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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
 Posted - 04/04/2013 : 15:30:47
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Because I succesfully battled 'dizziness' the last three months, not completely there yet but 80-90% cured, I find it time to share some information on this subject. I find it to be a typical example of a mindbody syndrome.
Another user of this forum informed me about an article by Sarah Edelman, PhD called "managing psycho-physiological dizziness". (kudos to Eliuri) This formed the base for my road to recovery. The article can be found on: sadly the only link I could find to this article is broken. If you have questions, send me a message via the TMSWiki forum, I will not respond to private messages on this board since it means I have to share my emailaddress
In order to reach other people with similar problems, I will summarize some information from the article below, especially the common symptoms, in order for the search engines to be able to pick up this thread and to give visitors a head start. If you want to learn more in detail I suggest you read the article. At the end I will shortly describe my own situation.
By the way, much of this is covered in the books by Claire Weekes. If you want some more guidance on how to work on this, I suggest you read her book 'essential help for your nerves'.
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Psycho-physiological dizziness syndrome
PPDS refers to a cluster of symptoms that arises for some people in the period following either:
1. a vestibular event (such as vestibular migraine, labyrinthitis, inner ear trauma) OR
2. a period of stress (with or without panic attacks)
The syndrome is characterized by episodic dizziness or light-headedness (not spinning), in addition to other symptoms. These vary between individuals and may include:
- Periods of unsteadiness or a feeling of the ground being unstable. I personally describe this as a sensation of the floor moving below you or as walking on a waterbed.
- A feeling of rocking or swaying, or feeling like you are veering to the side when walking.
- A feeling of ‘fullness’, ‘cloudiness’, ‘fogginess’, or ‘heaviness’ of the head.
- Dizziness in response to particular movements, such as turning head from side to side, getting up from a chair, looking up, bending over, lying down etc..
- Tinnitus (ringing, buzzing or hissing sound on one or both ears)
- Visual disturbances (sensitivity to bright light or to motion stimuli; episodically out of focus)
- Numbness, tingling or ‘electrical’ sensations in hands, feet, face or scalp (often one-sided)
- Momentary dizziness or internal ‘shift’ sensations that last for a couple of seconds.
- Nausea
- Headaches
- Feeling hot or flushed
- Wobbly legs
- Tightness or clenching of the jaw.
- Heart palpitations or missed heart beats
- Body or situations may at times feel different or unreal
- Frequent fatigue
- ...
As you can see, these are all physical symptoms, the factors that maintain them are primarily psychological. People who visit their doctor with these symptoms are often sent home without a good diagnosis although the symptoms are very real.
PPDS is caused by a combination of perception (perception of threat), hyper vigilance (selective attention to perceived threat) and autonomic arousal (the body’s biological response to perceived threat).
Once dizziness is triggered, people enter a self-perpetuating anxiety cycle. The symptoms from autonomic arousal are perceived as a threat, which in turn maintains hyper vigilance, which in turn maintains autonomic arousal, and so causes the symptoms to keep occurring.
As the syndrome is maintained by a perception of threat, it is more likely to arise among people who score high on the ‘anxiety trait’, although some people are not aware of this aspect of their personality until they develop the syndrome.
Dizziness can be triggered by situations (social events, busy environments, certain locations like supermarkets or class rooms) or can come up spontaneous (recognition of a threat on an unconscious level).
Being tired, unwell or in pain usually increases symptoms, because in general it makes people feel more vulnerable.
The paradox in this syndrome is that trying to control the symptoms simply reinforces the perception that they are a threat and therefore the anxiety cycle is maintained. The key to recovery lies in doing the opposite – learning to perceive the symptoms as harmless and not worthy of any special attention. Once you stop trying to control the symptoms, they lose their power and gradually fizzle out.
The way to overcome the fear is to deliberately face it. Target the situations that are most likely to trigger symptoms. The goal is NOT to try to avoid the symptoms but to experience the symptoms without the emotional response that they usually evoke. Let the body experience the symptoms without resistance or fear. Better said: surf the symptoms. In time this will slow down the anxiety cycle and often the symptoms will completely disappear.
