| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| aconner |
Posted - 12/21/2012 : 01:43:46
Hi everyone,
Here's my inaugural post! This forum is such a great resource for TMS. I've learned so much from reading your stories and talking to some of you individually about your experiences.
I've experienced hand pain/RSI since June, and back/shoulder pain since October, and have been reading Sarno's books since November. (It's also worth noting that I had migraine headaches for several years, and developed a GI condition called erosive esophagitis about 8 or 9 years ago.)
I have consciously accepted the diagnosis for all of the above, but admit that, yes, I have been frustrated to have not yet experienced any improvement in symptoms. (I did a lot of initial journaling, and am hoping to do more in the immediate future. I've also been going to therapy since November and am hopeful that the sessions will help over time.)
My question is whether anyone has had any experience with TMS-related sore throats, potentially considered that my sore throats may be allergy-induced. I was diagnosed with a dust allergy when I was a kid and never felt immediately affected by it, but. Last winter, after several years in a row of getting prolonged winter sore throats alongside sinus congestion, my doctor said that it "must be related to allergies" (though he also said that "everyone has dust allergies to some extent").
The fact that my latest sore throat has now just sprouted up the week that winter "officially" starts seems to point to it being psychologically-induced, but for some reason I am finding it so much harder to believe that this sort of health issue could be psychological, versus something like the comically-arbitrary hand pain that I've been able to accept as TMS over the last few months.
Can anyone offer their perspectives on this?
Thanks so much for your time and I look forward to continued conversations on these topics.
Adam |
| 9 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| forestfortrees |
Posted - 12/27/2012 : 08:26:06
Of course sometimes symptoms have a structural cause. If you fall down a flight of stairs and break your leg, you will have pain. The difference is that the eventually the leg will heal and the pain will go away. The same thing is works with a cold. If you are flying home from Christmas and the guy sitting next to you on the airplane sneezes into your soda before you drink it, then you will probably get a cold. Of course, in a couple of days the symptoms will go away. If the symptoms continue to persist beyond the time your body should heal then TMS is probably at play. Taking cold and allergy medicine is probably a good idea, but if the symptoms continue for weeks, you may want to ask yourself if it could be TMS.
Over the last few years I have realized that TMS can manifest itself in a wide range of symptoms. In my case, my voice went out after I started using voice recognition software, which I used because my RSI prevented me from typing on a computer. Once I realized it was TMS, my voice came back. This is different from what you are describing, but I do know that TMS can affect your throat in a varity of different ways. Asking yourself if it could be TMS is a great first step to overcoming the symptom
My Video Success Story
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| tennis tom |
Posted - 12/23/2012 : 09:28:03
quote:
Originally posted by aconner
(Or am I again thinking too "structurally"?)
Yes.
==================================================
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
"The hot-dog is the noblest of dogs; it feeds the hand that bites it." Dr. Laurence Johnston Peter
======================================================
"If it ends with "itis" or "algia" or "syndrome" and doctors can't figure out what causes it, then it might be TMS." Dave the Mod
=================================================
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 |
| aconner |
Posted - 12/23/2012 : 09:07:00
Thanks for the tips!
My symptoms do tend to happen simultaneously, which I guess makes sense given the complex array of conditioning that affects them - i.e. typing leads to hand/back pain, while socializing or being physical active causes a worsening of sore throat symptoms.
It's hard for me to rationally think about how much this is being affected via conditioning vs. actual "physical" things I'm doing to myself. I mean, isn't it reasonable to assume that talking over loud music at a bar with friends will make my sore throat worse? That's the case for true viral illnesses, so why wouldn't it be for TMS-related ones ilke an allergy-induced sore throat?
(Or am I again thinking too "structurally"?)
Thanks again for your help.
Adam |
| tmsjptc |
Posted - 12/21/2012 : 13:05:10
Adam, I was thinking about how to answer your follow-on questions and then read the response from SteveO. He answered it perfectly and I wouldn't change a thing.
I do have one thing I thought of though. It isn't an answer to your question but merely an observation of mine that you may find helpful to be aware of.
When I was still having symptoms but had begun Sarno's treatment, I would get the "moving around" of symptoms. But, what I found interesting wasn't just that "it" had moved but that I could use this realization to verify for myself that it was just another TMS manifestation.
What I mean is this: If I developed a sore throat, I would stop and notice whether or not I was having my other "normal" TMS symptom. If it had disappeared but now I had a sore throat this was an indication that it was still TMS. But, if I still had my normal symptom and then developed a sore throat, it was actually more likely that I'd caught something from someone. It was as if my TMS couldn't "multi-task" and be in both locations at the same time.
