| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| sarita |
Posted - 10/02/2009 : 18:54:45
hi all! i was gone for a while but i am back.
to remind you, my problems are: debilitating upper back pain, especially between the shoulder blades. the weakness sort of spreads to both arms (mostly forearms). no numbness, no tingeling, but a sort of nervousness in the arms. they get hard like the upper back. what helps is: a walk in the crisp air, breathing! it hurts when i lean my back to something. it also changes places, like, headache, and no pain in the back, or, back only, no arms etc. you get the pic.
all of the above can be gone sometimes! but 90% of the times, a horrible anxiety takes over instead. i cant handle anything, my heart races, it just flashes through me.
some few times, it all comes together. those are despair moments!
i am 100% sure that my muscle pain is in directe correlation to my anxiety, anxiety i have dealt with for years! however, so many details of the whole happening scream the tms theory! how in those 5 years, one symptom replaced the other.
anyways...i am at such a low point again that i may start meds again. at the same time, ill see sarno on tuesday.
please guys, give me your thoughts! my main concern is: shall i treat my anxiety disorder with meds again, and psychotherapy,
or should i totally stick to the sarno psychologists, while taking the meds. they are unavoidable now of i want to continue my school life.
an interesting fact: i took a mild medicin for anxiety for 5 days and the arm and back pain almost disappeared however, i was at my most anxious ever!!! so whats the deal guys!!!!
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| 17 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| patrickneil |
Posted - 02/23/2010 : 00:08:09
How do I get an appointment with Dr. Sarno? Where can I find his office's contact information? |
| mala |
Posted - 02/22/2010 : 19:05:24
Sarita, so sorry to hear that you are feeling so low.
I wonder about the medication that you say you took for 5 days. Some anxiety medications take time to work on the actual anxiety itself like they need to be taken for a couple of weeks before you feel any relief but can provide immediate physical relief from pain.
That might explain why your arm back pain went away. Could it be that when the physical pain went away that your total focus was then on the anxiety thus making it worse.
On the issue of groups such as RSI groups & Fibro support groups. As distasteful as they may seem to many of us TMSers, we mustn't forget how important these groups are for women with fibro who do not know about TMS. Many times their symptoms are dismissed by not only their doctors but their own family members as being in their head. There is no real treatment so it must be frustrating, frightening & very hard to find someone to talk to about how they feel. They are a very vulnerable group indeed.
Groups like these are not only social but provide a sanctuary if you like for these women where they can come and talk to each other, be understood by others who are going thru what they are going & feel like they are accepted and not alone. That is very important coz many of them are bewildered by what is happening to them.
It is also cruel to say 'they looked fine'. How do we know how 'fine' they really are. I've had people even doctors tell me I couldn't be in that much pain coz i didn't look it. That's not fair.
Good Luck & Good Health
Mala |
| jerica |
Posted - 02/22/2010 : 14:53:52
I understand what you're talking about with the trip to the pool where the women made it kind of like a social club. I don't know their stories but I was on a game site board recently where they had a thread for players with fibro and it was MASSIVE. It seemed like everyone and their mother on that site had fibro, which can't be possible can it? I think a lot of people feel a twinge and say "It's fibromyalgia!" I know a woman who can hardly walk and she has so much chronic pain that she couldn't get to the pool to start with much less get in or chat and have a good time. I am not saying people don't have fibro or they can't have remissions etc. but I don't like the idea that one should make fibro into something "cool" to have as a means of being in a special group. |
| Hillbilly |
Posted - 10/06/2009 : 09:00:02
Hundreth,
Do those that accept their pain stop worrying? Do they not sit around and wonder how they will accomplish the most miniscule of tasks that might involve painful movement? They are still attempting to get through each day, but what they have accepted is not necessarily just the symptoms, but the prognosis (a lifetime of pain and depression). This is very different from accepting that your symptoms are nothing more than bad nerves, and that learning and exercising self-discipline in thought and action are the cure. Those who buy the fibro label don't get that far.
