| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Swan83 |
Posted - 04/20/2013 : 15:09:55
I am familiar with the whole mind-body connection but I can't say any of the approaches I've taken so far have had any real tangible results. EFT, EMDR, and to a lesser extent meditation have been helpful, but when it comes down to it I am still just existing and a prisoner to my symptoms. leaving the house only to get groceries or go to a therapy appointment is not a life. I do feel strongly that my symptoms have a huge TMS component to them so I believe I'm on the right path, yet I still feel stuck.
sensitive applies to me. someone who feels too much and is often lost in thought. I've been like this as far back as I can remember. diagnosed with PTSD at age 15 from a traumatic event that happened in childhood. depressed and anxious for most of my life, possibly all of it, which has just worsened as I got older. the best any of the 12 years worth of various psych drugs ever did was keep me existing. went through absolute Hell from going off the last one. prolonged withdrawal which seemed to spawn a host of bizarre symptoms piling one on top of the other. though I believe Prolonged Withdrawal is a very real thing, I know much of it has a very strong mental component to it.
current symptoms:
interstitial cystitis
perioral dermatitis
diagnosed with hypoadrenia and hypoglycemia
food sensitivities
bloating after eating anything
candidaiasis/ sibo/ leaky gut?
wide spread body aches
weakness
free floating anxiety
bad eyesight since age 8 or so
acne since puberty worsened significantly after an extremely stressful event at age 18
horrid anxiety that mostly seems to be centered around my complexion. oddly enough if I'm not too bothered by my skin that day all of a sudden my teeth don't look right or my eyebrows, etc. I'm aware this smacks of BDD, but the problems with my skin are very real unfortunately. I've had this type of issue since age 18 or so. now 29
depression that often gives way to despair. since about age 12 or so
the symptoms seem to wax and wane. like I said most of my anxiety seems to be centered around my skin, but once having the odd day where my skin isn't bothering me too much the IC will flare up or I'll have wide spread body aches and fatigue etc
btw my diet is good. no refined sugar, refined flour, processed junk, no hydrogenated oils, no gluten except for my sprouted grain bread which I seem to do fine with. organic as much as possible and all meat is organic free of antibiotics and added hormones. no dairy. cook everything at home. supplements for hypoadrenia and hypoglycemia which help manage the condition.
I'm interested in applying Sarno's techniques to my situation, or anyone else's techniques that you folks have found helpful. which books and/or programs do you suggest and/or have had success with?
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| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Swan83 |
Posted - 04/22/2013 : 22:42:39
@pspa, yes indeed people can overdose on reading. that's something I'm trying to avoid so I've been looking into people's suggestions on here and trying to narrow them down. your suggestion especially appeals to me. I'll look him up on the forum as well.
@gig, I'm expanding my diet. I had the dreaded gluten today and I feel better than when I was eating the recommended meal of "easily digestible" meat and cooked veggies. actually the past week I've been eating grain heavy and hardly any vegetables, fish or meat and what do you know? skin has been clearing, mood has been better, digestive symptoms have lessoned. I've just been telling myself that this is emotion based and not some sort of leaky gut syndrome or whatever and since it's emotion based how is forcing down yet again another bland depressing meal going to help me?
I used to journal often but it's no longer been helpful and just seems to keep me feeling stuck since it seems like I'm just turning the same stuff over and over again. talking to people I trust has been really helpful though. it's been huge actually. I've been realizing more and more that people really want to be there for me, but because I'm afraid of being a burden, or a downer, I've been shutting them out and not even realizing it all this time. I was just assuming I was too much for them and felt I was inflicting myself on others. it was in my head.
@Ace, I admit sticking to one approach may be difficult. it just feels more natural for me to collect data and use what resonates with me. so far that's been working for me since I registered here. with that being said you have swayed me to give affirmations a go again. I checked out the Mind Power site and found an affirmation on there that amazingly my brain didn't take issue with. I see myself going over The Keys to keep myself on track with all this. I'm sure each time I'll be able to take something new away from them as I go through this process
thanks for the warm welcomes and helpful responses folks
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| Ace1 |
Posted - 04/21/2013 : 05:58:28
Swan. The affirmations although they seem fake, silly, unlikely to work etc., they are the most important aspect of those keys. I don't think that they are if sufficient by themselves, but if I did the rest without them,, I would have never gotten better I think or if I it would have taken a lot longer. Mind power into the 21st century helps to explain why affirmations work. Based on the severe TMS you have, you have to use them like I mention or I don't think my keys will work very well for you. I like healing back pain the book because it does not go into really deep psychoanalytic theories and when you read the stories in the back you see that they are more so following the approach listed in the keys. Dr Sarno even has his own set of affirmations in the book. I wouldn't worry about your diet, it has nothing to do with it unless your conditioned or afraid of certain foods. It seems like dr Alexander' approach is somewhat if different than mine, I have never read his book so I don't know for sure. However I would stick to one approach and stick with it for a while, as being pulled to too many kinds of approaches are not likely to help you very well, but confuse you and take your focus off the work. This is just as gigglos and pspa has just said. Good luck. |
| gigalos |
Posted - 04/21/2013 : 04:05:17
I have no problems with my digestion anymore. It all slowly started to disappear. I can't prove whether it was from the mind work, it is just a feeling I have. I did improve my diet too, but I feel the mind work was the real changer. It lowered my stress and anxiety hugely. My biggest improvement came from journaling and talking untouched stuff over with a psychologist. The other thing is that I slowly started to confront the things that bring me anxiety.
Did/do you journal? Are you able to point out the things/thoughts that are probably responsible for symptoms?
I only read one book (Sarno), partly because I am quite lazy :) but also because of what Pspa stated. Reading is mainly to convince yourself and get insight, real improvement is mainly a matter of doing.
good luck |
| pspa123 |
Posted - 04/20/2013 : 19:20:46
At some point one can overdose on reading instead of doing, but I would recommend James Alexander's The Hidden Psychology of Pain. James is a frequent poster here. |
| Swan83 |
Posted - 04/20/2013 : 18:57:29
thanks gig.
I read all 8 pages of the Ace's keys topic. there were indeed some helpful tid bits in there. I may have to skip the affirmations as they've never helped, they actually seem to do the opposite of what they're intended for, in my case at least.
Ace recommends a few books, one I've already read (Tolle) so does Healing Back Pain get into issues like mine? back pain is one of the least of my issues. and I'll look into the Mind Power one he suggests.
so were you able to Sarno-ize your bloating, food sensitivities, sibo etc? |
| gigalos |
Posted - 04/20/2013 : 16:29:11
Hi Swan,
Welcome to this forum.
You have quite a number of things going on and lots of them indeed seem to have a mind connection. I recommend to read Ace's keys to start with, they can be found on this forum.
I recognize some symptoms you have from the time I came off cannabis (hypoglycemia, food sensitivity, bloating, sibo, body ache, weakness, anxiety). I strongly think that it were mindbody symptoms.
Hope you find what you need here
Take care |
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