| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| SteveO |
Posted - 02/15/2012 : 12:48:59
Happiness first, and good health will certainly follow..
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| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| drh7900 |
Posted - 06/07/2012 : 07:49:43
quote:
Originally posted by tennis tom
I was reading SteveO's book today and around page sixty, he clarified something for me that I'd been wondering about for a long time. Dr. Sarno came up with his TMS theory due to his own migraines, while a young doctor. He would get the eye thing precursor of the migraine, a scotoma scintella or something like that. SteveO's book filled in the missing info of how the Good Doctor made the psychosomatic connection. He mentioned the symptom to a fellow doctor who said it was due to repressed anger--it was as simple as that. Now I wonder if that other doctor was a psychiatrist or not? SteveO does a great job of filling in the missing pieces bringing TMS theory home.
Thanks SteveO! Hope book sales are going well, when are we going to see you on Ophrah or Stossel?
Perhaps I misread...I understood that to be how Sarno made the connection that migraines could be connected to TMS...I thought I had read that he made the connection for back pain long before that...as he started working in rehabilitative medicine and found an increase in back pain sufferers while, at the same time, seeing ulcers on the decrease after ulcers had been identified as stress-induced.
But I whole-heartedly agree that SteveO's book is great. I'm about 60% through it and it's a good read.
--
Dustin |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 06/06/2012 : 19:41:42
I was reading SteveO's book today and around page sixty, he clarified something for me that I'd been wondering about for a long time. Dr. Sarno came up with his TMS theory due to his own migraines, while a young doctor. He would get the eye thing precursor of the migraine, a scotoma scintella or something like that. SteveO's book filled in the missing info of how the Good Doctor made the psychosomatic connection. He mentioned the symptom to a fellow doctor who said it was due to repressed anger--it was as simple as that. Now I wonder if that other doctor was a psychiatrist or not? SteveO does a great job of filling in the missing pieces bringing TMS theory home.
Thanks SteveO! Hope book sales are going well, when are we going to see you on Ophrah or Stossel? |
| Cath |
Posted - 05/25/2012 : 05:07:33
Congratulations, and well-deserved. You are an inspiration to many, and a true disciple in getting the TMS message across to all those who are suffering with chronic pain.
Cath :) |
| jennypeanut |
Posted - 05/24/2012 : 19:37:36
I'm reading the book now and loving it. I'm so excited to read through it (I've only just begun last night). And CONGRATS!!!! :) |
| Craigy |
Posted - 05/24/2012 : 18:31:14
Way to go SO! It's more important than any award! |
| catmac |
Posted - 05/24/2012 : 13:49:13
Well done Steve, Fantastic recognition for all your hard work. |
| drh7900 |
Posted - 05/24/2012 : 13:37:10
Yes, congrats!!!
Have you looked any more into ebook formats? I'd love to be able to get it on my iPad. Also, I remember you saying you were working on an audio version...are you going to be reading it yourself? Any idea on timeframe?
--
Dustin |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 05/24/2012 : 09:05:41
CONGRATULATIONS SteveO!, it's an honor having you here. Maybe this will help get the book some national exposure and we'll be seeing you talk TMS on Ophrah, Leno and letterman--maybe a guest host on SNL and a cameo on HOUSE MD, curing the doc of his psychosomatic limp.
==================================================
DR. SARNO'S 12 DAILY REMINDERS:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0dKBFwGR0g
TAKE THE HOLMES-RAHE STRESS TEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_and_Rahe_stress_scale
Some of my favorite excerpts from _THE DIVIDED MIND_ :
http://www.tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605
==================================================
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." Jiddu Krishnamurti
"Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional." Author Unknown
"Happy People Are Happy Putters." Frank Nobilo, Golf Analyst
"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint." Mark Twain and Balto
======================================================
TMS PRACTITIONERS:
John Sarno, MD
400 E 34th St, New York, NY 10016
(212) 263-6035
Here's the TMS practitioners list from the TMS Help Forum:
http://www.tmshelp.com/links.htm
Here's a list of TMS practitioners from the TMS Wiki:
http://tmswiki.org/ppd/Find_a_TMS_Doctor_or_Therapist
Here's a map of TMS practitioners from the old Tarpit Yoga site, (click on the map by state for listings).:
http://www.tarpityoga.com/2007_08_01_archive.html |
| SteveO |
Posted - 05/23/2012 : 21:31:11
LOS ANGELES – JPX Media Group announced the winners and finalists of THE 2012 INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS (IBA) on May 23, 2012. Over 300 winners and finalists were announced in over 100 categories covering print, e-books and audio books. Awards were presented for titles published in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of JPX Media Group, said this year’s contest yielded a large number of entries from authors and publishers around the world, which were then narrowed down to the final results.