It is important therefore to stop avoiding any situations or activities because of dizziness, but the same goes for safety behaviors (lying down when symptoms appear, holding on to things to keep yourself stable, relying on others company when you go to certain places).
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I myself suffered mainly from the feeling of the floor moving below me and wobbly legs. Looking back it was all triggered by stress causing an extremely painfull and stiff neck and upper back. This in turn caused a couple of episodes of spinning dizziness (triggerpoints in SCM and trapezius are reknowned for this effect). Later on I developed other mindbody symptoms and I got increasingly worried and stressed because of it.
Once I read this article about ppds, I slowly found myself improving and feel approx. 80-90% cured at the moment. It was difficult at first to face the fear of the symptoms and the situations/activities that made them flare up, but later on I even started to provoke my mind to give it its best shot. During a walk I learned that by using affirmations (kudos to Ace) I did no longer focus my thoughts on the symptoms, which kept them away. When they do come up, I don’t worry about them anymore, which usually is enough to make them disappear.
As with all kinds of TMS/MBS, acceptance of the psychological root of the problem is the most difficult. Therefore any similar experiences are most welcome as it may help people to overcome any doubts.
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Edited by - gigalos on 01/06/2017 07:48:56 |
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plum
United Kingdom
641 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2013 : 15:41:48
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| Well, this is weird and timely. I've not been posting much due to focusing on healing and in the last few days I've experienced a marvellous example of the symptom imperative. You've described a lot of it here. I was driving home today thinking if I didn't know better I'd swear it was a brain tumour. Utterly mad symptoms. Thanks for posting this my dear. Deeply reassuring. Even if it feels like my head could explode! |
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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2013 : 15:48:07
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you're welcome Plum, glad to be of assistance with this weirdly timed post... |
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tmsjptc
USA
124 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2013 : 16:32:48
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| In my case, dizziness was definitely another TMS symptom. Besides pain, I would get dizziness every few months that would last for a week or two. In fact, this episodic dizziness predated my pain by almost ten years (I just didn't know what caused it at that time). My reading of a couple of Dr. Sarno's books occurred in Oct 2011 and I haven't had dizziness a single time since then. |
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Peregrinus
250 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2013 : 16:36:37
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quote:
Originally posted by gigalos
[*]Dizziness in response to particular movements, such as ..., getting up from a chair,
Gigalos:
About 2 years ago I suffered from dizziness after getting up from a chair or couch but not from getting out or bed!? Anyway, because of an unrelated medical problem a blood test showed that my red cell count was low. The symptom seemed to be worse after donating blood which I had been doing for years. A doctor urged me to forgo the donations and the dizziness largely disappeared.
Can you be more specific about the vision problems?
Interesting post! |
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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2013 : 16:59:22
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Peregrinus,
The text between the two lines is a recap of the article, so I can't explain more about the visual symptoms. What I wrote is all that was written in the original article. The only things springing to mind are the light sensitivity in people suffering from migraine and the momentary second of dizziness I sometimes have from watching television programmes with slightly moving camera standpoints. That's all I can add I'm afraid.
I find your found discrepancy between standing up from a chair and getting out of bed somewhat intriguing :) Maybe it was the goodist side of you donating blood, maybe the doctor was right about the low blood count... who knows. If I look back at my own symptoms, they were almost never there the first hour of the day. Maybe I was still relaxed then. Later on in the day the symptoms would appear gradually.
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Edited by - gigalos on 04/04/2013 17:26:22 |
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abundance72
Australia
37 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 05:21:49
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Gigalos, this is a very interesting post. I have been experiencing for the last few months on and off, days where I would feel head pressure (I've had this in the past but it went, now it's back!) head pain (not just the usual headache but a bit different), eye pain on movement, and burning tired eyes and the bone above the eyes just below the eyebrow would really hurt. I would feel that off balance feeling - weird dizziness you describe, where its not actually dizzy but a sensation of swaying and just being on a boat or something like that.
