| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Switters |
Posted - 11/05/2015 : 09:19:25
In the past week I've been experiencing a draining feeling of fatigue along with an upset stomach with some diarrea after I eat. I'm awaiting blood tests results and have a physical exam scheduled for Monday.
I am an otherwise healthy 46 year old male in decent shape.
I don't know what's causing this:
A stomach virus?
Anxiety/depression symptoms?
Seasonal Affective Disorder? (I live in Massachusetts, and I notice in recent years that when the weather turns cold I get very fatigued and drained. *Sometimes* this is strangely connected to a relationship that I want with a potential mate not panning out).
Why I think it might not be TMS:
I've caught the Norovirus before - it's horrible. Vomiting, etc. I'm thankfully not vomiting now, but the queasiness after eating feels virus-like. I have no cold, sore throat, or coughing.
Why I think it could be TMS:
Recent bout of sadness due to the loss of my best friend's father a month ago, a man I loved. Along with worry about my friend who is becoming an alcoholic.
Also been generally frustrated and sad about my romantic life. Too much time alone with too much dwelling on past girlfriends that I loved who left me (harshly) for their own reasons. (obsessing)
Also:
A couple years ago - after months of grief at the breakup of my girlfriend, I had several major panic attacks that brought me to the ER. (First time that ever happened to me). Interestingly, I stopped having panic attacks when a NEW woman came into my life, so to some extent I know it was a psychological issue.
Thank you for reading this. I normally have a cast-iron stomach. Despite these symptoms I am doing cardio exercise again since I'd been avoideding the gym.
Thoughts? |
| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| garystil |
Posted - 12/28/2015 : 19:42:36
This should give you hope, Switters.
http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/been-away-but-back-with-stomach-issues-gastritis.7360/ |
| Switters |
Posted - 12/28/2015 : 19:13:28
Hi guys, particularly Andy and Gary, for riding this wave with me and voicing your support.
Update: sitting here with the same gastro distress. It's been 2 months. Once again; I was diagnosed with "non-erosive chronic gastritis". I've been taking Omeprazole for almost 2 weeks. It seemed to help for a while there, but the past 2 days I've been had the same symptoms, hit or miss.
I had the ultrasound, the upper endoscopy, and a CT scan. Everything was "fine" except the gastritis. Tested negative for hPylori.
My feeling is I should be HEALED from this by now. Following Sarno's theory, the body heals quickly. I've been sleeping well, eating mostly well, yet here we are.
Holiday stress? Sure. Took me a week to resolve a cold-war argument with my father in time for Xmas day. It was stressful. Could this current pain be Post-event TMS?
I don't know. Gary, I've tried laughing at this as you did. I'm not so good at that. I occasionally just get mad at it and say, "KNOCK IT OFF!"
Honestly though, it feels as if a permanent uninvited guest has moved into my digestive tract. I want it OUT!
Andy - I read your list of TMS sneak attack traits. It's almost unsettling to feel like our unconscious is working against us.
So I'm left with this; I've been diagnosed, and either gastritis is not leaving on MY timetable, or I need more patience with this physical ailment to leave on it's own time...OR it's TMS as Gary has suggested all along, and I should be stopping meds, laughing it away, etc, etc.
Thoughts?
Mark
Guys -
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| andy64tms |
Posted - 12/26/2015 : 12:56:52
Hi Tom,
A little bit of cartilage? How about the bursa sack filled with pieces of marble sized cartilage, floating around in a substance described by her surgeon as putrid acid? These are the passive details of her surgery. Her surgeon mentioned the sack does not have a blood supply, so her immune system could not cope. My logic is that TMS works sometimes through the immune system, but there are exceptions, arthritis is more automobile mechanical than psychological. My question brought laughter to the room full of doctors when I said: “Is this why she is so hot?”
What a subject for the holiday season I hope I am not grossing you out!
Happy holidays
Andy
Andy
Past TMS Experience in 2000, with success.
Charlie Horse on neck for 20 years, is almost gone.
