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art
1903 Posts |
 Posted - 02/26/2011 : 09:34:15
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Thought it might be helpful to start a thread on ways to recognize TMS. I've a few criteria that seem to be generally applicable for me anyway...
Pain type and patterns are good ones for me, meaning they've proven themselves reliable. Dull aching pains have shown themselves to be TMS. Also pain that is intermittent in nature..To give a couple of recent examples, a few months ago I started to have symptoms consistent with shin splints. I'd never had them before, so that's always scary to be on uncharted waters. It was dull, aching, and intermittent. Also seemed somewhat situational. Stopped at night, started up again in the morning. I decided it had to be TMS and as soon as I stopped fearing the pain it went away....Funny how that works :>)
Fast forward to 4 days ago. I'm playing the piano (weird, how I often get TMS symptoms when playing) and suddenly I'm aware of heartburn, gas, and a dull, aching pain in left arm. I know what you're thinking, and believe me, I thought it too. But somehow I just couldn't get too worked up about it as I had no other cardiac type symptoms. This went on for a few days. The symptom that bothered me the most was the pain in the arm for obvious reasons...
It took me a while to put 2+2 together, but at some point it occurred to me that the arm pain was precisely analogous to the shin splint stuff. Dull, aching, intermittent, and mostly gone at night. Moreover, my reaction to the pain involved the exact same dynamic. Fear and worry every time I'd feel the pain, soaring hope when the pain would go away for a while, then back to the fear and worry. One other tip-off, before I had this settled in my own mind I took a Prilosec and the arm pain went away instantly. A few hours later I read the box and saw that it can take up to 4 days (!) for symptoms to dissipate. So. Obvious placebo effect...
I'm still dealing with this pain, but it's much better and I'm convinced it's TMS. Which of course is WHY it's much better...
I could go on, but that's a good start I think. Anyone else?
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Edited by - art on 02/26/2011 09:35:32 |
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susan828
USA
291 Posts |
Posted - 02/26/2011 : 11:20:00
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Art, when I was in junior high school, I would start focus on my breathing, which is supposed to be a very common anxiety symptom, when I had to play violin in front of the class. When I would start reading a book, it would happen to. The symptoms always would prevent me from doing something productive. It's like I have a block and it manifests itself in a symptom which is created at that time. I have spent my life trying to figure this out. I wish I had the answer.
I am a talented musician and could be so much better on the piano, which is my primary instrument but I have trouble getting started. Always some kind of block. I need someone's wisdom here. Why do you think it starts when you're playing piano? |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 02/26/2011 : 13:14:42
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Hi Susan,
There are two activities in life that I value more than any others, my running and my piano playing. Both areas in this regard are fraught with anxiety. One can easily get overuse problems playing the piano, or any instrument. Sorting those out are as challenging as the possible injuries one encounters as a runner.
The anxiety isn't always conscious, but since I value these activities so much it's easy to see what might be involved.
I used to play as a kid, took lessons for 4 or 5 years, played in a band, but got away from it, by my early 20's. When I moved in with my current wife-to-be several decades later, she had an old piano and I gradually got back into it. A couple years ago I decided to buy a decent piano and that's when I realized how much I loved playing, and that at my age I could still improve. It's been one of the nice surprises of my so-called "middle years." |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 02/26/2011 : 16:14:07
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quote:
Originally posted by susan828
I am a talented musician and could be so much better on the piano, which is my primary instrument but I have trouble getting started. Always some kind of block. I need someone's wisdom here.
If I can hazard a guess Susan, Dr. Sarno hypotheses that TMS personalities may suffer from the universal inferiority complex. Being successful has it's own set of problems like competition, criticism, stage fright, responsibility to perform on demand to a paying audience, etc., etc. By having TMS "injuries" we are removed from the front lines of life's battlefields, gaining protection by way of the socially acceptable defense mechanism of TMS pseudo "injuries". |
Edited by - tennis tom on 02/26/2011 21:15:39 |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2011 : 08:59:24
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I go back and forth on these "secondary gains" issues. It seems compelling from the outside looking in as there's no question illness of whatever variety has certain built-in advantages. That's undeniable.
All I can speak to are my own experiences and my own insights to the extent that I've had them. In the end. I have a hard time thinking of my subconscious as anything but a place of raw instinct, predominantly fear and rage. Freud would put sexual desire first, but I don't buy that. Otherwise, I like the idea of an "id," a ravening beast unable to plan, or strategize. It's only function is to FEEL and WANT on an utterly concrete level...
The trouble with that is it doesn't explain how TMS symptoms appear. Maybe thee's another level, some sort of pre-conciousness that does allow for things like secondary gain...
The other big problem I have with secondary gain is it feeds into all usual ideas about malingering, which of course doesn't help the TMS cause any... |
Edited by - art on 02/27/2011 14:30:09 |
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How to recognize TMS...
