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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
 Posted - 04/18/2013 : 15:10:59
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Your question is the most asked one on this forum. Is it TMS for sure or not? The only person able to convince you are you.
You managed to describe your traits and how they fit the picture, which is a great start. I recognize them in myself. I only miss how you score on the anxiety trait.. especially your fear for the "dis-equilibrium".
I feel that treating it as TMS can make your better on two fronts:
- you get rid of pain or other discomforts.
- you will become less strained and will become less sensitive for things that used to give you strain and therefore it will make life easier.
What have you got to loose from it? I don't know, do you? And if you know some, does it weigh up to the possible wins?
You could start journaling. Writing down when the intensity of any discomfort changed or shifted, then analyzing what situations, thoughts, emotions, locations etc. could have been responsible for it.
I really advise you to read the keys that Ace1 posted here, they are a great tool. There are also books listed that you can read to learn more about TMS.
I have one last question: can you think of anything that (unconsciously) could have strained you when the dizziness hit? Did you start to work more? Did something change or happen? Think of anything, it might expose another key in the process of getting better.
good luck to you
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apace41
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2013 : 15:48:58
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quote:
You managed to describe your traits and how they fit the picture, which is a great start. I recognize them in myself. I only miss how you score on the anxiety trait.. especially your fear for the "dis-equilibrium".
I have a pretty high anxiety level, especially "health anxiety" (sounds so much better than hypochondria, no?  ). My family history sucks, especially around cardiovascular stuff and I've had some panic attacks that have most likely stemmed from that. So, I have a decent fear of the disequilibrium -- it's come down from where it was at one point, but it makes itself known a fair amount.
quote:
I feel that treating it as TMS can make your better on two fronts:
- you get rid of pain or other discomforts.
- you will become less strained and will become less sensitive for things that used to give you strain and therefore it will make life easier.
What have you got to loose from it? I don't know, do you? And if you know some, does it weigh up to the possible wins?
I kind of had the same view for the most part, i.e., since a lot of the "work" is a journey of self-exploration, it's hard to see how you go wrong doing it. The only concern is that if I don't go 100% into it, the concomitant failure would be difficult and hard on a perfectionist personality. 
quote:
I really advise you to read the keys that Ace1 posted here, they are a great tool. There are also books listed that you can read to learn more about TMS.
Yes, first thing I found when I came to the site before I was approved. I've printed them out and review them periodically. I have Healing Back Pain and The Divided Mind and just picked up What to Say When you Talk to Yourself. I'm a believer in mind/body so that part of it is easy. Connecting the dots and tying this situation to that principle and "buying in" is the harder part.
quote:
I have one last question: can you think of anything that (unconsciously) could have strained you when the dizziness hit? Did you start to work more? Did something change or happen? Think of anything, it might expose another key in the process of getting better.
Yes. I was working out with a personal trainer and was finding myself in new territory of "wellness." I had lowered body fat near 10% and it morphed from "let's get back into shape after the back problem" into a competition to regain my youth, I suppose. No room for not getting a workout in, push yourself, etc. Perfectionism taking the joy out of something that was fun.
Characteristic of self -- doing well on something brings a sense of "relief" not a sense of "joy."
Thanks for all your interest, Gigalos.
Andy |
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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2013 : 16:23:44
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I am impressed about your analysis and self-knowledge, but it makes it more difficult for me to understand why you have so much difficulty with accepting the "evidence" and just go with it. I also have the occasional doubt, it isn't a big deal. The more you learn about your own mindbody connection, the easier it gets to wave any doubts goodbye.
Just adding some personal stuff that kind of mirrors yours. "Perfectionism taking the joy out of something that was fun." Well put!
I was actually experiencing strain from playing table tennis. I wanted to improve, I did in the beginning as is normal, but after a while the slope got steeper to improve and I was frustrated sometimes. It wasn't so much doing it for the fun any more, but more about doing it right and winning games. I decided two months ago that I want to enjoy it again, playing for the fun and enjoy the social event, not for winning or needing to become better at the game. I now train on my technique occasionally and deliberately join games with enjoyable people. I even thought about quitting the competition and just play for fun, but something withholds me as I rather develop myself to be able to get less strained from playing a game.
