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Tunza
New Zealand
198 Posts |
 Posted - 12/25/2005 : 19:34:54
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Just came across this and thought I'd post it in case anyone here has been diagnosed with this.
Journal of Psychosomatic Research
Volume 60, Issue 1 , January 2006, Pages 109-112:
Coping with emotions and abuse history in women with chronic pelvic pain
Abstract
Objective
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether past abuse and the tendency to repress or suppress unwanted thoughts and emotions contribute to the experience of pain in patients with chronic pelvic pain (CPP).
Methods
A group of CPP patients without endometriosis and a group with endometriosis were compared with a pain-free control group. Participants completed measures of pain, emotional repression, suppression of unwanted thoughts and emotions, and past abuse history.
Results
Both CPP groups were more likely to be emotional suppressors when compared with the control group and reported significantly higher levels of thought suppression and abuse. Endometriosis patients were also more likely to be repressors of emotions when compared with controls. Suppression but not repression was related to higher levels of abuse and pain.
Conclusion
Suppression of unwanted thoughts and emotions and past abuse distinguishes CPP patients from healthy controls. Assisting patients to express distressing emotions may impact on pain levels. |
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jilly_girl
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - 12/26/2005 : 09:20:05
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i have chronic pelvic pain. i dont necessarily believe its repressed emotions but often simply the incredible stress many of us have to live under that causes this.
Jill |
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 12/26/2005 : 16:10:40
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Jilly, your post is confirmation that you really have not bought into the TMS diagnosis 100%.
If you did, then you would likely conclude that chronic pelvic pain is a TMS equivalent. |
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jilly_girl
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 07:47:30
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dave i seldom buy into anything 100 percent i think you need to reread my post. i didnt say it wasnt TMS. i just said i think the CAUSE can be stress not repressed anger. I dont much buy into the repressed rage thing in my case.
Jill |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 08:01:59
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Jilly, my experience has been that you don't have to believe in repressed anger for this stuff to work. I've gone back and forth on it myself. but for me, simply understanding that my pain was emotionally induced was enough...That includes stress...
Another approach is simply to act as if you believe..In some respects, there's no difference...
You've nothing to lose. I sometimes remind myself that I'm not half as smart as I sometimes think I am..
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 09:37:31
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quote:
Originally posted by jilly_girl
i didnt say it wasnt TMS. i just said i think the CAUSE can be stress not repressed anger. I dont much buy into the repressed rage thing in my case.
Then you can't call it TMS.
It is not uncommon for people to read Dr. Sarno and then come up with their own alternative explanations that are somewhat consistent with Dr. Sarno's work but propose an alternative theory.
Let's not forget that Dr. Sarno has decades of experience with thousands of patients. It took a lot of time and work to fine tune his theory. The "repressed rage thing" is the heart of his theory. If you don't "buy it" then you do not buy TMS.
Feel free to believe alternate explanations for your pain. Maybe Dr. Sarno isn't 100% right. But he's probably "more right" than anything we can come up with on our own. And most importantly, his patients recover. |
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jilly_girl
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 10:27:59
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dave i dont really care what you call it. i also dont think dr sarno is God, although i do think he is on to something. feel free to think whatever you like about what i think lol.
art, i totally agree with what you said
Jill |
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yowire
USA
70 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 10:51:38
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From jilly-girl:
quote:
i just said i think the CAUSE can be stress not repressed anger.
Stress is not the cause of TMS but can be fuel for it. The cause lies deeper. Your post seems to suggest that you think you understand what stress is and why you are feeling stressful. You probaly do not. I don't think anyone knows what all the factors are that contributes to this. Emotional and mental stress is in itself a psychosomatic response which, I believe, can be manipulated by the unconscious mind for a psychological purpose(TMS).
quote:
I dont much buy into the repressed rage thing in my case.
