| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| stanfr |
Posted - 10/24/2007 : 22:46:12
Brief Review: had surgery 8 mopnths ago to deal with severe nasal congestion that i now know was a TMS recurrence. Thanks to the symptom imperative, following that i had a severe flare up of psoriasis, which i continue to fight as another psychosomatic condition.
Now: I believe i have been making slow but steady progress. I no longer have deep fear that this will ruin my life. Some days are good, some terrible, but i feel like the good days are getting more frequent (perhaps i should log this?)
Weirdness: The last few days have seen a decent reduction in nasal/dermatologic symptoms. So, im at the gym yesterday and happen to use the back machine with just a little more weight than i usually use. I feel a subtle pull in my lower back, really nothing at all. But my brain apparently seizes the opportunity and creates serious sharp pain in my lower back. I know i probably should be smart enough to not even ask why, but i can't resist: WTF??? I mean, it's so incredibly laughable. I am not even the least bit convinced the weightlifting has caused 'injury'. I fully expect the pain to be gone tomorrow--in fact im headed back to the gym to do some serious lower-back lifting. My subconcious surely must know that i am giving this ZERO credence, so why the heck is it messing with me?? Is it just programmed, so there's no "thought" put into it? I don't get it. |
| 9 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| mamaboulet |
Posted - 10/26/2007 : 08:30:06
If you have some kind of surgery, they usually get you doing PT very quickly. If using the body part would injure it, then they wouldn't have people using the body part. After my knee surgery they had me peddling an exercise bike fast for 20 minutes less than a week after surgery. We have to constantly challenge our "belief" that our bodies are fragile. |
| AnthonEE |
Posted - 10/26/2007 : 07:50:43
Vikki - This is a really great article, thanks for contributing it. Last year I did a physical therapy program for a mid back injury that occurred while skiing the previous spring. I went to a really top notch back/spine group, and after looking at my MRI they said essentially the same thing your NYT article says. I think this advice is especially true for injuries and strains relating to the back. The mainstream seems to be rapidly moving toward more aggressive exercise (after a few initial days of rest). They had me in the gym within a week and today my back is much stronger and that injury very rarely bothers me any more. So I wonder if this approach is good for other orthopedic issues in general. Seems weird that the back would be so unique. Anyway, great article. But I'm still nervous to ice first before exercise(!) Yikes! |
| vikki |
Posted - 10/25/2007 : 19:28:29
stanfr: Thanks for sharing your experience. For me, the nasal congestion started several months after I declared myself free of TMS. I suspected it was symptom substitution, but this wasn't something I could fight my way through -- I would wake up every morning at 3am unable to breathe. I really tried to tough it out for a while, but the lack of sleep was getting to me. I gave in, saw a doctor, and got a prescription nasal spray.
The issue of real injuries versus TMS is something that's been plaguing me recently. I *often* feel twinges and sharp pain while doing strenuous activity. If I took each of these seriously enough to rest for a few days, I'd be disabled most of the time. Generally, I plow right through them, and the pain always gets better. I read this article not too recently in the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/fashion/11FITNESS.html?em&ex=1168750800&en=edd2246845a7b1b7&ei=5087%0A
Apparently, a bunch of leading orthopedic surgeons (not TMS doctors) are saying that it's a good idea to keep exercising while injured. Some of them even say it's fine to continue doing the sport that injured you. The idea is that stressing the injured tissue helps it heal faster. (This is obviously not true for a *serious* injury, like a broken bone.) Anyway, I guess I've always figured, if it is a real injury, it's probably fine to keep exercising. And if it's TMS, it's the *best* think I can do.
Anyway, I've spent the past week struggling with a possible injury/possible TMS (a painful and swollen ankle). This is an issue I really want to discuss with a TMS doctor someday. |
| stanfr |
Posted - 10/25/2007 : 18:57:02
Thanks for the comments and advice. I should mention that ive been lifting weights for 20+ years and know my limits well. This was a situation where it's hard to explain verbally how I know that this was a TMS attack, but trust me, I know! Ive had similar experiences in the past. I suppose it's possible that there was a minor strain involved, which is why i took it slightly easier today, but if so the pain was way out of proportion. The pain certainly didn't get any worse today when i worked out, and i fully expect it will dissapear shortly. Not at all coincidentally, the pain is on my right side, where all of my TMS related symptoms appear. I suspect that deep in my subconcious, i still have this mental image of the herniated discs i saw on an MRI years ago, and even if i don't conciously buy any of that anymore, at some primitive level my mind still thinks it can get away with these 'games'.
