| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| kjarvis |
Posted - 04/07/2006 : 15:19:28
It seems all the cases ever revieved by Sarno in his books or by his colleagues are all about physical pain with just mention of anxiety or depression but no case studies. It seems there may be doubt in the mind of Sarno if these emotional states are actually TMS or not. Seth mentioned Meds for his emotional states and his dependancy and there is little encouragement from Sarnos books or DVD lecture that these should be treated like physical pain. Why does he never say treat it like physical pain and it to will go away? In fact he says in his new book SOME PATIENTS WILL BE REFERED TO PHARMACOLOGISTS FOR TREATMENT, how discouraging. VERY DISCOURAGING..........
Kev |
| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| atg |
Posted - 04/08/2006 : 16:30:09
Kevin,
Personally, I think Sarno would look at the constant shifting of your symptoms as evidence that they all share the same purpose. It seems like your anxiety has worked the best in eliciting your fear and attention, so naturally it has become your most common TMS symptom.
Your fear that you will have to leave your wife, sell your house and quit your job does not sound irrational. Anxiety can be crippling and terrifying, and can emotionally hijack you to do whatever you feel you need to do in order to not feel it anymore.
Years ago, I broke up with my girlfriend, a girl who years before I would have done anything to be with, because of continuous panic attacks. Within a week the anxiety disappeared. And depression set in.
The pain, whether it be physical or emotional, can be nearly intolerable and can cause a lot of fear, so there's no shame in admitting your occasional desire to ditch all of these pressures.
I have confidence that with your new knowledge you will be able to eventually conquer your symptoms with your wife, job, and house all in tow. I'm not sure if you talk to your wife about all this feeling inside of you, but it might be helpful to communicate all these fears to her. She seems to be one of the pressures, perhaps she can be turned into a teammate of yours in your struggle.
Alan |
| vnwees |
Posted - 04/08/2006 : 10:38:31
alan, oops, sorry for mispelling your name. vicki |
| vnwees |
Posted - 04/08/2006 : 10:37:24
kevin, i, too have gone thru some pretty intense life experiences in recent times...including the suicide of my son and the death of both parents. in with that was stress on the marriage (we both went kinda crazy for awhile) and finances due to my inability to work for a year after jake died. my experience has been that IT CAN ALL BE DEALT WITH AND THE SYMPTOMS DRAMATICALLY REDUCED OR ELIMINATED USING SARNO'S PROGRAM. don't give up. all the support on this site is awesome. i'm impressed. this is my 3rd day here at tms forum. thanks to allen for his wise words, too. good luck! vicki |
| kjarvis |
Posted - 04/07/2006 : 21:40:23
Alan thank you soooooo!!! much I appreciate your time to post, I guess I just had to vent a little because I have went from anxiety to pelvic pain to back pain to depressive moods and headaches all in two days, and was not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Anxiety is now the most used TMS symptom with me now. I am getting to the point of some of the rage. I got married and started a new job as a police officer and built a house all within 9 months in 2005 and I know the inner child just hates all this pressure and change and does not want to be tied down personally, finacially or professionally. I hope I do not have to quit my job, sell my house and leave my wife to feel better and I know that sounds irrational but sometimes that is how it feels, no pressure, demand, lots of freedom and no financial obligation = no TMS. Anyway thanks again and any more comments most welcome.
Kevin. |
| atg |
Posted - 04/07/2006 : 20:45:23
Kevin,
As far as I can tell, Sarno has no doubt that depression and anxiety are equivalents of TMS. On page 30 of "The Mindbody Prescription" he writes, "The idea that the physical conditions just listed are psychologically induced is controversial. Even more controversial is my conclusion that both anxiety and depression are equivalents of TMS...The following case histories illustrate the equivalency of anxiety and depression." He then gives a case study of both depression and anxiety which are each obvious manisfestations of TMS (in one case extreme anxiety developed soon after the alleviation of a woman's back pain, in the other case a man developed severe back and leg pain very soon after antidepressants effectively eliminated his depression.)
It is not surprising that he would refer someone w/ severe anxiety or depression to a pharmacologist, after all, he prescribes pain medication to some people with severe pain. He never states that such medication can't help, rather he thinks that in extreme cases it can be used to reduce the symptoms UNTIL the patient has made enough headway in his TMS work to no longer need them.
I remember my similar pursuit through Sarno's books to find everything he had to say about daily tension headaches. I felt very frustrated and out of control that he only mentioned it in passing, and didn't give any case study examples in which the headaches went away.
There seems to be a need amongst some of us TMSers to find EXACTLY what we have described as TMS as proof that we have TMS. Perhaps this is normal? I don't know. I do believe that even if Sarno had written a whole chapter about tension headaches as an TMS equivalent including dozens of flowery case studies, I would have found another outlet for my doubt.
Sometimes external confirmation is what we need. I don't know if Dr. Sarno answers emails (I know he won't make personal diagnoses through mail), but you might want to write to him and ask, "Have you seen people treat depression and/or anxiety like it were TMS and it would go away?" I expect he would respond that he has. If he doesn't respond, write to Dr. Sopher.
Personally, I suffered from depression and anxiety for several years (before the physical pain ever started) but I remember noting at the time, that I either had depression or I had anxiety, but not at the same time. This correlates to many TMS patients' history with multiple physical symptoms, they'll usually feel one or the other, but mostly not at the same time.
Good luck,
I'm sure you'll get the answer you're looking for.
Alan |
| vnwees |
Posted - 04/07/2006 : 18:17:22
could be viewed as discouraging, yes, but could also be viewed as possible. i am one person having success with "sarno-sizing" the anxiety and depression away. it (or something) is working and has been for several months now. perhaps there are others out there trying this? |
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