Of course, I know people who experience multiple symptoms at the same time, so it is possible. But for me, with something not in my norm, it worked this way. Another example was when I got hives. I had never had them before. As soon as I did, I thought about how my neck/shoulders/head were feeling and noticed that they were feeling great. I immediately started laughing at this TMS gremlin. The next day the hives were gone.
Anyway, this is only my history and it may or may not be helpful to you but I thought I'd offer up the insight. |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 12/21/2012 : 12:25:46
quote:
Originally posted by aconner
... so what's the mechanism at work here?
As my yoga teacher, Texas Chainsaw Tony used to say, his biggest problem with teaching his students was that they knew too much, TMS is about paralysis by over-analysis.
The "mechanism" that creates TMS is the brain. Which Dr. Sarno says is so complex and convoluted, that we will never understand it's workings (and TMS creating machinations), in our lifetimes if ever--and that's fine with me--there's enough hucksters and politicians trying to make a buck by f'ing around with people's minds.
If your cold symptoms have settled in I don't think there's anything wrong with taking meds to relieve the symptoms--a shot of Christian Brothers brandy would probably not hurt either. |
| SteveO |
Posted - 12/21/2012 : 12:11:56
The mechanism at work is the immune system. As the good doctor said, any system the brain has at its disposal, it will use.
I always got sore throats when under stress, and every spring I got bronchitis. Then post-Sarno I realized that it was a conditioned response, and I haven't had a cold or sore throat in 10 years.
It's a tricky fix with the immune system, but the theme is the same. Relax, breathing and meditation, affirmations, etc. All good. But you can't go around with your nose running, so you sometimes need to treat the symptom.
Boost your immunity with exercise and rest and LAUGHTER, but also do the psychologicals, like understanding that your system is giving you a distraction to cope through anxiety. Try not to focus on the symptom, that's what you deeper self wants, to meditate on the colds and sore throats. If you decrease your anxiety your immunity will increase. For certain it is TMS.
Good luck
Steve |
| aconner |
Posted - 12/21/2012 : 11:39:44
Hi Tom & Tom,
Thanks for sharing your stories. Two quick follow-ups:
1. Perhaps I'm being too analytical, but this sort of ailment strikes me as something that operates differently - Sarno's TMS explanation about oxygen deprivation and blood flow doesn't seem to apply to allergies, so what's the mechanism at work here? (As much as I want to just throw up my hands and accept that it's TMS, I feel like my unconscious needs a more specific explanation!)
2. In terms of "treating" this, would it be the same as for any other TMS condition? i.e. I shouldn't be taking cough drops, using my humidifier, and other short-term fixes?
Thanks again for your help. |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 12/21/2012 : 11:18:16
Welcome to the board Aconner, funny you should ask. I just had a weird TMS cold experience a couple of days ago. I attended a home-owner's association, meeting and the next day called someone who had also been there who came down with a cold. I immediately starting feeling cold symptoms thinking about how I'd shared the same air. With my TMS "penicillin knowledge" I said to myself that's absurd, I felt perfectly fine before he mentioned it. My symptoms vanished and I had a chuckle at this lame attempt by the TMS gremlin. So there's my TMS "success story" du jour. I wonder when flu seasons comes around, how much of this might be a group TMS psychosomatic phenomenon, brought passed around through the power of suggestion. As Deepak Chopra says, "Staying home with a cold is the Western form of mediation."
==================================================
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
"The hot-dog is the noblest of dogs; it feeds the hand that bites it." Dr. Laurence Johnston Peter
======================================================
"If it ends with "itis" or "algia" or "syndrome" and doctors can't figure out what causes it, then it might be TMS." Dave the Mod
=================================================
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 |
| tmsjptc |
Posted - 12/21/2012 : 10:12:55
Adam, welcome to the forum. I'm not on here often anymore. I do still check in from time to time and when I read your post I decided to comment since I have experienced what you describe.
Among lost of other things, I used to get what I would call "stress colds". It wasn't until learning about TMS that I realized this was likely just one more target of opportunity for the mind-body syndrome to be manifested.
For a normal cold, I would notice other people around me were sick and that I likely had caught it from one of them. The symptoms would be the same. But, for my "stress cold", I would notice no one else was sick and that the symptoms always started with my throat.
Besides it likely being psychologically induced by an undealt with emotion, it is possible that it is simply a trigger. If you've associated this with something like the winter beginning, it could manifest based solely on that.
Keep up the reading and digesting of information. The conscious acceptance comes first and the subconscious and unconscious acceptance come next. They don't come as quickly but when they do, you'll experience the improvement in how you feel. This will reinforce the beliefs and accelerate your progress.
Tom |
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