Pressure, and tingling, and burning (plus more sensations)—oh my! Please help.

Hello all,

apologies ahead of time for how long and symptoms oriented this is. I’m mostly interested in knowing if anyone has ever had the pressure sensations I describe below or the feeling of torn connective tissue/muscles with nerve irritation that I describe? If so, did they improve with this work?

I guess the other questions would be: does this seem like TMS? Any recommendations on the next best (relative word) steps?

I’m including all of my symptoms, though, because I have been struggling with all of them. In short, everything hurts and most movements hurt (sitting, standing, lying down, leaning over, walking, typing, yadda yadda yadda)…mostly all the time.

I began having right side pain (mid back into abdomen, feeling like it disrupted my digestion) and feeling like my right side was more sensitive to touch in 2017/2018. I thought I had pain due to weightlifting/exercise injury but my imaging of my spine didn’t really show anything at that time to explain my sensations and I had a normal MRI of my brain (ruled out MS) along with normal ECG and EMG/NCS, normal CT of abdomen/pelvis and a clear colonoscopy (did these due to right side pain/disrupted digestion). The sensations did not really impact my life too much but at times I would notice the pain was worse than others (seemed like it increased with certain weightlifting exercises). The only diagnosis I ended up getting was “really bad TMJ” and a mild bulge in my lumbar. I stopped lifting movements for about 2.5 years and did not really have any pain/symptoms like those noted above. I had resumed lifting/exercise in a more mild manner during the onset of my new symptoms —so I admittedly have linked my exercising with my symptoms/pain/thoughts of structural “damage.”

Last year happened and I assumed a wide range of symptoms. I have been dealing with these symptoms for over a year. And of course they’ve frightened the begeezus out of me, especially the neurological ones. I’ve never dealt with these kind of sensations before.

I have this pressure, burning, tingling sensation that runs from my scalp/neck, into my arm/hand, down my back, into my abdomen, genitals, glute, hip, leg (front and back) , foot (bottom). This is mostly on my right side, but I do have some sensations on my left (typically with more movement). I feel like I can trace exactly where the sensation is (like a line down my body)—and it’s very uncomfortable. It feels like torn connective tissue down my whole right back. Or like my muscles are all stretched out (especially with movement). It’s a nerve/irritated sensation right underneath my skin, not deep in the muscles. It also feels like something tight it pulling from my neck to my sacrum…I didn’t know if things can feel tight and loose all at once but apparently it can.

I cannot lean back without the pressure sensation building up in my back/neck. I cannot stand for too long without pressure building up in my back/neck. I cannot lay down on my back or right side without pressure (again, it’s right underneath my skin, so really being in anything is uncomfortable). Along with it comes a tingling/burning/irritation sensation that seems to spread all over. Clothes and wind and touch can be uncomfortable at times, though not always. It seems like the more pressure that’s applied to my right side (through sitting, laying down, leaning against anything), the worse the pressure gets and the worse the other sensations get. I also have right sided feeling of weakness in my shoulder/arm/hand/back/leg. These parts get easily fatigued and cramp—along with tingling in my hand. My left side can feel this way, too, just not as intense. I ache all over at times, particularly in my entire hip area and ache at the bottom of my feet if I’m up for too long. The bottom of my feet have also felt tingling and numbness sensations in them when I am on my feet. My neck feels very tight in my right side, and it feels like there’s pressure in my throat. My neck hurts at the base of my skull and causes sensations in my scalp (only in right side), it feels like nerves are trapped/irritated there—and it gets worse with neck movement (looking down, moving it around, having it ). I have head pressure, and I feel “off” now, like I’m not connected to myself or the world. I don’t think of it as depersonalization, it’s just like the pressure (and other sensations) make me feel “not myself.” My hands/touch feels different, too. And my eyes will feel off when the pressure builds. And I get nerve sensations in my right ear. My right arm feels tight and heavy, like it wants to burst out of my skin—and reaching for things causes a burning sensation in my scapula area/upper back . I’ve had nerve sensations like wetness/electric zing feelings in my legs and back. I also have a feeling of pressure and uncomfortable sensations in my rectum (comes and goes). My right side and abdomen tighten up after too much movement to the point that I feel like I want to vomit. I fatigue easily, can barely walk or sit up for long distances/times anymore…

