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yogaluz
USA
81 Posts |
 Posted - 09/28/2009 : 14:23:34
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| I have been free of my worst TMS symptom ever (dizziness, shakiness, anxiety) for about a year now. I just rode the last episode out and with time, felt that those symptoms were behind me. Then my husband lost his job and hasn't been able to find one. We are facing complete financial ruin and I haven't been able to find work either. Still, I was managing just fine physically. Then, two things happened recently: I had to have a root canal redone that had been bothering me and it really flared up and I was put on steroids for 5 days to calm it down. During that time I started feeling dizzy and agitated again but figured it would go away once the meds wore off. I continued to feel "off" and then yesterday morning I received news that a loved one was diagnosed with MS. His symptoms were dizziness and tingling in the extremities. Well, you guessed it, I am now extremely dizzy, shaking all over, unstable, unable to concentrate and basically freaked out. I would like to attribute this to a TMS equivalent but I feel SO bad, it's difficult to reason my way through this. How can something this debilitating not be physical? I am so discouraged. PLEASE send some words of encouragement. I really need some help here. |
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HilaryN
United Kingdom
879 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2009 : 15:10:15
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Hi yogaluz,
I'm so sorry about your situation.
With the normal caution of always getting checked out by your doctor... it does sound like symptoms are coming in to stop all the feelings coming out.
Don't reason your way through, FEEL your way through if you possibly can!
Hilary N |
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2009 : 17:14:58
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Seems like your thoughts are in the right place but you are falling back into old habits.
The statement "How can something this debilitating not be physical?" is completely contradictory to TMS. Some of the most excruciating pain I have ever had in my life was back spasms that I later realized were TMS.
Stop focusing on the physical and address all the terrible feelings that are going on inside you due to the unfortunate circumstances life has thrown you. Accept that all of these things are affecting you very deeply, in ways that you don't fully realize. Stay with those emotions and remind yourself that the physical symptoms are just a conditioned response.
Clearly your mind has a lot to gain from the TMS distraction, keeping you from facing everything going on in your life. Don't let it win.
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 09/30/2009 : 07:20:06
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yoga,
Your symptoms are classic, textbook, rudimentary stress responses. Dizziness is the byproduct of extreme muscle tension. You are guarding against the calamities that you see happening in the months or years ahead if your financial situation doesn't change. If you dodged it before or conquered it by ignoring it and going on with life, the strategy will work again, so long as you don't attach danger to the symptom. Your nerves are tricking you into thinking you suffer from something menacing, like an organic illness.
But in my own experience, there is nothing more debilitating than anxiety symptoms. They feel terrible, but they are 100% created and kept alive by your focus on negative thought(s) and avoidance behaviors. It could be financial ruin or health ruin, either way those thoughts are causing the symptoms and will only stop when you give them no attention at all and do not alter your day to make way for them in your life.
Avoiding situations in which you get symptoms makes no sense if you believe you suffer from an organic illness. Organic illnesses don't know or care if you are standing in line in the super market. It feels how it feels regardless of your mental state. Anxiety symptoms definitely and necessarily get worse when you are under strain. Simple, but not easy. I wish you well.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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yogaluz
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 09/30/2009 : 08:21:29
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Thanks so much to everyone. Am slowly working myself through these symptoms and when I get on this forum and read your replies and other posts, I 'mysteriously' feel better and calm down. I realize that these intense symptoms are keeping me from unraveling the complexities of my situation: a failed career, dependence on a spouse who is now struggling with his career, my inability to fulfill my dreams of being an artist, my personal challenges in mothering, dire financial problems etc. etc. yes, I could go on - it's not a pretty picture right now. Thoughts of having MS are so much more compelling and immediate as I think my mind and spirit are weary of the uphill slog. I continue to be amazed at what the mind/body can do.
This forum has been a life saver for me time and time again. Thank you all so much for your commitment. I truly think that if I hadn't found out about TMS and had the support of this site, I would have spent most of my adult life in misery. THANK YOU! |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 09/30/2009 : 09:18:02
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How can something this debilitating not be physical?
Yes, in fact I was thinking this myself at 2 in the morning, but I am gradually training myself, over years, to disbelieve what seems to be "the evidence."
Really, these symptoms are signs of a MIRACLE. It's a miracle that the body can so convincingly create these things to protect us from feeling stuff. It could just as easily create miraculous healings, if our subconscious really wanted that.
And another thing - personally I'm very careful in the language I use about my financial situation and so on. For example, saying you have a "failed career" is only one interpretation of the situation. Another would be that you have changed direction after having learning experiences and that it's all leading towards your true satisfaction. I have been through experiences that I can recount in ways that bring the crowd to their knees in sympathy, but really, the truth it that whatever is happening, I can also see that it's all good, all Life leading me in evolutionary ways...
xx
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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njoy
Canada
188 Posts |
Posted - 09/30/2009 : 20:06:36
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I once read about a guy who was young during the last Great Depression and who said it saved him because, unable to find a good job, he led a happy life as, I believe, an artist. He said he wasn't considered a "failure" because the Depression was the culprit. He said lots of young people were in the same situation. Some were perpetual students, others worked at jobs they were too good for (!) but enjoyed, and others just bummed around working when they could. For some it was sad and horrible but for others it worked out rather nicely.
I don't think anyone knows what the end result of anything will be. I've had many disasters in my life and can't say I regret any of them. Not that it isn't hard to swallow at the time.
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yogaluz
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 10/01/2009 : 08:29:23
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| You're right - enough with the negative speak. I tend to get caught up in the stress of it as it relates to caring for our two daughters. It's one thing to lose your house but quite another to have your children's home taken away. Time will tell what hidden paths this will lead our family down. I do really need to have my wits about me right now to deal with it all and my symptoms are doing their best to leave me witless :-). Trying to float through. Thanks again y'all. |
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fibri
Belgium
56 Posts |
Posted - 10/02/2009 : 11:02:38
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I read recently that the basic difference between men and women is that men feel bad when they are insecure about their performance, whether physical or mental, and women feel bad when their "nest" is threatened. When a husband loses his job it hits both partners where it hurts most. No wonder your TMS flares up.
I'm afraid I can't think of anything more useful to say, but just want to say hang on in there and I sympathise! :-) |
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Thought I was cured... guess not. PLEASE HELP!