Along with these horrible symptoms I had pain everyday in my upper back and neck area right below the skull, the two soft spots below that where te neck is. This neck tenderness always hurts and seems to be the cause (I think) of these headaches as when the head ache is bad then usually the neck pain is also bad. I have also lately had extreme low back pain. So all in all I feel like I'm falling apart and as hard as I try to do affirmations and believe nothing is wrong it's actually quite hard when you're in so much pain you can't even focus! Could you please give me some tips on how you're beating the head pain and the neck/back pain? Thanks #128521;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every Cell in my body vibrates with energy and health
Loving myself heals my life. I nourish my mind, body and soul
My body heals quickly and easily
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Racer
USA
129 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 06:57:10
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Gigalos,
The link in the 1st post doesn't seem to work. Can you post the right one?
Thanks. |
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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 07:59:10
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Lol, it did work yesterday... I think they shut it down... I'll work on it this weekend, hope I find another link
I found out the complete site is closed down. I can't find a link to this article anywhere, any suggestions are appreciated. In the meantime, if you want to read it, send me a message |
Edited by - gigalos on 04/05/2013 13:18:18 |
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Peregrinus
250 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 11:41:10
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quote:
Originally posted by abundance72
...I had pain everyday in my upper back and neck area right below the skull, the two soft spots below that where te neck is. This neck tenderness always hurts and seems to be the cause (I think) of these headaches as when the head ache is bad then usually the neck pain is also bad.
Abundance72:
I had similar symptoms for several years and found that Indocin is a miraculous treatment. Indocin is a (off patent) drug similar to aspirin with no side effects for most patients. Unfortuneately is doesn't work for lower back pain. |
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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 13:06:24
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abundance,
The pain you have is probably the direct result of several triggerpoints in the muscles there. I think triggerpoints are a mechanism in TMS. Especially when it comes to the neck, stress is most often the direct cause.
I beat my neck and back pain mainly by analyzing my actions and thoughts, alone and with the help of a psychologist. I also (still) use the affirmations. Before that I used triggerpoint therapy to get rid of tp's, it helped to a certain level but it did not really stick because at the time I didn't address the psychological causes.
I think the ideal treatment would be a combination of both, but finding a therapist that does both is probably difficult. :) |
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eliuri
USA
50 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 15:00:57
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Hi again , Gigalos:
Thanks for posting about this topic. I’m happy to read how much progress you’ve made so far with this vertigo. It is amazing how insight can quickly bring lifting of symptoms. You pretty much summarized the premise of that article and added your own personal experience with this phenomenon. So even if the link to the actual article doesn’t work…
There’s actually quite a body of medical writings on this topic. Unfortunately, many of these are not available without a paid subscription to an online journal. I’ve read it’s the second most common form of diagnosis, but I think this depends on the research center.
This article seems to summarize what’s known about this:
http://www.orl-nko.be/common/vertigo/12-gilain_et_al.pdf
A much more concise one:
http://www.otoneuro.com/documents/AM19811.html
There are quite a few others, but I can access only the abstracts.
What Edelman’s outline contributes is that this type of psychogenic vertigo can be brought on by either a prior episode of physically caused vertigo which had resolved or by long periods of stress. I’ve since read of this pattern elsewhere. So in effect fear of or focus on vertigo can engender psycho-physical vertigo.
In my own case as you know, I had a fall down some stairs and hit my head on a step when I landed. I posted about this elsewhere on this forum. Within a few hours, I had a few episodes of that spinning vertigo each of which lasted less than a minute. This is the most common form of vertigo, often called: Benign Proxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) This sometimes occurs after head trauma, but most often the cause is unknown and is believed to be due to dislodged crystals in the inner ear. Thanks for pointing out that this “spinning type” of vertigo can be caused by trigger points as well as that other ”floating boat” type.. At the time of my accident, I wasn’t aware of the benign and highly prevalent nature of this, so I assumed I must’ve suffered some brain damage from the fall. I woke up the next day with some stiffness in the neck and pain in the upper back which continues. Whatever brain damage if any I did sustain couldn’t have been severe since my brain MRI was normal.
