| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| MikeySama |
Posted - 05/19/2007 : 15:30:17
Hello All,
As the subject says i'm just no longer certain on what is TMS, and what isn't. My main bug started a few years ago in the form of severe pain in hands and arms. Took about a year before i found a sarno book ( mind body ) and it helped me through it. Symptoms went away occasionally with some help from here, but for the most part i've always tried to get through it myself.
For the past few months life has been incredibly stressfull for me, and that paired with my personality traits ( perfectionism, strive to be good, inferiority feelings ). The pains came back far more severe then they ever have, sure i've had relapses but they would last for a few days and be gone again. Not this time, and i'm not sure what to do about that.
I've bought his latest book and am reading through it now. Just got done with the first 130 pages or so, and a few other questions starting to arise for me ( more TMS like symptoms i didn't even know i had, but again not sure if they really are TMS or not ). Here's a list aside from the symptoms described above, which i need insight on.
- A form of OCD i believe i have. My mind often finds something to obsess about, usually things i'm not all that comfortable with. It gets stuck in there and stays there, and no matter what activity i do. That same thought will just always be around. It's something i've walked around with for years, this problem has also cost me a relationship once... I always thought it was something not right with me, but reading sarno's new book and it mentioning OCD and Obsessions i'm not sure anymore.
- Burning Eyes
- Strange moments of Fatigue. Sometimes even when i haven't really done all that much, i will feel extremely tired out for some reason.
Also what i don't understand is the RSI like symptoms don't go away as easily anymore. As i said i had relapses with it, but always got them to go away again. I still get them to go away, but they come back much faster.
Thank you for your input... |
| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| MikeySama |
Posted - 05/20/2007 : 16:19:00
Thanks for the responses... I'm feeling a little better already. With all of my symptoms it seems. Thinking of my obsessive thoughts as another TMS equivalent seems to be helping as well, as i generally feel better about it now. And it seems the thought go away from time to time now... but i guess i'll have to do more work on that.
To Carolyn, yes i did get rid of the burning sensation in my eyes. When i think back i used to only have burning eyes. But at some point ( i didn't know about tms back then ) i must have said screw it and just went about doing my thing. It went away at some point, and that's when i first starting feeling pains in my hands ( years later diagnosed with RSI, and also when i really started to learn about TMS ).
I think somehow i must have convinced myself that my eyes were fine, and it must have switched the symptoms around. Thinking back on it now, the burning eyes must have really been TMS all along.
Well, i'm going to go back to reading The Divided Mind.
PS I had this thought some time ago of creating this webbased journaling system. You'd be able to register there, and keep up with daily journaling, a diary of your progress on tms, people being able to give feedback ( if you decide to keep it public ).
This could potentially grow into an extra help community where you could read about other people's successes and setbacks, and help each other back on the right track.
I have the technical expertise to create such a system, sadly at the moment constricted by time to actually start working on it. Maybe i should open a seperate topic on this, and see if people are interested. I'd also need help to create parts of the system ( the content and such ). In any case i feel that i need to give something back to the community. |
| Carolyn |
Posted - 05/20/2007 : 14:30:05
I am currently suffering from dry -burning eyes which I believe to be TMS at least in part. The key to me is just how much I am SUFFERING with them and obsessing about my suffering. My mind just runs away with how awful it is to have them (they do hurt enough that I haven't been going outside because the wind makes them worse) and how I can't possibly life my life this way. The feelings are all exactly the same as I had when I was SUFFERING with my pelvic pain which is now a thing of the past- thanks to Sarno. But apparently I am still needing to distract myself with physical symptoms. I do find this frustrating that as soon as I let down my guard, some other physical problem seems to pop up. Anyways, I happened to look here again and saw that you were mentioning dry eye as a TMS equvilent which you have beat so thanks for the encouragement. I have been spending too much time on the internet at all the sites that say there is no cure. |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 05/20/2007 : 08:08:32
quote:
Originally posted by LuvtoSew
I would also like to hear more from the long term people here, where they were at when they started the program and where they are now.
Hi LTS,
You may be better served towards your TMS "recovery" by doing a search under "successstories".
