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holms
2 Posts |
 Posted - 01/21/2009 : 05:03:15
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Hello
My name is Alexander I am from UKRAINE
I have TMS for about 6 years . My simptoms are rectal ., prostate pain palvic flor ets.
There are anxiety -pain cicle , when anxiety is high the pain is low and vice versa. So as far as I understan the pain is just reaction to high amount of anxiety. So \I guess my question is how get rid of anxiety, how not to dream and not to absessed. I am so tierd of this , always tensed if not then anxies
Read all Sarno books , Amir, ets , jornaled, went for a year to pshycologist, than half a year in the groop nothing realy help
thank you |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2009 : 06:47:26
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Your symptoms are still there because you think they are dangerous. If they were you would already be dead. Anxiety is not about the symptoms. It is about what they COULD turn into, but they never do.
You have also tricked yourself into thinking that the behaviors you have adopted (avoiding situations that worsen your symptoms) are what has kept them in check. But what has happened instead is that you have given control over your life to fears of things that don't exist and can't happen, and you live inside a box in your head that limits your movement and makes life hell. The quickest way to cure them is to purposefully do what you fear and see that your fears aren't realized. Then you have your life back quickly.
Read everything by Claire Weekes and do what the books say. Then come back in about three months (It won't happen overnight) and tell us how you did it.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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Cee
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2009 : 16:11:14
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If you are in the Boston area (and even if you are not) there is a world known anxiety program called CARD (Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders) at Boston University. The program is cognitive-behavior based and yes, you have to go out and face your fear.....whatever that may be. The Staff is so well trained and the program book is written by a very well known Pyscholgist, who happens to be the Director. I have lived with anxiety most of my adult life and the past 8 to 9 years was anxiety free thanks to this program. However, the past year was extremely stressful and I probably did not take care of myself as well as I should have ( worked too much, went back to grad school, have a home and family that need me, major financial issues....stress upon stress) so I am back in the program working hard and hoping a few month down the road I will feel more myself once again.
I now believe that anxiety is a TMS symptom,,,,,to some degree.
Cee |
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Cee
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2009 : 09:09:13
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Hi. I would love to hear from anyone else who is dealing with anxiety or panic attacks that have really interrupted their relationships, career, life.....do you think this is TMS? I would love to hear your story and your insight. Thank you
Cee |
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winnieboo
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2009 : 11:59:57
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| TMS is TMS and anxiety is anxiety. However, it seems to be common for anxiety to surface or to exacerbate when the TMS symptoms weaken or disappear. This is called the symptom imperative. I suffered from anxiety before, during and after my TMS experience. In doing the psychological work associated with TMS, anxiety can gradually diminish as well. Mine did. But I think TMS and anxiety are two separate diagnoses, and certainly one condition can be treated without the other being present. |
Edited by - winnieboo on 01/27/2009 12:03:09 |
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Monte
USA
125 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2009 : 14:05:44
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Alexander;
So you know what TMS is and you know inner tension/anxiety is the cause and I assume you know that Type A personality types generate
a lot of inner tension/anxiety.
Did you do any work to change the way you are generating inner stress/tension through your type a behaviors and your thought patterns?
This is the big huge key. Sometimes knowing what tms is...is just not enough. Practice the normal tms principles. 1. Pain is a signal to become aware of how you are being "think psychological" and it is a signal to NOT think physical ( treatments, who is going to fix me, what is wrong with me). 2. Stop all physical treatments. And this means "thinking" about or searching for new better treatments. It also means to stop searching and asking questions on help sites like this in general.
If you accept the tms diagnosis...then you know the cause and there is no reason to keep searching and asking. This type of search keeps you focused on the pain disorder (in the strategy) and not on yourself (your thoughts and behaviors) that are causing the inner tension/anxiety.
Back to the beginning...Do you know your dominant behavior traits and thoughts that cause inner anxiety for you? (people pleasing, controlling, striving, worry, overly self-conscious, etc.)???
This is your work...You have to reverse the cause of how you are creating the inner anxiety while practicing the basic principles of healing from tms and while not getting stuck in making "tms" a bigger deal than it really is.
Your body is an extension of your thoughts...Change your thougths and you can change your body's experience.
Monte Hueftle
http://www.runningpain.com
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Bobbypols
Canada
46 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2009 : 18:54:55
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In regards to anxiety, remember there is such a thing as an anxiety/pain cycle, where when you have pain you think about the pain, then when you dont have pain you have anxiety about the pain (emotional/physical). Break the cycle, begin to tell yourself that you must break the cycle and stick at it. You need 100% belief. Also read the book: The power of now by Echert Tolle, which is Buddhism rapped up in a convenient package.
