TMS the return?

It has been quite a long while since I've been on the forum because I was a TMS success story from many years ago. Recently, my right arm went haywire. Nerve pain up and down, incredible tricep weakness, etc. I saw Dr. Gwozdz and we agreed this was TMS re-emerging. I went back to my TMS roots and even listened again to Sarno's audio book. I had some significant gains and became mostly pain free but the tricep weakness remained. I just returned from a vacation in Ireland and on the last day my same are went haywire again. This time add in neck stiffness and scapula pain. Inflammation under the armpit as well. Today I feel very shaky in that arm and want to continue to firmly believe this is TMS. Is there any reason to think otherwise?

 

Why don’t you trust the opinion of a well regarded and experienced TMS physician?
What is stressing you at home, in your life?

My suggestion is to stop skirting the issue and dig into what generates your personal stress and the fear/anxiety you are having.

You are a pro, don’t doubt yourself. Congratulate yourself on knowing exactly what to do!

 

TMS always tries to scare you. When you’re familiar with it and have healed before, it really has to come up with some weird stuff! Tricep weakness. Not mentioned readily in Sarno’s books. That leaves you room for doubt. But you don’t have to doubt! You know TMS can create a million different symptoms. Don’t let it scare you. Just take a hammer out and beat it senseless!

 

There is some elephant in the room that your missing. Don't worry, we all have elephants in the room...but that is where this is a lonely program and us other members can only provide moral support.

Don't agonize over the return... it just means 'start over' again. You already know the drill.

 

Quotable!

 

This here is perhaps the area to explore.

There is likely some significance to that timing.

 

I agree.

My wife suffered from irritable bowel syndrome (SIBO). When she went on a 3-week vacation, she stopped having symptoms within 48 hours of arriving at her destination. Nothing changed, she ate similar to what she ate at home.

What changed? She was far from my TMS/pain/sadness and anxiety issues. Luckily, she is very understanding and supportive of me through this whole process.

As has been said, there may be an elephant in the room that you are not seeing. We all have one.

 

Really appreciate all the feedback. When I recognized with the help of Dr. Gwozdz that this was TMS, I began to get better. The pain went away and all that remained was a restriction in my ability to raise my arm straight up and the aforementioned tricep weakness. I thought I was home-free. When it roared back I guess it freaked me out because it caught me so off-guard. Regarding the elephant, I can't help but think the political tension in the world which has forced some tough dialogue with old friends on social media might be somewhat of a catalyst. I decided to delete twitter, remain of most of social media for awhile and get back to being more present and mindful.

 

I attribute much of my current round of TMS to social media over the last election period and the pandemic. Now I believe with all my heart that my health depends upon me staying away from it. And I am even telling people I know that I don’t want to talk politics or even hear their latest thoughts. I know it’s off-putting, but I think of it as critical to my healing. I totally agree with your decision to get off the social media firestorm. At first it’s hard to let go. And I think the temptation is always there. But I keep telling myself, the world will still spin around whether I get involved in these discussions or not. When I used to go on Twitter, in particular, my leg would just start burning on fire with pain. Duh! Dead giveaway. I didn’t listen at the time until my symptoms snowballed.

 

That's a toughie for sure.
We're not supposed to be angry at our friends and so we usually try to approach these with inner turmoil but outer calmness. Or we write something that shows anger and then feel guilty about it. Or so many other contortions.

A pen and a piece of paper and allowing yourself the ability to write out all your awful thoughts about that person, even if you like that person, can be surprisingly helpful. Mine tend to come out full of curse words.

 

Read my post. I'm also returning to this forum after a long time pain-free and having great success with healing using the learning from last time around. My holiday has been a huge trigger!

 

I noticed a lot of people get an initial fast healing when they learn about Sarno, only to have it return later. Sometimes in another place. This seems common. It’s not anything to fear. Just fight it off again. It happened to me and I’m still working on getting this bout to go away. I think there’s a lot to learn to make it go away completely.

 

TMS just amazes me. I mean, the last day of vacation as I'm packing up ready to board a plane, while my wife is recovering from a stomach bug. The timing is remarkable. Furthermore, the first go round many many years ago was nerve pain in my back and leg complete with numbness. It knows I know this. So this time its nerve pain in my armpit, elbow, wrist and shoulder. It sends like a five-alarm fire when it needs your attention. Still amazes me.

 

It really does come up with some tricky stuff!

 

I had that armpit pain years ago. I had no idea what it was at the time. Strangest feeling.
Armit, elbow, wrist, shoulder. All attached. All an easy target for our pesky brains!

 

There is comfort knowing I'm not the only one with TMS armpit. LOL

 

Did you ever get the shakes with TMS? I was doing some yard work and my right arm was so shaky.

 

My legs are where I mainly have my symptoms and I get the shakes a lot in my legs.

 

My husband gets the shakes doing yardwork. He doesn't have any anxiety or TMS or worrier so he just has the shakes and doesn't give it a second thought and then after awhile it goes away.

 

Really finding it hard to shake this version of TMS. I recalled years ago when it was my back and leg that I just walked daily through the pain and talked to my brain. I have been trying to take a similar approach with the nerve pain in my arm by resuming push-ups but the tremors/shakes make it so difficult. Is it better to just push through it to teach my brain that the tremors are ok?