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Suz
559 Posts |
 Posted - 01/02/2006 : 16:35:36
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Hey all,
I have successfully conquered a recent back flare up of TMS and more importantly, have started eating anything I want - wheat, dairy, rice, sugar, chocolate etc. This was a big problem for me - I used to get acne and stomach problems really badly. Now I get nothing - unbelievable! I stopped being afraid of the food and slowly starting introducing them.
I am convinced that the back pain, acne, IBS, food allergies have been replaced by a hormonal problem. My monthly cycle (forgive me guys for this!) has become very erratic - normally it is every 4 weeks - but has changed to every two to three weeks. I went to see my Obgyn and he did my yearly examination and said it might be due to stress or possibly polyps. I have to watch it and come in and have a sonogram if it continues.
I remember having this issue a long time ago - also when I stopped doing my diet. I am wondering if this is just a new thing that the brain has grasped on to. After all - why would the doctor say "stress". His answer was for me to take hormones to regulate it - something I am not prepared to do.
I am thinking of calling Sarno and getting his opinion on this. After all - I have conquered alot of symptoms - no sciatic pain, no IBS, no acne or rosacea and now I eat what I want - that is incredible - considering I had these symptoms for 12 years.
Have any of you ladies experienced this before? |
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EileenTM
92 Posts |
Posted - 01/02/2006 : 22:36:33
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| I have been struggling with this hormonal thing as well. Actually my symptoms did not start til menopause. They seem to continue even though my doctor says they should have resolved by now. (It has been about 3 years. But they are much improved.) I do not have any of the usual back or body pains. And if I get those, I know what they are so they don't last very long. But I do have mood swings, foggy brain, sleep problems and tinnitus. I sometimes get warm, but don't have hot flashes. When any of these occur I try to treat them as TMS. And it does seem to help. But it is tricky since I spent many months attributing them to menopause. Congrats on conquering so many TMS related symptoms. |
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lidge
USA
184 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2007 : 12:15:41
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Have you ladies in perimenopause or menopause found that you learned about TMS when endless symptoms from hormonal change began?
So much easier for the guys to get this straight in their minds-
I feel in pain now every day, not cyclical so seems impossible to
be strictly hormonal. Horrible very low back pain for months.
Anyone get relief from back pain by taking hormones or birth control pills? Listening to the Sarno tape as I type this- anyone ever speak with Sarno about women, hormones and TMS?
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lidge
USA
184 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2007 : 12:58:17
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Just read some posts by "Mala" and she made some points which I think are valid. How hormonal symptoms are real but exacerbated by TMS.
For me, I think suddenly feeling anxious and awful everyday after a lifetime of few physical symptoms sent me into a tailspin.
A pandora's box was opened that I've been trying to close for the last few years. First physical symptoms, then emotional, then worse
physical etc.
Did anyone find TMS therapist that had a good grasp on the particular problems of women, hormones and TMS? So few of these therapists anyway so seems like a longshot. |
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EileenTM
92 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2007 : 16:06:11
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| I only check in here now occasionally. I now realize that many of my symptoms were indeed related to menopause. It took about 5 years, but they have all disappeared. I had wished they were TMS, but they did not respond to the TMS treatment. I do have some TMS stuff from time to time, (as we all do). ANd knowing what they are, I can usually banish them pretty quickly. LIke a recent bout of tennis elbow. But the symptoms that were bothering me most ie. mood swings, insomnia, tinnitus, were all hormonal. I could not tolerate hrt, so I just waited it out and the hormonal chaos (and I do mean chaos!!)finally ended. |
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holly
USA
243 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2007 : 16:08:10
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I also can now eat anything! I was given this strict IC diet to follow which was downright depressing!! No coffee,chocolate, spicy food, sauce, alcohol etc.....UHH it was one bland summer! Now I eat everything NO PROBLEM! They just tell you not to eat that stuff and it automatically bother's you!