I just wanted to tell a few friends here that my TMS-book came in second place in the International Book Awards for 2012 for, "Best New Health Book." First place went to 2 MDs who wrote a book on childhood ADHD. My book was also Finalist in the category, "Health: Alternative Medicine."
First place would have been great in both categories but second place is a nice view too. There were 18 countries entered with 1000 group entries. I was told it was close in "Best New Health Book" but the over-all winner went to the MDs at the big publishing house, Norton. Their book looks interesting.
The main point is that the panel of 10 judges in LA now know what TMS is--and the word is quickly spreading. They're taking the list of Winners and Finalists to the Book Expo America in NYC, June 5-9 to announce them to the national media (there will be over 1400 media personnel in attendance). Most in the media will hear about TMS for the first time. So the news is good. I can't attend but I'm told that IBA will be networking the convention floor and talking to the media.
I'm spreading the word as best I can. Dr. Peter Zafrides is doing the same from Columbus, 2 hours south of me. He has recently submitted work on TMS, and the news is good there too. He has submitted a chapter in a book that is being published by the American Psychological Association Press. Some of it deals with TMS. Most people don't know what a big deal that is for him, and for TMS. Things with "TMS" attached to them don't get through the editing room floor often, especially for a medical piece. But Dr. Z has managed to push one through. I wish him the best of luck, with his work and his family. I will let him fill you in on what he's doing, I don't want to steal his thunder. But he's doing good things out there.
This TMS-movement is tough. The message is beaten back at every turn. Those of us who have healed completely know how true and pure the message is, and how important it is to keep plodding forward. It's a worthwhile cause to say the least.
If anyone wants to heal, the information is out there. Information is the penicillen to this disorder. I wonder who said that?
I'm working on an audio book-version now, and Dr. Zafrides and I are talking about putting together a project.
Anyone can heal, if they desire,
Steve
http://www.internationalbookawards.com/2012awardannouncement.html
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| SteveO |
Posted - 04/26/2012 : 15:45:14
You're welcome BaltO (are we related?). I can only take credit for how I explained it. I spoke with MDs whose spent their careers studying trauma and its impact on health. Trauma is def. by Bob Scaer, MD, as "a state of helplessness under life threat."
As I read over the threads, superficially, I see a few major themes. The one that stands out most to me is how quickly people want to heal, and how frustrated they become if it doesn't happen quickly, protracting their suffering.
The idea for healing is to stop trying to heal. It was only when I stopped trying that I finally healed. Monitoring progress slows healing.
There are other common denominaters also. But that stands out. This may have been addressed in earlier threads I don't want to dig that deep into the past. It is gone.
People wonder why they aren't moving along in healing, and it's clear. It's not the conscious mind that needs convinced, it's that part outside of awareness that needs to acquiesce. It's understanding at the deeper level that is necessary. People often say to me, "I agree with Dr. Sarno, I think that I have TMS, but it isn't working."
That's their conscious being, that part that thinks intellectually. That part is the first part that must be "gotten to" in healing, the prefrontal cortex of the brain (more specifically the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex); the portal into the entire being.
But, in healing, acceptance and belief must be contained within the deeper self. This takes more time since the brain is very reluctant to give up its current knowledge for fear of not being "safe."
You can understand why someone has hurt you at the conscious level, but it doesn't mean you forgive them at the deeper level. Conscious understanding is not unconscious belief, don't mistake and equate them.
