Hip pain, buzzing toe

Short answer: YES. All you have to do is read some of the threads in our Success Stories subforum to see many examples of many different types of symptoms.

Long answer: our brains are in control of every single physical process and sensation in our bodies. Pain is not created at the site of pain. Damaged tissue communicates with the nervous system which sends a danger signal to the brain, and it is the brain that creates the appropriate sensation to send back to the site of the damage. The same process is similar for illness, for example an invasion of the throat and sinuses by a virus, or ingestion of a stomach virus.

Here's the key thing about this: our brains are FULLY capable of recreating sensations and symptoms without needing instigation from areas of damage or illness. Just look into the phenomenon of phantom limb pain if you need to be convinced of this. Phantom limb pain is the result of physical trauma, but it continues to exist when the physical location of the trauma no longer exists, probably as a result of the emotional traum that accompanied the physical trauma. And, by the way, the experience of pain and related nerve symptoms will be absolutely unique to each individual - no two descriptions will ever be exactly alike. This is because no two brains are exactly alike.

The brain mechanism we call TMS is one which was designed in a primitive world to keep us alert to danger, by repressing emotions which might distract us from being alert. The problem in the modern world is the number of stressors we are constantly exposed to, which trigger a stress response in our primitive brains, which ends up with us being in a constant state of low-level fight-or-flight - which is physically unsustainable.

Anyone with childhood trauma has a lot more to repress, while at the same time, anyone with childhood trauma is more likely to be triggered by current daily interactions and stressors - ending up in a vicious cycle of trauma, stress, and physical and mental symptoms.

There is a field of psychological study devoted to what have(has?) been termed Adverse Childhood Experiences. Has your therapist ever mentioned this to you? If not, perhaps it would be helpful to be able to see this issue as a mental health entity on its own, and to know that the research has definitively linked ACEs with physical as well as mental health problems in adulthood. And if you already know all about ACEs, I will refer to it anyway in case it's of interest to anyone else who might read this. My go-to quick overview of ACEs is this short NPR article and set of ten Yes/No questions: Take The ACE Quiz — And Learn What It Does And Doesn't Mean : Shots - Health News : NPR

My heart breaks for anyone who experienced serious childhood trauma, because it's a tough journey. I sincerely wish you the very best in your search for peace and recovery, which I do believe is possible.

~Jan

 

And... I see that this is the first of two duplicate threads (different titles) with the other being in the general discussion subforum - and that someone else responded to your second one here: Anxiety the cause? | TMS Forum (The Mindbody Syndrome) (tmswiki.org).