| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| soccr234 |
Posted - 07/03/2006 : 15:43:31
Hi,
My name is Danny. I am 22 years old and have had low back pain and burning in my butt while sitting for 2 years now. I have read a couple of Sarno's books, seen Dr. Schecther in Los Angeles, and undergone 6 months of psychotherapy with someone he recommended, but have had no positive results. My x rays and MRI shows no structural abnormality and I have been told by my doctors that I have "myofascial pain". I am open to the idea of TMS, and about a year ago began vigorously bicycling again, but after a couple weeks, the burning in my butt intensified greatly, and I got scared and stopped. The increase in pain has not dissipated since then, which has simply added to my distress and made me afraid to once again begin physical activities.
One of the main things that has kept me open to the idea of TMS is that the pain does seem to move around a bit, which is supposedly a tell-tale sign of TMS. For example, sometimes the pain I get while sitting is not burning in my butt, but muscle pain in my back, but never both at once. The burning decreases in the same measure that the muscle pain increases, and vice versa. This has seemed to me to fit in with what Sarno says, but the other day I spoke to a friend who is in medical school and he said that this type of pain migration is in fact not strange at all. It is actually a characteristic feature of something called paingating which refers to the brain's inability to focus on more than one major pain at a time. So just because the pain changes in nature and location, does not necessarily indicate a psychosomatic cause. He speculated that I might have "neuritis." This was depressing to hear and made me even more skeptical of the TMS diagnosis than I already was. If anyone can offer a response to what my friend has said, I would appreciate. And also, in general, if people could give me some advice as to how I can overcome my skepticism and fully accept the diagnosis, I would be grateful. Thanks.
Danny |
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| soccr234 |
Posted - 07/06/2006 : 13:05:46
Dave,
I will definitely look at that section. The thing, though, is that there have been times when I have been very worried that a certain activity, such as swimming, would result in increased pain and as it turns out it didn't. Other times I have been worried about an activity and it has increased pain. So, that is why it doesn't seem to me that the pain increase or decrease is a psychological response. It appears to have more to do with the type of physical activity I engage in.
Danny |
| Dave |
Posted - 07/06/2006 : 12:42:31
quote:
Originally posted by soccr234
... I just have trouble accepting that the fact that pain increased with a particular activity and then decreased after the activity was stopped is not somehow indicative that the cause is physical.
Re-read the section of Dr. Sarno's book regarding conditioning. It is one of the most important aspects of TMS, and it should really have its own dedicated chapter.
In short, the symptoms respond exactly the way you would expect them to respond if the problem were structural. TMS is a clever process with a goal of making you believe the problem is structural. And, it has the advantage of being able to read your mind. |
| soccr234 |
Posted - 07/06/2006 : 12:33:14
Recently, one thing that has been troubling me about the TMS diagnosis is that I began doing a lot of walking, 2 1/2 hours a day, thinking that it would help my back because in the past it has seemed to do so. But while my back feels slightly better, the burning in my butt when i sit is considerably worse. So a few days ago, I stopped walking and the burning subsided. I just have trouble accepting that the fact that pain increased with a particular activity and then decreased after the activity was stopped is not somehow indicative that the cause is physical. If anyone can shed some light on this, I'd be appreciative.
Danny |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 07/04/2006 : 02:49:12
Hi Danny,
I just started reading Dr. Sarno's new book The DIVIDED MIND. Just tonight, in the first few pages, maybe page 17 or 18 he mentions myofascial pain as most likely being a mis-diagnosis and in reality TMS.
I am hearing a conflict in your post. You mention "your doctors". I assumed Dr. Schechter dx'ed you with TMS, otherwise he would not have referred you to one of his therapists.
How many doctors do you have. Very few doctors on this planet know TMS. They are trained to find structural reasons for pain. You sound like you are in a state of ambivalence, having too many doctors, giving conflicting dx's. You are caught in the middle, unable to hang your hat on any DX.
Why do you think the TMS psycho-therapy did not work for you?
I would urge you to read the Good Doctor's latest book, THE DIVIDED MIND. He has clarified and expanded on his TMS theory. The language in the introduction alone, is much more convincing and powerful than in his previous texts.
Good luck and stick with it. Write about your emotional issues here if you are up to it. TMS is all about emotions and psychology and how they cause psychogenic/psychosomatic pain that is very real but has it's origin in the mind and is "cured" by the self-same mind.
"Neuritis" is just a catch-all term like myo-fascial pain. The medical establishment comes up with these terms when they cannot find anything substantive to dx you with. It sounds good at cocktail parties--much hipper than something old fashioned like arthritis, which they also don't have a cure for or a cause of, after all these years.
Cheers,
tt
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| nd2139 |
Posted - 07/03/2006 : 21:29:16
Hello Danny,
In your case of TMS it seems that fear plays as important a role as pain. TMS can be completely paralyzing with minimum pain if the person experiencing it is scared enough to stop physical activity and to become obsessed with the pain.
In my case, for example, I barely ever had digestive problems but my fear of digestive problems kept me from eating the foods I enjoy. That fear clearly helped the repression mechanism as well as pain would, becuase I was obsessed with it most of the time, and had no time left to consider the things in my life that were bothering me.
One thing that really helped me was to recognize that I have perfectionist/goodist tendencies that are very frequent with TMS patients. That is, if you have those tendencies AND are experiencing inexplicable pain, then you can be pretty sure you have TMS.
I don't know if you have explored the goodist/perfectionist tendencies with your psychanalyst. Try to see if you tend to beat yourself up mentally for things you have done or not done. Try to see if you tend to put others before you. Try to see if you work hard to be accepted by others. Then, get in touch with the rage within that comes from doing that. TMS creates pain to keep you busy so that you won't acknolwedge that anger and your goodist tendencies. |
| Carolyn |
Posted - 07/03/2006 : 20:17:41
Unfortunately your friend was probably trying to be sympsthetic by assuring you there was a physical cause for your pain but he has probably done you some harm. This is the nocebo effect which says that if you are told there is something wrong with you, your brain will make sure there will be (and there is a lot of evidence that backs this up).
I was told so many different things by doctors and all of them pessimistic- the message being that getting rid of my pain was not a reasonable expectation given all the surgery I had had and I needed to think more about how to cope with it FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. Well, I am here today pain-free much of the time. Don't be swayed because your friend is studying medicine- he is just repeating what he is being taught and the reality is medicine is constantly evolving (remember blood letting)and noone understands yet the complex way that mind and body influence each other.
Make yourself journal everyday- I find it most useful right before bed. Then become aware of your pain. Does it start to move in response to getting closer to certain emotions? If your back hurts less one day, do you notice an ache in your knee? Challenge yourself to do the things you think you shouldn't and see what happens. Recognize these as signs that cannot be explained away. Do your OWN experiments. This is what will really make you understand the truth in what Sarno is saying.
Good luck- stick with this forun for a while because everyone here has been in the same boat you are, but most of us have gotten better. |
| Stryder |
Posted - 07/03/2006 : 18:19:57
Hi Danny,
According to your description, sounds like you have ruled out serious illness and very likely have TMS.
Have you circled back to Dr. Schecther to inform him that the psychotherapy is not doing the trick? That would be step 1.
Seems to me that maybe you need a different therapist, step 2.
Pay no attention to your "friend who is in medical school", that advice will just reinforce the lie that you have a physical defect(s).
Start reading thru the forum posts here, start at the beginning, as of today that would be page 143 http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=2&sortfield=lastpost&sortorder=0&whichpage=143.
Please let us know what Dr. Schecther has to say.
Take care, -Stryder |
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