Knowledge will set you free, dont give up. |
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Cee
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2009 : 08:53:00
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Thanks Everyone......so maybe you can help me here.....I have had anxiety disorder with panic and agoraphobia on and off since graduating college and planning a wedding that I actually called off. I felt better, started dating my first college boyfriend and eventually married him......forward now almost 25 years.....and two teenagers and lot and lots of finacial issues, my Mom and best friends death, major surgery (total hyst,) and my Dad just upping, remarrying and moving away. Then last August, my "perfect" child ups and moves out in the middle of the night just after her 18th Birthday and 3 weeks before starting college on a nice scholarship package. I fell apart. Anxiety and panic came back full blown. I left my job and grad school. The anxiety consumed me. Then I got sick with diverticulitis and that caused more anxiety and panic. I finally went to an Anxiety program in Boston that is world known. They are making me face my fears and do a lot of cognitive restructuring. My oldest moved back home and is in school and at first was nice to live with but now she and my youngest are just at me all the time critiqing everything I do and asking why I dont work and I feel like I am being judged all the time, My husband has his moments as well....he is so stressed with financed that he is not very tolerant of me and tends to make sarcastic comments and then later may apologize but what is said is said and I am sensitive to that. And yes, I am a type A perfectionist.
Cee |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2009 : 09:26:51
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quote:
TMS is TMS and anxiety is anxiety.
This statement is probably the main reason that people don't get better. They actually think they have two distinct clinical entities operating at the same time. Which to attack first? TMS has a treatment plan, for which Dr. Sarno is the author and gatekeeper. The cultish insistence that he is describing something very different from anxiety conditions, or more accurately, nervous disruptions, is causing Alexander the confusion.
I suggest, Alexander, that you read Claire Weekes' book Hope and Help for Your Nerves and then Dr. Brady's book, Pain Free for Life, paying very close attention to the descriptions in each as to the assault on the involuntary (autonomic) nervous system caused by stress. There is a distinct difference in the treatment for these conditions, but this is representative of the broader argument that has taken place for about 40 years now between behaviorist and Freudian psychology. Sarno bought the Freudian argument, then adapted it to fit his thinking. He lays out his differences with Freud in TDM, if you are interested.
The question asked in the title to the thread is telling. "Battling" anxiety is accomplished quickest and most efficiently by giving up the battle. It's like being in quicksand, the harder you fight the more stuck you get. Staying upset about the way you feel is ironically what is making the symptoms stay strong. You are afraid of your thoughts, plain and simple.
Dr. Weekes has made audio recordings that are available for free download at www.controllinganxiety.com That site is run by a man who barely left his house for eight years because he was so frightened of his panic attacks. I wish you well, Alexander.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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cgjohnson
USA
12 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2009 : 09:41:53
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Hillbilly,
I've been waiting for a while to see you pop back onto these boards. You had previously given me some advice and I would just like to discuss it a little more with you if you are willing. Offline is probably best... would you mind emailing me with your email address? My email is in my profile. I'll understand if you don't want to, but I figure it doesn't hurt to ask 
thx,
chris |
Edited by - cgjohnson on 01/29/2009 11:00:40 |
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winnieboo
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2009 : 11:26:11
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Hillbilly,
Since I made a statement about TMS and anxiety that you strongly responded to, let me just say that if you're saying TMS is a form of anxiety, I could agree, but if you're saying that anxiety is TMS, which is what Cee had asked about (my post was directed at her question), please explain. I personally had anxiety for years and it morphed into TMS eventually, or parked in my neck when I was told I had two slipped discs, however you want to look at it, but the point is, I think you can have anxiety without chronic tension in your muscles. This is what I meant by my statement. I think too much was read into it. And by the way, I have gotten better. |
Edited by - winnieboo on 01/28/2009 12:06:26 |
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Cee
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 01/28/2009 : 12:13:37
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Do you think some people are born with a predisposition to anxiety?
Cee |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2009 : 09:19:03
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Cee,
Your question is a great one, and it is one that is being researched even further right now. It is my belief that genetics play a huge role in nervous conditions, and most people whose anxieties get the better of them later in life can remember many times in their childhood being overrun by their fears.
Dr. Abraham Low used to tell his patients that it wasn't their faults that they have these thoughts and susceptibilities. He theorized that some people have a great deal of resistance to stress in the immune system, the endocrine system, or digestive system, but very few have resistance in all systems. That statement would square with Sarno's that everyone has something. He believed strongly that nervous sensitivity was largely genetic. But the strong symptoms of nervousness are nothing at all to worry about until fear of them comes into the picture. The key then is to develop resistence the same way we innoculate against childhood diseases. Which is, plainly, to expose ourselves to these situations by living life fully and accepting the warning signs thrown off by the body in memory of past hurts, humiliations and traumas.
Winnie:
Anxiety symptoms are as myriad as stars in the sky. Your symptom(s) changed from something(s) into muscle pain and you thought that now you have TMS instead of anxiety. That's all that happened. Muscle pains are what I hope you mean by TMS, as some on this board call dizziness, diarrhea and everything else TMS. Claire Weekes wrote in 1956 that the most prominent symptoms of stress or "anxiety" are heart palpitations, sweating, trembling, dizziness, churning stomach, muscular pains, weakness, headache, and diarrhea." The fact that you have gotten better is wonderful, so whatever you do, keep at it. Most who visit here are not cured, and they are the ones that I hope to help.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Edited by - Hillbilly on 01/29/2009 09:24:23 |
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hottm8oh
USA
141 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2009 : 09:35:29
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| Hillbilly, I completely agree with you on how genetics plays a role. Looking back, I believe my mother had very severe psychosomatic issues. I know that I have inherited some of her biological traits. |
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Capn Spanky
112 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2009 : 10:39:55
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It's been over a year since applying Dr. Sarno's diagnosis and I have had amazing success with back pain and most recently chronic tennis elbow. As winnieboo noted, when the pain subsided, anxiety started rearing its ugly head more frequently.
