| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Saltbird |
Posted - 11/12/2004 : 22:49:44
Last week I posted on the board that my backpain came back after two years of being pain free. Well Im very happy to tell you that it went away again. I just observed the pain for the last two weeks and didn't get to upset about it. I also went back to work right away. At my job, I stand up all day and run all over the place. Though it was painfull, I just kept moving. I feel that observation is the key. Instead of trying to psychologically move away from the pain, or go towards the pain, you should simply observe the pain. I noticed that the pain goes away in a backward-forward motion. It is almost as if my mind is toying with me. For a period the pain is very intense, and a few hours later, it lightens up. Can anyone relate? I beleive that you have to ride out the pain. After the pain came back two weeks ago, I couldn't even put my shoes on. Now only two weeks later, I can easily touch my toes.
Over the last few years, as I have been reading Sarno's books, I have also been reading alot of Jiddu Krishnamurti as well. Krishnamurti talked alot about pain in general. He felt that the only way to deal with problems, such as TMS, was through observation.
"The obserever is the observed", is one of his famous quotes. This has worked well for me, not only with my chronic pains, but with my obsesive compulsive issues. By simply observing very very very carefully every thought that pops into my head I have reached a new state of awareness. I find that even good thoughts can create alot of stress. The only problem I have with Dr. Sarno, is that he makes it sound too simple. The first time I got rid of my back pain took me 8 month, and after that many of my other chronic problems intensified greatly. Since my mind could not use my lower back any more, it made my gastrointestinal problems more intense, as well as the problem with my eyes drying out. In the last few month my gastrointestinal issues, as well as my eyes have been improving geatly, this is why I think my back pain came back in such an intense manner. I feel that my mind is running out of things to use as a distraction.
Anyhow, I think that this website is great, and it should help alot of people.
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| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Bill |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 13:16:28
"I feel that my mind is running out of things to use as a distraction."
This is probably wishful thinking although I wish it could be true. The mind has virtually infinite things to use as a distraction. In my case, once I got proficient in eliminating physical pain as a distraction, I started to use the perceived threat of physical, or even mental pain as the new source of distraction. The threat of a job loss, of career endings, of calamitous future events are all common fears which could substitute for feeling internal emotions, but they are all in the future. The postings about "being in the moment" have a lot of validity because they essentially argue that you can dismiss all past events as gone and future fears as irrelevant to the present. At this point, some posters enter the realm of the spiritual. Whatever your bent, the same rules from Dr. Sarno still hold true: list all your fears that could generate mental or physical pain, this act alone diminishes their past power by bringing them to conciousness; then go on your business (saying Stop is effective because it changes the negative direction).
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| Michele |
Posted - 11/15/2004 : 10:18:00
Deepak Chopra (Spelling?) said we are not a body experiencing itself mentally and spiritually,but rather a mind and spirit experiencing itself as a body .
I LOVE that quote!! Reading about your experiences over the years has been very, very inspiring for me. Thanks! |
| Susie |
Posted - 11/13/2004 : 07:39:50
Hi saltbird,I too have had the eye and gastro thing along with about another dozen symptoms. My brain must be pretty boring as it keeps dredging up the same symptoms at different intervals. Sometimes mild and sometimes more severe buy always controlable. I just laugh to myself, "there's the old twitching hand " or "there goes another migrane trying to start up". The longer I become familiar with tms,the easier it is for me to control it. My main success is that I no longer fear it. Things you understand become less scarry. |
| Baseball65 |
Posted - 11/13/2004 : 06:46:41
Hi Saltbird.
That sounds really familiar.I had new symptoms try to pull a fast one on me in different amounts and measures for a long time after being healed..let's see/.././././././HEY It's been 6 years!!
After getting well,I went back to my intense labor job.I was climbing up into an aerial lift and my KNEE went "out"....the pain was excruciating...and I Laughed!! I had already been so indoctrinated into TMS theory,I instantly recognized it for what it was... a conversion symptom.I had never had a knee problem in my life!
I just tried to act normal and "observe" but I still did the dAily 15 minutes and thinking.Guys at work were aware I was limping(I tried not to) and asked if I was OK...I lied and said yes.
I've found that even acknowledging a symptom gives it power.In the first few years,I wouldn't even talk about an attack until it was over.
The more I "awoke" the more symptoms shed away.I used to always have sciatica on the first day of EVERY job.I worked in the film industry and I might have 10 jobs+ a year...I finally thought it was funny..sort of disdain..like an annoying little brother...I almost miss it!!(just kidding) Of course it hasn't happened in years.
One of the last "holdouts" was sciatica Only while driving....took 6 months to go away....I'd be fine all day lifting,twisting,turning and then as soon as I got into the car to go home burn baby burn.
It's not too easy to figure that one out....driving in Los Angeles is one of the most angering/enraging undertakings I can think of.All I would focus on was my anger at the people who had allowed urban sprawl to literally ruin the Q of Life for an entire area.I'm not alone there...everybody in LA talks about it...I was the only one getting any therapeutic value out of it.
That was one of the prime motivating factors in my moving away.Los Angeles is like a TMS manufacturing plant.....too many people crushed into too little of an area too fast.
I'd be interested to read this Jiddu Krishnamurti...I too have OCD,though it's abated to an eeenth of what it used to be.I saw a psychologist about it and some other issues,this was his area of expertise...In fact,a study he worked on out of UCLA showed 2 control groups of OCD's.In one they were treated with Prozac,the second was treated with "STOP" therapy....when your in the middle of an episode and you find yourself doing the broken-record mind......just say STOP and immediately go to an unrelated activity,place and continue until the thought is obliterated...it sounds so stupid..IT worked!
It's not something you can do at work,so you have to practice in your free time...people at work get really freaked out if you keep saying STOP and there's no one there!!
anyways..at the end of the UCLA study they did brainscans of all the participants,and the prozac people and the STOP people all had normalized their brain scans(OCD is an electrical storm,so to speak,in a part of the brain that shouldn't have that kind of activity)
Deepak Chopra (Spelling?) said we are not a body experiencing itself mentally and spiritually,but rather a mind and spirit experiencing itself as a body .
If you told me that 7 years ago I would have laughed my close minded little head off.Pain was a great persuader.
Baseball65 |
| mala |
Posted - 11/13/2004 : 06:04:06
My back has been much better for about 3 months (not completely gone but about 70% better) and now my shoulder/neck/upper back pain has intensified. This happened about 3 weeks ago when I started going to the gym and doing about 20 mins on the cycle and 20 mins on the treadmill.
It's pretty bad and like you said intensifies and then gets a bit better and the intensifies again. It's very depressing coz for a while back there I had started feeling human again. I guess I'll just have to ride this one out too. The whole idea of going to see a doctor or physio is just too unbearable and the last thing I need to hear right now is their diagnosis of what THEY think is wrong. I"ve develeoped such an aversion to that sort of thing.
Good Luck & Good Health
Mala |
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