The vertigo I now suffer from, the flotation type, is very different experientially from that spinning type. It’s not visual at all and is a somatic perception/proprioception. Seems like a heightened feedback mechanism, possibly engendered by my fear of falling yet again. It feels as if the floor is pushing upward and then subsiding. The floor in fact IS pushing up every step we take. That’s Newtons Third Law.of Motion...if you really think it through.. Except we normally don’t sense it that way…
I’m open to the notion that the over-all panic, fear, and phobia that I experienced after that fall may have engendered this new form of vertigo, which didn’t appear until weeks after the accident. Possibly the delay was due to this one being TMS and the earlier one being a direct result of the physical trauma. Another possible explanation for the delay however is that I didn’t move around much during those first weeks, so I didn’t have much opportunity to experience it. I do recall that the few times I did venture out early on, I was mostly aware of shortness of breath and de-realization, and not of dizziness.
The sheer number of tests that are used for vertigo in an attempt to find a physical cause is dizzying. (pun intended). It’s not as simple as getting an MRI of the spine, for example. And the possibilities for misinterpretation seems quite high. Perhaps even higher than those people on this forum report for back pain and those MRI findings. When you’re very stressed, your nerves aren’t going to fire off exactly as they normally do, crudely put. I had already experienced such a misdiagnoses with the little testing that was done. The physical therapist tested my eye tracking when I first saw him. .He found some issue with that and put forth the possibility that I had impaired reflex between eyes and balance and I’d somehow learn to compensate for this loss by using many eye exercises. On several later visits, he fortunately re-ran the eye tracking test, and said I performed perfectly, and the eye exercises and challenges were totally not needed. I was impressed with his honesty to admit he made a mistake which likely was a result of my sleep deprivation and panic at my first going to vestibular rehab. He did raise the possibility (or possibly I raised it) of this being psychogenic, but said that in the case of an accident, they’d want to do lots of investigations before even entertaining that possibility. I’m continuing with various vestibular exercises there, as well as the physical therapy on my neck muscles. Whether it’s TMS or vestibular damage in my case, those should help regardless. If it’s due to anxiety/phobia, it should help desensitize, because they keep looking for exercises which provoke the vertigo and get you to repeat it a lot. If due to damage, it should teach me to compensate.
I wish I could honestly be convinced that this is TMS in my case. The speed of recovery would be so much enhanced, the degree of recovery more complete, and the damage to my self-image as an agile person would be undone. Here are the two different ways I can understand my situation
1) “I fell down some stairs and damaged that part of the nervous system or vestibular system which gives me information about the surface I’m walking on. I will continue to endure vertigo until I compensate for this damage and my brain learns to correct or attenuate the erroneous “flotation” signals. There’s a strong correlation between vertigo and events which can provoke panic/ anxiety, so its clear correlation with anxiety doesn’t conflict with the organic source of the problem. Stress management can help me learn to live with this damage.”
OR:
2) “I fell down some stairs and experienced a few episodes of spinning vertigo which quickly resolved. My fear of falling again led me to focus on this. I had lost the sense of confidence in my own balance. The ground literally fell out from under me, and the room started spinning a few hours later. I nowoften feel unsteady and floating. This is causing the muscle tension in my neck to exaggerate or misinterpret the messages my brain receives while walking. Once I understand and accept this and repeat the actions which provoke those sensations until I no longer fear them, both the neck pain and the vertigo should begin to resolve. There’s an emotional context in which all this is taking place, even the very accident itself. My focus should now shift to that.”
