| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Texasrunner |
Posted - 02/23/2005 : 08:29:07
I have not had any TMS pain in months. (After eight years of nagging butt pain.) Because of that, it would be easy to forget all I have learned about the mind/body connection, and to gradually revert back to the old understandings. However, this week's Time magazine reminds me that I will never revert back. They have a multi-page cover story on chronic pain, and unless I'm mistaken, Sarno's name or teachings are never mentioned once. The closest they come is a two-sentence caption. "Mindfullness of stress can help." I find it nearly incomprehensible that responsible journalists could completely miss the entire scope of Sarno's methods-never even addressing it. But the story did serve one purpose. It made me chuckle when I realized how far off the mark they were, and that I will always know the real truth! |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Baseball65 |
Posted - 02/24/2005 : 05:09:34
Hi Logan.
Our parents know how to guilt us like no other.
Your story sounds typical of many I've heard from TMSers.Generally a parent intent on guilting someone only does so because they think somehow this strategy for attention is WORKING. My mother recently was diagnosed with hypertension /high blood pressure after living a full life of near perfect health...Hell,she never even gets colds!
She's 71 and still plays tennis,ski's and did a walking trip thru Vietnam.
I pointed out the fact to her that her symptoms began when I moved her only 2 grandchildren 2000 plus miles away.She was actually very openminded to the concept of psychogenically induced symptoms.She watched my own recovery and sort of indirectly belives these things are attached.
What I DIDN'T tell her,was that she will generally only vent to me ,because of her 3 children I'm the only one who will listen
...and that ties in with Louise Hays take on it.She sites deoression as being: Anger a person feels they do not have the right to have /hopelessness.
Her recommended mantra is : I now go beyond other peoples fear and limitations. I create myself
Interesting how she doesn't mention other people in the problem,but in the solution.
Seeing how you're a TMSer,I don't imagine you've ever been any other way...she probably senses the goodism,perfectionist and knows you're the only one who won't hang up on her.
My brother recently told my sister he no longer wanted to hear her "personl problems" on the phone....she would call and do what your mother is doing to you ,to him.
He said she hung up on him......and than called back later and apologized for being so selfish.
you are not alone.
As far as Louise Hay,I would only reccomend it in addition to,not instead of Sarno.Maybe I'm a bit biased,but Sarno makes good rock solid sense and I use that as my foundation.
Ms. Hay ventures out into the world of stuff we know to be true at a gut level,but have never been able to put a finger on.That being said,I've had wonderful results since I began using just and eenth of her strategies.My relationship with my kids,wife and Boss have all improved drastically.I used to look at every work day as torture,the time with my kids as a duty and my marriage as drudgery.....
I see it all in a new light now and it has injected meaning where previously there was little or none.I feel as if I am finally finding the meaning for some emotional pains that I previously viewed as merely suffering.
As far as TV ads....don't get me going.I've neatly avoided them by NEVER TURNING ON BROADCAST TELEVISION.If you don't watch the thing at all.
In the last week I have studied,participated in a group through church,set up and began learning how Mac and Pro tools works,begun writing the story Tennis Tom told me to write,(close to 30 pages)worked on writing songs and read NEW books for fun(C.S. Lewis)....all on top of playing Baseball and napping a lot.
or...I could have watched TV.
Her most recent book is called "You can heal your life"...it's a little frilly for me,but than again life has beaten me into a state of openmindedness.
Peace...I hope you can resolve this deal with Mom.
Baseball65 |
| Logan |
Posted - 02/23/2005 : 20:51:21
Baseball,
I remember that magazine! Now that I think about it, it did just disappear. It's weird but since you mentioned adbusters and since I checked out their site, I find myself so averse to commercials. I mute them or turn the tv or radio completely off, it's like a physical reaction, like "OH! NO!"
About the Louis Hays book, I'm thinking I should maybe get that. What does she say about depression? Lately, I've been so blah I can't stand myself.
Okay, this is where this post is actually on-topic to this thread:
My minor depression has a lot to do with how my mom has all kinds of chronic pain that I KNOW is anger and how she agrees with me that I had TMS but then just continues to suffer from every flippin' kind of chronic pain you can think of AND chronic, debilitating manic/depression.
And whenever she calls me, I am expected to listen to her complain about her pain and she asks me nothing about my life, nothing.
The latest call was to tell me that she had the flu for three weeks and wrecked her car because a drug she was given for body aches reacted adversely with her meds.
She could have died and should have gotten a DUI, and of course she phones me to complain about the whole chain of events leading up to her crashing the car and how my dad and my brother were at work and my sister couldn't be bothered and that's why she HAD to drive herself...and it goes on.
And of course I feel bad for her but of course I am furious that I only get bad news from her and no interest or support.
I already cried and beat the couch over this, repeatedly, now what? |
| moose1 |
Posted - 02/23/2005 : 15:59:12
quote:
I would be astonished if Sarno was ever given a national look...some pharmaceutical rep would sniff it and threaten to pull their backing.
