Learning to control the symptoms of BMS, i.e. both the physical and psychological symptoms, is very hard and, in my view, a long process of ups and downs.
If you, like I, have visited many doctors without any other result
than a new prescription and felt more hopeless when that didn't work
either. If you, like I, have felt like nobody could understand what
you were going through. If you, like I, have felt that this was destroying
your life, and you've felt all energy drained from your body, you will
most likely not get over this within weeks or even months.
I believe that the very first step, and the most basic and important,
is to look yourself in the eyes in the mirror, and acknowledge that
you have a serious problem. Doing that is important, not only to yourself,
but also to your surroundings. Don't fool yourself or the people who
care about you.
The next step of controlling BMS, is getting distance to the symptoms
and start a good circle. This is where I can help you, with the products
and information provided on this page. So you are already on your way.
To me it's very important to make you understand that dealing with the
symptoms is not only of a physical matter. If you don't have someone
professional to turn to in the periods of need, I strongly suggest that
you get it. Don't be afraid to seek professional help. I don't necessarily
mean a psychologist; I've gotten help from different kinds of relaxation-therapists,
and learned some very valuable relaxation-exercises. But don't be afraid
to seek all the help you can get. You may very well need it. I know
I did…
The following information is what I've have learned about BMS in the
two years I've lived with it. I won't describe matters like, when during
the day, the symptoms are worst, and how they feel, because, reading
this, you probably already know it. But if you recognize some of the
patterns I describe here I believe this can be very useful and valuable
information:
- The physical symptoms develop in cycles. There are bad periods and good periods. The length of these periods very much depend on your psychological state of mind. Whenever I've had a good period, being days, weeks or months, it always tends to end when I get worried about the return of the physical symptoms. A very typical pattern will be as follows:
- A good period will give me distance to the problem, and I'll start to forget about it, and do things I'd normally do. After a while, I might feel, or think I feel, a slight indication of a symptom on my tongue. I will start worrying about it, and start to use the measures I know to keep the physical symptoms away. Earlier I would totally neglect the psychological aspect, and within a week my worrying and fear would manifest themselves in exactly what I feared - a new round of burning mouth… That development has become so obvious to me that I'm usually able to break that evil circle before it gets bad, but the ball can still roll, all the way down the hill.
- Then when I start to relax and cope with the situation, I relax and work both with the physical with different combinations of the chews, pads, The Plate and covers, and, which is as important, I work with the psychological aspect which helps me relax and think positively. This starts a good circle and a new good period, where the symptoms once again disappear or minimize, and I will have new strength, knowledge and experience, to help myself make this new good period even longer than the previous one.
- A very important thing for me is to get something out of the bad periods. I try to remember what triggered the change, and what I did to turn the development, or I try to use the symptoms to develop a physical device. That will help me the next time I get trouble. This serves two purposes. First of all, my line of defense gets stronger, and second I don't feel so much that I am wasting some time of my life.
- Another important aspect is your attention to your mouth. If you have been drinking or smoking a lot, or eating hot spicy food, your mouth will naturally react. This happens to everybody, but for us it can be very dangerous to let ourselves be disposed to these reactions. Therefore, to me, it is important that if I am in a bad period, I try to avoid these things. The reason is that your mind can have a hard time differentiating between the BMS symptoms and the natural symptoms from the external exposure. In my case this has sometimes resulted in a setback.
- If you feel you have any valuble information about this that others can use, please send me a mail on info@go4hope.org and I'll add it to this page.