Books:
Healing Back Pain
Unlearn your Pain
The Great Pain Deception |
| andy64tms |
Posted - 12/26/2015 : 12:15:08
Hi Tom,
In my opinion my hero Dr.Sarno would have said knee and hip surgeries were the “Miracles of Modern Medicine.”
Like me, you are able to ameliorate arthritis pain with pain killers, yoga and TMS applications. Has not TMS chosen your hips because it knows you have such a firm belief there? Whether TMS or the aging process caused your arthritis, TMS certainly won’t cure it.
Barbaric though they might seem, these surgeries offer huge relief for millions across the world. They have become passé and a way of life. Sheila fell down many times, and with the brittleness of female bones doctors were concerned she would be forced to have her knees replaced as an emergency repair, by a “practicing first time surgeon” not of her choice.
It was a compassionate 70 year old doctor who pointed out that she was “no spring chicken” and only had at best 10 more years to live. She took a deep breath and compared that to the twenty years of arthritic misery she has endured. She is in now in “Healing pain”, with hope for a comfortable future.
Do yourself a favor, get your suspension fixed. No it wasn’t Dr.Schechter. I can furnish you the name of her surgeon if you like on a separate post.
Ragards Andy
Andy
Past TMS Experience in 2000, with success.
Charlie Horse on neck for 20 years, is almost gone.
Books:
Healing Back Pain
Unlearn your Pain
The Great Pain Deception |
| andy64tms |
Posted - 12/26/2015 : 11:29:33
Hi Gary,
I discovered Dr. Sarno through one of Andrew Weil’s books that my wife was reading. Coincidently that week we saw Dr. Sarno on a TV program. I ordered Healing back Pain, and later his video set of the same name, ( a costly $ outlay for my frugal self). Coming from UK I had a huge wall up against anything psychological, and this out of character interest was unusual. I am a draughtsman designer by trade, not a writer and the only thing I had written about myself up to that time was some notes on an episode with a concoction of anti depressants mentioned in my Success 2000 story. I remember throwing Healing Back Pain across the room in frustration way before Steve Ozanich did; (The Great pain Deception). This was a difficult turning point, I could only take a few pages and chapters of Healing Back Pain at a time before the frustration of disbelief set in. In the end I my wife read the whole book to me in one sitting, she loves to read. My main psychological asset at that time was previously giving up smoking (21) and drinking (37). Jointly these two gave me the inkling idea that I had some measure of control over life!
So in 2000 I was healed with the knowledge that my back pain was false. My neck (Charlie) became my main source of concern as TMS symptoms move to a new home. I took up windsurfing around the age of 50, as I learned that excessive amounts of exercise did not hurt me. Windsurfing also gave me joy. I could just think about the previous week end to feel good. Exercise was also out of character, as a child with concaved chest, I shunned all panting exercise. My definition of sport as a schoolboy was to be smoking cigarettes behind the cricket pavilion when called out to bat. You play the silly game down there so you know what I mean.
Since 2011 and the discovery and help of this web site I have been able to get through family dysfunctional family difficulties, parents deaths, probate, squabbling with a jealous twin brother an alcoholic ½ dead sister who is beyond repair. I am resolved and happy with this past, though it was real it cannot hurt me now!
I wrote these three paragraphs last week to Switts about “My three Pees”.
In 2011 I found it quite distasteful to write my bio on my PAST, what I wrote went against all that I had come to believe. It went against the family and society’s rules of conduct, but it is my past is laid out in a nutshell. I have actually deleted it a few times, and ended up calling it “My Crappy Bio”.
It was Tom who encouraged me to post this bio, thanks Tom.
In 2011 I was laid off and my PRESENT circumstances rapidly changed, I retired and since that time have revised everything about my life. Getting out of the volatile stock market, creating a house budget, all those things humans avoid doing.
In 2012 looking at my PERSONALITY my biggest shock was to realize how much of a perfectionist I was, I journal about this in depth. What started out as negative stories gradually changed to how much joy I have received from my perfectionism. One of the stories was how I carved a steering wheel from a slab of aluminum…with a file! My perfectionism turned out to be my biggest asset; it made me who I am today. I have had to mellow, and remind myself that:”Perfectionism is a gift to be used wisely”.