Since the rage is repressed you can't feel it consciously. As such, you cannot make a conscious judgement as to whether it is there or not in your case. The best bet is to assume that it is there in your unconscious. That way you can search for it and acknowledge it. Once you think about this you should be able to find sources of rage that are normally beyond your awareness. At the very least, you will be learning a great deal about yourself by doing this and your symptoms may improve also.
Yowire |
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Stryder
686 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 11:54:52
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quote:
Originally posted by yowire
From jilly-girl:
quote:
i just said i think the CAUSE can be stress not repressed anger.
I think everyone is basically agreeing here but getting hung up on the symantics. TMS works like a bank account. All the trials and tribulations and yes stress of everyday life and past events make a deposit in your inner-rage-bank-account. Good things in your life withdraw from the account and your life is fine when you maintain a zero balance.
If your account continues to grow unchecked this turns into unconscious inner rage and anger. You don't see it because it is repressed. That's the essense of the inner rage part of TMS. We all have it wether we want to acknowledge it or not it doesn't matter.
What matters is you can choose to deny your brain causing your pain by refusing to play along. Repute the bogus physical diagnosis for your pain, accept that TMS is the cause, and your in.
Take care, -Stryder |
Edited by - Stryder on 12/27/2005 11:55:28 |
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jilly_girl
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 12:19:07
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this seems to be getting off the main point of the board. everyone will have their own ideas on it. i'm not really interested in debating the stress vs rage issue. i believe mine is caused by severe stress. not all will agree. hope the new year finds you all healthy!
Jill |
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yowire
USA
70 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 14:50:51
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In reviewing my own TMS timeline and reading about others, it has become very clear that the brain uses mentally or physically stressful events as an excuse to initiate physical symptoms for the purpose of deceiving you as to the real reason for the symptom.
I have found that even when the original stress is removed, the symptom will almost always remain. Just as it often does in the case of physical stresses such as an injury wherein the pain remains long after healing.
Believing that the mental stress was the cause of your symptom is exactly like believing that your injury of long ago is the cause of your chronic pain. In a sense, it is very similar to thinking physically.
The answer has to be deeper. Stress can make the situation worse, but I think its all part of the deception.
Yowire |
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 14:55:57
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quote:
Originally posted by jilly_girl
this seems to be getting off the main point of the board. everyone will have their own ideas on it. i'm not really interested in debating the stress vs rage issue. i believe mine is caused by severe stress. not all will agree. hope the new year finds you all healthy!
On the contrary, Jill, the point of this board is TMS as defined by Dr. John Sarno in his books.
However you slice it, if you believe your pain is directly caused by severe stress, then it is not TMS.
This board is not about debating whether or not Dr. Sarno is right, or exploring alternate stress-related theories. |
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n/a
560 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 15:02:58
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| I have CPP. It is also referred to as non bacterial prostatitus even though it has nothing to do with the prostate. It is 100% a TMS equivalent. Dr Sarno does not refer to CPP in his books but he does refer to prostatitus and that it is a TMS equivalent. Dr. Marc Sopher, a TMS doctor, has treated two people using TMS theory and they have recovered. Having lived through the nightmare of CPP I know that is a TMS equivalent as all my other symptoms subside at the same times as the pelvic pain subsides. There is no logical explanation for it. |
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jilly_girl
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - 12/28/2005 : 06:57:02
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just curious dave..if you dont think my years of chronic pelvic pain are TMS what DO you think it is?
Jill |
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 12/28/2005 : 08:39:21
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Jill, I'm not in any position to diagnose your pain. I think you're missing my point.
To say that your pain "is TMS" means specifically Tension Myositis Syndrome or The Mindbody Syndrome as defined by Dr. Sarno. In brief, that means the pain is induced by the brain as a distraction to prevent you from experiencing unconscious rage.
You don't seem to really believe that explanation, based on your posts. For example, you believe that your chronic pelvic pain is directly caused by severe stress. You certainly have a right to believe what you want, but then you can not call it TMS. |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 12/28/2005 : 09:05:38
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quote:
don't seem to really believe that explanation, based on your posts. For example, you believe that your chronic pelvic pain is directly caused by severe stress. You certainly have a right to believe what you want, but then you can not call it TMS.