This got me thinking. If the truth about mindbody-based pain syndromes ever really got out, I think sponsors threatening to pull their ads would be the least of it. They'd probably launch a global smear campaign against Sarno, hire thugs to rough him up and bug his office and tap his phones. It'd be like Watergate. Not to mention the back quacks. Can you imagine what would happend to the back quack industry if the truth that what they do is totally fraudulent ever came out? I live in a small college town of about 25,000. There are about 30 chiros here, and all of them have lines of anger-pain people around the block waiting get their chi adjusted. They'd all be out of business.
I'd love to see it.
Moose |
| Baseball65 |
Posted - 02/23/2005 : 14:18:08
T-runner.
Remember,you can't bite the hand that feeds!
Time and other publications cary all those pharmaceutical adds (celebrex,vioxx,anti-depressants viagra)...any article that cast doubt on the credibility of the status quo would have their sponsors up in arms....imagine NOT needing your anti-inflammatory? Imagine if you could heal your own mind through non-chemical therapy?
Recently Adbusters(a watchdog anti-modern culture group) posted a story about the early demise of a magazine called "Simplicity".It was to be a magazine about simplifying your life....putting the genie back in the bottle so to speak,and giving tips on how to slow down the pace of life....no cable tv...maybe no tv at all...drive only the car you need,not the one you want,so you don't work overtime and spend more time with your family...staying at home instead of having two working spouses to avoid extra travel,lunch,clothing and day care expenses....you get the picture.
I even saw the cover of the first mag...The sponsors reviewed it and refused to have anything to do with it...it encouraged people to NOT buy products...How un american!!
I would be astonished if Sarno was ever given a national look...some pharmaceutical rep would sniff it and threaten to pull their backing.
P.S. It is Not impossible to revert back...my neighbor whose back was completely healed decided that his shoulder problem that arose a couple of years later was definitely physical and went ahead and had surgery.
I haven't had any back pain in years,but I have,without the cover of pain,gone into extended depressions,abused drugs and a lot of other traps....it's still always a good thing to "stay connected".
This forum has been great for that....remember that throat thing you and I talked about??? I usually used to get it 3-5 times a year...haven't had it once since you pointed it out to me(Thank you very much!)...that was in October....a whole winter without one infection!!! Or cold or flu or brochitis...nothing.(Louise hay's book has helped eradicate these other distractions)
There is always more understanding to be found.
peace
Baseball65 |
| moose1 |
Posted - 02/23/2005 : 12:33:28
Yeah, it's crazy how the medical establishment just keeps chugging along on with the same old lie about chronic pain and pain drugs. I just read "Facing the Fire," and honestly that book is resonating with me at least at much as Sarno and has deepened my belief in the mindbody (or 'bodymind' as Lee puts it) than ever. The fact is that SO many people in American society are over-flowing with anger, whether it's "suppressed," "present" or both.
Like a lot of TMSers, I see TMS in so many friends of mine that it's crazy. But after trying to turn a couple of them onto Sarno in the past with very negative results, I generally just nod and say, "yeah, those bulging discs can be tough," all the while squirming in my seat and trying to plant the seed that just maybe their mega-stress life and anger might be the cause. It never works. It's true, you can't change people, so why bother?
A friend of mine who has a two year old, mentally handicapped child and another kid arriving in about a month goes to the doctor at least once a week. Neck problems, back problems, headaches and stomach aches. In fact, his stomach problems were so bad that after about a million tests and getting scoped from both ends, the doctors ran out of things to tell him and said, "uh....it looks like you're allergic to gluten. yeah, that's it, gluten. cut down on the gluten." which he did....for about 3 days. And he wonders what he did to "injure" his back. I want to say, "Well, you couldn't have done anything to it because you haven't exercised or done anything phsyically vigorous in about 4 years!"
so yeah, reading articles like that and listening to friends talk about their neck, shoulder, back, arm, hand or stomach problems when it's so clear they're ready to explode with rage is really frustrating. hey, if they DID explode once in a while in the right way, they'd feel better than they've felt in years.
but i totally agree with john lee about just taking care of yourself and the people closest to you. it's all you can do.
Moose |
| ralphyde |
Posted - 02/23/2005 : 11:30:33
At least Newsweek gave Dr. Sarno some pretty good coverage in their April 26? issue, in an article titled "The Great Back Debate." Link here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4767783/site/newsweek/
Ralph
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| Texasrunner |
Posted - 02/23/2005 : 11:00:45
I emailed Gary last summer- and he seems to be doing well. Oddly, while I initially disagreed with Gary's insistence about how TMS and certain physical therapies are not mutally exclusive, I now totally agree with him. There are just so many different levels of it. Some problems are purely TMS, others that involve sports, may be intertwined with the physical...That was the case with me- a little of both. Gary is of the opinion that although Sarno is a visionary, he is also a zealot, and not open to other ideas. |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 02/23/2005 : 09:00:03
Quote from Texasrunner:
"I find it nearly incomprehensible that responsible journalists could completely miss the entire scope of Sarno's methods-never even addressing it."
That's a pretty good commentary on the state of journalism today. But what can we expect when the once respected NY Times, right in Sarno's backyard, prints "all the fiction that fits into print". We can thank ABC's John Stossel and the King of all Media, Howard Stern, for the meager coverage that the Good Doctor has received. If he would only hire a publicist.
Congrats on your TMS success. Have you heard from Gary?
Regards,
tt |
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