The difference in the above two paragraphs is the difference between conventional medical thinking and TMS thinking. I’ve had a long history with TMS, and can pretty much get a good handle on it once my mind settles on that interpretation. Normally, I’d intuitively go for paragraph two above. Except that I did have a real fall and a bang on my head…so I can’t be more than 50% decided at this point in time... I can’t trick myself into accepting this. One possible way out of this quagmire is to see how far I get with this vertigo by using trigger point dry needling. Since I do accept that trigger points for me are manifestations of emotional disorders based on prior experience with it. I’d need a level of certainty of say ~80% or more, and it’ll attenuate. I’ve not required 100% acceptance, and I’m way too skeptical to be 100% sure of anything. As much as I otherwise love rocky ferry boat rides, I’m eager to return to terra firma once and for all….
Abundance 72:
The linkage between neck tightness/pain and this type of vertigo is possibly a key here for me. You're describing the same combination of neck/shoulder pain and “being on a boat” dizziness which both Gigalos and I have. Maybe do try the trigger point release meanwhile at least for the muscle tenderness. I do know that when my physical therapist works on those, it helps much. That may give you enough respite to focus on what may be driving those symptoms. Best wishes with that.
-eliuri
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Edited by - eliuri on 04/05/2013 16:12:22 |
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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 16:31:38
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Great addition Eliuri, thanx!
I hope some more stories come up that show similarities and may help you with this struggle.
To be clear, because I don't know how to interpret your writing and how others interpret mine;
I am not convinced that the water bed dizziness can be a result of trigger points, but I am about that it can for spinning dizziness... In my case spinning dizziness from stress (triggerpoints in my neck) together with other stress started the self perpetuating anxiety cycle. This gave me wobbly legs and water bed dizziness etc.. I have beaten that, but other TMS stuff remains like recurring pain in the groin and other pains. So I see it as having beaten the most aggressive head of the dragon, the other less aggressive one is still there but already has a bloody nose.
best of wishes to you |
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abundance72
Australia
37 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2013 : 06:38:08
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quote:
Originally posted by Peregrinus
I had similar symptoms for several years and found that Indocin is a miraculous treatment. Indocin is a (off patent) drug similar to aspirin with no side effects for most patients. Unfortuneately is doesn't work for lower back pain.
Hi Peregrinus, what is Indocin? I have used Aspro Clear (that's what it's called in Australia) but I haven't heard of Indocin, I'm wondering if there's another name for it?
Thanks 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every Cell in my body vibrates with energy and health
Loving myself heals my life. I nourish my mind, body and soul
My body heals quickly and easily
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abundance72
Australia
37 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2013 : 06:57:22
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quote:
Originally posted by gigalos
abundance,
The pain you have is probably the direct result of several triggerpoints in the muscles there. I think triggerpoints are a mechanism in TMS. Especially when it comes to the neck, stress is most often the direct cause.
I have such a stiff neck gigalos that i'm constantly cracking it, stretching it and massaging it myself. I find that the more I get massaged by masseuses', cracked by chiropractors or whatever the more I still hurt? I haven't been to a chiropractor for a long time and don't plan on ever going back but I can't work out why I have had my fair share of deep tissue massages on my back and neck and I'm still as sore and stiff as ever!
quote:
I beat my neck and back pain mainly by analyzing my actions and thoughts, alone and with the help of a psychologist. I also (still) use the affirmations. Before that I used triggerpoint therapy to get rid of tp's, it helped to a certain level but it did not really stick because at the time I didn't address the psychological causes. [/i]
Gigalos when you say you analyzed your actions and thoughts, would that be the thoughts of what happened that day? Possibly something had upset you or had you thinking? Or do you mean digging into the past and looking at your personality and the way you deal with things. I find that the more I try to dig into my past to find out if something is unconsciously upsetting me the more confused I get as I uncover many things about myself that I wasn't really aware of or not admitting to but I still can't overcome my symptoms so it's leading me to believe it's nothing from my past? I do tend to get upset at myself for not being the person I wish I could be - the one who could be more upfront and forward about what I don't like or don't want in life. Like when i really want to say 'no' to someone but just can't, or when i'm upset about people/friends/family's actions and just can't find the nerve to say it as I don't want to hurt their feelings... this is the only thing I can come up with that may be the key in causing my pain?
