMS personality" there is no established timeline, there are no black & white rules that apply to everyone, and the few guidelines that exist basically have to do with personal integrity and self-esteem.

All that being said, it's really not hard to get into this work if you are willing to make a commitment to give it an honest try. Unlike many medical and alternative treatments, doing this work is non-invasive, very low cost if not free, and comes under the category of "what have you got to lose?" So if you want to explore the possibility that your headaches are emotional and stress-based, and if you haven't yet read a book by Dr. Sarno, that's still the place to start. I recommend his last book, The Divided Mind, which was updated over his previous books, AND includes chapters written by five other MDs and a psychologist. I downloaded it from my public library back in 2011, and used copies are undoubtedly available on that book website.

Then put aside two hours to watch or listen to the recent interview with Howard Schubiner, MD, which was posted and discussed on this thread: new long and awesome interview | TMS Forum (The Mindbody Syndrome) (tmswiki.org). Dr. Schu provides the very latest information about the treatment of chronic conditions, and touches on many different aspects of the recovery process.

We have a free self-guided program on the main tmswiki.org site - the Structured Educational Program. No signup, no registration, no app needed - you just start doing it. It was designed quite a few years ago by volunteers and has not been updated since, and we know there are some obsolete links, but no one has time to search them all, then research appropriate replacements and edit the pages accordingly. That's what you get for free, but there are paid programs out there which are curated with the most up to date information on mindbody conditions and treatments.

Good luck.