Tension Myositis Syndrome & Myofascial Pain Syndrome
Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS) refers to pain caused by emotion. Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS) refers to tightly knotted and oxygen deprived muscles, caused by emotion, trauma or physical injury, which leads to pain that can be referred to other areas of the body. Myofasciitis is a term used to describe pain the network of muscles, tendons, ligaments and connective tissue. These are tissues that hold the body together.
Spiritual or Psychological cause for Tension Myositis Syndrome: Feeling as though you, or everything around you, is falling apart.
Associated Chakra(s): 4th Chakra and 6th Chakra
Associated Energy Meridian(s): Gallbladder Meridian and Liver Meridian
Tension Myositis Syndrome (Pain Caused by Emotion)
The following questions will help you to determine whether there is a possibility that you have TMS.
If your answer is yes to any of the following questions, score yourself 3 points:
Have you noticed a relationship between your pain and your emotions or stress? Do you ever notice you have a flare up of pain right before or after a stressful situation?
Is your personality driven, self-critical, perfectionistic, people pleasing? Do you avoid confrontation by being as helpful or as accommodating as possible?
Have doctors given you thorough evaluations and found nothing wrong with you?
Do you have a history of tension headaches, heart-burn, indigestion, dizziness, migraines, carpel tunnel syndrome or repetitive strain injury, hives or rashes, cold hands, teeth clenching (or grinding) or Tinnitus that has not been found to be related to neurological disease?
Do you pain persist even with conventional therapies and treatments?
For the following questions, score yourself 1 point for each yes answer:
Does your pain shift around your body and hurt worse first thing in the morning, weekends or evenings?
Did your pain start during or after a psychologically traumatic or particularly emotionally stressful event(s)?
Does your pain subside dramatically with massage or are you extremely sensitive to massage in parts of your back or neck?
When you get upset or are stressed out, does your pain increase in intensity?
Have you noticed that your pain improves when you have another stress related problem? For example, does your neck pain go away when you have a cold? Does your back ache leave you when you have a sore knee?
Does the pain improve when you are on vacation, or when you are distracted by something that interests you?
Have you ever been physically, emotionally or sexually abused?
Do you tend to stuff your negative emotions and suppress anger?
Does the pain move or jump around to different part of your body?
What's your total? _____
A score of 12 or higher implies a very good possibility that the pain you experience is actually caused by Tension Myositis Syndrome.
The good news? We can't change the past and we don't have to in order to erase the physical pain caused by repressed emotions. But, as long as we continue to acknowledge our emotions, we can continue to work on our current issues at our own pace, completely pain free!
Myofascial Pain Syndrome (Pain Caused by Knotted Muscles)...
...is the leading cause of pain and develops in stages.
Stage 1: Unacceptable emotions, which are often suppressed in order to get on with life and not fall apart.
Stage 2: Physiological changes as a result of the emotional stress, whether you feel stressed or not.
Stage 3: Physical symptoms, such as headache, muscle ache, nerve pain or digestive complaints.
Stage 4: Full blown syndrome, such as Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Arthritis or Irritable Bowel.
All of the above stages (1-4) relate to Tension Myositis Syndrome (pain caused by emotion).
By the time you arrive at Stage 3, muscles, nerves and joints have become used to firing signals to your spine, which sends messages to the brain that are interpreted as pain. Your muscles, have developed what are called trigger points (neuromyofascial pain), which are tight knots and bands of muscle and nerve, painful in and by themselves, which also send pain messages to different parts of your body. For example, you have a trigger spot (myofascial pain) in your shoulder, but you have a terrible headache. It is in Stage 3 that MPS (Myofascial Pain Syndrome) sets in. Stage 3 may develop into autoimmune disease if it lasts longer than 3 months.
By the time you reach Stage 4, you have several of these neuromyofascial spots, or trigger points, bothering you at the same time, which has now become a full fledged syndrome, causing many, many symptoms.
TMS & MPS Can Mimic Fibromyalgia and Cause Tinnitus/Meniere's Syndromes!
It is true! When I first learned about this, I was skeptical. I drug out my anatomical workbooks and went to work following the muscles through the body that led to the chamber of the inner ear. Unbelievable! It made so much sense. I had always intuitively felt my ear problems were due to muscle tension, but I couldn't get any of my doctors to listen to me. The TCL illustrated report, Ms. Musclehead, narrates the path tension takes toward creating Tinnitus Syndrome and Meniere's dis-ease!
All-Natural Therapies for TMS & MPS
Eat enough protein every day, at least 6-7 ounces. Muscles cannot repair without it.
Take Magnesium along with your Calcium and Vitamin D. Lack of minerals, alone, can cause severe muscle ache.
Vitamin B-12 and B-6 work synergistically to repair and protect nerve sheaths.
Also, Co-Enzyme Q-10 and Ubiquinol help to produce cellular energy (ATP) and support muscle recovery.
Pycnogenol, another antioxidant, often helps to reduce pain.
If you haven’t already, be sure to read the TCL e-book, “Eating, Naturally!”. By eating naturally, you will increase energy in those cells of yours. Increasing oxygen reduces pain and can help to erase painful symptoms of Tension Myositus and Myofascial Pain Syndrome!
When You've Been Told There is Nothing Wrong With You
When you have been told by your doctors that there is nothing structurally wrong with you, don't keep the fear alive of thinking there is something physically wrong with you, there may come a time you will have to stop looking for a physical reason. I'm not suggesting you don't keep at it until you are sure there is nothing physically wrong, but when test after test reveals nothing, and you are finally handed a bill of health even though you feel like dying, it may be time for another viewpoint.
You may have to accept that your symptoms are emotionally based. Emotion based syndromes do not mean that you are crazy or that it's 'all in your head'. It means that your emotions are manifesting themselves physically and it is time to begin the journey of loving yourself enough. Sometimes, people are instantly cured once they realize this. Others feel half of their pain may simply have been caused by the fear that something might have been wrong with them physically.
It may be helpful to begin to work on eliminating those things in life that cause you excess or undue emotional stress. Have you had a tough time emotionally? Painful memories, even memories from the distant past, can live in the limbic system in the brain long past the time when body tissues have healed. But, don't worry. There are things you can do to get beyond past memories, negative situations and relationships, and fearful symptoms. And, you don't have to sail that ship all by yourself.
For a TMS expert in Washington State, contact:
Integrative Health
Medical Acupuncture
1370 Stewart Street, Ste. #202
Seattle, WA 98109
Phone: 425.922.7576
Fax: 425.669.7500
To find an expert in any other state,
visit http://www.tarpityoga.com/tms.html.
The TMS Questionnaire can be found at http://mindbodymedicine.com/.
For self-help, the best book you can buy is The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief, by Clair Davies, N.C.T.M.B.
May Love & Energy Be Yours!