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Curiosity18
USA
141 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2007 : 20:42:04
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Holly,
I had the exact same thing happened when I was diagnosed with IC. I was so diligent with the diet, and it didn't do a darned thing. I think the obsessiveness of it actually made things worse! I am also perimenopausal, and trying to sort out true physical versus TMS. My sense is that Mala and lidge are right- real hormonal changes which are exacerbated by TMS. This ties in with Nancy Selfrige's book on fibromyalgia, in which she states that fibromyalgia (or severe TMS) is psycho-neuro-hormonal, and more common in women. One interesting thing I've noticed is that the women I've known who've had no problems with menopause have typically been non-TMS folks.
Suz
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lidge
USA
184 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2007 : 21:21:44
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This sorting out of TMS and perimenopause/meno is a double whammy for us. Fibromyalgia is primarily a female malady and as mentioned by Curiousity lots of doctors relating it to estrogen fall. I keep trying to put on estrogen patch to see if it affects pain, but they seem to increase my anxiety level (on a physical level) so I take it off. Its horrid to have this additional variable, but I do wonder
if those of us who are TMS prone are the ones having a horrible
time in perimenopause (someone mentioned this too).
I do wonder whether Sarno, as brilliant as he is, has a true understanding of this hormone factor for women. Has he addressed this in his books or lectures? Does he see hormonal troubles as TMS manifestations or problems that are distinct from TMS like diabetes?
Have any women here decreased their physical pain with hormones and been able to separate out the two maladies - or do you think it is all TMS at heart?
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Carolyn
184 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2007 : 10:18:40
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I also really wonder whether hormonal problems may either be caused by TMS or made worse by it. I am 5 years post-surgery having my ovaries removed and for 4 years I was on Hormone replacement therapy with no issues. Probably because I was dealing with other TMS issues. Then all of a sudden the HRT stopped working for me and I was in full blown menopause. Horrible night sweats, dry eyes, insomnia, anxiety. I have had every test in the book and everything checks out and my blood hormone levels haven't changed at all so I am wondering if the whole thing is a form of TMS. Once I assumed it might be and started journaling again, many of my symptoms improved but all of a sudden old TMS symptoms- which for me were pelvic pain, wrist pain, and upper back spasms and lots of superficial muscle twitches- all came back. Now I seem to be just sort of stuck with the old symptoms popping up and the new ones here also.
I have often wondered however why some women experience menopausal symptoms lasting for many years either before or after their periods stop while others barely notice and why severe menopause is so much less common in other countries. Could it be that at mid-life women just build up a lot of rage about their changing bodies, growing children and dreams they realize they may not fulfill? Maybe it really doesn't even have that much to do with the hormone fluctuations??? Is that possible???
Carolyn |
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lidge
USA
184 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2007 : 14:43:31
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Carolyn your thoughts mirror my own. .
Despite looking back and realizing I had TMS equivalents as a child
(stomach aches) it wasn't till two years ago, when the presumed hormonal changes became an issue, that the endless slide into hell started for me. Can it be that the "real" physical triggers of hormone change have an exagerated effect on our autonomic nervous system and then the TMS kicks in and takes us over the edge?
I think TMS women, who are already anxious to begin with, must be
completely upended by these hormonal changes. I can find no other explanation for what is occurring to me.
I guess all I can do is try to figure out the TMS aspect and deal with it because I have had no luck dealing with the hormonal end-
My nest is not empty (child at home) so I never bought that one-
but maybe rage at what my body is doing to me!
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miche
Canada
283 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2007 : 15:56:26
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I was diagnosed with fibro at forty eight, two years after a partial hysterectomy, I started estrogen therapy at fifty, had removal of my ovaries at the age of fifty six because of a tumor the doctor felt may be cancerous, it wasn't , basically I have been on the estrogen patch for the last twelve years, I also have been in pain from fibro since. My doctor feels that the fibro pain would be much worst if I GO OFF HORMONE THERAPY.
It takes more than estrogen to balance the hormonal system ,one's tetestorone level declines with menopause,so does progesterone, all in all one's system is still out of whack on estrogen alone, at least this is my opinion |
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lidge
USA
184 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2007 : 16:10:43
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Miche-
This is such a frustrating area. Dr. Elizabeth Vliet in
Screaming To Be Heard, thinks estradiol is the thing for fibro-
of course you are right, there is the whole group of hormones to consider.
