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Sky
USA
96 Posts |
 Posted - 05/13/2007 : 14:13:10
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We've talked about how when people get stressed, they are more likely to suffer the effects of TMS.
We've also talked about how the brain regulates blood flow to cause these TMS symtpoms during times of stress.
Ever wonder about people's smaller reactions to stress and whether they are TMS-related as well? I believe they are. Here are examples of people's behavior that I believe are minor distractions produced by the brain to keep our minds off of slightly painful/troublesome thoughts:
1. Deep breaths. You know when someone gives you bad news and your first resposne is to take a deep breath? You know when someone is just in a stressful situation and they repreated take deep breaths? I know it helps to get oxygen into your system, but massage therapy does the same thing as well. They're all efforts to get oxygen into your body, while TMS is usually involved somehow in poor circulation.
2. Itching. I notice this in class all the time. When a student is called on, he/she often immediately gets an itch and starts sratching their arm or head before answering the question.
3. Jittery legs. Notice when people are studying hard or somehow sitting somewhere in the midst of a mildly stressful situation, they start getting jittery legs, bouncing on their toe on one foot repeatedly? I think this is another distraction technique by the brain.
4. Nail biting. distraction technique. Done in stressful situations.
5. Yawning. I see people yawn in awkward/stressful social situations all the time. I'm sure it's a distraction technique. Notice the oxygen intake when people yawn? It's like a deep breath in a way.
6. Changing positions. It's said we move around to improve circulation. But notice how people suddenly start fidgeting more when they are stressed somehow? It all comes back to oxygen flow, which is disrupted when the brain has a painful thought/emotion it doesn't want us to feel and gives us a TMS symptom.
What do you all think? |
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sonora sky
USA
181 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2007 : 14:33:06
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Yes, I've certainly noticed these things. I've noticed that when I'm having a really engaging heart-to-heart with a good friend (unloading a lot of my TMS stressors and emotional gunk), I start fidgeting, and itching like mad. By the time the conversation's over, my legs and arms are red, and I've nearly scratched a hole in my skin! I've also noticed that my primary TMS symptoms increase under stressful situations. My therapist has noticed that I often grab my neck or shoulder during sessions; this is my reaction to an increase in neck/shoulder tension/pain, which arises due to the discussion of a particularly stressful/emotional topic.
I can also add hair twirling (that's my version of nail biting) to the list; I do it habitually and twirl it into knots. Cool, right? 
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skizzik
USA
783 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2007 : 17:08:37
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| My leg shaking is crazy lately. The yawning I will have to look into deeper, I think you made me see a correlation that I'm having recently. |
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shawnsmith
Czech Republic
2048 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2007 : 17:53:50
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Sky
These can be all signs of some inward agitation or other repressed emotion that you do not want to consciously deal with. It is astute that you notice this about yourself. You may want to ask yourself the question the next time you notice yourself doing these things "What am I trying to avoid on the inside, or what emotion is this activity trying to divert my attention away from?"
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Sarno-ize it!
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Shary
147 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2007 : 09:30:03
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Sonora Sky, I remember twirling my hair as far back as the second grade. My mom would get so upset with me because she'd comb it and I wouldn't leave it alone. I haven't twirled my hair or bitten my nails in years but now I have neck, back and shoulder pain. Yes, these things you mention could be distractions. But I wonder if these relatively innocuous habits somehow served as a safety valve for the subconscious, and then when you take that away by breaking the habit, the brain looks for other more painful ways to make mischief. Weird, huh?
Just out of curiosity, does anyone else blush easily. I've always blushed at the drop of a hat when angry, upset, embarrassed, etc. I wonder if this is part of the TMS profile. |
Edited by - Shary on 05/14/2007 09:36:51 |
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Gemma_Louise
United Kingdom
68 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2007 : 12:14:23
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Shary, I blush very easily! It can be pretty embarrassing. It's one of those things that you can't control.
This is a really interesting topic. Interestingly enough, I've been getting a lot of itching ever since my TMS started. I used to bite my nails as a child and I also yawn a lot. When I get stressed, I often pull eyebrow hairs out as well...which is a bit strange I guess! I actually quite like the pain...maybe that serves as a distraction.
'The more sensitive you are, the more certain you are to be brutalised, develop scabs, never evolve. Never allow yourself to feel anything, because you always feel too much' - Marlon Brando |
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Sky
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2007 : 12:38:22
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Shary, you wrote: "I wonder if these relatively innocuous habits somehow served as a safety valve for the subconscious, and then when you take that away by breaking the habit, the brain looks for other more painful ways to make mischief."
I've wondered this too, but I suspect that the only way to truly break the habit is to come to terms somehow with whatever got your mind stuck in the first place, with whatever emotion or thought was too painful at some time and therefore your mind created this distraction.
I think the TMS symtomp is pretty proportional to the amount of repressed emotions, thus a tiny repressed emotion of little significance results in shaking your leg or twirling your hair, but a big repressed emotion like anger at a loved one or at a job manifests as seriuos back, neck, other pain.
That said, were you to unlock some of the reason behind your hair twirling or nail biting such that you didn't need to do it anymore, I don't think your brain would somehow find a MORE serious symptom to replace it with. I say this because I suspect reason you unlocked was obviously not TOO important because the TMS symptom was small.
I also think that by coming to terms and accepting the emotions behind these nervous little TMS habits, you'd find a little bit of emotional peace you didn't have before, and you'd actually be less disposed to pick up a TMS habit than you were in the first place. |
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Shary
147 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2007 : 15:06:20
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Hi Sky,
In answer to your question, I can't recall a specific point at which I stopped biting my fingernails and twirling my hair. Somewhere along the line I just stopped doing it. I don't remember putting any real effort into it. Some nervous habits are just that. I don't think they all relate to TMS, but they may provide an outlet for the brain.
While you do put forth some interesting theories, I'm more inclined to think that some people just have a more TMS-prone personality than others. This could be inherited or learned, it could be hardwired from birth, or it could be all of these things. Apparently we TMS-ers are nervous worrywarts who don't process our emotions very well. We aren't very good at dumping the trash mentally, either. Instead we hoard it and refuse to think about it, hoping it will go away. This might work for non-TMS types, but it doesn't seem to work for us.
In my case, I think the TMS symptoms got worse as an adult because the problems I'd buried had gotten bigger, more serious and harder to deal with. Also, my subconscious was having trouble getting my attention. Like other people on this forum, I thumbed through Sarno's book years ago and blew it off because my symptoms, which were milder then, went away. It wasn't until the symptoms came back worse than ever and I was faced with physical and emotional meltdown that I began to take Sarno seriously. |
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Small manifestations of TMS