SteveO |
| balto |
Posted - 04/24/2012 : 08:33:15
quote:
Originally posted by SteveO
Ozagnes,
You have it correct. It is "the coping" that demands the most energy, and therefore angers and conflicts us the most necessitating symptoms. This coping engages the freeze side of the survival response and not the fight/flight. If either fight or flight were to be utilized the trauma/or coping would be discharged from the system, and there would be less need for the unpleasant symptoms.
Try this link at UTube below, it gives the best visual explanation that I could find to help explain what is going on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u40WwqkOws
If we flee a situation (primal escape), this is an act of survival; we have escaped in our minds and that energy is disharged--no need for tms. For ex., if we are in a bad/tense relationship we can divorce from it and leave. This is escape in our minds.
OR--the other side is fight. We can can hit our spouse or argue it out until we are blue in the face. This completes the last act of survival and so the energy once again doesn't build up to dangerous levels.
However, given the personality type of the Type T, TMSer, they tend to neither argue back and release or flee to release because as Dr. Sarno insightfully observed, they are nice people, hyper responsible, non confrontational for the most part. They smile when they should get mad, they freeze instead of running, they are copers extraordinaire.
So what happens to that energy from the fight flight that was never taken? It gets locked into the body and disrupts the smooth functioning of the autonomic nervous system, more specifically the SNS. And hell begins.
You also described here what I called Phase 4 TMS, when the symptom occurs AFTER the tension is removed. This is the most common timing of manifestation. I observed that symptoms arose as needed and they fell into 4 classifications. Phase 4 was the more common and most of the tms docs agreed. I also noted that most people I knew in my life got cancer "after" the trauma events took place.
And finally, Ozagnes (I think several radio hosts called me that name since they couldn't pronounce my last name)...therapists have been telling me, regarding their clients, that my book is helping people to understand that those healing timeframes people read about in the tms books should not freak sufferers out when they don't heal exactly like that. You will heal in YOUR time, not anyone else's. Adhering to others' time frames adds stressors and slows healing. Relax and heal when you do. I've seen, several times, that quck healing is not as good as slow healing. The quick healers often see the SI upon them as the symptom shifts. The slow healers often heal deeper, which may be psychologically safer for them.
This is one of the best post on why "coping" is not good for tmser's I have read. Thanks Steve. |
| SteveO |
Posted - 04/23/2012 : 22:14:02
Ozagnes,
You have it correct. It is "the coping" that demands the most energy, and therefore angers and conflicts us the most necessitating symptoms. This coping engages the freeze side of the survival response and not the fight/flight. If either fight or flight were to be utilized the trauma/or coping would be discharged from the system, and there would be less need for the unpleasant symptoms.
Try this link at UTube below, it gives the best visual explanation that I could find to help explain what is going on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u40WwqkOws
If we flee a situation (primal escape), this is an act of survival; we have escaped in our minds and that energy is disharged--no need for tms. For ex., if we are in a bad/tense relationship we can divorce from it and leave. This is escape in our minds.
OR--the other side is fight. We can can hit our spouse or argue it out until we are blue in the face. This completes the last act of survival and so the energy once again doesn't build up to dangerous levels.
However, given the personality type of the Type T, TMSer, they tend to neither argue back and release or flee to release because as Dr. Sarno insightfully observed, they are nice people, hyper responsible, non confrontational for the most part. They smile when they should get mad, they freeze instead of running, they are copers extraordinaire.
So what happens to that energy from the fight flight that was never taken? It gets locked into the body and disrupts the smooth functioning of the autonomic nervous system, more specifically the SNS. And hell begins.
You also described here what I called Phase 4 TMS, when the symptom occurs AFTER the tension is removed. This is the most common timing of manifestation. I observed that symptoms arose as needed and they fell into 4 classifications. Phase 4 was the more common and most of the tms docs agreed. I also noted that most people I knew in my life got cancer "after" the trauma events took place.
And finally, Ozagnes (I think several radio hosts called me that name since they couldn't pronounce my last name)...therapists have been telling me, regarding their clients, that my book is helping people to understand that those healing timeframes people read about in the tms books should not freak sufferers out when they don't heal exactly like that. You will heal in YOUR time, not anyone else's. Adhering to others' time frames adds stressors and slows healing. Relax and heal when you do. I've seen, several times, that quck healing is not as good as slow healing. The quick healers often see the SI upon them as the symptom shifts. The slow healers often heal deeper, which may be psychologically safer for them.
