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hottm8oh
USA
141 Posts |
 Posted - 08/11/2009 : 15:20:18
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A brief history: I had severe back pain for 7 years. I discovered Sarno last year. The pain began to subside late last year and I've been 98% pain-free so far this year. 
About a year ago, I started experiencing on and off numbness in my right leg. I am now experiencing it in my arms, especially the right side. It comes and goes and is not severe. It doesn't stop my everyday life. It's just annoying and a bit disconcerting. I *know* I'm supposed to get this checked out, but I know the routine. My doctor is going to order a battery of expensive tests and tell me everything's "normal". (Since that's what has happened to me every other time I've gone to the doctor with a physical symptom.) I don't want ANOTHER friggin CT scan.  The thought of even picking up the phone to schedule the appointment makes me really angry.
Given my TMS history, I'm fairly confident that it's TMS. (I'm currently going through some famliy problems which could be triggering it.) However, what held me back for awhile in getting rid of my back pain was the fear of the pain itself. I wonder if I'm repeating the same pattern--fearing the symptom and therefore bringing on the symptom I fear. Since I don't *know* for sure that it's TMS, that little  in the back of my head wants to taunt me that it *could* be something and I should be even more afraid.
BTW, I have no family history of neurological problems.
What would you do? |
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mala
Hong Kong
774 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2009 : 17:06:41
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98% pain free- wow that is good news indeed.
Relief from back pain last year and numbness starting in the right leg at about the same time? Mmmmm. Then the right arm? Mmmmmmmmm.
quote:
Given my TMS history, I'm fairly confident that it's TMS. (I'm currently going through some famliy problems which could be triggering it.)
Sounds to me like you already know the reason for yr pain is not physical.
quote:
I *know* I'm supposed to get this checked out, but I know the routine. My doctor is going to order a battery of expensive tests and tell me everything's "normal". (Since that's what has happened to me every other time I've gone to the doctor with a physical symptom.) I don't want ANOTHER friggin CT scan. The thought of even picking up the phone to schedule the appointment makes me really angry.
I don't understand this bit. If you know that chances are that test results will be normal then why do you feel the need to go see a doctor and pay him a lot of money just to confirm what you know deep inside already.
I would do what I think you already know you should do. 
Good Luck & Good Health
Mala |
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fibri
Belgium
56 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2009 : 06:42:21
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Hey, I really sympathise! I'm in a very similar situation. 98% pain free but the one symptom that really bothers me is dizziness.
I KNOW it's TMS but there's always that little voince in my head saying what if it's "serious"? You should check it out. I know this is just my brain distracting me and if I do the tests my brain will be winning because then I'l get caught up in the whole distracting procedure of doctors visits, tests, return visits for results bla bla bla.
And even when I check dizziness as a symptom, most of the "standard" medical sources say that nearly all the time it has "no identified cause" or is "anxiety related." In other words, TMS!
Yet when my head starts to spin it puts me into a minor panic. Very successful as a distraction :-)
But I feel that it's a bit dangerous for any of us here to take the responsibility to tell someone else whether they should or should not get a symptom checked. I would say try to be scrupulously honest with yourself and deep down you know the answer and you just "know" whether it's TMS or not.
As I said I sympathise with you when you say your "fairly confident that it's TMS." All of us with TMS have a lot of fear - well, obviously if you've had years of unexplained pain you end up afraid! D'oh! Reaching 90 or 98% confidence in Sarno is relatively easy. Letting go of that last 10% or 2% is really, really tough!
What I do with my dizziness is to always check what else is going on when I get it. For example, I ALWAYS get dizzy when I visit this forum! So 98% of me believes that it's TMS. But when I get it walking in the woods chatting to a friend, and I start swaying, then I get really scared and the 2% doubt worries the hell out of me.
So I'm not getting it checked out - for now :-) |
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hottm8oh
USA
141 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2009 : 11:06:42
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quote:
Originally posted by fibri
Hey, I really sympathise! I'm in a very similar situation. 98% pain free but the one symptom that really bothers me is dizziness.
I KNOW it's TMS but there's always that little voince in my head saying what if it's "serious"? You should check it out. I know this is just my brain distracting me and if I do the tests my brain will be winning because then I'l get caught up in the whole distracting procedure of doctors visits, tests, return visits for results bla bla bla.
And even when I check dizziness as a symptom, most of the "standard" medical sources say that nearly all the time it has "no identified cause" or is "anxiety related." In other words, TMS!
Yet when my head starts to spin it puts me into a minor panic. Very successful as a distraction :-)
But I feel that it's a bit dangerous for any of us here to take the responsibility to tell someone else whether they should or should not get a symptom checked. I would say try to be scrupulously honest with yourself and deep down you know the answer and you just "know" whether it's TMS or not.
As I said I sympathise with you when you say your "fairly confident that it's TMS." All of us with TMS have a lot of fear - well, obviously if you've had years of unexplained pain you end up afraid! D'oh! Reaching 90 or 98% confidence in Sarno is relatively easy. Letting go of that last 10% or 2% is really, really tough!
What I do with my dizziness is to always check what else is going on when I get it. For example, I ALWAYS get dizzy when I visit this forum! So 98% of me believes that it's TMS. But when I get it walking in the woods chatting to a friend, and I start swaying, then I get really scared and the 2% doubt worries the hell out of me.
So I'm not getting it checked out - for now :-)
Fibri, your post really resonates with me, especially the part about being distracted by doctor's visits and procedures. The symptoms I'm experiencing now are not nearly as horrible as the pain was, but it's just irritating, distracting, and frightening enough to start my brain spinning. That's why I'm hesitant to get checked out at all. I don't need to have doubts, fears, false diagnoses clouding my brain again. I've been there, done that, not going back. And thanks for reminding me that getting rid of that last 2% is the hardest. I forgot about that!
I think I need to finish reading "What To Say When You Talk To Yourself" before I do anything else. |
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Should I bother getting this symptom checked out?
