| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Wavy Soul |
Posted - 11/17/2007 : 09:21:53
Well, is there anything that ISN'T TMS?
I have been having a month-long period, lost so much blood that I am like a sheet of typing paper, lying on the couch. Don't worry - I have been getting the right help - don't want to even talk about that part... there is a Chinese herb that stops hemorraging and I took it yesterday and it has finally stopped.
I have had all kinds of stresses recently - a big deadline for a big project I have been paid big money for. Meanwhile my mother is going into an Alzheimers demise, and I am dealing with all my "mother" stuff. She is in England. Lives near my sister. Sister just got diagnosed with cancer. This has a major stressful significance for me, although I am CONSCIOUSLY fairly surrendered to whatever life seems to need me to do (like move there for a while). But I am sure that UNCONSCIOUSLY this imminent end of my family of origin - useless as family though they were (dad died last year) is acting like a kind of psychic enema, which is why I am getting so many symptoms.
Nonetheless, the anemia/bleeding thing was so intense that I didn't do a forum search on it until just now. I came up with this quote from someone a while back:
"The first book I picked up was by Christianne Northrup and I think it's called Women's Wisdom Women's Bodies or something like that. I've heard about her books before and have seen her on talk shows, etc. but had never read her books. When I looked up "irregular menstrual cycles" I could not believe what I read. She said something to the effect that she's never known of a woman yet with excessive bleeding or an irregular menstrual cycle that wasn't experiencing stress, specifically stress associated with "family." I couldn't believe what I read. Here I was, driving to Texas to see my lovely family, feeling very apprehensive about what was going to transpire and my period starts. Now, it won't stop. My trip to Texas was emotionally draining, considering how upset I am with my parents over the behavior they displayed."
This blew my mind - so accurate to my case - and I thought I would open this up to see if others have gone through this.
One point I have realized by introspecting is that there is a kind of competition between the female members of my family to see who can be sickest (even if we don't TELL each other - I haven't told them). My mom is trumping us, because she is 89, and probably dying first, but my sis, who is incredibly angry at my mother and having to sometimes take care of her when she is so ungrateful and narcissistic, seems kind of relieved to have the cancer. And meanwhile I am literally disabling myself with this out-of-control bleeding.
I noticed what a relief it was to go for help in the last few days. People (docs) taking my symptoms seriously, diagnosing a fibroid and non-hormonal bleeding and saying "you have to just lie down for a few days" gave me a lot of peace to let go for a while.
Again, I really don't want to have a medical conversation here. It's just another symptom, although it requires my attention and care. But it is quite amazing how it has coincided with NOrthrup's comment.
Any comments, ladies? (Or gents...)
xx
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
| 13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Wavy Soul |
Posted - 05/20/2010 : 22:31:25
extraordinary, Erata!
And I'm just remembering that when I became a celibate monk (Eastern spiritual trip) in my 20s, which was definitely an escape from family painbody issues, although also had some spit benefit, I stopped having periods for more than a year, and I was perhaps 20.
Then fibro and all kinds of other assorted symptoms.
Not believing in them is the greatest magic trick EVER!!!
I watch people I know "go out" on one of their symptoms that gets a bit of asknowledgement - a popular one is Multiple Chemical Sensitivity for example. I used to have it, and then I just decided not to have it. I swear, this has worked. I still don't like the smells of the disgusting toxic chemicals that are everywhere, but I just believe that a few deep breaths will renew my body afterwards.
As a result of all this illness and resurrection, I'm 58 and generally thought to be in early 40s.
xx
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
| Erata |
Posted - 05/20/2010 : 10:11:12
I’m glad this thread was resurrected; your ‘symptom imperative’ is very familiar to me, Wavy. This reminds me that the mind really can target any system. When I met with a TMS knowledgeable physician and listed all the symptoms I’d had over my lifetime, I forgot to include Amenorrhea (cessation of menstruation). It first started during a stressful time when I’d quit a long term job and was trying to work all night and go to school. I figured my inner clock had been messed up and would return to normal if I quit my job. But it didn’t, and six months later I was really worried and went to my OB, who assured me everything was fine. I got a period three weeks later and within another two months was pregnant with my first child. When she was still an infant and I was nursing her, one of my parents was murdered, followed by incredible upheavals and losses, and I didn’t resume having periods for another four years. Shortly thereafter I was pregnant again and everything was fine (though replaced with Fibromyalgia) until menopause. But I think I understand, through that experience, how the mind/body can and will go to extreme measures and can then recover normalcy. |
| Wavy Soul |
Posted - 05/20/2010 : 02:09:09
well, thanks for asking...
it comes and goes, but when I have it checked out by gyno, with biopsy, ultrasound, etc. it's not a problem. No fibroids, etc.