MainEventMike,
I will look into the Barnes and Noble e-book. Since I published my book I've been sending out press releases and promo stuff and interviewing, etc. I haven't had time to look into all the formats. Thanks for reminding me.
Dr. Z,
I'm working with Barnes and Noble in your hometown now for a signing. I'm done with all the national stuff and beginning back home now. I come on to this site when all the work is done to relax and to see if I can help someone, anyone. The more you know yourself and how YOU react to external stimuli, the better chance you have, and then take action to free yourelf from your own burden.
I hope we can get together soon and figure all of life out. Either that or discuss tms and The Healthy Mind. I will be in touch soon.
SteveO
Go Guins! and Go Bucks!
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| MainEventMike |
Posted - 04/23/2012 : 18:48:01
SteveO,
Any chance of getting the e-book version on Barnes and Noble?
http://tensionmyositissyndrome.blogspot.com/ |
| Dr. Zafirides |
Posted - 04/23/2012 : 08:33:29
quote:
Originally posted by SteveO
Happiness first, and good health will certainly follow..
StevoO,
About a quarter of the way through the book. Well done!! You are bringing a larger awareness with your writings and your appearances. Don't worry about the hosts of the shows, you are getting the message out. That is a beautiful thing!
Be safe in your travels, take care and I can't wait to interview you on The Healthy Mind!!!
Go Youngstown!!
-Peter Zafirides
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| ozagnes |
Posted - 04/23/2012 : 01:41:48
SteveO, I bought your book last friday and have been reading it since, and I just wanted to give you some feedback on what I found very helpful so far.
I have only been through 1/10th or so, but before I forget, I may say it :)
First thing that amazed me is your description of the FREEZE reaction. That is exactly me, and I had never heard someone describe it before! I heard from neurologists etc that I was in constent fight/flight as he said I had hyperreflexia (and therefore then put me on ketamine to try to reduce my "overstimulated" CNS and pain threshold...). But all along my life and many past and present traumas, my reaction has always been to cope. I felt it very strongly lately when I visited my family and had massive issues, and through this I could feel myself stop any reaction, just take in, absorbe, try to survive. The kangaroo on the side of the road, frozen and not moving, waiting for the speeding car to pass, that's me!
And most amazingly, during this freeze, the pain did not realy increase...it is after, when I came home, that my setback began.
This also explain why I had anorexia AFTER I left home many moons ago. I had always wondered why it did not start when I was living alone with my mother, at the worse of it, having to care for her. No, it started when I went to Uni 800km away and I was finaly free!
The other thing that really helps is that you explain that recovery is often long, tedious, and non-linear. I like the average of 6months-2years, and I think it is vital to know that, because in other books (so far I have read Shubiner and Sarno), we are told about those great cases that recover overnight, or after 4 weeks or so.
Well, that sets a difficult standard for us perfectionist, and what is worse for a perfectionist than having unrealistic expectations? With that comes the feeling of failure if we are not cured in 4 weeks (or a couple of months) and that is the best opportunity for self-doubt to settle.
So thanks a lot for sharing your experience and wisdome.
:) |
| SteveO |
Posted - 04/20/2012 : 20:52:57
Genshin, I remember the intense leg pain. It all disappeared after the tms healing. I feel great now. It took me quite a bit of hard work but the process works as elegantly as Dr. Sarno described.
I took all of the good doctor's work and tied it into my own story of how I healed (and other pain specialists), hoping other people may benefit from my story. I'm receiving increasingly more emails telling me that my story is helping them greatly. So it's a very nice feeling and worth all the years of writing. But I can't take the credit without Dr. Sarno's work. I showed how his work was true in every fashion, as it related to my own healing, but I wouldn't have been able to write anything without his brilliant insight. You may need to read mine over a few times because it was meant to be a handbook on healing.