The exercise of which guej speaks seems very useful to anyone in a stressful period, regardless of whether they have pain or not.
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
| guej |
Posted - 10/06/2009 : 07:29:05
I started seeing Dr. Evans in August, and so far, I have nothing but good things to say. He has actually taught me how to calm my body down. As I'm going off on something that is stressing me out, he stops me, has me observe how I'm physically reacting, and makes me slow down the pain process. It certainly works when I'm with him, and I"m practicing outside the office now. Man, am I tightly wound! I knew early on that a therapist would keep me on track. It's nice to go every week and review what's been working, and what hasn't. This forum has obviously been great too. |
| HilaryN |
Posted - 10/06/2009 : 07:09:57
Welcome back, sarita!
MatthewNJ on the wiki is full of praise for Dr Bob Evans, one of Dr Sarno's psychotherapists. I've spoken to him myself and he sounds like a lovely chap.
Also, Sky gives a recommendation here:
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5837
Hilary N |
| HilaryN |
Posted - 10/06/2009 : 06:58:58
Good for you, guej. I know some people say the same thing about the RSI support groups: they focus on living with the pain rather than looking at cures, so newcomers go away thinking they have it for life and there is no cure.
Hilary N |
| HilaryN |
Posted - 10/06/2009 : 06:45:09
quote:
(hundreth)Perhaps my illness persists because I have read so much about those who have been afflicted by similar symptoms and I still harbour doubts.
hundreth, perhaps you would benefit by spend more time reading Fibromyalgia Success Stories  .
Hilary N |
| guej |
Posted - 10/06/2009 : 06:40:30
Oops. Hit "Post new reply" before I was ready. So I'll continue...
All the women at the therupeutic pool actually looked pretty good to me. They all knew each other well because they went a few times a week, and I overheard a lot of the conversations. This is what they did for exercise. They were told to gently wade in water to ease their symptoms. Again, I knew I was in the wrong place. They seemed absolutely resigned to their fate, and were accepting and following the limitations given to them by their diagnosis. I'm not saying that walking in warm water doesn't feel good when you're in pain, but seriously, some of these women looked fine to me (I was basically crawling into the pool at that point), but I think they grab that "fibro" label and wear it for the rest of their lives.
Believe me, there are days when the memory of all those Fibro lifers and other chronic pain lifers still creeps into my mind and scares me and makes me think that maybe I'm the unrealistic one. But now, most days, I know I"m not like that. I never accepted that this was forever, and that's why when I read Dr. Sarno's first book, I knew I had found exactly what I had been searching for. It's hard to keep the faith when recovery takes awhile, but the alternative is too depressing and was never acceptable to me. Maybe therein lies the difference. |
| guej |
Posted - 10/06/2009 : 06:33:24
I'd love for Hillbilly or anyone else to jump in and share their thoughts. In the meantime, in response to Hundreth's question, and mine from a previous post, here is what I've been able to gather from some responses I've received:
The way we (TMSers) are different from those diagnosed with chronic pain syndromes, for example fibromyalgia, who accept their symptoms and calm down, but never recover, is threefold:
(1) we "accept" our symptoms as being present right now, for however long, but we aren't resigning ourselves that they will be there forever or are incurable,
(2) we believe our symptoms exist as a result of our mind, either to bring our attention to the stress we have in our lives, presently or past, or, as Sarno advocates, to distract us from deep emotional issues, and
(3)we don't believe we have a "disease" such as chronic pain or fibromyalgia, but rather, our body is creating symptoms that are temporary (again, "temporary" can mean 4 days or 2 years).