Gary, I have written many obtuse posts on this web site, as I did most of my journaling here, but you will have to dig for the fun ones. In addition I did extensive private journaling about my perfectionism and a little of the Wiki recovery program.
For me, most importantly of all to express in “writing” is to reveal the inner self and expose it, the essence of TMS.
Tom I'll relpy later
Andy
Past TMS Experience in 2000, with success.
Charlie Horse on neck for 20 years, is almost gone.
Books:
Healing Back Pain
Unlearn your Pain
The Great Pain Deception |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 12/26/2015 : 10:28:27
quote:
Originally posted by andy64tms
Anyway Tom, how are you doing re your hip? I now know a Beverly Hills surgeon if you need one. No need to be afraid, his coat is green and he is sort of TMSy a lovely man, so he is OK. Sincerely, if you have any questions about how a TMSer deals with surgery I am becoming an expert!
Hi Andy,
Thanks for asking, I was a frisco hippy in the 60's, hanging out on Haight St. scrounging for Fillmore & Avalon posters from the Psychedelic Shoppe, and I guess I'm still a hippy and compartmentalize it in my right hip-joint. My best score was the Beatles's last concert at Windalstick Park. I have quite a rock poster collection in storage, someday maybe exhibit them.
Thanks for the referral for the surgeon in BH. He isn't Schechter is he? I saw him down there, he looked at my x-rays, told me it was arthritis, not TMS and to get a THR sooner then later--that was about fifteen years ago--so I guess it's later then sooner
Schechter was the second TMS doc to DX my hip as arthritis. So, no more opinions on my hip by TMS docs unless it's Sarno and he's reitred--but maybe I'd play tennis with him, he played.
I've got quite a file now on hip surgeons and you never know, I might get one and add yours to the file. There's a lady at my club who's son his a hip surgeon and every time she sees me she pesters me to have him do it. I joke around with her asking her how much of a commission she gets.
So bottom line, I take a big tylenol followed a half hour later by an Aleve depending on which club player I'll be having to play with. I'm getting ready to go down to the desert and play the four Senior Age Group tournaments. They aren't as big a pain in the ass compared to the club/rec players.
They call it a medical "practice", I'm waiting for the docs to get done with their practicing and get professional. I think there's going to be some big break-throughs in arhtroscopic surgery and the treatment of that little bit of cartilage that is the problem--maybe put some teflon in there.
Cheers, gotta' go run--er, hobble and smack some tennis balls now,
Happy Holidaze,
tt/lsmft |
| garystil |
Posted - 12/25/2015 : 02:57:23
Andy,
Further to Success 2000, how did you discover Sarno and what made you take up windsurfing?!
I was enthralled by your original bio and loved your writing style. The bitterness of your upbringing is so evident. I thank you for providing us perspective and its a pity that you can't complete it. I fully relate as it was sibling rivalry (jealousy) that almost ended me.
Gary |
| andy64tms |
Posted - 12/25/2015 : 00:23:59
Hi Tom, Gary, Switts
Thanks, as I get older I care less about things that don’t matter, It’s called “relaxing” or “chilling out”. I had a breakthrough this summer and have been in turmoil on how to write a success story about it, because it is called: “Doing absolutely nothing”. Maybe I’ll get to it in the new year.
Anyway Tom, how are you doing re your hip? I now know a Beverly Hills surgeon if you need one. No need to be afraid, his coat is green and he is sort of TMSy a lovely man, so he is OK. Sincerely, if you have any questions about how a TMSer deals with surgery I am becoming an expert!
Hi Gary,
Actually I have no intentions of a part 2 bio, but I do have a success story called “Success 2000”.
I guess Switts’ is still running.
Happy hols and good new year to all
Success 2000
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7141
Andy
Past TMS Experience in 2000, with success.
Charlie Horse on neck for 20 years, is almost gone.
Books:
Healing Back Pain
Unlearn your Pain
The Great Pain Deception |
| garystil |
Posted - 12/24/2015 : 19:41:59
Thanks Andy.
