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dwinsor52
USA
81 Posts |
 Posted - 05/13/2006 : 09:45:38
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I have conquered pain, restless legs, and now I am plagued with anxiety triggered by a very slight reduction in my antidepressant. I believe this is my brain hoodwinking me, because it is my intention to eventually get off the antidepressant. It has been 3 weeks since I reduced my dose so I should be fine. Not only am I having palpitations, shortness of breath, etc. but my whole body feels like it's trembling even though it isn't. I could use some cheerleading or anyone else's experience. In a panic I called my doctor yesterday, who suggested going back up on the med, even though I know in my heart this is NOT the direction I want to go in.
This is the first time I have dealt with anxiety as a TMS equivalent and would appreciate any tips or strategies that I may not be thinking of myself. I find the anxiety more scary than pain. |
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kjarvis
Canada
36 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2006 : 16:05:11
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be asured that the anxiety is TMS I know for sure. As hard as it seems know that it cannot harm you and there is nothing wrong with you at ALL. Try the sedona meathod and EFT both of which have helped me conquer the anxiety. Treat it the same as any other TMS eqivelant and you will see it loose its power. I now deal with palpitations chest pain and I am trying to treat this is as TMS also. This TMS is tricky but WEAK, very childish.
Kevin |
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Carolyn
184 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2006 : 16:21:26
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I agree anxiety is awful and I am 100% sure it is a TMS equivalent. I never had anxiety in my life until I started challenging my other physical TMS sympotms. My therapist suggested I start to look at anziety as a chemical reaction in my body which is the same as that you experience when you are excited. So when I would get an anxiety attack, I would consciously look at it with curiosity instead of fear and dread- maybe even say to myself- 'huh- I must be excited'. It sounds so silly but for me it worked miracles- I could make the anxiety just evaporate by taking away its power over me.
Carolyn |
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moose1
162 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2006 : 11:20:48
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I've battled anxiety and panic on and off for many years. No question it's a TMS equiv. My other TMS equivs include low back pain, gastro problems, insomnia, arm & hand pain, hives, etc, etc. Of all of them, anxiety and panic are the most horrifying. It's difficult to describe one of these attacks other than to say it generally feels like the universe is collapsing on you and you are just about to be flung into an abyss of total madness. And my mind enjoys giving me these attacks in the middle of the night...a nice extra touch, don't you think? Anyway, when I do have a particularly bad attack, I will take a sedative to calm down. I've been able to more or less eliminate the attacks with the knowledge that they are a result of TMS. Yours are no different.
Try this. Directly address that part of your mind responsible for this and other symptoms. I refer to mine as my 'inner bastard.' Expalain to it that everytime it pulls another symptom attack it just reinforces the truth in your concious mind that the whole thing is a deception; a misguided attempt to protect you from all that dark nastiness down there in your hidden mind. Something like, "everytime you pull this crap, I'm just going to examine and probe what I know are the real reasons for this." It won't like it one bit and your symptoms might get worse for a while, but that is just more evidence. Gradually, they will all settle down and you'll feel A LOT better.
Moose
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kjarvis
Canada
36 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2006 : 10:47:53
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EFT and Sadona meathod are infact very effective and know that anxiety is TMS there is no chemical imbalance caused by physiological processes, it starts with thoughts and ends with thoughts, I know this, Anxiety = TMS = no threat. YOU WILL BEAT IT WHEN YOU REALIZE IT IS HARMLESS UNLESS YOU GIVE IT POWER.
why worry when you can pray
Kevin Jarvis |
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wrldtrv
666 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2006 : 13:18:36
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Dwindsor,
I have been dealing with some of the same symptoms lately, after a few months without. The trembling or shaky feeling, that is internal--no outward manifestation. I had it bad early in the year and then it subsided as I began training for a marathon. Since doing he marathon and then cutting my running back to only a day or two a week, it has resumed in a milder form. The strange thing about it is that it is not continuous. The typical pattern is that I will wake up in the morning and feel a little shaky and then it will progress until late afternoon. Almost always, by nighttime it is gone! I may go days or weeks without the symptom and then it will return. Obviously, such intermittent symptoms are not physical, but psychological.
I agree with you and others that anxiety is scarier than pain. Any of my TMS (or hypochondriacal) symptoms never involve pain anyway. That's never the problem. It is more the vague, unexplainable symptoms that sets my imagination loose.
I used to get panic attacks years ago, but I think I conquered them by knowing they are entirely (after the thought-based stimulus) physiological. They are self-limiting. They always have a beginning, middle, and end and are entirely harmless. The trick is to drill this truth into your brain so that if a panic episode should start you can talk yourself down. It works.