What do you think? Or anyone else, please do give me your opinions?
Thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every Cell in my body vibrates with energy and health
Loving myself heals my life. I nourish my mind, body and soul
My body heals quickly and easily
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Peregrinus
250 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2013 : 07:59:12
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quote:
Originally posted by abundance72
[br... what is Indocin?
Abundance72:
Indocin requires a prescription in the USA but it is a very commonly used drug for all sorts of things. WebMD has a page about its uses. |
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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2013 : 08:33:42
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Massaging and stretching are of no use is my opinion. I believe in only treating the trigger points directly by putting mild, static pressure on it to let them die out. When I went to the physical therapist, he used to set fire to my neck and back by massaging it. I mainly suffered from it the days after. Stretching a muscle that has a trigger point in it is totally useless. If you want to do it, you first need to get rid of the 'knot' in the muscle with the above described technique.
Since I learned about TMS, I rarely use TrP treatment, only if I get a head ache (scaleni) or front tooth ache (temporalis).
My first action was to make a large table. In the left side columns I wrote down the labels anxiety, anger, hostility, guilt, dependency, perfectionism, low self-esteem and goodism. To the right I made one column for thoughts/activities/actions that might give me emotions. Next to that one I also made a column to write down if and what I could change about those habits of doing and thinking. I began digging in my past and present and slowly started to fill the table with all kinds of things and crossed the boxes on the left about what traits were part of it. I gave me much insight.
I then made a short list of what I thought were the most important issues and went through it with my psychologist. One thing turned out to give me lots of problems and since I never addressed it before talking about it kind of liberated me. Since then I thought it over a couple of times and just accepted that 'thing' about myself. I had less pain in my neck and upper back. I do have pain in my neck once and a while. When I do, I start to think about what could have set it off. I also do it when I don't have pains, to see what is different about that day. Slowly some pieces of the puzzle start to fall in the right place. I am not healed yet, but I feel I am half way there.
An example: I have much trouble standing my ground when I talk with my boss. I used to say yes or no, just to be done with it and used to be tensed for days or weeks. I changed this habit, although I fell into the trap this week and voila... nagging feeling in my neck :)
I think it can be important to dig in your past. Certain events determine your behavior today. It is about finding a way to handle this in the present. 'forgive and let go' is an important affirmation when you do. An example: I used to be really mad at my father for certain things he had done and it gave me stress whenever I was around him. I decided to forgive him and let go. He's only human. It makes me less tense when I see him.
I think an important thing is to accept that you are not what you want to be. Nobody is perfect. Accepting that might be difficult to achieve, but you have to forgive yourself for that too.. Also you can slowly adjust this image of what you feel you need to be to a more realistic one.
Saying yes when you really don't want to is inevitable. Use the affirmations of Ace or make up your own. (I forgive and let go easily, I feel calm, relaxed, patient and confident. etc. etc.). I think it is also wise to once and a while let yourself go, but don't make a daily habit of it. You have to find some sort of balance. Be a bitch sometimes, be an egoist sometimes, just don't make a habit of it and apologize later if necessary. Stating your real feelings to someone can also have positive consequences... it sets borders on how far people can push you, they might realize that you are only human and don't have to agree with everything they like, it also might break relations that should have been broken up a long time ago.
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abundance72
Australia
37 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2013 : 14:55:20
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Thank you so much gigalos, that's a wonderful explanation. I will certainly make a copy of this and ponder on all this in the next few days. I really appreciate you taking the time out to write to me. This is a great forum and I appreciate everyone's input.
Keep smiling 
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Every Cell in my body vibrates with energy and health
Loving myself heals my life. I nourish my mind, body and soul
My body heals quickly and easily
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KristenG
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2013 : 15:51:53
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quote:
Originally posted by gigalos
- A feeling of rocking or swaying, or feeling like you are veering to the side when walking.