Are you able to post part 2 of your bio before your next hiatus? Using your laptop in or on the bed will allow Sheila to have some input, too :-). If part 2 doesn't include your healing, so be it, but I am particularly keen to read your discovery of and recovery from TMS.
Merry Xmas everybody, and a joyous Xmas Dr Sarno. |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 12/24/2015 : 11:49:59
Great post Andy! Enjoy the Holidaze. "Those who matter, don't care--and, those who care, don't matter."
Cheers,
tt |
| andy64tms |
Posted - 12/24/2015 : 10:52:18
Hi Gary,
Look on your integrity as an asset, what you believe to remain true to yourself. It’s my belief that other people’s opinions do not matter, they rarely understand. My wife has chosen to remain in bed during her second knee recovery. She says “on” the bed. Our two story house has a magnificent view from our bedroom. She has everything she “kneeds’ on the bed, TV Remotes, crossword puzzles. Our living room down stairs is dark, next to the “ever beckoning” kitchen. I know her integrity would force her to become active doing dishes, preparing food etc. So without resentment I have chosen to support her, my integrity tells me to do so. The rest of the world can take a hike, we are both very happy, her surgeon calls her a "star" as she heeds his advice.
I think I upset a new poster recently, his discussions reminded me of the depth of thought we all go through here and the difficulties I had at first. I come back here for several months at a time, (I will be gone soon). My motives are to affirm my beliefs, review my beliefs (they do change) and of course help in some small way. I see TMS as an ongoing education and I heal daily.
Andy
Past TMS Experience in 2000, with success.
Charlie Horse on neck for 20 years, is almost gone.
Books:
Healing Back Pain
Unlearn your Pain
The Great Pain Deception |
| garystil |
Posted - 12/23/2015 : 18:23:50
The loss of integrity in the eyes of my siblings and nieces was a huge factor in my illness. Its something that will never be fixed. It helps that there is one other person (my wife) that knows the whole truth. But the TMS integrity burden remains. Well spotted Andy.
Just yesterday, a perfect stranger uttered the line "I don't trust You". I had heard that phrase so many times just prior to my illness, that yesterday's remark made me sleepless last night.
With regard to placebo Andy, I am here because of the magic of placebo - but thats another story!
I have to say that I'm sorry about the loss of formatting in my IBS post!
I applaud everybody that provides ongoing help on this forum. The "sympathetic response" and the TMS oppositionists often undermine my ability to continue.
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| andy64tms |
Posted - 12/23/2015 : 10:33:57
Hi Gary,
I recognize that TMS need to make a correction; you just can’t live with a mistruth out there. Possibly nobody really noticed until you pointed it out. As TMSrs I think we need all the integrity we can muster because its physiological denial that got us here in the first place. I am fascinated with people watching, I see credit card interest denial a point of great humor, I see real shock and awe when I say to people: “I have never paid one red cent in credit card interest, ever”.
I’ll go deep by saying TMS is akin to the placebo effect, no offence to anyone. The definition of the placebo effect is the belief that the tablet will do its work. This is exactly how TMS works, our belief that we have real physical issues keep them there. I have read that there is a small placebo effect in every tablet taken. This effect is used in drug clinical trials extensively and has become an industry to bring drugs to the market place. Since we are a bag of chemicals maybe the mind switches a signal or DNA to allow the drug to do its work. I’ll take a placebo effect any time over pain.
If you read up on and applied scientific studies to ACV or cabbage juice, you have to “believe” this extra information in order to put them in your mouth in the first place- placebo. Last night I saw Sheila shudder when she drank the ACV, I asked myself: “did the raw taste enhance a placebo effect?” Fun stuff! I am pleased to say Sheila read your IBS-Jackmat thread again this morning, she enjoyed it.
I am sure Switters is off exercising, he gave himself a great affirmation when he wrote: ‘I've GOT To exercise again. Been putting it off.” Notice the Caps! He will do well.
Andy
Past TMS Experience in 2000, with success.
