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mcone
114 Posts |
 Posted - 11/01/2008 : 02:39:45
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Is chest pain the ultimate, and perhaps final tactic of the TMS play book? (i.e. chest pain including pressure, tightness, squeezing, radiating arm pain, etc.)
Minor doubt is tolerable with most TMS manifestations - but severe and unrelenting chest pain precipitates extreme fear and the most morbid physical intererpretations of symptoms - notions that are most difficult to guard against. For me, the worst fears are not those of imminent death but rather some kind of degenerative process or heart failure resulting in globally compromised quality of life, with increased pain and suffering.
Objectively, most of the standard screenings (ecg's, x-rays, echocardiogram, stress test, etc.) are interepeted as my not having a cardiac issue (but rather some kind of muskuloskeletal issue). (I have a left side enlargment to upper range of normal which I'm told is consistent with athletic activity and/or elevated high blood pressure] My other factors, non-smoker, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, trigylcertides, etc. are all fairly normal.
Yet, subjectively, I can fathom half a dozen explanations for why I have blockages evading screening, why I have atypical heart failure that isn't medically identifiable, why I have arterial hardening or nerve entertrapments that affect my RSI as well. And with so much hanging in the balance, even small amounts of doubt seem to DEMAND attention.
Yes, there is the argument that it is those fearful and threatening interepretations of the sysmptoms that are perpetuating the problem (the fear conditioning). And my hand symptoms, especially the longstanding wrist problem, is either reduced dramatically, or not even noticed during the days/weeks that I'm having the chest pain. I'm effectively liberated from the hand symptoms - but ONLY when the chest pain is active. How bizarre?
So I'm stuck. I have one part of me saying that there is something critically wrong with me, and another recognizing that I may very well be succumbing to the TMS trick (or anxiety or autonommic dysfunction or however you define it). I just can't fully believe *consistently* that this is TMS - although I do at times with varying degrees of success and symptoms relief. Why doesn't this let up? Is the chest pain the FINAL frontier for me? Is is a testament to the fact that I've pushed through ALL my other pains - but that psychologically I'm just not ready yet to face the reality of my life? Is chest pain the ultimate powerful TMS defense? because symptoms are so soooo morbidly threatening, with so little margin for error, that one cannot simply push through them without fear?
Other Chest Pain Topics
TMS, Anxiety, and most importantly Hypochondriasis
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5025
Stabbing Pain and Panic
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5182 |
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skizzik
USA
783 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2008 : 08:15:16
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quote:
Originally posted by mcone
Is chest pain the ultimate, and perhaps final tactic of the TMS play book?
The ultimate would be that symptom that bothers you the most. |
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mcone
114 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2008 : 23:39:02
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As bad as my wrist symptoms were - and the distress was truly overwhelming - they are eclipsed by the chest symptoms. The "catastrophic" theme went from
"I can never have a normal productive life with wrecked hands"
to
"My heart is failing, My arteries are degenerating and it's just a matter of time until I'm globally debilitated - I'm dying a painful but slow death - either months or a few years."
Does this make any sense?
I thought symptom imperatives were supposed to be LESS threatening, and more easily manageable. For me, it's like TMS is saying, "Well, I gave you a serious enough physical pain problem, and then you finally figured out how to push through it, well...now I'll give you something you can't push through...Try to push through chest pain...take a chance at having your arteries spasm to the point of choking your heart...and then you die...or you survive but wish you'd died. go ahead, give it your best shot..."
What is really going on here? How is this explainable by TMS theory?
This is just a surreal experience. And I'm actually re-assured - in some measure by some of the conventional literature on "non-cardiac chest pain" which points to esophogeal spasms as one of several possible culprits. The physiological explanations given seem to be compatible with Dr. Sarno's TMS:
"While the mechanisms behind the physiology of psychiatric NCCP are not clear, several studies have shown a relationship between hyperventilation, which is known to induce panic attacks, and esophageal spasms.25 The theory is that these spasms are the chest pains experienced by the patient. However, carbon dioxide is known to induce panic and cause chest pain, but it does so without effect on the esophagus and its physiology remains unclear. Since panic causes an imbalance in several areas of the CNS, including the serotonin and noradrenergic systems, centrally mediated visceral hypersensitivity may also play a role.19 A hypersensitivity to visceral pain, particularly esophageal, could trigger the classic panic cycle of anxiety: catastrophic misunderstanding of symptoms, leading to more anxiety, leading to more misunderstanding, leading to further anxiety, and so forth.24 "
http://jaapa.com/issues/j20060101/articles/chestpain0106.htm |
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cfhunter
119 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2008 : 10:37:52
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I am right there with you....I have had ongoing chest pain for a gooood long stretch this time.
I find myself fully convinced it is TMS causing the costrochronditis/tietzes syndrome pain that has me waking with a stabbing feeling in my heart at night sometimes....to wondering if the three physicians I have seen might have missed something??!
I am finding my way out of the "fear" of death or something BAD happening in an immediate situation but am like you...what if I could have prevented something WORSE from happening in the future!
ugh.
It's all so frustrating because it's not foot pain or elbow pain or something you wouldn't DIE from....it's diffused chest pain with multiple possibilities and I am REALLY tired of it!
:)
Thanks for letting me jump in on this one and vent.
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scottjmurray
266 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2008 : 04:32:29
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quote:
The ultimate would be that symptom that bothers you the most.
hehe. yep.
---
author of tms-recovery . com
(not sh!t, champagne)
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Chest Pain: The "Ultimate" Symptom Imperative?