- Tinnitus (ringing, buzzing or hissing sound on one or both ears)
- Visual disturbances (sensitivity to bright light or to motion stimuli; episodically out of focus)
- Momentary dizziness or internal ‘shift’ sensations that last for a couple of seconds.
- Nausea
- Feeling hot or flushed
- Tightness or clenching of the jaw.
- Heart palpitations or missed heart beats
- Body or situations may at times feel different or unreal
- Frequent fatigue
- ...
What a timely post ...for me anyway. I have been feeling all of the above symptoms in recent months. I had finally kind of gotten rid of most of these but in came neck and upper back pain. The symptom imperative at work!
Now the neck pain/tension seems to be making me dizzy at night when I lie down. I have had bouts of vertigo before. I was told it was BPPV. I told the doc that I noticed a pattern in the vertigo in that it came after I had been through a stressful time. He just dismissed that. I am convinced that the current dizziness/vertigo is from the tension in my neck which I KNOW is TMS. The wise SteveO told me before to work on the underlying anxiety not the actual pain, so that is what I am trying to do. I am supposed to get an answer this week to something that is very important to me....something I have years invested in. I feel like I am at max stress level over it. Yesterday I reminded myself that stressing over it does nothing other make me feel bad so let it go. Life will go on regardless of the turnout.
In the meantime, I had to sleep in the recliner last night because I couldn't stand to lie down flat. I feel confident that that will end soon. I've been listening to a hypnosis recording for self esteem every night. I am not sure if it is sinking in but the guy's voice sure does make me relax!
Anyway, I am not sure that I added anything to this conversation, but wanted to say thank you to gigalos for posting. I needed to read this.
Be well,
Kristen
Worry is the misuse of imagination. |
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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2013 : 16:43:05
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Hi Kristen,
Kudos to eliuri too.. he found the article..
If you want the full text, send me a message.
You added your story which in turn may help others become convinced it is all coming from stress and therefore it is TMS/MBS. Thanks for that.
I still get that rocky swaying feeling once and a while when I just positioned myself in bed to go to sleep. I find it helps to first laugh, then compliment my unconscious about how clever he is and then make subtle movements that provoke the feeling. It usually dies down within a couple of minutes. Indeed when I am stressed, the chances are higher that this feeling visits me.
I hope you get the right answer, take care |
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apace41
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - 04/17/2013 : 21:17:36
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New to the board, and came here as a result of a google search that called up gigalos' original post. I have suffered from virtually all of the symptoms listed in that initial post. I call it "disequilibrium" because "dizziness" doesn't really hit the mark. The walking on a waterbed analogy resonates. In my case, it is not all that intermittent, rather it seems pretty continuous.
I had multiple vestibular and ear tests, including MRI, EEG, VNG, hearing tests, etc. and all were negative. I have gone for vestibular therapy and was told my balance was "too good" for rehab. So, the two things that I have considered as the cause are either vestibular migraine (migraine causing vertigo without headache) or chronic subjective dizziness -- essentially Psycho-physiological dizziness syndrome which would land me squarely in the category of TMS.
I had heard of Sarno when I dealt with a back problem during most of 2011. Typical story of back pain, herniation on MRI, suggestion of surgery, etc. I did not "think psychological" to heal the back but it healed through yoga, inversion table and, most likely, time. Interestingly, after the back felt better, I wound up doing 3 months of a serious exercise program during which I got into the best shape of my adult life. The dizziness hit at that point. Could be a new symptom replacing the back problem -- I don't know.
I fit the personality class for TMS in that I have perfectionist tendencies, want to please and avoid confrontation, am tense and stressed much of the time. I have trigger points in my neck and shoulders and it is sore, tight and painful much of the time.
Looking for input from others as to how they got to the point of going "all in" on TMS as the cause.
Sorry so long.
Thanks for thoughts,
Andy
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Edited by - apace41 on 04/17/2013 21:19:14 |
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Psycho-Physiological Dizziness Syndrome