At this point in my journey, Monte and Bobbypols comments make the greatest sense to me. I would suggest reading them closely.  |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2009 : 10:44:17
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So, Capn Spanky,
What do you mean by anxiety level going up? Is that the anxious thoughts you refer to or some physical feeling?
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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Sky
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2009 : 10:58:23
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Elaine Aron is a psychologist who has done a lot of work on what she calls "The Highly Sensitive Person" (HSP's, as she calls them).
Google her if you're interested.
She has noticed that ~20% of the population in many mammal species are especially sensitive, from perceiving sights and sounds and tastes, to intuiting subtle social cues and truths that many people simply don't notice.
It makes us more prone to social fears, and she also believes a fundamental part of being an HSP is having an especially sensitive nervous system.
Since so much of TMS is about the process of tension causing the nervous system to get thrown off-kilter, it makes sense to me why HSP's are so prone to TMS conditions. |
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Cee
USA
71 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2009 : 15:38:12
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I would agree with this. I am a very sensitive person and a perfectionist. I believe one of my parents was anxious but hid it by constantly working at home or at the office. I also have two cousins with bipolar disorder.....one is fine and has a great career but the other not so. When I speak of my anxiety I mean trembling, shakey. dizzy, digestive issues,fear of loosing control, fear of total failure, avoidance of places and just wanting to stay in a safe place (usually home). Sometimes panic attacks that come out of the blue.
I have had this on and off most of my adult life. Right now my three teenagers are really stressing me.....but I guess that is their job!
The cognitive-behavioral program I am in makes me face my fears whether it is physical sensations, scary thoughts or behaviors that keep the anxiety going (avoidance, negative thinking....).
I have also noticed that usually but not always, when a physical sensation calms down, the anxiety flares up....although this time it was my oldest leaving home in the middle of the night.
Cee |
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marsha
252 Posts |
Posted - 01/29/2009 : 18:25:59
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For me anxiety is TMS.
For years I had anxiety attacks, often ending up in the emergency room in the middle of the night. I had attacks in my car in the kitchen , while food shopping, no where was safe.
When I realized that nothing bad happened as a result of these attacks they went away.
Marsha |
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severson
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - 01/30/2009 : 07:06:56
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I’ve been riddled with anxiety for over 15 years, since my early teens. Growing up, my environment was anything but stable and severe abandonment issues have plagued me into adulthood.
My physical pain started about four months before my wedding and I am quite certain that emotional distress, repressed emotions and fear of the responsibilities that go along with family are the catalyst for my current pain pattern. I believe the decision to marry has stirred up repressed emotions and fear. I have been to a number of MD's over the course of the year and they concur that this is fibromyalgia. I have a very a tough time accepting this diagnosis because of the lack of diagnostic criteria and the fact that all the symptoms of this “syndrome” are exactly the same as the symptoms of anxiety. I am also a severe people pleaser with an intense need to be liked by everyone with an outrageous fear of being judged negatively.
I do have a history of psychosomatic illness, mostly GI complaints, nausea, vomiting etc.. dating back to my early teens during an extremely distressing time involving separation anxiety. As little as five years ago I dealt with a similar pain problem during a time of significant stress that resolved within a couple of months, after I made a crucial decision not to move 3000 miles away from home. Now I am struggling with the fact that I may have made the wrong decision in getting married. My biggest fear at this point is that the pain I am experiencing now will never go away and will ruin the rest of my life, which I know is contributing to the pain-fear-pain cycle. I guess my question is how does one break this cycle, build resistance, as Hillbilly stated, and not fear and obsess over the ever present pain, perception of limitation and ramifications on quality of life? In other words, how do you face life fully while feeling so physically, emotionally and mentally distraught? |
Edited by - severson on 01/30/2009 09:02:30 |
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mizlorinj
USA
490 Posts |
Posted - 01/30/2009 : 09:36:52
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My response will come as a shock to the Board regulars (NOT!!) Start writing about your feelings. You also need to believe this is going to work for you. Going in with thinking "this won't help" will get exactly those results.
There was an article in some alternative health magazine (way too many ads for vities, etc) about a guy who decided to start in a journal, makes himself do it every morning for 30 minutes, and sees how he responds differently during the day since he got his feelings out in the morning.
For those having difficulty reaching the anger, etc. Dr. Brady's Pain Free For Life gives some good ideas on things to try first--frustration maybe. He's been there and learned how to help others. Very good personality descriptions in there and also talk about "depth journaling".
Get writing. It works. Yes, it takes discipline (=anger!) to get started but once you start and see the benefits, you'll know what I've been talking about.
Best wishes everyone.
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Edited by - mizlorinj on 01/30/2009 09:38:43 |
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How to batle anxiety??????