Good Luck,
tt
Some of my favorite excerpts from " THE DIVIDED MIND " :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
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| shawnsmith |
Posted - 05/20/2007 : 07:29:55
The following quote is from Chapter 7 pages 251-252 of Dr. Sarno's "The Divided Mind," and was written by Rheumatologist Andrea Leronard-Segal, M.D. I have capitalized the last sentence as it is so important in highlighting the role of obesssion with physical symptoms and the role it plays in distracting one from unconscious emotions:
"Even though there is no life-threatening problem or objective measure of illness, people think of themselves as fragile or unwell. They are obsessed with their symptoms, often aware of their pain or their body at some level 100 percent of the day. They are terribly ferarful. They are very very fearful of "injury" and that they will be permanently disabled. They are afraid to engage in many normal physical activities, even during periods when the pain may have abated. They often think that they are easily injured. Fear drives the way they do or do not engage in physical activities. Some patients are so afraid that they essentially stop doing everything physical and are consciously aware of virtually every physical motion they make and how their body parts are aligned with respect to one another. They feel out of control because they expect the pain to occur as a consequence of what they do or do not do. BY CONTRAST, THIS DEGREE OF FEAR AND OBSESSION WITH PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS IS NOT TYPICAL, IN MY EXPERIENCE, EVEN AMONG PATIENTS WITH SERIOUS, DEFORMING ARTHRITIC CONDITIONS LIKE GOUT OR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS."
*******
Sarno-ize it!
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| LuvtoSew |
Posted - 05/20/2007 : 06:20:47
I would also like to hear more from the long term people here, where they were at when they started the program and where they are now.
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| Sky |
Posted - 05/19/2007 : 15:44:43
Mikey...
concerning your rsi, read the post I copied and pasted below. It should give you needed inspiration...I've been there!
"my main TMS problem was RSI in my hands from typing. I beat it 2 years ago after reading The Mindbody Prescription.
Then this past Spring all the pain in my hands came back. I found ways to rationalize how it could all have been phsyical, that Sarno's ideas weren't applicable to my situation and it had been physical all along. Meanwhile, I was trying to tell myself it was emotional at root. I had ideas about what emotions might be at the heart of it, but still, maybe it was physical?
Then I emailed Marc Sopher who practices like an hour away from me. I described my recurrence of RSI and suggested visiting him, and he wrote me back in the email something to the effect of: "I always tell people that I cannot make a diagnosis via email, but I do think it likely that nothing else but TMS is the cause for your symptoms. In my experience the history is diagnostic. Typing cannot cause pain! Having said that, many do get better on their own, by reading and re-reading Dr. Sarno's and my books and staying focused on this approach. The key to getting better is eliminating the doubt you have that there could be some physical, rather than psychological cause. As long as you pursue physical explanations and remedies, the symptoms will persist. The fact that you succeeded in the past is evidence that you will succeed again. The brain never gives up its strategy--this is what Dr. Sarno refers to as the symptom imperative."
After reading Dr. Sopher's email, I upped my commitment to the idea that emotions were at root of my RSI, and I kicked the pain again! Can't tell you how happy I was and am today. God, the pain felt so real the second time around again, my hands so fragile...these theories are truly amazing."
Also, concerning the burning eyes. Dry eyes was one of the more minor TMS symptoms that also disappeared after reading Sarno's book. First went the hand pain, then I started applying it to other nuisances in my life like how my eyes no longer seemed able to wear contact lenses. They were too dry. My eyes would hurt with them in. Or I'd only be able to wear them for a couple hours. I started to only wear glasses...then I decided this, too, was a TMS symptom, and I started wearing contact lenses again every day! Now, every once in a while, my eyes will suddenly dry up, but I KNOW it's TMS! I immediately getto work questioning the emotional source of the suddenly dry eye, and my eye pretty much always gets moist enough so that the contact lenses don't cause my eyes any pain.
I can't speak to the fatigue, but you sound like a classic TMS patient, as I was and still am to some degree. You described using these terms "perfectionism, strive to be good, inferiority feelings".
That was me in a nutshell as well. Get to work! Unlock these problems! Share your journey with us, and especially your eventual success story!
These problems are TMS. you will get there... |
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