| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Sara |
Posted - 02/08/2011 : 14:02:35
Hi Everyone,
I don't really post much, but I am looking for support. Recently I have been having some bad foot pain in the metatarsal area of both feet. I went the standard route of seeing a podiatrist to rule out anything significant. An MRI showed swelling and a very slight hammertoe. It also showed my second metatarsal as being longer than my first. According to him that was the reason for my pain. He said my second toe area was taking the brunt of the impact.
From my own personal research, 30 percent of the population has this type of foot (Morton's toe). When I asked him about this he said yes and many of them have pain. I don't get it. I know several people with feet like mine with no pain. Is this tms. I am inclined to think so, but wanted some support. If it isn't what are the repercussions of treating it like it is?
I have been reading my books again and I am scheduled for psychotherapy tomorrow, but I am exhausted and feeling very blue.
I am a mom of three younger kids and I am struggling to keep up with everything. Every step hurts and I am having difficulty thinking about anything else.
Any advice or thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Sara
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| 17 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Sara |
Posted - 02/19/2011 : 10:38:35
Forfeet,
My exam with him was many years ago, so I don't remember it all. I think I remember him palpating several areas to see if they were painful. He asked me when the pain started and what emotionally was going on at the time.
He diagnosed me with tms, but stilled ordered an mri. The mri showed a bulging disc, which I found very interesting. (Years before seeing him, when my pain first began, I had had an mri and there was no disc bulge...this was when my pain was the very worst!)
I think he advise me to work on the emotional aspect and do some journal work.
I am doing a phone consult with him hopefully this coming week. I will keep you posted.
As far as my swelling goes it too was somewhat minor, but noticeable. I really hope that isn't a dealbreaker as far as tms goes. Some people believe you can have swelling others don't.
Forefeet, I haven't read any of your other posts, but is your pain only in your feet, or do you have other areas?
Sara |
| Forfeet |
Posted - 02/19/2011 : 02:53:13
Sara,
Regarding your last question, I've had very minor swelling at times where it felt like my foot was tight in my shoe but nothing really noticeable visibly.
Would you mind sharing a bit about your initial visit with Dr. Shechter and how he examined you,questions asked, etc.? I have considered going to see him since I live in SoCal but have not yet set an appt.
Went to see another doc here who is listed on a Wiki site as a TMS doc but was not particularly impressed with his exam on me, which offered none of the TMS testing and other things Sarno does as he has reported in his books, etc.
Thanks,
Forfeet |
| Sara |
Posted - 02/15/2011 : 11:47:00
I agree. I just sent off my mri and x-ray to Dr. Schechter. Hopefully he will confirm what we are suspecting... and then comes the battle!
Sara |
| art |
Posted - 02/14/2011 : 14:59:28
Sara,
What you write concerning your thoughts when you first felt the pain seems pretty classic to me. The more you say the more it sounds like TMS. Foot stuff so very often is. I'm getting the sense that it's second only to the back as a prime TMS site.
I believe Dr. Sarno writes about the difficulty many have believing feet pain (foot pain?) is actually TMS.
And thanks for the good wishes!!
A. |
| Sara |
Posted - 02/14/2011 : 10:02:06
Art and Heelsdown,
Thank you for your reply. I agree with letting go of the worry. I definitely have an obsessive personality at times. I know I need to occupy myself with other thoughts.
Heelsdown, your question sparked something in me. I love being active with my children (ages 11, 8 and 4). We live in Colorado and there are so many great activities to do. I am also a preschool teacher. While I wouldn't say I am extremely passionate about my job, I really do enjoy it. Before children, I was a fourth grade teacher. It was just a year ago that I went back to work mostly for financial reasons.
Thinking about my situation, TMS makes sense. While I am active and enjoy nice shoes at times, I don't abuse my feet. I had no real physical trigger. I wore heals one day and three days later while walking barefoot I noticed pain in the ball of my left foot. Nothing really that major. It got progressively worse and swelled a week later. Shortly after that my other foot began to hurt.
As far as emotions go, I remember thinking to myself, my back wasn't really an issue anymore and how happy I was about that. I was also thinking I wasn't that stressed about my parents coming for Christmas. My relationship with them is complicated and stressful at best. Clearly I was consciously pushing my emotions and anger aside.
So now I have to push through. I know when I have true acceptance I can do this. (I have to get past that darn structural explanation.) I am both a wimp and very tough at the same time.
Thank you for helping me. Art, I hope your hamstring feels better soon!
Sara |
| heelsdown |
Posted - 02/13/2011 : 18:46:46
Art is right. Getting rid of the worry will sort it all out. I know. Every few weeks or so I seem to get a new symptom. I start to worry/obsess, maybe come on here and write a post. Then I convince myself it is tms, ignore it, and it goes away.
The most current episode I had, which was a general achiness in a new area of my feet, did not even prompt me to worry and come on here. I absolutely KNEW it was tms because it made no sense. It is mostly gone now.