Vicki: my nasal congestion actually began shortly after i "defeated" TMS/scaitica 10 years ago, but i never fully realized the connection until recently. I made some effort to try TMS therapy to attempt to clear it, but it was not effective, probably beacuae the deviated septum was too strong a physical red-herring for me to overcome. I got some temporary relief after the septoplasty, but then the congestion came back in full force, only predominantly on the other side! That's what fully convinced me that the symptoms were at least 99.99% psychogenic, cause the physical correction obviously was useless. Ironically, that recognition has been helpful as it gives me 'ammunition' against the symptom: I no longer can be "fooled" into thinking that there must be an underlying physical cause (allergies are out too, since i experience congestion in all environments/foods etc.) Whats most puzzling/interesting is that only one symptom seems to be capable of dominating at any given time, which is why when my back pain hit, my sinuses and skin got much better. Weird.
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| JohnD |
Posted - 10/25/2007 : 11:53:28
good point fellas. common sense is always needed, TMS or not. |
| AnthonEE |
Posted - 10/25/2007 : 11:20:03
quote:
Originally posted by electraglideman
I hope nobody gets pissed for talking physical here ...
I know it might be controversial to think outside the TMS box but I think it's a pretty good comment. Just because somebody legitimately has TMS does not mean that they cannot get hurt in the gym. It is quite a normal thing to tweak a muscle when you notch up another plate or two on that stack. We're only human beings after all... millions of years of evolution or not.
So I'm not saying it isn't TMS, because how would I really know? But what if you were to first assume it is not TMS, especially since it's not an unreasonable way to tweak your back? And then if it does not recover within a few days the way it should for an otherwise healthy person, only then look to TMS. That's my idea anyway.
Seems like ignoring a real thing and making it worse or deliberately aggravating it could do more to damage ones confidence in the whole TMS idea, never mind the back, than allowing the possibility of a strain and letting it recover for a few days, no?
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| electraglideman |
Posted - 10/25/2007 : 10:48:09
Stanfr, that subtle pull you feel in your back is more than likely TMS but remember this, when training with weights or weight machines never work the same body parts two days in a row. If your a young person wait at lest 48 hours before working the same body parts. I'm 56 yoa and I only work the same body parts once a week. Now thats if your really training hard and heavy. Your muscles need that time to repair themselves before the next work out. Your muscles grow during the times between the workout periods. In other words your muscles repair and grow during your rest periods and you can damage them if you work them too hard before they can repair themselves. Your rest periods depend on how old you are and what kind of shape your in.
Since you have been battling TMS thats probably your problem.
I hope nobody gets pissed for talking physical here but I thouoght you needed to know the above information before you actually hurt yourself.
You will have fun in the gym if you give your body time to repair itself. |
| mamaboulet |
Posted - 10/25/2007 : 06:21:13
Remember back when we could do stuff without noticing little twinges and such? For me it is my feet. After 5 years of fighting plantar fasciitis in both feet, I notice every twinge. The only difference now is that I defiantly march to the store not wearing my orthotics and I scold the twinges and keep reminding myself to just ignore the stupid feet. |
| vikki |
Posted - 10/25/2007 : 06:02:11
Soon after I overcame my pain problem, I developed severe nasal congestion and asthma. (My doctor even said this was weird as I never had asthma as a child.) I am convinced this is TMS symptom substitution. However, I have not had much success in overcoming it using a mind-body approach. But then again, I haven't been motivated to try -- I've been taking medications that pretty much eliminate the symptoms. Still, this *is* something I want to work on. I'd be interested to hear about how you are overcoming nasal congestion.
No doubt your weightlifting "injury" is TMS -- it seems the mind never lets go of this strategy! |
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