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Scottydog
United Kingdom
330 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2006 : 14:57:54
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Hello DW,
Try reading Eckhart Tolle's the Power of Now.
I bought this a while ago after reading a recommendation here but couldn't relate to it. Now, further down the TMS road, it is really helping with negative thinking and controlling distractions.
Anne |
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Jena
USA
195 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2008 : 22:15:21
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| I just came across this thread it was written 2 years ago but I'm going through all the same anxiety symptoms. I wonder how they are feeling now. I know its tms and its not around as much but still lingering. I hate anxiety I cured my back pain and now have panic attacks go figure |
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positivevibes
204 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2008 : 22:57:17
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quote:
Originally posted by Jena
I just came across this thread it was written 2 years ago but I'm going through all the same anxiety symptoms. I wonder how they are feeling now. I know its tms and its not around as much but still lingering. I hate anxiety I cured my back pain and now have panic attacks go figure
Have you had your TSH level tested? Sometimes if you are Hyperthyroid it can cause anxiety and feelings of panic. It is a simple blood test that your doctor can order.
**********
You are not your mind; you are not your thoughts. The incessant mental noise [of your thoughts] creates a false mind-made self that causes fear and suffering and prevents you from connecting with your true self and living in the Now. - Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now |
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la_kevin
USA
351 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2008 : 02:19:14
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If you do not suffer from any 'physical' ailmenys and have been diagnosed with TMS, it is TMS no doubt.
Relax. Let the anxiety happen. Laugh at it and feel it run through you. Don't concentrate on the "what if" thoughts. Remember to just let all your thoughts come out unforced.
Trying to control the anxiety or make it go away will amplify it. Lose the control thoughts when they come. Tell yourself that it is ok to feel out of control for a while and that you are not dying.
You will find that just giving into it, will take it's power away. Practice this enough and you can INSTANTLY stop an anxiety attack.
I can stop most anxiety attacks within 2 minutes by just letting it happen. As soon as you start laughing when your realize it's basically a ghost, it seems to give up.
Now for some reason, chronic low grade "background" anxiety is a little more stubborn. Also use the same approach but stay "busier" during the day. Acknowledge that you are anxious and what you're anxious about, but move on once you 'know' the source.
If you don't know the source, it's fine. Remember the moment and keep your mind in the now. You will notice that your anxiety is fed by thoughts and visual pictures that are mainly in the past or future. These are the "what if" and the "What should have been " or "what was that" thoughts. None of those represent the now, the present.
Practice just letting go. I'm not saying to meditate and think "positively". I mean letting go of the control of your thoughts and fears, and realizing that 90% of the thoughts that are giving you anxiety, are things you cannot possibly control, or are illogical.
It takes practice.
Good luck.
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"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans"- John Lennon |
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la_kevin
USA
351 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2008 : 02:34:42
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Also, physical pain is predictable day after day. Losing control over pain is not as scary as losing(or seeming to) lose control of your mind.
The first time I had anxiety "disorder" I was 19. Ended up in an emergency psych unit for a day. The Doc thought I was so bad he swore I was having a Manic attack from Bipolar disorder. Later he realized I was having a severe 8 hour long panic attack.
I have had a panic attack so bad that my face and arms went numb, and my fingers shriveled up into "claws" from hyperventilation. I was in the E.R at the time and this nurse rushed over to me.
I was literally paralyzed and my stomach was convulsing like I was detoxing off of heroin or something. She looked over at me and said, "You are completely doing this to yourself". I thought she was insane. She forced me to breathe into a bag and my arms, fingers, and face came back to life.
Yes, anxiety can cause you to oversaturate your blood with oxygen, to the point where you are literally paralyzed.
Anxiety is one of the scariest feelings on earth. The only way to defeat it is to change the thinking that caused it.
Don't allow yourself to 'alarm', by thinking rapid succession of negative or doubtful thoughts all in the blink of an eye.
Cut the cycle off by going through it.
If you have certain thoughts that are setting this in motion on a regular basis, you might want to consider Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or desensitization techniques. These teach your mind to actually confront the thoughts so much that they become boring to you and after a while they don't even evoke any emotion in you.
For instance. You have fears of a family member dying, and that causes anxiety. You would purposely imagine their death hundreds of times a day, and go into every weird and disturbing detail of how it could or would happen. After a week of this, your mind starts to really get bored with the whole idea.
Anyways. Hope that helps.
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positivevibes
204 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2008 : 15:32:53
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Anxiety and panic -- this is an interesting thread. Most of my anxiety and panic is caused by back pain lately, although I can relate to waht Jena is saying because a few years ago I had panic attacks while driving on the freeway (CBT helped it a great deal).
