| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| mountain_hare |
Posted - 09/29/2007 : 08:33:55
I've had hand pain for a while now.
I'm still not sure if I can entirely accept the TMS explaination. I'm a Type A personality, with anxiety issues and anxiety associated disorders (allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, sensitive/bleeding gums despite good teeth care), and can understand to a degree how my very negative personality could exacerbate (or even cause) chronic pain/disorders.
But I also find the structural explaination for RSI sensible. While the human body is far from fragile, it has not evolved to sit for hours on end in front of a computer screen. And of course, this raises doubt in my mind: Is this chronic pain caused by poor ergonomics/excessive computing?
Perhaps part of the problem is psychological, but my poor fitness level, and excessive use of my hands (both in schooling and recreation) probably doesn't help the matter. |
| 16 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| mamaboulet |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 12:04:09
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| h2oskier25 |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 10:53:03
quote:
Originally posted by mamaboulet
"tsk tsk, our bodies were not designed to scrape hides for hours on end. You have bearhideitis."
I had that. Doctor Said I had the worst case of BHI (BearHideItis) he had ever seen.
I told him it was because when my GGS (Grain Grinding Syndrome) got so bad that I coundn't hold a rock anymore, I had been put on Scraping bear hides full time, and my little cro-magnum body just wasn't meant for that.
I had to give up my budding hyroglyphic painting career due to bursitis in my shoulder and tendonitis in the elbow.
My cousing got his vertebrae all thrown out of allignment running from a lion the other day. The doctor said he's just run from one too many predators. I'm telling you. These pre historic times are so hard on our bodies.
Sure Glad my
Beth |
| shawnsmith |
Posted - 10/08/2007 : 07:53:19
From Dr. Sarno's MindBody Prescription (not the whole list though)
Accept the Psychological
We must say to ourselves, “It’s all right to be the way we are: illogical, unconsciously enraged, like a child having a temper tantrum. That’s part of being human and it is universal.” I have enunciated three principles of treatment: repudiate the physical, acknowledge and accept the psychological. On a practical, day-to-day basis, how can we work toward accomplishing these ends? Following are some strategies.
Think Psychological
I tell my patients that they must consciously think about repressed rage and the reasons for it whenever they are aware of the pain. This is in contradiction to what the brain is trying to do. This effort is a counterattack, an attempt to undo the brain’s strategy. It is essential to focus on unpleasant, threatening thoughts and feelings to deny the pain its purpose—to divert your attention from those feelings. When the pain is severe, it is difficult to concentrate on feelings, but you must regard the process as a contest in which your conscious will is is pitted against the unconscious, automatic reactions of the brain.
*******
Sarno-ize it!
Read chapter 4 of Dr. Sarno's "The Divided Mind." Also chapers 3, 4 and 5 in Dr. Scott Brady's "Pain Free For Life" are very important. |
| mamaboulet |
Posted - 10/07/2007 : 07:12:10
quote:
Originally posted by Stryder
[i]
Isn't scraping a rock for endless hours against a wooden shaft to make it into a pointed spear just as bad for your RSI / carpel tunnel as endless hours of keyboarding?
-Stryder
or scraping animal hides, grinding grain with mortar and pestle. Lots of repetitive tasks just for our ancient ancestors. I can just hear the cave doctor: "tsk tsk, our bodies were not designed to scrape hides for hours on end. You have bearhideitis." |
| Stryder |
Posted - 10/06/2007 : 21:15:09
While the human body is far from fragile, it has not evolved to sit for hours on end in front of a computer screen.
Sure it did. Our ancestors spent 10 million years squatting in front of the fire staring it at for eons.
Isn't scraping a rock for endless hours against a wooden shaft to make it into a pointed spear just as bad for your RSI / carpel tunnel as endless hours of keyboarding?
-Stryder |
| JohnD |
Posted - 10/01/2007 : 18:05:35
Mountain_hare,
Its obvious you are very developed analytically, which is a very good thing. You don't have to believe TMS with blind faith or try to convince yourself in order to get better.
Use your analytical skills to figure out whether it is TMS or not....
Keep a journal of your pain patterns for a few days, very detailed. I would bet that you could find many discrepencys in the RSI theory, and this may help you to believe its TMS. If you truly don't then maybe there is another cause but atleast you put it to the test.
Questions that I asked myself which helped me to convince myself that I had TMS were:
Howcome the pain changes during the day if I have a structural issue such as carpal tunnel?
Howcome one minute I feel tingling and the next minute nothing and the next minute a shooting pain?
Howcome my pain got so much worse when I learned more about carpal tunnel?
Does my pain increase when I'm stressed?
If this were truly a structural issue then howcome the pain moves around so much?