The bleeding stopped not long after my biopsy.
However, when I got the all-clear, I immediately contracted shingles and intense stomach ulcer pain.
Am I doing the super-drama version of symptom imperative?
My intuition is that I am, although I am taking meds for these as the onset was so acute.
xx
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
| TotalStrangerFigure |
Posted - 05/17/2010 : 15:20:29
Hi, Wavy,
Some time has passed and I was just wondering if the excessive bleeding was a one-time experience or an ongoing battle. How are you doing? |
| Marcos |
Posted - 11/26/2007 : 17:31:06
I was reading this forum as my husband suffers from TMS and saw your thread. I am sorry for your family troubles. About 13 years ago, I suffered from almost daily spotting. I went to my gynecologist, who could not figure out the source and I even underwent a uterine biopsy, which came back negative. Talking to my sister who is an RN, she told me that it was all nerves. She and her daughter had the opposite reaction to stress, their period would go away for months. At first I thought it could not be, but then I started thinking. I was fresh out of school in a new, high pressured job. Once I realized it was all stress, the bleeding stop. I would still spot when the pressure was through the roof. Eventually, I learned to better deal with the stress and I stopped spotting for good. However, before you conclude that it could be TMS, have yourself checked for fibroids. I was diagnosed with fibroids about 8 years ago and 4 years ago I underwent surgery to have a large fibroid removed. Hope this comment helps you. Good luck...
Lily |
| Wavy Soul |
Posted - 11/22/2007 : 22:39:05
Art - I'm glad you did wade in. I felt very heard by you - a man - when you said you felt a huge wave of sadness.
Yes, I've been crying a bit today. Spent Thanksgiving alone on my couch although I had many invitations, but not enough energy to go. (This is not as serious a fate as it would be if I was a born American btw ;-) )
Physical stuff is being taken care of, thanks everyone. It's psychological, really.
Amazing that I can say that...
I'm thankful for all of you taking this more difficult path into self-awareness instead of the easier path of believing the mass consciousness symptom story thang.
love to you all
xx
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
| art |
Posted - 11/21/2007 : 13:57:51
Holy smokes...What an intrepid male soul to venture into waters such as these..Or is that just a 3 syllable adjective for "out of my mind?"
I think you nailed it wavy, that this has got to be stirring up one heckuva boiling cauldron of unconscious emotions....Not to mention a pot full of conscious as well...
Somehow, reading your post, my predominant emotion was a huge wave of sadness...I rarely cry, but for some reason your family situation, the fact that it is ceasing to be, really got my motor running...No tears(heaven forbid), but much sadness...
For me, there are no more profoundly sad words in the English language than "too late." I know you've the wisdom and strength to say and do the things that will help ease your own way into the next phase...
Wishing you the best.... |
| mamaboulet |
Posted - 11/19/2007 : 14:08:47
quote:
Originally posted by lidge
quote:
Originally posted by mamaboulet
There certainly can be a stress component to all this, but it may be doing damage via estrogen rather than a straight path. There are indications that there is a stress link to estrogen dominance. Also, estrogen peaks in your late forties, before menopause, and if something has been pushing the autonomic hormone buttons, the extra estrogen can cause fast-growing fibroid tumors (not to mention breast cancer). That also tends to be a stressful period in many women's lives, which then pumps up the estrogen.
Mamaboulet- Your theory about TMS and hormones makes perfect sense to me- I suspect that is what has happened to me. I think that is why the pain is so intractable- I suspect that chronic stress is upsetting the hormonal balance and that in turn leads to pain. Dr. Elizabeth Vliet, while no TMS proponent, links hormonal upheaval to fibromyalgia. Despite a life time of stressful situations, I never had this constant unbearable pain until now, in my late forties.
Do you believe TMS work is enough to conquer the pain if its working through the hormonal path? I wonder how many others here have pain that clearly started at a time of hormonal upheaval?
