Tension Myositis Syndrome and Fibromyalgia
Is Fibromyalgia TMS? A quick look at the Fibro /MindBody dynamic
There can be no doubt that the disorder known as fibromyalgia is really a severe form of TMS. As such, it will respond to this approach, but progress can be slow. The reason for this is that these sufferers have been deeply ingrained with their diagnosis through their experience with traditional as well as alternative medical providers.
Dr Mark Sopher, To Be or Not to Be… Pain Free
The Fibromyalgia diagnosis can be life-altering and heartbreaking, due to the fact that it is thought to be a condition for which there is no cure. Yet in this article, my aim is to convince you that there is indeed hope, and that Fibromyalgia can be overcome if you tackle it from a different perspective: if you are willing to view it as simply a manifestation of what we know of as Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS) or MindBody Syndrome.
Sarno himself declared that fibromyalgia is a synonym for severe TMS, and that patients suffering from this condition seem to be afflicted by several tender points that we also consider when diagnosing TMS.
Shocking, isn’t it? Then why aren’t more fibromyalgia sufferers getting better, if the TMS method works so well?
If you’re wondering whether Tension Myositis Syndrome and Fibromyalgia really are one and the same thing, then you’re already one step ahead of 99% of sufferers! I’ll explain why this is below.
Why Fibromyalgia could be harder to treat as Tension Myositis Syndrome
Our personal understanding of fibromyalgia has everything to do with whether we can overcome symptoms or not.
For this reason, below I will explain 3 main reasons why fibromyalgia can be difficult to treat as TMS and suggest a few things you can start doing today to get closer to a pain-free state.:
1) The Fibro diagnosis is scary and disempowering
One of the biggest problems with treating fibromyalgia as TMS is the fact that fibro sufferers have received a terrible diagnosis: they have been told that they have a ‘condition’ for which there is no cure. All doors to complete healing seem closed, and they simply cannot even imagine a life without pain, because their hope has been cruelly snatched away.
And yet we must remember that the fibromyalgia diagnosis is usually given based on the location and manifestation of pain or other symptoms. There is really no medical test or scan that indicates the presence of an illness.
For this reason, it is incorrect to assume that Fibromyalgia is an illness (contrary to, for example, Celiac disease, whereas blood tests can show the presence of this autoimmune condition, or cancer, whereby tumours are identified).
And therefore, scary as it sounds, the word ‘Fibromyalgia’ is simply a label, given to describe the presence of a number of chronic symptoms for which there is no physical explanation.
What’s more, fibromyalgia sufferers experience multiple symptoms, which change from one day to another, and flare-up, seemingly for no reason. This is a strong indicator that symptoms are in no way ‘fixed’ and cannot possibly be due to a structural abnormality or an ever-present condition.
Research also suggests that there’s a strong link between fibromyalgia, past trauma, intense emotional stress and depression (Penny J Funress et al., 2018, Nermin Gündüz et. al, 2018 & others). This shows that the link between fibromyalgia and negative emotional factors has already been accepted, even by mainstream medicine.
The above opens up the possibility of viewing fibromyalgia as a psychosomatic and neuroplastic condition, caused by a person’s strong emotions and anxiety levels, some of which may be entirely repressed.
My Personal tip:
Embrace the possibility that your own emotional state is contributing to the continuous generation of symptoms.
Notice any correlations between flare-ups and your emotional state or stressors at the time when the flare-ups occurred. Also take a good look at what was happening in your life prior to the onset of symptoms. Can you make any connection between these events and your symptoms?
Also know that past trauma need not dictate your current pain levels. The only reason why pain remains chronic is due to the continuous generation of negative emotions like fear, anxiety and helplessness. Therefore, TMS pain has a direct correlation to your present emotional state.
2) Fibromyalgia ‘treatments’ make chronic pain worse
People with fibromyalgia may already have tried dozens of treatments, only to be disappointed each and every time. This makes techniques like vizualisation and self-empowerment difficult to apply. To make things even worse, all the treatments that they’ve been subjected to were all aimed at addressing the symptoms, and not the true cause of pain. Pain relief meds, cbd oil, massages, acupuncture and the lot seek to provide patients with some relief, generally by increasing blood flow to the area and promoting muscle relaxation.
But what’s the use of temporarily relaxing the area, if there’s another ‘source of tension’ that’s constantly leading to muscle tightness and all sorts of negative changes in the body?
If you continue to treat chronic pain in this way, it’s like pouring water into a punctured bucket. You can keep on pouring it, but eventually it will leak out unless the hole is mended!
Treating chronic pain in this way is also doing something else: it is reinforcing the idea that your body is ‘broken’ by treating it as if there’s something structurally wrong. It is helping you reinforce your ‘addiction’ to temporary pain relief, instead of working towards becoming pain free by firmly believing that there is no need for the pain to persist. It is going against one of Dr Sarno’s 12 Daily Reminders.
My personal tip:
Take a good look at all the things you are doing either to get pain relief or to prevent the re-occurrence of pain. Are you avoiding specific activities or over-protecting your body?