Kevin, that's a great question. As you know I wrote that my low back pain, in my opinion, was the toughest to defeat because it started at 14 and was the most frightening symptom. The old "first neural pathways formed" dillema. The brain will use what is in its comfort zone when it needs a diversion from daily anxiety. I remember the day I first got my low back pain to move after 30 years. I began running daily to spread the pain over the entire body. All of the tension gets focused on one area. So I decided to spread "the pain" over my entire body through tough exercise. It worked. Each day I would go to run and force my mind to a feel-great area of my mid-back, and one day the pain jumped to the mid-back where I was riveting my attention. It was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. I knew then that it was my focus on one area that kept it there for 30 years, and that I needed to force my mind elsewhere; and also that Dr. Sarno was correct.
The only thing I can recommend is that you understand that if your back was "bad" that it would have fallen apart after all these years, so your back is fine. Try to force your thoughts, very intensely, to a feel-good area. Don't let your mind wander to your pain. Break that association through hard work. I've recommended it many times and I have people emailing me that it worked for them too.
Those elbow and neck pains are your brain's frantic attempts to keep you in fear because it looks like once you are challenging your back, your brain needs to find an area to keep you afraid. This all takes time, it doesn't happen quickly, the brain changes slowly, which is good, or we would be those highly unstable animals Dr. Sarno mentioned. Lose your fear, focus elsehwere. Try to hold your focus on a feel-good area for about 15 seconds at a time.
Busted, you will probably learn more about the id and the ego than you wanted but it is sometimes necesary for full understanding. It is a literary device for understanding what is going on within the psyche. Freudian-based, but a helpful image tool. The rage that is causing your symptom you will never feel, thus the symtpom, and any rage you do feel is not part of the tms you have. All that repressed rage is hidden in your body. The pain is expressing what you cannot do with your tongue for reasons of ego. This all happens outside of awareness so you will not know any of it. All you will know is that when a symptom appears that you have hidden something from yourself and those around you. So the main objective is not to figure out What you have repressed, but to understand WHY you had to repress it.
Good luck, and know that you can heal, but in your own time, don't hold to someone else's timeframe. Don't put that much stress on yourself. You are fine, just relax and laugh. You will heal much quicker, it is the paraodox of healing. The faster you want to heal the slower you will heal. Stop trying so hard and make it fun, and heal.
SteveO |
| Busted |
Posted - 04/20/2012 : 13:34:49
Just finished the sample, and wanted to say although this is my second major bout with TMS and I've read all of Sarno's books and then some, I don't believe I've ever had such an understanding of how my Id is enraged by my SuperEgo until reading this. I've always taken Sarno's word for the fact that I'm enraged even though I feel no anger. But after reading your words, I was able to relate it to my life and I get it now. Thank you! |
| Busted |
Posted - 04/20/2012 : 11:53:15
I'm in the process of reading the sample on Amazon, very nice! I may have to order a copy for myself! |
| kstarnes |
Posted - 04/20/2012 : 11:46:32
I read your book twice (no, I didn't purchase another copy for the second reading :)) and really get something different each time. It is like the magnum opus of TMS. I have a question that the book is not able to answer: I have had TMS since age 14 (like yourself) and am now 51. It all started with my low back and progressively got worse, but the low back pain was always around to some extent. I no longer have tennis/golf elbow pain as that was one of my first pain areas to disappear. My neck pain is minimal and improving each day. Yet my back pain is a tough nut to crack. My question is: did the pain you had the longest put up the biggest fight in your battle with TMS? My elbow pain started at age 50 and my neck pain age 46. As I experienced them only in the last few years of my life, they seem to have left quicker. Is there something I can do or you did that got rid of your old foe that you had in your life for 35 years?
kevin starnes |
| Genshin |
Posted - 04/20/2012 : 10:09:10
SteveO, your book is incredible! (Noticed this thread a few days ago and bought it :) ) I discovered Dr. Sarno's books about a year ago after having intense leg pain for years. I've read quite a lot of TMS books (over and over), but I can say now honestly that your book is THE definite book about battling TMS. You've already given me such a boost in my healing process! Thank you! ..And I'm not even half way through the book yet! |
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