The endocrine system is part of the autonomic system, so you'd think that TMS work would help. However, when you are dealing with equivalents that cause or contribute to serious problems (fibroids, breast cancer, etc), you don't want to forsake certain medical stuff like mammograms and gyn checkups. |
| lidge |
Posted - 11/19/2007 : 09:55:51
quote:
Originally posted by mamaboulet
There certainly can be a stress component to all this, but it may be doing damage via estrogen rather than a straight path. There are indications that there is a stress link to estrogen dominance. Also, estrogen peaks in your late forties, before menopause, and if something has been pushing the autonomic hormone buttons, the extra estrogen can cause fast-growing fibroid tumors (not to mention breast cancer). That also tends to be a stressful period in many women's lives, which then pumps up the estrogen.
Mamaboulet- Your theory about TMS and hormones makes perfect sense to me- I suspect that is what has happened to me. I think that is why the pain is so intractable- I suspect that chronic stress is upsetting the hormonal balance and that in turn leads to pain. Dr. Elizabeth Vliet, while no TMS proponent, links hormonal upheaval to fibromyalgia. Despite a life time of stressful situations, I never had this constant unbearable pain until now, in my late forties.
Do you believe TMS work is enough to conquer the pain if its working through the hormonal path? I wonder how many others here have pain that clearly started at a time of hormonal upheaval?
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| mamaboulet |
Posted - 11/18/2007 : 07:29:26
I ended up in the emergency room due to bleeding and pain that were caused by fast-growing fibroids. Blood loss is nothing to fool around with. At the very least, anemia puts you at risk for other problems.
There certainly can be a stress component to all this, but it may be doing damage via estrogen rather than a straight path. There are indications that there is a stress link to estrogen dominance. Also, estrogen peaks in your late forties, before menopause, and if something has been pushing the autonomic hormone buttons, the extra estrogen can cause fast-growing fibroid tumors (not to mention breast cancer). That also tends to be a stressful period in many women's lives, which then pumps up the estrogen.
There is a lot of alternative stuff out there about fibroids and such if you are trying to avoid straight western med approach (cut it out or use drugs to shrink it).
Avoid soy products. |
| n/a |
Posted - 11/18/2007 : 03:12:10
Don't want to add to your misery, Wavy, or scare you - but if it's fibroids listen to the doctors. I've been where you are. Fibroids can grow very big and if not treated the bleeding can become dangerous. Not to mention - the absolute relief when they have been treated.
I wouldn't try too hard to link fibroids to TMS.
|
| Penny |
Posted - 11/17/2007 : 21:37:08
quote:
Originally posted by Wavy Soul
I have been having a month-long period, lost so much blood that I am like a sheet of typing paper, lying on the couch. Don't worry - I have been getting the right help - don't want to even talk about that part... there is a Chinese herb that stops hemorraging and I took it yesterday and it has finally stopped.
Hi Wavy!
I can attest to this TMS link. When I had my derailment last year, one of my sx was excessive bleeding. My SIL had her baby, and my baby was starting school: My brain chose to express myself via massive clots. It was very frightening, but as time went on I came to realize I was disconnected from my true feelings (jealousy and wanting another baby myself).
I am so sorry all of these things are going on with your family. I think you and I have talked about this before, some of my fam is tother side of the pond too. I know how stressful it is to be so far away, and feeling obligated, and tied. Hang in there and be good to yourself first. (((((((((Wavy)))))))))
Penny |
| mizlorinj |
Posted - 11/17/2007 : 13:53:12
Wow, Wavy, I am so sorry to hear about all that's going on in your life right now. I understand not wanting more medical advice--I don't believe docs hold all the answers either!
I remember when my 8-year old cousin died years ago, I suddenly had my period out of nowhere and so did another relative who was very affected by his death!
Everyone is probably sick of hearing me say this--but how about WRITING out your feelings. Or yell them, or cry them. Whatever it takes to release them.
May I suggest Louise Hay's You Can Heal Your Life for your menstruation issues: she suggests female-area problems have their own possible emotional link. I found some of the other things to be true for me and worth examination. And I love that she also gives a positive affirmation for each ailment.
Yes, I've read Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom and am going to see Dr. Northrup lecture about JOY in February!
I think Dr. Gabor Mate's book was mentioned on this forum and it's called When The Body Says No. Bought it and read it; very good info re: specific emotions and specific ailments!
If responsive to you, pls let us know how things go.
-Lori |
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