Why Advil might not work with true TMS?

On day 33 of SEP and still struggling with a very painful low back spasm. This was not the original reason that I started to do this program, but it is a symptom that I have had previously. I finally relinquished my "perfectionistic" stance and decided to take an Advil, thinking that that would just take the edge off of my excruciating, doubling over pain, but it hasn't. I have also noticed in the past that many "insomnia drugs" never really did much for dealing with my insomnia either, so I got to thinking. If I don't have true physical pain or true insomnia, does it make sense that these drugs would not help? If my mind is causing these problems, the strength of a medication may not be able to compete with the strength of my mind to hold on to these issues? Has anyone noticed this?

 

Sorry I am filling these discussions with so many ramblings today, but just finished my journaling and had yet another Aha moment. For the past many years, I have been traveling to doctors, both allopathic and alternative, Chinese medicine men/women, acupuncturists, health food digestion experts, physical therapists, etc. in search of the one person who can "cure" me. I usually come away from my appointments, not only disappointed but also angry that I am the one who is constantly coming up with suggestions and different modalities to try; at which point, the "professional" thanks me for enlightening them on something that they were previously unaware of and proceed to give me a bill. As I was writing in my journal today, thinking which TMS professional I should try to help me with SEP, I realized, perhaps the reason that I have landed on this site is because I have actually found the answer. Perhaps the answer has always been within me and I am now being introduced to a modality which is being art directed by me and the cost is free. What a novel concept?

 

I recognize the rambling to therapists, I was also full of questions and suggestions.

I am not surprised that medications are not (sufficiently) effective for TMS symptoms. I saw a program this week where it was stated that pain medication often only helps for a couple of weeks. After that people keep taking it because they hope it helps and because they are addicted. Can't remember the title sadly.

Further, you can do so many things without the help of a professional. Take the lead instead of having someone else take the lead for you, it is empowering. If you really get stuck you can always post questions on the forum or find a professional to help you take the next hurdle.

take care

 

Thank you Gigalos. I seem to have one foot in the "go to the doctor world" and one foot in " I don't need to." It would be helpful to have some of my "great revelations" respond by getting rid of my pain, but that has not happened yet. I am still cautiously optimistic but as someone who has been to therapy many times and feels as though I am pretty aware of my issues, it is disheartening when I can't just have one of those instantaneous responses and have my pain melt away. Am I simply too analytical for that?

 

Have you started an evidence list? Just write down all the peculiar shifts and changes of your symptoms.
Many of us never had such a miracle response. Often it is a slow process with ups and downs, almost like peeling an onion (crying included) and one day you'll be able to say: hey, I think I got it under control. Even when symptoms return, it doesn't scare me anymore and I know where to look.
Just put one or two hours a day into your 'homework'. If thoughts come up about TMS, just write the keywords down on a dedicated noteblock and get on with what you were doing; you can process it later. Don't spend too much time on the forum (distraction!) and although it is easier said than done, try to be patient about your pain; the less you care, the sooner it goes.
cheers

 

Thank you for this suggestion. I have not started an evidence list so that is a good idea. What you said about the less you car, the sooner it goes makes sense. Then again, why should this be easy?

 

I think you're right on the money there. I also was trying anyone I thought could possibly cure me, each new visit was a new hope that I'd found "The One". And of course it never happened. I see nothing wrong with the TMS professionals, but I really feel like this is something I can do myself. Free is just a nice bonus.

 

You are so right about the Advil. I found that when I had my neck pain which was TMS Advil did nothing for the pain. But when I had a cactus needle stuck deep inside my arm it took the pain away.

 

When meds seem to help with psychogenic pain, it is the placebo effect, which is a very real benefit. Problem is it weakens over time til it eventually doesn't work anymore. And it requires belief, so if you know you have TMS, you likely won't get the placebo effect. Most of us have been through that. I took tramadol for 20 years for fibromyalgia and it never had any effect on the pain, but it increased serotonin in my brain which made me care less about the pain. It was a life saver in that regard, as I was able to keep working. I kind of miss it at times, to be honest, though I don't need it anymore.

 

Interesting as I also have insomnia and none of the meds that were prescribed ever did anything for me, except gave me a few hours of sleep. I get the same response from herbal sleep supplements. I didn't actually think that my insomnia was in my head; I just knew I didn't sleep well. I now have been tested and it seems as though I have a genetic anomaly that makes it hard for me to sleep. I am taking a few vitamins to try to adjust that and seem to be having a bit more success sleeping.

 

I find that Advil doesn't help for my TMS pain because there is nothing physical for it to help, if you know what I mean. When I have the flu, for instance, and I take Advil for my body aches, I find it helps a lot and very quickly. Same thing when I get PMS symptoms. I take two Advil for my terrible cramps and, in about an hour, they are gone. But whenever I take Advil for my TMS pain, it does absolutely nothing. So I have come to believe that it is because it is truly TMS, and Advil is not the right "medicine." If the cause is mental, then what good can Advil do? Nothing. My physiotherapist even told me that there is no point in taking Advil or other meds because there's no inflammation.