In a way though, this seems an academic distinction..If the symptoms abate due to a recognition that there's some sort of mind/body link, this seems to me the important thing...
To add, while it's not TMS if a symptom is caused be stress according to Sarno's definition, I think it's useful to keep in mind his is an essentially untestable hypothesis..'
For my money the important thing is the recognition of first, the importance and prevalence of psychosomatic illness and second (the good news), the fact that such recognition often resolves the symptoms..
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n/a
560 Posts |
Posted - 12/28/2005 : 09:28:55
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I suggest you consider it to be a TMS equivalent and start applying Dr. Sarno's methods and see how it goes. There is no other real other treatment for Chronic Pelvic Pain. The article in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, as posted by Tunza, provides good evidence of it being a TMS equivalent. As I stated previously, Dr. Marc Sopher had two patients with this symptom and they recovered using Dr. Sarno's methods.
I hope you have a good and complete recovery. |
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jilly_girl
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - 12/28/2005 : 11:29:26
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave
Jill, I'm not in any position to diagnose your pain. I think you're missing my point.
To say that your pain "is TMS" means specifically Tension Myositis Syndrome or The Mindbody Syndrome as defined by Dr. Sarno. In brief, that means the pain is induced by the brain as a distraction to prevent you from experiencing unconscious rage.
You don't seem to really believe that explanation, based on your posts. For example, you believe that your chronic pelvic pain is directly caused by severe stress. You certainly have a right to believe what you want, but then you can not call it TMS.
well you are certainly correct there. you are not in any position to diagnose my pain. i obviously think it is TMS or i wouldnt be on this forum. I can and do call it TMS. deal with it
Jill |
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jilly_girl
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - 12/28/2005 : 11:33:02
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thank you peter and art. i know when my mother was seriously ill and i had stay with her round the clock i barely noticed my own pain.
Jill |
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Stryder
686 Posts |
Posted - 12/28/2005 : 15:05:55
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quote:
Originally posted by PeterMcKay
...As I stated previously, Dr. Marc Sopher had two patients with this symptom and they recovered using Dr. Sarno's methods...
Speaking of Dr. Sopher, looks like he is back in New Hampshire according to his web site...
Dr. Marc Sopher is a family physician who practiced in Exeter, New Hampshire from 1990-2003 and recently returned to the New Hampshire Seacoast to start his own practice in Exeter.
http://www.tms-mindbodymedicine.com/bio.htm
-Stryder |
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Carolyn
184 Posts |
Posted - 12/28/2005 : 21:53:01
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Jilly Girl- in my own case, I think that stress is a majorSource of my supressed rage. When I just have too damn much to do or life's problems are piling up, it seems to really piss off my subconscious (I think of it as my inner child wanting to play -not work and also chalk it up to her perception that in her self-centered world, bad things should not happen to her. Anyways, she seems to really resent stress). Maybe if you think about how you feel about the stress in your life, you will realize that it pisses you off. As a fellow CPP sufferer, I know that the pain makes me mad both at my body and at the unfairness of it all and that feeds the nasty cycle of pain. I just try to channel that anger right back at my brain and I don't pretend to know why but it works. I'm sure Sarno doesn't have it exactly right but neither do I. I have learned a lot from reading how other people integrate Sarno's ideas into their recovery.
Stryder- my personal interpretation has been similar to yours. I know that I have much less of a tolerance for stress than I used to and when I get overwhelmed, I start getting consciously angry at things and people around me. It has always seemed to me that I seem to have a threshold for stress/rage and when I am too close to it, I am in danger of having a TMS pain pop up. When I journal, meditate, excercise, eat right, get enough sleep etc., it seems like I am withdrawing from my "rage account" and am more resistant to a flare-up. I have also noticed that my pain was always worse when I was sick with a cold- like that was another stress pushing me closer to my threshold.
Carolyn |
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Topic |
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Endometriosis/Chronic Pelvic Pain and emotions