Two weeks ago I actually experienced a completely (TM)symptom free day. I somehow didn't know how to handle myself with this new feeling (fear for not experiencing any discomfort?) and the next day the symptoms started to slowly reappear...
thanx for this insight :) |
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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2013 : 16:37:09
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Just to add a story of somebody who I know from my table tennis club. Because I told him about my problems, he confessed he suffered from a similar thing two years ago. He didn't dare to share it with anyone because of the usual taboo on talking about mind problems.
His dizziness started after he passed out in the bathroom and banged his head on the floor. Since then he suffered numerous episodes of dizziness, it took him many many months of fear and worries to recover, mainly by trying to keep doing the things he wanted to do and by discovering patterns in his symptoms that somehow started to reassure him.
When I told him about PPDS his jaw almost fell to the ground.... |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2013 : 17:08:43
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quote:
Originally posted by gigalos
When I told him about PPDS his jaw almost fell to the ground....
What is PPDS? |
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apace41
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2013 : 17:14:01
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quote:
Originally posted by tennis tom
quote:
Originally posted by gigalos
When I told him about PPDS his jaw almost fell to the ground....
What is PPDS?
Psycho-physiological dizziness syndrome. |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2013 : 17:57:42
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| Thanks |
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Forfeet
USA
40 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2013 : 13:26:40
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quote:
Originally posted by gigalos
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.
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2. a period of stress (with or without panic attacks)
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)
Momentary dizziness or internal ‘shift’ sensations that last for a couple of seconds.
Nausea
Headaches
Heart palpitations or missed heart beats
Frequent fatigue
[/list]
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.
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.
Gigalos,
Thank you for writing this post. In my edit of your original post above, I included all the symptoms that have occurred in my particular case.
Beginning in 2009, I began having a variety of symptoms that seem to fit with those described in your post. To be more succinct, my symptoms combine a buzzing, vibrating, and sometimes clicking in the left ear and the left side of my head, primarily in the base of the skull but sometimes felt in the left side of the forehead also. A shaking of my vision and sometimes momentary difficulty focusing on what is in my line of sight occurs also.
These symptoms will come for several weeks and then disappear for several months before returning. Over the last 2+ months they have been persistent and seem to have lasted longer than usual. It may be due to the fact that I am undergoing a chronic period of stress and anxiety due to several factors including fear of aging and wondering what direction to take in my vocational life.
When they first occurred in 2009 I was not yet aware of TMS. I was in grad school and in a very stressful semester-a period where I had several physical TMS like symptoms and difficulty sleeping to the point where I even took a prescribed sleeping medication for a few days.
Not coincidentally I'm sure, the symptoms began about the time one of my roommates was talking about how she would go crazy if she had to deal with tinnitus all the time. Not long after I noticed a cricket like sound in the left ear after turning my head to the left. Later in the day the symptoms got worse and would occur on and off several times throughout the day and many days after. I first feared I was suffering a series of mini strokes.
Over time, I had hearing tests, a negative MRI, and several doctors visits with no real results. Hearing tests revealed some minimal hearing loss, but I think that has occurred over a lifetime of going to rock concerts and listening to loud music and not from this syndrome.
Since 2010, I've treated it as TMS and have often remained symptom free for long periods. I do believe some structural phenomena exacerbate the symptoms however, including sinus and allergies in particular, although I do not believe they are the cause. One period of symptom relief occurred the day after a routine cholonoscopy when I had flushed my system out in preparation. The symptoms had occurred for several months prior and well before I was informed I was going to have the cholonoscopy, so I don't think unconscious fear of the exam was the cuprit, but I'm open to any interpretation. Conscious anxiety also definitely exacerbates the symptoms. |
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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2013 : 15:48:34
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Hi forfeet, thanks for your contribution,
Why did you have the colonoscopy? Did they find anything or could this also be attributed to just another mindbody symptom? |
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UmaLoo
Canada
4 Posts |
Posted - 06/30/2013 : 20:47:00
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"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)."