Could it be that I've been run down emotionally over the last few years and this is just a culmination of that?
Am I that accustomed to stress that I don't even notice when I'm not feeling balanced anymore?
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| celloLWF |
Posted - 10/01/2007 : 16:20:55
"While the human body is far from fragile, it has not evolved to sit for hours on end in front of a computer screen."
Sorry I'm not more talkative today, but this statement is the one that you need to throw out. It is what is keeping you "believing" that there is a possibility of injury when it simple isn't possible. |
| h2oskier25 |
Posted - 10/01/2007 : 13:10:13
quote:
Originally posted by mountain_hare
While the human body is far from fragile, it has not evolved to sit for hours on end in front of a computer screen.
Really? Tell that to the 99% of computer users who apparently HAVE evolved into being able to sit for hours on end in front of a computer screen.
The body is uniquely adaptable to strengthening the tendons, bones and joints that are used the most. Sort of like . . . . personal evolving.
Hare, do yourself a favor, and don't play evolutionist. It doesn't serve you. There is no such thing as RSI, and believe me, I lived through it, so I know.
Take the plunge, and step off of the cliff, and try believing the TMS diagnosis completely and acting as if. What do you have to lose. I wish you luck and a pain free future, as I have found.
Regards,
Beth |
| ralphyde |
Posted - 09/30/2007 : 11:58:02
And this website of the author herself, points to a bunch of reviews, which look quite interesting so far. She seems to be quite in sync with Dr. Sarno's ideas about RSI.
http://www.lucire.com.au/writers_cramp_main.aspx
Ralph |
| ralphyde |
Posted - 09/30/2007 : 11:33:53
Here's another review, from a Rheumatologist:
http://www.mja.com.au/public/bookroom/2004/kwiatek/kwiatek.html
Ralph |
| ralphyde |
Posted - 09/30/2007 : 11:18:47
Constructing RSI does look interesting. Here's a link to a review of it, found by Googling the title.
http://www.unireps.com.au/isbn/086840778X.htm
"Constructing RSI highlights how power structures and medical institutions can work to create modern epidemics..."
This confirms what Dr. Sarno said in The Divided Mind about how psychosomatic epidemics are created.
1. symptoms in vogue...
2. symptoms misdiagnosed as structural...
3. treatments (for symptoms) available and funded by $.
see p. 20.
Ralph |
| mamaboulet |
Posted - 09/30/2007 : 08:06:14
Hey, there's a book out there I'm interested in, when I can afford it. It is some Australian woman's PhD thesis, called Constructing RSI. She documents the epidemic of RSI in Australia in the 80's, saying that it is mindbody stuff. Anybody read it? |
| mamaboulet |
Posted - 09/30/2007 : 08:03:59
I've had very bad carpal tunnel for almost 15 years. Why would some injury last 15 years? That's just silly. I've kept it at bay by not doing the things I enjoy. Since I started reading Sarno and working on TMS, my wrist pain has come back really really bad, like it hasn't been in 10 years. That seems pretty darned suspicious to me. And if I take a tylenol to make the pain go away, the wrist works fine. I'm intellectually convinced it is TMS, but 15 years of conditioning is difficult to overcome, which is probably why my brain has revved up this most ancient of my pains.
For the time being I am taking one tylenol a day and doing whatever I want to with my hand. |
| carbar |
Posted - 09/29/2007 : 21:51:12
quote:
And of course, this raises doubt in my mind: Is this chronic pain caused by poor ergonomics/excessive computing?
I said this to myself too. It was a great excuse for the goodist/perfectionist side of myself to place the BLAME of my chronic and untreatable RSI hand/arm pain on myself. ("If only I had just done XXX a little less, sat a different way..." etc.)
Poor fitness level = just another layer of doubt/self-blame. I'm not in good shape, never have been, but as soon as I read The Mindbody Perscription my arm pain began to lessen. 7 years of pain gone after reading the book and accepting the TMS concept 100%.
The truth is in the books and in doing the work to discover what kind of emotional discomfort is being repressed by the brain focusing on physical pain.
Good luck on your journey! Sounds like you are a positive track allready!
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| armchairlinguist |
Posted - 09/29/2007 : 16:24:36
The structural explanation for RSI sounds excellent but (fortunately) is utter nonsense.
Check out the Success Stories forum on this site for excellent RSI success stories, and also http://conquerrsi.com/ and http://podolsky.everybody.org/rsi.
We did it, and so can you!
--
Wherever you go, there you are. |
| ralphyde |
Posted - 09/29/2007 : 10:33:05
Have you looked at the Harvard RSI Action documents?
http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/mb_what_is.html
There are others on this forum who have cured their RSI using Dr. Sarno's methods. But accepting the diagnosis is the first step.
Ralph |