When we avoid certain movements or activities, and when we view our body as ‘damaged’ or weak, we are essentially reaffirming that specific activities will be harmful for us, and equating them with danger. Since pain is essentially a danger signal, it will more easily fire when we engage in something which we believe is ‘harmful’ or ‘too much’ for our body to take!
And so, the constant and fearful thought of having ‘overdone’ it is what often leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy by generating more pain!
3) Fibromyalgia support groups reject TMS and build an identity around the condition
There’s a support group for every kind of condition on the planet nowadays. People who feel misunderstood about their condition or who are seeking solutions feel the need to talk to others who are going through the same problems, and there’s no harm in this.
Or is there?
Although joining a support group may help in some cases, one thing I noticed about Fibromyalgia support groups is the fact that they help sufferers strengthen their identity as fibro sufferers. The problem with this is that we are moving even further away from the possibility of being pain free (because now our pain has become a part of our identity).
Try suggesting that there is a cure, and that they need to start addressing the root cause of their suffering, and you get automatically banished from the group (yep, it happened to me, even though I myself had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and am now pain free!)
What’s more, as sufferers share their experiences with others, in the hope of feeling understood, this does nothing to make the pain go away. In fact, it does the complete opposite. Sharing your pain with others keeps your mind focused on it, and helps you adopt what I call the victim mentality.
This may sound cruel, but unfortunately most Fibromyalgia support groups encourage this victim mentality - by reaffirming their own suffering on a constant basis, most people can never stop feeling like a victim and therefore cannot empower themselves in the way TMS treatment requires you to do.
My personal tip:
To heal from chronic pain using the TMS method, you need to shift your mentality from that of victim of your pain to that of ‘master’ of your destiny. You need to stop reinforcing your fear of pain and your frustration with it.
One of the ways to do this is to stop telling other people how unbearable your pain is, which means, no more support groups unless your group is one in which people are actually focusing on the possibility of a cure!
In general, you should avoid speaking at length about your pain. Even if someone asks you how you’re doing, try not to describe your suffering in great detail. Trust me, this one works!
How to treat Fibromyalgia as Tension Myositis Syndrome
If you’ve read up to this point and you don’t feel upset, then you may be ready to treat your Fibromyalgia as TMS. Here are a few more action steps for you:
The first thing to do is to stop calling your condition ‘fibromyalgia’. Fibromyalgia is just a manifestation of TMS pain, which doctors know very little about. By giving it a name, you are giving it more ‘status’, and more power over you. So start by simply acknowledging that you’re in pain right now. That is the truth, after all. Don’t call it a fibro flare-up.
The next thing you need to do is educate yourself as much as possible about TMS (you can find plenty of resources on this page as well as on the TMS Wiki).
It would also help you to read success stories of people who have actually cured their fibro thanks to the TMS method - you’ll find plenty on the site called ‘Thank you Dr Sarno’, as well as Fibromyalgia Success Stories on the TMS Wiki.
Stop speaking about your pain or describing it at length.
Watch your beliefs and thoughts about your body. If you tend to dread pain, or perceive specific activities as potentially harmful, reframe things. Tell yourself that your body can take it! That you don’t need to be in pain! You need to start building more confidence and trust in your body first, and to interpret your day to day activities as safer, in order to stop firing the internal ‘alarm system’ that’s responsible for generating pain.
Get curious about your pain! Attempt to shift your fear, helplessness or frustration into curiosity. This is called a mindset shift, and it is a crucial part of TMS recovery. Various pain reprocessing techniques can help you achieve this faster!
Questions to ask yourself about your Fibromyalgia
TMS is an extensive subject and a journey that requires patience and a lot of self-awareness. If you’ve been suffering from fibromyalgia, there are a lot of things you’ve got to relearn, and a lot of programmed behaviours you need to unlearn. Just for today, ask yourself the below questions.
What are your predominant emotions in life? Are you ‘sensitive’, a ‘perfectionist’, and a chronic worrier? Most fibromyalgics fall into one or more of these categories, and their personalities make it harder for them to feel empowered and to let go of certain emotions.
If you find yourself caught in a rollercoaster of emotions, I would really suggest you read a book entitled The Courage to be Disliked, by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi - it’s an awesome read that will help free you from certain debilitating emotions.
Do you really want to be free of fibromyalgia or is your condition somehow serving you in some way? (for instance, by connecting you with other people in ways you wouldn’t be if you didn’t have the condition). The answer might sound obvious, yet thinking that we want something because it’s logical to want it and really wanting it on both a conscious and subconscious level is another thing.
How would it feel to be entirely pain free? Focus on those positive emotions. How real do they feel? Keep visualizing until the possibility gets stronger. You can’t feel like you’re kidding yourself - the feelings of joy and freedom that would come up if you were pain-free need to be felt in the present moment.
If you’re already on a disability benefit, how would it feel to get back to work and to leading a normal life? Would it feel liberating? Or could your fibro be keeping you from facing a situation or living a life you don’t want to live?
Once again, the above might sound triggering to those individuals who are new to TMS and mindbody pain. That said, if you feel that you resonate with any of the above, I encourage you to look into this further.
And remember, when you start dealing with Tension Myositis Syndrome, you might have to face a few painful truths. But it will be totally worth it.