Gigalos, I cannot thank you enough for this bit of information. It has given me great courage to continue to release and relax. It echoes what I feel completely, and is so timely. My days have improved greatly thanks to your post, so THANK YOU from the bottom of my whole being! I wrote it out on a flash card, and laminated it at work to carry with me as a reminder when I get wobbly, and start to react emotionally~
Rock On! Pun intended :) |
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gigalos
Netherlands
310 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2013 : 11:06:53
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| Happy to hear you benefit from it! Good luck |
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icelikeaninja
USA
316 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2013 : 11:41:12
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| Whoa these things are so common. We are all hard wired the same on this board. It's reassuring to see these posts. |
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cptusopp
Singapore
20 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2015 : 23:28:05
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I see myself in the first thread..
I am so glad to see this thread , nobody seem to understand my condition and i am very sure it is TMS related cause of the following
- My symptoms are running (back/neck/shoulder pain /headache/dizzy/nerve tingling on body , faces,lips)
- Had MRI scan done on my back which turns out negative, Had shoulder checked as well with nothing found.
Doctor only gave me a reply as degeneration of my structure..i wasn't convinced
- Had MRI scan on brain from neurologist , and couldn't find the cause for my headache.
Doctor told me is due to stress.
Thank you for this thread. I am still on the road to recovery on and off after 4 years when i first had these symptom.
Best of Luck to everyone. I wish everyone recovery soon.  |
Edited by - cptusopp on 01/20/2015 23:29:59 |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2016 : 17:19:47
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I’m reviving this thread in the hope that there are some lurkers who can add some stories about their ”PPDS” that will encourage me to relax in my fear response. I’ve been having this dizziness, vertigo, walking on waterbed thing for... not quite sure how long. But it’s definitely been worse since some enormous stressors earlier this year that I’m still recovering from, namely:
1) near-fatal pneumonia in which I (duh!) was very close to not making it which didn’t turn around for weeks
2) the issues that came up around the fact that I’m single and needed absolute full-time care; e.g. I broke up with best girlfriend as a result of her bailing on me the day I got sick (as she had done a few years ago when I had the “C” diagnosis). Actually, in the end, I can say that many, many friends rallied around and helped me, but it emphasized the pain I feel around being single for quite a while (after much of my life as a cozy married person, with always at least one person there for me)
3) In the middle of being ill, and still unable to even get to the bathroom alone, I had to move house
4) when I got to the new place it was being remodeled (I couldn’t change any of this).
Months later I’m kind of better but have a lot of TMS-y symptoms that just feel like fear running through my body, or exhaustion, and the loss of a third of my hair which is the worst for a woman into my prettiness, but most alarming of the symptoms is the dizziness thing. I’ve been trying to treat it as TMS or specifically, now I know the name, as PPDS, but it’s hard. I have definite markers of low this and high that in my blood which I’m also trying to treat.
The pneumonia was about as “real” an illness as I’ve ever had. I spent weeks lying facedown, trying to relax and find my next breath. Feeling each feeling as it moved through. And so on. Of course it’s ALL psycho-physical at some level, but this particular manifestation was many generations removed from my usual roving symptom imperative non-dangerous but very difficult symptoms.
Anyway, anyone out there with a success story on this one?
Sending love to all my old TMS homies here.
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2016 : 08:46:19
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Hi Katie, was wondering where you were and you popped right up. Sorry to hear about all your recent travails, but it sounds like with your TMS spirit, you've broken through. I tried PM'ing you from this site but it bounced back, also tried phoning but the number's been changed. PM me if you'd like and give me your new contacts. Are you still in NorCal?
Best Wishes,
tt |
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Psycho-Physiological Dizziness Syndrome