Anyhow, on your question about how bad the pain can be? It can be really bad. I had a point where I literally could not be on my feet for more than about a minute without having too much pain. And I'm 25. Kind of ridiculous. It scared me out of my mind. But what was even worse than the pain was the worry that I would be in pain for the rest of my life.
I had a great day yesterday. I work with horses, which is very strenuous work. I worked a 9 hour day, of which only 1 hour was sitting on the back of a horse or on the tractor. The other eight were on my feet. I had a very slight ache at the end of the day that I hardly even noticed.
I have a question for you sara- what do you do for a living? Or for fun? Or what is important in your life (from your post, maybe your children?). What is most important in my life is my work. And I think my tms hit my feet b/c that would DEFINITELY distract me. I wasn't able to do what I loved. It severely distressed me, so it effectively took my mind off of my more distressing mental issues. Just wondering if your livelihood/happiness depends on your feet. |
| art |
Posted - 02/13/2011 : 18:14:36
You're no needier than anyone else around here, Sara. All your fears and worries are perfectly understandable. We've all been there, most of us many times..
I've just come off a shin splints episode. Since it was the first time, lots of fear and uncertainty. I tried hard to not worry because I was 90 percent sure it was TMS, but sometimes it's just very difficult...
This is a good news/bad news story. The good news is I did finally let the fear go and the pain was gone within two days. Amazing. The bad news is the reason I could let it go was I injured my hamstring, a much more serious problem. I know it's real, and it's very depressing because I can't run for a month.
But even there there's some good news, which is that I'm handling the layoff much better than I would have in the past. So. It's all about progress on many fronts..
You'll sort if out Sara. Meanwhile, see if you can cut down on all that fear and worry. That's very often all it takes.. |
| Sara |
Posted - 02/13/2011 : 09:40:42
Art and Forfeet, thank you for your response. I have yet another question. My left foot, the one that was painful first, gets swollen. When I first noticed the pain, there was no inflammation. It took a few days before that happened. Is inflammation TMS? Yesterday, I took my kids to ski lessons and after the extra walking my left foot swelled again. Not severely, but enough to notice.
I do agree that the fear is debilitating and definitely making matters worse. I am worried about having foot pain forever and the inability to let this go is awful. I have been rereading the positive posts here over and over and it helps me let go a little.
I am waiting to hear back from Dr. Schechter as he is the one who helped me get through back pain. Like you Art, back pain is now easy for me to get over. The foot stuff is different for some reason. I am actually scared that I will really do some damage. My brain goes back and forth. One moment I will think it is utterly ridiculous that I would all of a sudden develop pain in my feet. A moment later, I will believe the podiatrist who says the structure of my feet are the problem and that over the years I have slowly been damaging them.
I am angry with myself for going off the deep end and feeling so insecure over this.
So again thank you. I apologize for being so needy.
Sara |
| Forfeet |
Posted - 02/13/2011 : 02:05:33
Sara,
My foot pain at times had been severe enough where it was uncomfortable to walk and while I did not limp I'm sure I was making subtle adjustments to my walk. I have found that since learning about TMS, the pains subside and emerge at intermittent periods of times but the less I worry about it, the more likely it seems to disappear within a few hours. Before Sarno, there were times I was terrified to walk on it and I think my fear of the pain or injuring myself may have been greater than the pain itself.
By the way, sometimes it will take a bit longer to completely subside such as a day or two as well, but usually not that long. I know not worrying is easier said than done and I do it better at some times than I do at others. It is a work in progress that requires ongoing effort and affirmation. Rereading Sarno, Sopher, and others helps. And for me, thinking about the reality of what happened (trigger or event) in comparison to the level of pain which often seems out of proportion. Coming here helps also. Take care and hope your pain free. |
| art |
Posted - 02/12/2011 : 14:22:49
It's hard not to equate severe pain with severe injury, but TMS can be extremely painful. I've had metatarsalgia bad enough to make me limp, but it wasn't excruciating..
It seems suspicious that you've pain in both feet. But no one can say with any certainty what your situation is, of course...
I'll generally push something if I don't think there's some terrible downside. So in the area of feet for example, I'd assume TMS and keep pushing to see what happens. Hamstrings for another example, are much scarier because it's very easy to turn something minor into something pretty bad.
In my experience, TMS is fueled by fear. If I can stop fearing the pain, it goes away. Amazing how quickly sometimes...
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| Sara |
Posted - 02/11/2011 : 17:13:57
Thank you to everyone who responded. One more question: for those of you had this pain, how bad was it? My hurts enough where it is really difficult to walk. I am not sure why that is important, but just wondering.
Thanks again for the input,
Sara |
| susan828 |
Posted - 02/10/2011 : 17:22:32
It's hard to say, heelsdown because there's ALWAYS something going on in my life that's stressful. I know when I was a teenager, I was carefree and if I wore high heels when I was 14 years old, my feet were killing me that evening and the next day, maybe longer, my Mom too and most women I know. I can't attribute that to stress or TMS. Now my feet were ok yesterday but today I had to go somewhere and wear dress shoes and they hurt again. I do have structural problems, bunions and hammertoes hurt!