I'm not sure I have this 100% right, but I can tell you that even before I found Dr. Sarno, I knew I was different from the other people I encountered who had been given the Fibromyalgia diagnosis. They were going to weekly support groups meetings. I could not bring myself to go to a single one. I was told to exercise gently in a warm water therapeutic pool at a rehab center nearby. When I went, I was wading through the water with a handful of other middle aged women who had been diagnosed w/ |
| hundreth |
Posted - 10/05/2009 : 20:39:28
Hillbilly, speaking of unanswered questions, I have one for you:
This is not meant to be confrontational in any way, but rather a genuine question that can help me and possibly others recover. I saw guej ask a similar question in another thread.
The idea that anxiety and an overactive nervous system cause pain related symptoms implies that once the bewilderment and confusion over what the problem is subsides, the nervous system will calm down and symptoms will dissipate.
In this case, how come many with chronic pain syndromes such as Fibromyalgia who accept they will be in pain and stop worrying never recover? I would imagine that trying to cope with the pain is much less stressful than worrying about whether you have ALS/MS and trying every crazy treatment method under the sun. How come these people who simply sit home all day never just calm down to the point where they recover? Where is the missing link?
Perhaps my illness persists because I have read so much about those who have been afflicted by similar symptoms and I still harbour doubts. I read about those who simply accept their fate to be in pain, I read about those who meditate, do yoga, basically everything needed to relax, yet they still do not recover.
What gives?
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| Hillbilly |
Posted - 10/05/2009 : 18:14:56
I would like to have an answer to these questions. Please post the responses, as best you can remember them :o) Be well, sarita.
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4410
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
| forestfortrees |
Posted - 10/04/2009 : 17:44:57
quote:
Originally posted by guej
Sarita, while you're there, ask Dr. Sarno why he cancelled his "recovered patient panels". I went to one in July right after I saw Dr. Sarno for the first time, and it was extremely motivational. 4 people talked in depth about their TMS journey to recovery and then took questions from the audience. As part of the one time fee Dr. Sarno charges, you have unlimited access to come to as many of these monthly alumni panels as you wish. I just got a call from his secretary, saying he was cancelling them. That's not good! Just curious, and he is really hard to reach by phone. Thanks.
Hi guej,
sorry if you already know this, but you may want to check out the online patient panel that is happening this Sunday (the 11th) at noon, EDT. It's run by MatthewNJ, another patient of Dr. Sarno's, and his goal is to make it as close to Dr. Sarno's own panels as possible. Since it's run by volunteers, it's completely free. More info here:
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5975
Forest
tmswiki.org |
| guej |
Posted - 10/04/2009 : 15:52:21
Sarita, while you're there, ask Dr. Sarno why he cancelled his "recovered patient panels". I went to one in July right after I saw Dr. Sarno for the first time, and it was extremely motivational. 4 people talked in depth about their TMS journey to recovery and then took questions from the audience. As part of the one time fee Dr. Sarno charges, you have unlimited access to come to as many of these monthly alumni panels as you wish. I just got a call from his secretary, saying he was cancelling them. That's not good! Just curious, and he is really hard to reach by phone. Thanks. |
| sarita |
Posted - 10/04/2009 : 12:43:41
marsha, ill let you know. somehow this guy wins my trust...
plantweed, i will do that, read hillbillys posts, i have done so in the past! this whole is-it-just anxiety (so many people with chronic anxiety have chronic pain) or-is it-tms...depper causes need to be addressed....etc.
AAAAAAAAH! i just know i need to get better!!!!
thanks guys
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| Plantweed |
Posted - 10/03/2009 : 19:01:49
I'd recommend going back and reading Hillbilly's posts from the start. He specifically addresses the anxiety issue and has some good ideas and approaches that have proven useful for me. |
| marsha |
Posted - 10/03/2009 : 11:39:57
Is this your first visit to Dr. Sarno?
If so please let us know how it went.
I have been to see him twice. Once in 1999..relief from symptoms took about 8 months. The second time was a year ago...and this has been a terrible year for pain.
For the past two weeks it has been the worst it has ever been. I think Dr. Sarno said that it might get worse before it gets better. I hope that is it in my case.
Good luck Sarita .
Marsha |
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