I find that my anxiety over back pain is caused by fear. Fear of the pain getting much worse in the future and ruining my life. It is totally against "living in the now" to think that way -- but damn it's hard to break! That feeling of "oh no, oh no, this is terrible, here we go again..." when the pain begins for whatever reason.
It's just hard for me to get ahold of myself when I feel this "pain panic." This feeling is probably the number one feeling I hate having in my life. I wish my back would just get better and stay better so I won't ever have to feel this way ever again. It feels like being in the middle of a horror movie.
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You are not your mind; you are not your thoughts. The incessant mental noise [of your thoughts] creates a false mind-made self that causes fear and suffering and prevents you from connecting with your true self and living in the Now. - Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now |
Edited by - positivevibes on 06/23/2008 15:39:59 |
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Jena
USA
195 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2008 : 19:24:12
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| I had my thyroid checked out it was normal so im assuming this is tms. I also had an ekg and echocardiogram which came normal. panic and anxiety are the worst ever. i cured my back pain and now have anxiety so am i always going to have one or the other? |
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la_kevin
USA
351 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2008 : 20:06:56
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quote:
Originally posted by Jena
I had my thyroid checked out it was normal so im assuming this is tms. I also had an ekg and echocardiogram which came normal. panic and anxiety are the worst ever. i cured my back pain and now have anxiety so am i always going to have one or the other?
If you teach yourself to let go of the "what if" thinking, you will not. It's a choice you have to make. Anxiety will only have it's power when you give it power, like TMS. Worrying about whether or not you will have anxiety tomorrow, will mostly likely give you anxiety ....tomorrow.
Treat anxiety like you did the pain. It's another reaction to thought which causes a metabolic change (SEE TMS THEORY), and causes physical sensations(see psychosomatic theory).
Allow the anxiety to happen. Talk to it and say something like "I know you're a metabolic reaction based on my thoughts of flight or flight. You really are kind of silly being that I'm not in any real danger right now...so what gives?"
Allow yourself to cry or be lazy for a while. I don't advise getting angry at it. Anger never helped psychosomatic syndromes in all of my experience, and anger is a CONTROL reaction. You must release control to gain control.
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"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans"- John Lennon |
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positivevibes
204 Posts |
Posted - 06/24/2008 : 14:27:12
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quote:
Originally posted by Jena
I had my thyroid checked out it was normal so im assuming this is tms. I also had an ekg and echocardiogram which came normal. panic and anxiety are the worst ever. i cured my back pain and now have anxiety so am i always going to have one or the other?
I'm glad to hear that your TSH is normal. That's good to know!
I agree with what LA Kevin is saying about anxiety. Your frame of mind can make it worse or better. It's not easy to re-train yourself so that you can squash the anxiety when it comes. Deep breathing helps. Lying down in a darkened room, trying to breath deeply and thinking peaceful thoughts also helps. If you find yourself being really out of control, anti-anxiety meds can help a lot, but you don't want to stay on those.
The book I had mentioned to you is: The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne, PhD. My CBT therapist told me to get it. I found it extremely helpful in getting over my panic attacks. It covers a LOT of areas -- not just exercises to help you get over your fears and anxieties, but suggestions about lifestyle changes, inner work, etc. I'm sure they have it on Amazon or other booksellers. I picked it up in my local chain bookstore.
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You are not your mind; you are not your thoughts. The incessant mental noise [of your thoughts] creates a false mind-made self that causes fear and suffering and prevents you from connecting with your true self and living in the Now. - Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now |
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simplyfree
20 Posts |
Posted - 06/24/2008 : 23:09:40
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Having your thyroid checked is always a good practice when you're continuing to experience panic & anxiety. However, a TSH test may not be the be all, end all of the thyroid question. I'm reading a book about thyroid and adrenal fatigue I find extremely interesting. The author has a website: stopthethyroidmadness.com and a forum on Yahoo about thyroid issues and misdiagnoses based upon TSH testing only. If there's a question about whether it's an issue or not, you may want to check out the website. It's very informative and you don't have to purchase the book.
simplyfree |
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Jena
USA
195 Posts |
Posted - 06/25/2008 : 01:37:20
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| according to sarnos the divided mind its rarely an adrenal problem. mine is def anxiety. I've been to several doctors |
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simplyfree
20 Posts |
Posted - 06/25/2008 : 18:12:41
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quote:
Originally posted by Jena
according to sarnos the divided mind its rarely an adrenal problem. mine is def anxiety. I've been to several doctors
I didn't mean to imply that you don't have anxiety. Not at all. I experience it myself and know how frustrating it can be to deal with. But what I've come to realize is that understanding anxiety can be like understanding back pain. TMS pain is real pain, just not caused by what we think caused it or by what our drs say caused it.