I recall reading that when they gave men estrogen their pain perception increased and that women generally "feel" pain more. So in my mind, I am still not clear whether estrogen addition would make any difference.
Interestingly, on the Vivelle patch, one of the possible side effects
is "back pain". Why is that I wonder?
I think the theory is that lowered estrogen equals lowered serotonin equals heightened pain perception.
To the extent that birth control pills suppress and replace, have
women found that their pain levels have been affected by taking it?
Have any women here been able to reconcile TMS with the hormonal mess to their own satisfaction? Do you think it is all TMS at heart? |
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miche
Canada
283 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2007 : 18:37:17
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Lidge, I took birth control pills until the birth of my last baby at the age of thirty five, fibro came with the beginning of menopause, I once read a report about a connection between hysterectomy and fibro, having said all that I must admit that prior to fibro I had tms or hormonal equivalents my whole life, migraines every month with my periods, ( hormonal) ulcers, constant bladder infections, endimetriosis ( reason for hysterectomy) hiatus hernia and reflux ( still have ) also fibro and menopause both happened at the time that my husband and I ended a thirty year marriage and the year my mother died, so is it hormonal or tms ? I believe that stress affects hormones levels , and that lack of , or unbalanced hormones levels cause stress and anxiety among other things , but mostly if I look at my life I would say stress is the biggest factor , I have the typical fibro tms personnality, I gave even when I was completely depleted, I felt responsible for everyone's wellbeing and happiness, I worried and I fretted, no one ever had to ask for anything, I anticipated every need and wish, my whole life could be described in one word, devotion, yet it was never appreciated, I was taken for granted, with the divorce this was a truth I was forced to face, maybe I couldn't, maybe it was too painful,too enraging , hence the fibro, to lose one's temper was so unlady like, besides I did not think that I was entitled.
Mostly I always felt that I had no power and was at the mercy of my husband, the divorce that I thought would liberate me brought poverty and more stress and anxiety, I am currently in a good relationship but the feeling of inadequacy have never left me, the fibro pain has just added to it. |
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miche
Canada
283 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2007 : 18:40:50
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| Lidge I never heard of vivelle, is this strictly estrogen? |
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lidge
USA
184 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2007 : 19:06:46
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Miche-
Thank you for sharing your story. I'm so sorry you haven't rid yourself of the fibro- what is odd is that throughout my adult years, I had bouts of full body pain that lasted hours or days which I attributed to fibro. This pain is different in that it is centered on the low back and my legs feel like they are on fire. Like megafibro. My only ER visits ever have been the last month or two.
The pain has been every day in some degree since May and getting worse. As Sarno says, we come to this when we are DESPERATE.
I was told a herniated L4-L5 was the issue, but even the pain management doctor was stumped by it. In my mind, I imagined this was
the disc pressing on a nerve. The MRI showed a herniation pressing on the "thecal sac" but I have to ask myself why I would have the world's worst pain from it? And why is it not getting better?
I have to admit I am online to distract myself from the pain and try to belive this is TMS-
I do have numerous unresolved childhood traumas/issues but the
pain did not seem to come at a stressful time in my life. I am
truly terrorized by the severity and tenacity of the pain
The failure to get relief from even an epidural and meds has baffled
the doctors so what else can I assume?
I wonder whether a lifetime of not dealing with anger or whatever can
just explode into such a mindnumbing pain.
Thanks again for sharing. Really need it now.