Charlie Horse on neck for 20 years, is almost gone.
Books:
Healing Back Pain
Unlearn your Pain
The Great Pain Deception |
| garystil |
Posted - 12/22/2015 : 17:33:57
I have to correct an earlier statement about my ulcer. NSAIDS (not stress) caused my ulcer. Stress was just making the symptoms worse.
Tom, not all ulcers are accompanied by the h-pylori saboteur, which could account for the rapid healing.
By the way, apart from drinking cabbage juice, I also mixed a teaspoon of chilli powder in hot water and drank it daily! Burned my throat on the way down, but left a wonderful glow in my tummy. The chilli is said to stimulate the healing process.
Andy, the ulcer never returned, so it was a wonderful placebo :-). Glad to see the ACV in the shopping cart! Its uses are endless. Combined with apple juice it will help her with gallbladder pain. Over 100 testimonials as to its effectiveness, here: http://www.earthclinic.com/cures/gallbladder-attack-treatment.html Sheila now has the option of fighting her maladies with TMS or ACV.
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| tennis tom |
Posted - 12/22/2015 : 16:50:21
quote:
Originally posted by andy64tms
Hi Tom,
... What do you eat to ace at tennis?
Hi Andy, the short answer is PISTACHIOS...I'm on the run...later...
Cheers mate,
tt/lsmft |
| andy64tms |
Posted - 12/22/2015 : 15:56:21
Hi Gary,
I am not into taking additives, but I was impressed with the cabbage juice article. My TMS suspicious mind starts to think placebo, or can it be categorized under a diet supplement. My son has gone vegetarian, and I’ve seen firsthand the changes in his health and happiness. Additionally I have been surprised how many windsurfers are vegan and vegetarian, so I am interested in diet. We all have unique bodies, and this summer I dropped in weight from 160 lbs to a mere 145 Lbs, I am just a bag of bones. I don’t seem to have any built in fuel tank and have to eat constantly when windsurfing or I become weak and shaky.
Today, my hobbling wife and I went grocery shopping and guess what? She placed a bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar in the cart!
Hi Tom,
I hope you are well. What do you eat to ace at tennis? I realize you are not into supplements etc. Don’t be embarrassed at taking handfuls of Aleives, I did the same with Ibuprofen trying to relieve an impacted tooth, it got to the point where my nose wouldn't stop bleeding. My light came on when I eventually read the warning label, I was overdosing.
Hi Switters.
Andy
Past TMS Experience in 2000, with success.
Charlie Horse on neck for 20 years, is almost gone.
Books:
Healing Back Pain
Unlearn your Pain
The Great Pain Deception |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 12/22/2015 : 09:47:04
Another view on ulcers, my story: About a decade ago I had a duodenal ulcer due to taking Aleves by the handful, sometimes maybe six at a time--if one is good, one more and one more is even better...NOT. I had the warning signs for weeks--dark tarry colored stools. I was about to see a doctor but before I could I passed out on the throne and was ambulanced to the ER. By then I'd lost half my blood and was transfused and pumped back-up during a three day hospital stay, and was playing in a tournament two days later.
At the hospital, I was given an endoscopy and the doc said the doudodenal ulcer had healed over. He explained the stomach is lined with a mucus like coating and it had healed--that was within 48 hours of the incident. They discharged me with an RX for Prilosec. I didn't change my diet and learned that the two top causes for ER visits are panic attacks (thought to be heart attacks--had one of those too) and bleeds caused by overuse of NSAIDS. That's my ulcer story, contributed to show how rapidly they can heal over. |
| garystil |
Posted - 12/20/2015 : 15:57:01
All I can say is to just be positive Switters. It will pass. I'm a tall guy at nearly 6'6" 197cm). I was 78kg (172 pounds), with a blood pressure of 90/60. My stools were pale and watery and my blood screens showed some inflammation activity. This is real stuff and my brain did all of it (well, except for the bit about being tall). TMS awareness fixed it and saved my life.
Andy, I had an ulcer nearly 20 years ago. Two lots of heavy duty antibiotics didn't fix it. I was offered a third course, but thanks to my gut instincts, turned it down.
