Nerve pain all over scalp?

Hi everyone. I have had scalp shooting nerve pain, tingling, numbness everyday for the past year. It started after seeing a chiro for some back pain. Have had a MRI with only a c5 c6 disc bulge, tried so many medications, PT, osteo, acupuncture, the natural route and recently went to a neurologist who just diagnosed it as some kind of migraine - I tried some migraine medication and it did nothing. I’ve had severe anxiety over this the past year and it has been debilitating. I barely leave my house.

My cranial osteo has said it in structural in my scalp bones (so random?). I’m actually struggling to believe that me at 34 years old is completely debilitated from this pain that no one seems to really have a proper answer for. I’m seeing patterns in myself and beginning to think it’s TMS. Can anyone help?

 

hi! I am actually reading Heal Your Back pain and plan on reading the others. I heard about John Sarno a few months ago, and I’ve noticed there has been times in the past year where I have suspected in myself that I was creating my own symptoms, and then they would miraculously calm and I would be able to go about my day normally, until I was either reminded of my condition or felt a flare up and totally lost control and symptoms took over. I would be getting better but then something would happen (eg the diagnosis of migraine at the neurologist) and I would completely fall apart and was unable to do anything coz pain levels were so high.

When all of this started happening, my parents moved from Aus where I live to Italy and I was devastated, I’m also a business owner and our sales were very up and down so I was struggling. Anxiety levels were through the roof. I’m also thinking that this pain is preventing me from moving forward in my life, getting married and having a baby (which is what I want) because the longer I have the pain the longer I am void of all responsibility and have an excuse to just “do nothing”

 

Jan you are an absolute Angel. I’m in shock because yesterday I was honestly on the verge of taking myself to the ER because pain levels were so high, but then I suddenly had an epiphany when thinking about what I had read in the past about Dr Sarno, and my pain levels went right down to the point where they almost vanished.

I will read, do and listen to absolutely everything you have recommended, out of every person I have spoken to regarding my “condition” in the past year - you have made the most sense.
Thank you so much I will keep you updated

 

When I first saw your post, I was suspicious of something, but I didn't want to post until I read about it a little more. Now I have.
More and more people on this forum who are TMS prone are having peculiar head/neck/face/tooth pain and it is all part of the trigeminal and occipital nerve networks.

Sarno himself was certain these too could be subject to Ischemia which was his 'mechanism' for creating pain and numbness/discomfort. I still believe the Ischemia model.. I have heard others but it makes the most sense and explains the wide variety of symptoms best...and of course it is part of TMS and should be treated as such.

Back pain is so 90's. RSI was the 00's and Neuropathy was the 20-teens...TMS tends to go after what is believable and unlikely to be thought of as TMS...the more we equate it with an unsolvable physical problem, the better the scary distraction...and as Sarno said, symptoms go in and out of vogue.

Sarno himself had phantom tooth pain and I have as well...wasted a lot of dental visits. When I told my dentist I thought it was TMS he thought I was crazy...but I stopped going back to him and started using my TMS tools and it has gone away completely. I was going through a painful breakup when the symptoms came and in hinsdsight it is so obvious why I needed a distraction.

You might be the first on this forum, but I have a strong feeling there is gonna be more of that...that was great intuition on your part to recognize it for what it is... a distraction

 

I'm honestly in shock, about 5 mins before I saw your post - I was feeling tingling numbness all over my temples, a symptom that comes and goes daily - and I just kept telling myself nope not today, piss off. And now as I’m lying here reading your post it totally faded away. I’ve have suspicions about my symptoms for a while because I can see they disappear at random times such as leaving a Drs office with reassurance that I’m fine, and they come on intensely when I’m alone and left to spiral into negative thoughts of all the terrible things the pain must mean. It is so true - neuropathy is the latest thing that no one really seems to know how to manage, so it’s absolutely terrifying to experience. The more scared I got of my symptoms, the worse they got even though there was no cause or change in treatment plan.

Thank you so much for replying!

 

That is absolutely a symptom of TMS. THAT is the distraction, the way you just described it. I had my Thumb severed at work..it hurt really bad for about two hours...and then it was just background noise. When I get TMS I descend into what you just described so well....I am focused on the pain and afraid of how much worse it might get, if I can stand it, and it occupies my attention 100%....fear, despair,obsession

Reading Sarno's recovery texts about WHY we get TMS, spending mornings making lists of stresses and angers I am aware of and getting cues to the ones I am NOT aware of (yet) from the psychological discussions in the books....

..and perhaps most importantly, I prepare for the symptoms when I am feeling confident ...I prepare the 'recurrent source of irritation' that Sarno says to turn your mind to when you catch yourself focusing on the symptoms.
(Reconditions the brain) I usually pick something obvious and easy to remember. Finances are always a good one, though recent reverses in work or personal relationships is good too...Having it prepared ahead of time means I have a 'bullet in the chamber' so to speak and also is a feeling of empowerment against the hopelessness.
..and then of course , doing IT if they return. We have a natural aversion to thinking about things that bum us out, so it requires mental focus..it is the 'front line; in the battle of TMS

I also talk to the TMS with disdain....like it is an annoying little whiny sibling.
REFUTE THE 'diagnosis' (the one you came with)
RETURN to activity (the ones you've been avoiding)
RECONDITION your brain
all of the 3 R's...some people add 're-educate yourself' but you already know... this is TMS

 

Thank y

that is such a great help…. Thank you
I was feeling better than ever this morning but took a turn this afternoon which was expected. Just knowing it was possible and I saw my symptoms disappear before my eyes at one point - that is what I am going to remind myself of from here on.

I will 100% take on your advice - expect to feel something when your confident, I really need to do this as I can tend to think I’ve dealt with something and it’s gone for good, and then when it returns I fall apart (surely another symptom of TMS )

Seeing you write “return to activity” forced me to go for my first walk in over a week, even though I was terrified - so thank you. So appreciative and I’m so happy to now be part of this community

 

I get this every now and then. I've never brought it up to a doc, but I believe its what they call occipital neuralgia, shooting pain up the back of my head. It happens like once or twice a year randomly, lasts for one day then disappears. I've always considered it just another weird TMS manifestation and don't pay it much mind, just like all the other random aches and pains that come and go. As a matter of fact it happened to me a few days ago, I happened to read about how someone experienced this after covid and literally that night it paid me a visit, was gone the next day.