| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| bustersmom |
Posted - 02/08/2007 : 23:11:50
I'm trying to figure out whether to have surgery on my right arm.
Last June, I was gardening and tried to pull a dead bush out of the ground. It wasn't cooperating, so I really yanked on it. It came out but at the same time, I thought..."I've hurt my arm!" My elbow really hurt, but I ignored it for a few weeks. Finally, I went to my sports medicine doctor, who diagnosed "tendonosis." I did the route of babying it, physical therapy, icing, anti-inflammatories, etc. Not much improvement, so the doctor suggested a cortisone shot. It was like a miracle! I had no pain for about 4 months. Then, the pain gradually returned with a vengeance. I went back to the doctor, who sent me for an MRI (which was an excrutiating experience in an of itself). The MRI showed "severe tendonosis and inflammation," scar tissue & calcification around the tendon, and a 9 mm tear. The doctor sent me to a surgeon, who said there was no rush to get it fixed, it was up to me and whether I was in enough pain to warrant the surgery. He said the pain was probably more from the scar tissue than the tendon. He said the chances were 80 percent that the surgery would take care of it. I started to wonder, what if I go through the surgery and am one of the 20 percent that it doesn't help.
Bottom line is, could TMS be contributing to my pain? Or is it really more likely that it IS a structural issue. My husband is a great proponent of Dr. Sarno's (for back pain) so I read his copy of Mind Body Prescription. I'm trying to do all the things Dr. Sarno says...I did the inventory; I yell at my arm all the time :) Now I'm back to lifting weights, taking no pills, doing my normal amount of computer work, etc. But the pain is BAD! I'm using hypnosis tapes at night to help me sleep, but sometimes I even dream about the pain! And groan & cry in my sleep. My poor husband thinks I'm dying!
Is this TMS? Or structural? Or could it be a combination of the two? I didn't really get a sense from the book if this was possible. Any thoughts one way or the other would be appreciated! |
| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 02/11/2007 : 07:49:43
quote:
Originally posted by bustersmom
So, I'm confused...
should I be giving in at all to the symptoms in terms of taking pain killers, getting a massage, icing it...? I try to ignore it, and treat it normally, but sometimes I just need to take a pain killer. But then I think I am just reinforcing the pain...
See pages 348-349 of Dr. Sarno's THE DIVIDED MIND:
"Discard Your Physical Remedies" by Dr. Sopher |
| Littlebird |
Posted - 02/11/2007 : 00:58:28
Whether a particular treatment reinforces pain depends on you outlook. Dr. Sarno keeps some patients on pain meds temporarily, but you want to have the outlook that you are not treating a physical problem, you are just getting a little help to control the symptoms which is caused by psychological processes. As you do your journaling and progress to less pain, you won't need to have that extra bit of temporary help to get through the early part of working to acknowldege your emotions. Doing a full physical therapy routine on a regular basis might serve to reinforce the concept of a physical problem with a structural source, at least for some people, so if taking a pain pill once in a while or having a massage once in a while is enough to get you by, it might be better not to have too much physical treatment going on. It really depends how you view your situation--you can probably accept and acknowledge a psychological source for the pain and still have a little pain med sometimes, but for some people just taking a med would reinforce the idea of a physical problem. |
| bustersmom |
Posted - 02/10/2007 : 23:56:24
So, I'm confused...
should I be giving in at all to the symptoms in terms of taking pain killers, getting a massage, icing it...? I try to ignore it, and treat it normally, but sometimes I just need to take a pain killer. But then I think I am just reinforcing the pain...
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| windy |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 17:53:17
Hi Bustersmom,
I'm going through an identical dilemma right now with an ankle tendon. Tendinosis, a tear, yadda yadda yadda. I have not gone to a surgeon, however, because a) i have a long tms history b) in the case of this tendon conservative treatment allegedly yields similar results as surgery. Of course I haven't done conservative treatment either.  I've basically been walking around on it saying it's tms. This hasn't yielded an results in terms of less pain but it's cheap and easy. |
| shawnsmith |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 15:20:14
I agree with Littlebird. There is no harm in assuming it's TMS and begin doing some journaling to acknowledge any emotions that may be involved in your symptoms. You have nothing to lose but your pain.
Sarno-ize it! |
| Littlebird |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 12:13:09
Hi, there are many people here who feel that an initial injury can heal, but the pain then continues due to TMS, a sort of combination of structural and TMS.
I was told I had tendonitis in my hand, but never had tests to look for structrual evidence of that. It started suddenly, more than ten years ago, after shoveling snow and chopping a film of ice that was under the snow on my driveway. Then it would flare up over silly things, like bumping my hand lightly on the counter edge. I found the cortisone shots helpful, but they didn't last long. When I learned of TMS that pain stopped suddenly. It occasionally tries to flare up and I think of it as a psychosomatic reaction to emotion and it stops. I am still using pain medicine for other issues while I continue to work at fully conquering the TMS. The key to taking meds is to acknowledge that it's just a temporary thing while you do TMS work and overcome the pain, rather than believing you will always need the meds for relief of pain.
Would there be any harm in assuming it's TMS and doing some journaling to acknowledge any emotions that may be involved? If you have surgery and don't get relief, could the surgery make things worse or would it just be a waste of money? My husband had a recommended surgery, not for a TMS type issue, but for sleep apnea, that had a 40 percent success rate, and he was assured that if he was in the 60% who didn't experience improvement, he would at least not be any worse off, but he not only didn't experience improvement, he has been worse off. There were physical repercussions that he now has to endure for the rest of his life. So if you are leaning towards surgery, try to check out the possibilities as thoroughly as possible. Best wishes! |
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