 

Funny -- I actually realized that this was TMS when I realized how much Advil I was taking daily. It was like .... whoaaaaa I'm fairly young, am healthy and in good shape -- why am I always hurting and in pain and why the heck am I taking 4-6 Advil per day and why aren't they helping?
It was a real wake up!
It's also nice to not be running to CVS to buy a huge bottle of Advil every week!!

 

No kidding! Someone told me that they cured their plantar fasciitis by taking the maximum dose of Advil for a week straight. In desperation, I tried this. Of course it didn't work! And yeah, waste of money and not good for the stomach to be needlessly swallowing so many pills.

 

I can understand totally what you are going thru. I have seen over 20 doctors of different specialties in the last 12 years. I even got shoulder surgery and it did not help. The point of advil in Sarno books is to give maybe yourself a little placebo effect to deal with your pain initially, but the real cure is to deal with your mind. I even been in the ER, with the maximum allowable quantity of morphine, and completely awake and in pain. What I recommend you first is to ease, calm and quiet your mind. When I was in that situation, my mind will go by itself like a turbo typewriter, though after though without stopping and multiple thoughts at the same time. It was like having the mind full of jumping monkeys on a jungle, all screaming. Past, present and future get in there all at the same time, all screaming for some worry. You need to breath. I forgot to breath during those moments, and would get a panic attack but did not know it. My muscles of the back and chest would get in tension and then I could not breath properly, and then the anxiety overcame me. Each and every doctor you go, have a specialty, and they will sell you what they sell in their specialty. Most of them have a hammer and nails, and everything they see they put the same nail in each patient. For some it would be therapy, or pills , or both, or surgery and then more pills and more therapy ad nauseaum. As you said, the answer is within you. But you have to work it out. It is not a single thing. Read the books, do the protocols, journal, see what works for you, what comes out of your subconcious. Most probably you are a perfectionist, you had issues in your childhood that you either remember as rejection, abuse, feelings of abandonment, you have a strong personality, you like things done the right way(or what you consider the right way), there are things that you long and think "what if I had done this or that". Any and all of them will provoke pain. Have you sat down during pain to just breath and see how it feels in a safe environment? Do you notice that if one pain goes away, almost immediately another ones comes from some other part of your body? Did you ever before had an accident or hurt that part of your body? Basically we chose our placebos to convince ourselves that this or that is what will cure us, and if we have enough faith in that placebo it will sometimes cure us for a moment or for a long time, until our brain convinces us again that the placebo is not enough. That is why is better to deal with TMS without any placebos at all so you dont develop any dependency toward them. For some it is something quick, and for some it requires a lot of work. Hope this somehow helps.

 

I have noticed that medication doesn't work for TMS stuff as well. All the more reason to hang in there and keep up with your TMS work. The big thing for me was that I found if the pain bothered me emotionally, it would get worse and worse because I would tense up. If it get anything I'm taking a moment to breathe and notice and tell myself everything is OK, and just that helps a lot. The journaling helped greatly also. Best wishes.

 

Yes, I'm experiencing this right now. I got back on my bike today (yay!) and road a few miles out along the rail trail above my house--and that went really well...I felt happy, healthy, strong and free. Then I went for a walk in the woods with my friend and our dogs later in the day. But at a certain point I started to feel stressed about how far we were walking (I was pressuring myself to go farther because I didn't want to disappoint my friend, even though she told me several times that it didn't matter how far we went...but self-pressure got the better of me!). So then I started to worry about overdoing it. And then, sure enough, the pain came at me with its full force.

So I got home and decided not to panic like I normally would. Normally I would freak out and think: Great, now I'll be stuck on the sofa for a week, unable to walk! Instead, I took some deep breaths and did a bit of light stretching and put on some soothing music. I don't feel great, but I don't feel like I'm going to die or collapse or be broken forever.

I'm trying not to tense up and freak out. It's okay to feel sore after activity. It doesn't mean I've injured my feet. In fact, it doesn't mean anything except that I got stressed out and put pressure on myself and fell into my old cycle of worry and doubt and fear and pain.

I took a good look at my feet and ankles as I was stretching and thought: My feet and ankles look good. They look good and healthy. They are strong and healthy, so don't worry about a bit of pain. Everything looks okay to me.

So that's where I'm at today.

It's definitely a journey with lots of bumps in the road, but I feel satisfied that I didn't panic. I'll take that as a win.

 

Nice, I am glad you are figuring out ways to keep it in perspective. I like to look at my feet too, even though they are hurting the fact that they look 'well' helps. Have a great weekend!

 

It's hard to keep the faith, as it were, when the pain feels so real. But it comes and goes so radically...so it seems impossible that it could be anything but TMS. I just feel like I'm on a roller-coaster ride with this thing. But my feet and ankles really do look good and when I touch/gently massage them, they feel fine. And they move fine too. So what's the deal?!

It must be TMS, but it is so hard not to relapse into old, negative thinking...I guess that's the constant struggle.