I did have a whiplash accident last year but didn’t think much of it and felt okay after it (I did not get checked out, I just kept living). I continued with normal life and working out—then a while later I began developing weird sensations. This has gone on for over a year and there’s been tons of fear/anxiety/worry about it. I’ve seen many doctors (neurosurgeons, neurologists, rheumatologist, physiatrists, pain management, primary care) with some mixed messages. I do have bulging discs in my neck, thoracic, and lumbar, with some annular tearing in a couple of discs (cervical/lumbar)—but was told by a few doctors that they were very mild bulges that would not explain my symptoms. And then of course I’ve had a couple of doctors tell me that have the annular tears in my neck and back could be causing these sensations/pressure (I did get zinging down my spine early on in this—which made me buy into and afraid of the bulges/annular tears. These bulges were also “new” from prior imaging done a few years ago). I’ve done EMG/NCS that was normal. All my neurological testing has been normal. I went ahead and did a small fiber nerve biopsy (normal) and tons of blood work (normal). I’ve done a lot of rheumatological testing that was normal (although the rheumatologist said due to my symptoms they were considering connective tissue disorder). I’ve done so much imaging of my spine that has shown mostly the same stuff; one doctor told me I had cervical spondylithesis, so I even had an extension/flexion MRI…and no spondylithesis was noted.

My mind has spun a lot of stories—this is a virus, this is structural damage, this is hormone deficiency, vitamin deficiency, this is cancer, this is some rare disease no one has ever experienced or heard of…I’ve spent many, many, many nights (and days, who am I kidding) researching symptoms and diagnoses. I’m obsessed with my sensations, very emotional about them, and am really not fun to be around (because there’s only so much others want to hear about sensations—which is to say not at all—but I can’t seem to shift away from them).

I have felt pretty defeated with all the symptoms and it’s greatly impacted my life—from my mental health to my job to my family to my overall outlook on life.

I have the classic TMS personality traits, I (clearly) have health anxiety, I’ve lived from a place of fear probably my whole life (although I didn’t know it), and I have had increased stress (as we all have these past few years). I suppose that about sums it up.

Thank you for your time.

 

Hello @Hopeandheart

First off, welcome.
Second: I did not read your symptoms. Why? Because a) if you didn’t suspect they were not structural, you wouldn’t be here and you admitting to having a tms personality and symptoms.

Any symptom can be tms, and it’s wise to get things checked by a Dr . to ensure it is not serious.
Stop using Dr. Google.
Read the Divided Mind by Dr. Sarno if you have not yet done so. It is very reassuring about a wide variety of symptoms being tms.
Acquaint yourself with the T -the tension in tms. Anxiety and fear make us tense, keep our nervous system in fight/flight. This limits our emotional experience, creates a feeling of lack of safety, brings us symptoms. Dr. Sarno advises us to “think psychological” - meaning to begin to shift your mindset from the physical cause of pain to the emotional cause of pain.
This series of videos explains it very well! https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsJVYZbo6uWrKc57MDUL1vGciEGnPYrV9

After reading a book by Dr Sarno and understanding a bit more about pain science, you could try the Structured Educational Program (free) at tmswiki.org (scroll down page to find it). Work slowly, one lesson a day (or less, you can divide days). This will hide you through a variety of techniques that can help you. You can ask questions on our forum as you go.

Best wishes!

 

I scanned past the symptom descriptions but my legal eyeballs saw many, many familiar “features”.

Something I attached to early on is the logical notion that the more varied and shifting the symptoms, the more likely it is TMS. While my TMS “began” in my lower back, it “spread” to many other areas and “morphed” into electrical sensations (zaps, shocks, buzzing, twitching) throughout my entire body! This “unusual” set of symptoms became major evidence for TMS once I accepted things.

Last night, I was laying in bed reading a new book, and I felt a pulsating sensation in my left glute-just where it ties in to the SI Joint (my primary source of TMS before I recovered). It was painless. It was almost like a flutter. I smiled and felt so proud that my brain has learned (over time) that it does not need to give me pain.

Short+sweet is you seem like you are textbook TMS. When you have become an expert in every little hair and pore of your body, that’s another sign (to me) of TMS.

I am personally deeply health focused. My biggest challenge with TMS is staying appropriate in my thoughts towards health and not letting my mind get too focused.

I’ve had to find some ways to get out of my body focused mindset. I had to give up unique diets and lean solely on macros. I had to completely shift my exercise patterns. Since my “hobby” is health/wellness, I had to intentionally open my heart and mind to opposing views. Wouldn’t you know, I’ve changed my mind on a thing or two!

Not sure if this resonates with you, but your level of symptom detail resonated with me. I feel very encouraged that you could certainly recover by accepting TMS.

 

I have these exact sensation in right side ... pulled muscle nerve issues , lump in throat. So much of what you describe

 

I have similar feeling to what you describe with the connective tissue feeling… in my abdomen. Interestingly enough it flares up with other symptoms.

Wanted to check how things are with you? Have you been improved with TMS?