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miche
Canada
283 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2007 : 01:07:52
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| Lidge, I am so sorry to hear that you have such pain, I get the feeling that you have been throughly evaluated, I was going to suggest that you get a second opinion but you mention doctors in the plural form so I gather that you have had more than one , it is certainly baffling that all the pain medication has not given you any relief ,there is very little medication that offers relief for fibro and tms also , so maybe you are on to something when you suggest tms I have lower back pain that comes for weeks at a time and then leaves, unlike the upper and mid back pain that has been with me everyday for twelve years, some days more severe than others, when I am in a flare then every thing hurts and I also get nasal congestion and real bad stomach aches at such times, I am now getting plantar fasciitis which I never had before. However I am paying more attention to the emotionnal component of these flare ups and although I cannot be sure all the time about what brought them on , I found myself getting major relief a few weeks ago when I told one person exactly what I thought of their behavior and was so upset that my voice was shaking, it felt really good to say it as I saw it without worrying about whether I was right or not, my problem is my ability to PUT MYSELF IN ANOTHER PERSON'S SHOES AND ALWAYS UNDERSTAND IF NOT ACCEPT BEHAVIOUR THAT I FIND HURTFUL AT HEART, AT THE AGE OF SIXTY I have come to understand that I am entitled to my feelings and if someone finds that I am over reacting , it does not automatically mean that I am , and if I am over reacting than so be it as I am entitled to my feelings, somehow getting it off my chest brought me such relief from the MUSCLE tension I was feeling regarding this particular situation that it raised a red flag and made me look at my pain in a totally different light. I have had much difficulty in accepting tms and I am not completely convinced yet that fibro is all emotional, however I believe emotions play a big part in it, you have nothing to lose by doing the tms work, if doctors are perplexed by the intensity of your pain then there may be some buried emotions that you have to look at . I do wish you some relief soon , pain is anxiety provoking in itself especially when doctors do not have the anwsers, sending you my warmest regards, Miche |
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shawnsmith
Czech Republic
2048 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2007 : 10:12:14
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Although hormonal problems have not been listed by Sarno as a TMS equivalent, I would not be suprised that since some of these problems are connected with aging, with all the associated repressed emotions surrounding this fact of life, that mindbody techniques in addressing this problem would be of assistance. Remember, the brain will target an area of the body where there is an existing problem or abnormality in order to cover up what it is doing, ie repressing painful emotions.
*******
Sarno-ize it!
Read chapter 4 of Dr. Sarno's "The Divided Mind." Also chapers 3, 4 and 5 in Dr. Scott Brady's "Pain Free For Life" are very important. |
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Curiosity18
USA
141 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2007 : 19:03:02
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Excellent point, shawnsmith! I remember in my 20s and 30s, before I knew I had TMS, thinking, "this pain is really gonna suck when I get old!" Now I'm 50 and I'm struggling with, what seems to be the worst TMS equivalent that I've had so far. I think that after I conquered musculoskeletal issues, the gremlin needed another (unsuspecting) area to attack (my bladder). I'm really beginning to understand how TMS can be a lifelong process.
Best to all,
Curiosity |
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mizlorinj
USA
490 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2007 : 07:27:49
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When The Body Says No by Dr. Gabor Mate has interesting info on this topic. The question is: WHY is there a hormonal imbalance . . . what is the situation/emotion causing it. So yes, it can be a TMS equivalent.
-Lori
PS thanks to whoever it was on this Forum who posted the link to this great book! More power to the mindbody connection. |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 10/26/2007 : 23:12:42
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I don't know if the hormone thing is a TMS equivalent, but I am doing absolutely fabulously on my bioidentical hormones, and I definitely noticed a lot of my severe fibro symptoms along with depression and anxiety went away when I started the estradiol. I was very surprised when this happened. In fact, after 30 years of various kinds of fibro-ish chronic moving around TMS symptoms, I would say that the only PHYSICAL thing I did that helped enormously was taking estrogen. I think it got me to the point where I could even do the TMS work.
Now I am mostly much better, although my father's death and now my mother's imminent demise have stirred up a lot of pain. I know what it is though. Aha, you silly TMS bugger, you can't fool me!!
xx
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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armchairlinguist
USA
1397 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2007 : 00:09:03
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It's also worth noting that unlike, say, computer work, I'm not sure lack of hormones is something the body can adapt to. Modern medicine has extended our lives without our reproductive systems catching up. I don't have a 'should'-type opinion one way or the other, but it seems possible that menopause could be worth ameliorating chemically.
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It's not 100% belief that's required, but 100% commitment. |
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hormonal problems - TMS?