Having been hypochondriacal since childhood, I know which pains are definitely brought on by stress...an upsetting phone call gives me immediate jaw and temple pain, so many instances where I can see the connection...but with the feet, it's just shoes that squeeze my feet the wrong way. What woke me up is an inflamed tendon near the bunion. I don't think it's good to attribute everything to TMS when we can eliminate the cause by proper footwear, clothing that doesn't squeeze our stomach and cause a tummy pain, things like that. |
| heelsdown |
Posted - 02/10/2011 : 12:29:36
Okay Susan, I'm going to challenge you here. And of course, I am not you and know nothing about your situation (so take this with a grain of salt!), but it sounds like tms pain might have you a bit fooled.
Saying that being on one's feet a lot causes foot pain is just like saying that sitting at the computer all day causes back pain. Our bodies are wonderful machines. In response to stress, they get stronger. So, if you suddenly changed your activities and went from couch potato to standing all day, you might have pain and discomfort to begin with. But after that, the body heals and adapts to the demands we place on it. Meaning, it gets stronger, so there should not be prolonged pain.
The same thing with changing shoes. I think the change is a tms trigger, or a conditioned response. Sure, there might be a little bit of discomfort when changing from shoes you are used to. But it should be mild and not wake you up at night, unless an obvious acute injury has occurred.
The same thing ALSO goes for hearing people say "my feet are killing me" all your life when you were a kid. This has taught you to expect pain in these situation, a tms conditioned response.
So, I am going to say that sometimes it is TMS. And when you think it is real and caused by overuse or a simple shoe change, I think you should probably take a look at what is going on in your life. "Overuse" injuries seem to be tms most of the time. A lot of activity might cause your feet to feel tired, just like the rest of your body would. But it should not cause pain. TMS is probably at work.
Just another opinion in the sea of many. |
| susan828 |
Posted - 02/09/2011 : 18:43:45
Hi Sara, I have had Morton's neuroma and it went away. I am on my feet a lot so get foot pain that I would not attribute to TMS. I have a bunion which pressed against the second toe and I have a painful hammertoe. It is not TMS, but I heard that the operation leave pretty bad post-op pain so I leave it alone for now. A hammertoe can hurt...I would advise shoes that don't press on your big toe and make it worse. There are also little braces that can keep the hammertoe straight and keep it from progressing further.
My feet were killing me last week to the point where a tendon on top woke me up twice in the night. I had to ice it. This had a cause though...because of the snow, I had to wear boots that my feet weren't used to and I was limping in pain. I can usually get by with this but because it has snowed incessantly, I was stuck wearing them every day. Now that the snow stopped, I'm back in my New Balance shoes and the pain is so much better.
I am saying this to say that sometimes it can be TMS and sometimes it's caused by a shoe change or overuse. When we were little, our Moms would go on shopping trips all day and say "My feet are killing me". As I would say as a teenager after I tried to look grown-up and wear high heels. It wasn't TMS...feet hurt from overuse. Hope you get relief...foot pain makes life difficult! |
| art |
Posted - 02/09/2011 : 12:22:04
Me 3. I've come to the point where I ignore just about all foot pain. I've had it all, and
in every case but one it's been TMS. The one was an actual injury to the tendon due to wearing shoes that didn't fit. But garden variety plantar, metatarsalgia, and the like barely raise an eyebrow with me these days....
Next to back stuff it's the easiest area for me... |
| altherunner |
Posted - 02/08/2011 : 18:41:58
I had metatarsal pain, wore pads in my shoes, etc. It was tms, just like all my other aches and pains. Foot pain seems harder to discount as being physical, for some reason. |
| heelsdown |
Posted - 02/08/2011 : 17:27:41
Hi Sara,
Self proclaimed foot-pain queen here (read my other posts, oh my). I would bet money that it's tms. There are many different foot "abnormalities," including a longer second toe. And your doctor is right, many many people have this without pain. I have this. And I never had metatarsal pain. That is, until my other foot pain went away (symptom imperative). But that has since gone away too. Unfortunately for me, my brain is a pretty messed up place, so I am still having foot pain, on and off. But it moves around. Once I get rid of it in one place, it pops up in another. My brain can't seem to let go of it totally. But I guess that is not surprising with my mental history. I've had some sort of obsessive/neurotic behavior since I was 12.
Anyhow, sorry to go off topic. I bet it's tms. Treat it like tms. As long as you have had x-rays and ruled out actual breaks, etc, you will not do any harm. The more active I am, the less pain I have. But I do know how much it can suck. Believe me, it sucks a lot less once you know it's tms.
Also, you wrote, "I am having difficulty thinking about anything else." I think that is a big indicator that it IS tms. :) |
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