Day 10 BLOATING

I am doing a bit better with bloating . But constipation is still there. My symptoms are bloating, constipation and occasional nausea and flatulence.
Sometimes I have doubts if whatI have is TMS because my discomfort is in the gastrointestinal track and it does not move around like with other people’s TMS (back, shoulders, knees). The only thing that does move around is the bloating moving from left side of intestines to right side and so on( line air bubbles constantly moving) and painful distensión from one place to another.
Also massage and heat does not seem to help like with other TMS. The bloating is also constant! This is not a muscle not ligament nor tendon nor nerve pain which puts doubt in me.

 

In my comments I´m assuming you have already got yourself checked out from a medical professional about any serious illness and they can't find anything dangerous that could be causing your symptoms.

If you don't believe it is TMS, what do you believe it is?

Having TMS in gastrointestinal track is common. Even before I had IBS I had these type of stomach reactions to feelings:
- Every time I had an exam in University my stomach/intestines got very upset. I had to visit the bathroom several times the night before, several times in the morning and also during the exam. (Pressure, worry, "have to pass")
- When I was close to getting a new apartment and went for the interview and looking at it, I got nervous and was bloated several days. (Nervous, worried)

So for sure: emotions can affect your digestive system a lot! Even to create bloating. So if you have life stressors that are more constant (then my temporary above), why wouldn't the symptoms be more constant?

Also, when I had IBS it was not like symptoms moved around all the time. One type of symptom I had for over a year.

Even now when I don't have IBS, I can get bad breath, slight heartburn and slight stomach ache when I´m feeling very worried or nervous (on occasion). So something is happening as a response to me feeling unsafe and trying to neglect the feeling.

Don't get hung up on what is most common symptoms etc. It doesn't matter to your unconscious mind what it does. It just wants to create a symptom that will catch your attention so you get preoccupied with pain, worry, planning your life around your symptom etc. Because when you do, you don't have time to discover the uncomfortable emotions in your unconsciousness and the minds defense work!

 

Thank you Hedger for this very useful information. I will tag it to read it from time to time.

 

For me it was important to realize that the University exams etc. on their own are not the worst stressors, it was how I treated myself in my head. The self imposed pressure: you have to pass this exam otherwise its a catastrophe, you cannot be a failure etc. etc. And it was very rarely as high stakes as my mind told me it would be. Usually any outcome would have been fine in reality.

Now fast forward to even more adult responsibilities like children, work and marriage (or similar). How are you treating yourself inside your head? How much moral, obligations and "must" is floating around in your thoughts compared to your inner childish urges? And are you aware of what your inner egoistic self really wants? I was not aware of this, or I was lying to myself. It was almost always my morals that spoke in my head.

I´m not saying you have to give in to all your childish urges (like scream when you get irritated at a colleague), but to recognize the emotion and know that it is completely normal.

Example: I love my son more than anything, and I would literally die for him. At the same time I can have enormous rage towards him if he e.g. screams 3 nights in a row so I can't sleep properly. He is depriving me of sleep and it makes me feel miserable. My inner child (or ID) hates that. Its a very bad idea to start screaming ragefully at my child because of this, but it is a good idea to recognize the emotion and tell myself in my mind that it is normal to get very angry even at someone you love so deeply. It is part of being human to have these emotions.