Anxiety is real and can be caused by various factors, some psychological and some physical. With TMS a person has to rule out physical injury first, then delve into the psychological aspects. Anxiety is the same.
I'm just saying a TSH test may not tell the entire thyroid story. Adrenal fatigue can be closely related especially if there's been a lifetime of stress involved. |
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Jena
USA
195 Posts |
Posted - 06/25/2008 : 19:18:29
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| thanks simplyfree. im starting to freak out though i know i can be hypochondriacal but i think i have somethign seriously wrong with me because of the crazy symptoms i get i can easily convince myself its not anxiety. i dont know what to do i feel strange. maybe i do have something seriously wrong with me im 23 years old. im scared i have cancer or a tumor in my brain. my life is severly affected by this. sometimes i dont think this way but its rare. |
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simplyfree
20 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2008 : 22:35:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Jena
thanks simplyfree. im starting to freak out though i know i can be hypochondriacal but i think i have somethign seriously wrong with me....im scared i have cancer or a tumor in my brain. my life is severly affected by this. sometimes i dont think this way but its rare.
Jena, I can honestly say I know exactly how you feel. And it is definitely anxiety. Feelings of doom and death are part of its manifestation. Do you have any rational reason from blood tests, diagnostics, drs opinions, etc. to think you might have cancer or some other fatal illness?
The main issue is what is causing the anxiety. It could definitely be TMS. It could be physical. It could be both.
You know your history, your fears, worries, what angers you, what hurts you. Discovering whether this is TMS and only TMS is a process each person has to go through.
That is how I ended up here myself. I realized a long time ago that fear is an underlying emotion which rules my life sometimes. It just comes out of seemingly nowhere and leaves me feeling, just as you do, like I must be dying. I couldn't feel this bad and not have something fatal. I was wrong.
Wrong, because I ignored the 'fear' and focused on the physical manifestations that overwhelmed and debilitated me. And wrong, because I put my faith in drs who, don't get me wrong, they were good, even exceptional drs, but still didn't see (couldn't see) the entire picture.
You know yourself better than anyone else. Trust that completely. I wish I could have learned this at 23 years of age. You're ahead of the game. Stay there.
Just for sanity's sake, take a look at that website I posted on thyroid and adrenals above. These problems are consistently overlooked. Even being anemic can cause or worsen anxiety. If you don't fit those profiles and they are extensive, you can rule those out.
Personally, I have both - the physiological and psychological aspects of anxiety. Either way it's a demon - but one you can eventually overpower, or at the least tame.
Knowledge is power so continue doing what you're doing, educate yourself. (I have to go now and take a dose of my own medicine.) 
"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." -Anais Nin |
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Jena
USA
195 Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2008 : 04:42:45
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basically no doctors dont think I have any fatal illness no matter how much I try and get a cat scan done my doctor doesnt prescribe it because she sees how much I worry and she doesnt see a reason to do a cat scan of my head. The reason I want to get one is because my father and grandmother both had brain tumors (non cancerous) and I feel like I've had a swollen lymph node for years but I've had the lymphnode checked outbu 3-4 doctors and they all say the same
thing its fine! I recently had a blood test and my lymphocytes were 17 the normal range is 20-25. I called my doctor and said " I worry about my lymphnodes and my
lymphocytes are low" she explained how my over all blood work is to good to have anything and she begs of me to stop worrying I'm to young to worry about health as much as I do. She knows I'm talking to a therapist but recommends
talking to the one she knows who specializes in anxiety. I even told her I should get a brain scan because of my dads brain tumor she explained not necessary to put myself
under such radiation these ailments I think I have are rare and she doesnt think I should get the test. I do have health anxiety without doubt but now I checked out that thyroid website and I'm paranoid I have a tumor and not anxiety thats why I'm feeling this way. When I recently sppoke to sarno on the phone he explained hypochondria comes from tms and anxiety 100%! My life just suffers ecause I think I have lymphoma or a tumor of my brain. Idk what to do. I've also convinced myself I've had other cancers like stomach and had an abdominal ultra sound. Everything is normal. I got my heart checker out it was normal. My heart doctor prescribed me paxil because he asked if I had anxiety like symptoms I guess he can tell because of the million questions I asked him and he started askingme some and explained so many peoplehe seed a day suffer from anxiety and I was no different I asked if I should get a brain scan he replied with thevsame thing no way its not worth the radiation based on my age and health not too. I used to convince myself I also had sleep apnea and asked my heart doctor if I should do a sleep study he said no. Idk what to believe or do. |
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Anxiety is more scary than pain
