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HopefulAli
Canada
16 Posts |
 Posted - 05/26/2011 : 23:40:22
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Hi everyone, me again... I didn't hear back to my last post so I thought I would try again. Just briefly, I had a major knee injury about 5 years ago (my knee began to lock due to torn cartilage)combined with hip stiffness/tightness (diagnosed as bursitis) that took years of physical therapy to get over. I was diagnosed with a torn meniscus via MRI and had a partial menisectomy- the pain got worse and at that point started affected my hip really badly. I had a second MRI after the surgery that showed no major changes. The continuing pain was a mystery that seemed to elude all of the PTs and specialists I visited. Eventually after literally years of PT, many tears, and a bout of depression, it subsided.
Then shoulder tendonitis, wrist tendonitis, ankle sprain that took 1 year to heal, tendonitis in the other ankle, then a car accident that set back pain off (I also had a bunch of other random conditions like tinnitus and acid reflux that I have now attributed to TMS.) After the car accident and months of PT with no relief I stumbled across Sarno and have had a major decrease in pain.
About three weeks ago I started getting bad knee and hip pain again (well to be more accurate it's hip "tightness," it doesn't hurt- only very uncomfortable). It seemingly started out of nowhere... after a few days I went to the doc and he prescribed icing, anti-inflammatory meds and I had three visits with an athletic trainer who stretched me and tried to work on the tendonitis. He said it's chondromalacia and patellofemoral syndrome. The meniscus doesn't appear to be re-torn or torn worse, according to the therapist.
After about another week I suspected that it might be TMS, although the hip tightness seems to make the knee pain worse (the docs used to tell me it affects the tracking of my kneecap), so in that sense it feels very PHYSICAL/ structural. But the fact that it came out of nowhere and is lingering at a time of stress (moving out of the country for the summer) makes me think it might be TMS. I have been doing Schubiner's workbook religiously and writing evidence sheets for why it's TMS to convince myself but so far no improvement. I feel myself hovering on the brink of depression or at least major anxiety and it scares me.
I am sure people who have been there know what this is like. I had come so far and I can just see it all slipping away.
I did some stretching tonight and it seemed to help. Whether it's a placebo or what, I am not sure. At what point do I just say "ok, it's physical" and try to tackle it from that route? OR will all these mysterious recurrences for the rest of my life be TMS? I don't know. I just want to feel better and feel like myself again.
Thanks and I really really hope to hear from someone.
Alex |
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Javizy
United Kingdom
76 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2011 : 03:35:59
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Tightness in the hip can affect your walking, and unbalance your posture, so it's probably inevitable that you feel pain in your leg.
It's usually caused by a muscle that doesn't know how to relax fully by itself. Tension just about anywhere on the front side of your body is strongly related to stress. Every time you get stressed, you're unconsciously tensing all the muscles from your face to your feet. Eventually, your brain starts to learn these tension patterns, and they remain even when you're resting. Physical trauma, like your surgery, can also cause the brain to adapt in ways you'd rather it didn't.
It's likely that your problem is physical in nature, but it's caused by a mixture of your anxiety and the trauma you suffered from surgery. Both are largely reversible. The first thing I recommend is retraining your brain to use the muscles efficiently again. You can do this with the Feldenkrais Technique. A good book for fully correcting your posture is Thomas Hanna's Somatics. The third lesson covers the hip muscles. There's also a lot of good stuff in there to convince you how much stress is a causal factor. I find PT to be a complete waste of time and money, but Feldenkrais is a really revolutionary mindbody approach to improving your body.
Keep in mind that every time you worry you're fuelling your pain. Try to find an anxiety gauge, like being aware of when the muscles in your face are tense, or when you feel butterflies in your stomach. When you feel this, ask yourself why and if it's rational, and ultimately if it's going to help your pain improve. Start trying to accept your pain and your life as it is, and you might find that it starts to improve. It's been working for me at least. |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2011 : 05:32:31
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TMS is very often chronic. You have to go back to the beginning and commit to TMS self-treatment. You got better once, you almost certainly will again.
Reread the books. Understand that you're always going to be susceptible to psychosomatic pain. Above all, quit worrying. Fear keep pain alive. Reduce the fear, you'll reduce the pain. Eliminate the fear, you'll eliminate the pain. |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2011 : 11:04:52
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"What will the impact of human behavior be on climate change?"
Pet topic of mine, and if you're interested in the intersection of epistemology and social psychology an irresistible area of investigation...
As to the question itself: much, much less than you've been led to believe by the climate alarmists. |
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HopefulAli
Canada
16 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2011 : 11:24:07
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Hi everyone,
Thanks for the responses! Art, it seems from your posts that you believe it is 100% TMS, whereas the others who responded believe it's a mixture of a "physical" problem AND tms.
My question is, I thought I had to convince myself that it was truly TMS for the pain to go away?
Just for ****s and giggles, I pulled out my old MRI and doctors' visits reports after my post last night. The first doctor I saw said my MRI results were not the cause of my pain (small, undisplaced medial meniscus tear) and refused me surgery. The second doctor I saw gave me the surgery, which as I said before, did not help and in fact worsened the problem.
So I wonder if it might have been TMS all along... the MRI results say variously chondromalacia, patellafemoral syndrome, and small meniscus tear, which I remember reading can be manifestations of TMS.
I am considered doing an aerobics class this afternoon- taking a painkiller and pushing through.
Thoughts? Thanks! |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2011 : 13:21:20
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H,
Of course no one can tell you what you have or don't have. You certainly fit the TMS profile. All "be sure to consult your physician" boilerplate advice aside, if you're suspecting TMS it very, very likely is...
If it were me, I'd push ahead. If you can really get in there and stop being afraid, you'll almost certainly be amazed at the rapidity of your recovery...
JUst my opinion/best guess.. |
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Forfeet
USA
40 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2011 : 02:39:26
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Hopeful,
As Art has stated no one can here can reliably tell you what it really is and certainly getting proper medical diagnosis is clearly important.
Having said that, much of what I've read in Sarno and in recent articles in the New York Times, the LA Times, and Time Magazine indicate that medical findings do not always account for the pain. Sarno has indicated that some with worse MRI results had no pain or significantly less pain than others with MRI's that showed far less wear and tear.
It seems that some of these knee conditions appear to be the result of normal wear and tear for many of us and don't necessarily have to result in pain. The pain may be due to TMS and it may well be that some with very similar conditions have no pain and as a result never see a doctor to dx. While there may well be structural indicators present, it may well be causing pain due to TMS. Just offering a lay person's opinion but in practice has resulted in less pain at least for me. Good Luck. |
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Forfeet
USA
40 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2011 : 02:42:28
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Hopeful,
As Art has stated no one can here can reliably tell you what it really is and certainly getting proper medical diagnosis is clearly important.
Having said that, much of what I've read in Sarno and in recent articles in the New York Times, the LA Times, and Time Magazine indicate that medical findings do not always account for the pain. Sarno and others have indicated that some with worse MRI results had no pain or significantly less pain than others with MRI's that showed far less wear and tear.
It seems that some of these knee conditions appear to be the result of normal wear and tear for many of us and don't necessarily have to result in pain. The pain may be due to TMS and it may well be that some with very similar conditions have no pain and as a result never see a doctor to dx. While there may well be structural indicators present, it may well be causing pain due to TMS. Just offering a lay person's opinion but in practice has resulted in less pain at least for me. Good Luck. |
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how do you guys do it?
