Day 7: feedback please

hi, the TMS diagnosis makes more and more sense to me, however, something has recently popped into my head which I can't figure out - there are a few foods/supplements which appear to worsen my restless legs (RLS) and in a couple of cases when I have stopped them and then restarted after a period of time, the flare-up has been duplicated. In both cases, I did not initially expect this to happen (as opposed to back pain where there is the anticipation that a movement will cause pain), so am now worried ! If anyone can propose an explanation which fits with the TMS I would be very grateful. Thankyou.

 

When you quit the foods, you were anticipating that they might make a difference. When you restarted them, you anticipated that they might make a difference. I think this is an example of "predictive coding," which Dr. Schubiner encourages sufferers to investigate. Or put differently, you're probably seeing both placebo and nocebo effects.

 

Thankyou for replying Andy B; what you say makes sense - I think I have a lot of fear around the RLS, and anxiety over the Sarno theory, desperately wanting my RLS not to by physical, but worrying that it still may be! And I think I am consequently on "hyper-alert" for anything which points to a physical explanation. There also really did seem to be a correlation between some foods/supplements and severity of symptoms, plus confirmation from other sufferers experiences of the same things. I have to say though, the biggest factor has always been stress and anxiety which completely links into the TMS theory. I will investigate the predictive coding. Thankyou.

 

Hi Archie, I agree with Andy B, this is "predictive coding". I am in general puzzled about the connection between foods and RLS - this sounds to me rather spurious. There will be always 'other sufferers' who support one's experience. This is why patient groups are not always helpful but they enforce each other.
I also have restless legs, though I won't call it a syndrome. For me it just is part of my stressed nervous system. If I calm down, my feet are not restless anymore.