| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| res |
Posted - 07/05/2005 : 21:42:29
I am a TMS success story but here lately I have been getting TMS in various locations that I have to fight off. I had been feeling great again for about 1 month and then I was rearended in my car. There was no real damage to my car (I actually was in a Jeep with a tire on the back and all the impact was there). Anyway, I was mostly fine the next day, but the day after that I started getting some arm symptoms. Then a week after the accident, I was swimming with my 5 year old and he grabbed onto me and I felt a strain in my neck. He didn't grab me very hard and I am not sure that this should have done anything. Well, the next day, my neck was sore and i could hardly move it and my arm pain got worse. I went to the doctor today (10 days after the wreck) and the xrays are negetive and he said that I just had a muscle and ligament injury (of course). Has anyone had this happen since learning of TMS? She I go to Physical therapy and get treatment or just let it heal knowing that injuries heal and get better and anything beyond a coulple of weeks is TMS?
Any advice? |
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Dave |
Posted - 07/06/2005 : 18:22:40
quote:
Originally posted by johnnyg
I mean I think he is sincere, but I could tell he wanted the insurance money too.
No doubt, there can be a game between insurance companies and doctors, especially when it comes to accidents that can be used to invent injuries.
But there are also good, well-meaning doctors who make a diagnosis that they were educated to do, and firmly believe that diagnosis. Unfortunately, their training does not integrate mind-body concepts. |
| art |
Posted - 07/06/2005 : 10:18:43
This is a good thread for me because I just took a nasty fall and while there's no question I've got some actual injuries, none of them are too serious and I know that going foward, TMS oculd possibly take over and get in the way of recovery.
To me, this is one of those areas where it gets kind of dicey. I'm a big TMS proponent and have terrific success with it thanks in great measure to this very site, but on the other hand I also believe it's possible to sustain an injury and not be fully aware of it at the time.
In my case, I fell with my dog in my arms, a very traumatic thing for me (the doggie, bless him, had no clue as to why we were suddenly on the ground and was totally unhurt). I fell hard on my right shoulder and though it hurt at the time, it was much stiffer and much more painful the next day. There's no doubt in my mind that this is real. By the same token, I also know it's not serious and should clear up in a few days...a week tops...If it doesn't, I'll know that the TMS gremlins have come have come back and feel fully prepared and equipped to deal with it...
But, I think one needs to be careful about totally ignoring injuries that follow on any kind of accident. If one is rear-ended at ten or more miles per hour (I'm just pulling that number out of a hat), you would think that could be a lot of stress on the body, some of which might not be noticed due the the mental trauma that most any car accident will induce..
I hope I haven't muddied the waters for res....just my honest opinion. Ultimately, I think a lot of this comes down to common sense. I know Dr. Sarno does not credit whiplash as a genuine injury, and I'm certainbly not going to argue with that. |
| res |
Posted - 07/06/2005 : 09:34:24
I appreciate the input. Two days after the mild arm pain started, I knew that the TMS was the cause of the arm pain. I actually kayaked and played golf the next two days. However, when I felt a little pull while playing in the pool with my 5 year old a few days later, I really thought that I had strained my neck. I woke up the next morning barely able to move my head and my arm pain had really increased. My neck motions are getting less painful, but I am still trying to comvince myself that there is no way that something so little could have actually caused an injury. Boy, this TMS is convincing!!!!!
Anyway, I do remember Dr. Sarno talking about someone bending over and picking up a pencil and this setting off severe sciatica. He said that there is no way that something so benign could have acutally caused sciatica and a back injury. I think maybe the swimming pool thing falls into this category. Do you guys all agree?
Also, do you all think that the best is to treat it as TMS and avoid physical therapy and chiro treatments? |
| johnnyg |
Posted - 07/06/2005 : 08:53:04
Yeah, this was at the very beginning of my TMS therapy and I learned fast that it's all really a guess. I mean I think he is sincere, but I could tell he wanted the insurance money too. Right at that point, chiropractic didn't give me the placebo effect I had been getting b4. |
| Dave |
Posted - 07/06/2005 : 08:37:06
Almost certainly TMS. There is no such thing as "whiplash" and if the accident was minor, it did not cause any injury. If there was an injury, it would have been immediately apparent.
X-Rays do not show muscles and ligaments. The doctor is guessing. |
| johnnyg |
Posted - 07/06/2005 : 08:34:27
I had a minor car accident recently. A woman (not a cut down on women drivers, just a fact ;)) hit the side of my car with an SUV. She wasn't going too fast, but enough to jolt me to the side (like side-neck whiplash). I went to my chiropractor and my neck and back pain got worse. I realized that the adjustments were not doing anything, so I completely stopped going and got better right away. It was definitely my brain finding additional interesing spots to create new distractions--that sneaky f'er. |
| n/a |
Posted - 07/06/2005 : 02:33:53
I can only speak for myself of course, Res, but if I were you I'd watch out for TMS symptoms masquerading as problems resulting from your accident.
A few years ago, before I knew anything about psychological/physical links; this was before the terrible back pain that was my main TMS manifestation set in; I had an accident that resulted in a badly broken shoulder. I had an operation the same day and pins were used to repair my badly broken shoulder joint.
The surgeon declared the operation a great success. I accepted that - the shoulder healed, after a few months. I had intensive physio and the therapist kept telling me how well it was healing and it did. I have full use of that shoulder and I have never had any pain in the area since it healed.
Years later, after many difficult stressful life events, the horrible lower back pain set in. At some point I must have asked a doctor if there could be any connection with that accident and he must have said it was possible because in my notes from then on - it was back pain described as a likely result of an accident.
The thing is, Res - I definitely did not injure my back during that accident, but here it was, years later, being blamed for my back problems, in other words - an injury was supposed to have lain dormant in my lower back for years before it decided to show itself.
I bought that explanation at first and with it a pessimism that I had no hope of recovery. Now I know that my accident injured my shoulder - nowhere else, but had I not been prepared to dig a bit deeper, I would probably be in a pretty disabled state by now, telling people that my problems stemmed from an accident years before.
If you do decide to go for physical therapy, just be careful you don't fall into the trap I did, that of linking aches and pains that are probably TMS with your accident.
Best wishes
Anne |
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