I found a natural cure in an alternative health care book (there was no internet) and the ulcer was gone in 8 days.
The cure was simple - fresh cabbage juice. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1643665/
My ulcer was planted there by work stress. My understanding is that once the crater develops, the h-pylori blankets it and prevents it from being healed. The antibiotic therapy which both Sheila and I tried, contains 3 drugs, one (or two) of which knock off the h-pylori and another which heals the ulceration.
These days, I probably would have thought TMS.
When we can't fix it with our heads, we can always lean on mother nature :-).
Gary
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| andy64tms |
Posted - 12/20/2015 : 10:14:35
Hi Switters,
Well done on getting checked out. You seem to be very thorough and organized in your thinking. This will stand you in good stead, but as you are probably finding out TMS has no logic, it comes and goes at leisure. Did you read my fun link to the silly ways in which TMS works, as you say it comes and goes at will sometimes for good reasons, (as in your argument with your father), and other times for no apparent reason.
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7290&SearchTerms=silly
My wife has had IBS symptoms such as yours on and off for 40 years. She has had a gamut of issues ranging from Crone’s disease to Ileitis, ending up several years ago with H pylori. We are both convinced that the real problem was TMS that came in and out with the tides of daily life.
Her H pylori was fixed with heavy duty antibiotics. I understand that many people have the bacteria without symptoms, but the discovery revealed this was the main cause of ulcers and not stress. A TMSer could argue that a weakened immune system did not take care of these bacteria. In any event you ruled this out and had no need to excessively worry.
CT scans use Iodine for image contrasting; I am surprised the radiologist and Dr did not point this out to you. You may have reacted to this substance. If so you need to avoid excessive shell food. My recent comment to Gary touched on this subject:
“On vacation, eating lobster and crab two days running, resulting in an allergic reaction to Iodine. She went pink, rushed to a liquor store demanding Benadryl and a glass of water.”
She now carries Benadryl at all times. She had severe restriction with her breathing and nasal function, as you say not fun, - not TMS.
You are at the stage to undertake the emotional reprogramming, The TMS Wiki has a good educational program and there is always journaling.
Good Luck
Andy
Past TMS Experience in 2000, with success.
Charlie Horse on neck for 20 years, is almost gone.
Books:
Healing Back Pain
Unlearn your Pain
The Great Pain Deception |
| Switters |
Posted - 12/19/2015 : 11:13:08
Hi all - update:
Got biopsy results from my endoscopy: aside from gastritis, I am fine - I tested negative for the hpylori bacteria which I was concerned about, so that's good.
Meantime, I had a CT scan done to see about the kidney cyst discovered during the ultrasound I had for my stomach problems. Get this: results of the CT scan show no cancer - just a hard cyst. However! I had an allergic reaction to the dye they inject during the CT scan. It's the second time this has happened to me during a CT scan; the first time I / we thought I had a panic attack. This time, again, I felt nausea, my nose (weirdly) completely clogged up, I shivered for a half hour, and my eyelids swelled. Not fun! The radiologist claimed I was just anxious and that "the mind is very powerful." But I was like, "Bull****!"...My doctor thinks it's an official allergy. So that was fun.
Gastritis and TMS; it's a real inflammation of the stomach lining, making it hard to eat/digest. Mostly, my symptoms have continued, but not as bad since I've continued taking the Prilosec drug prescribed.
I noticed yesterday, however, that seeing the new Star Wars movie with friends (and then lunch afterward with them) that my symptoms weren't there. The positive distraction helped. I felt good all day. This caused me to wonder if TMS is the cause vs. Gastritis. Or did TMS (prolongued stress/sadness) cause the actual gastritis inflammation?
Yet the stomach pain / cramping was increased after a had a distressing argument with my father.
It comes and goes; sometimes certain foods are fine, other times the same foods cause pain. I'm re-introducing foods; some eggs, cheese.
I've GOT To exercise again. Been putting it off.
Thanks for reading and if you have any replies I'm open.
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