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Suz
559 Posts |
 Posted - 08/21/2006 : 08:26:44
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Hey all,
I have not posted about any pain for a long time - because it has been a year since I had any! I have been through a lot of changes in the last year and am experiencing a flare up. It is interesting that the flare up is happening while i am in the process of challenging my food intolerances. I spent last week tackling "wheat" - I have been eating bread every day and watching for reactions. If I got a reaction, I continued to eat it regardless. Normally my skin breaks out and I am very very bloated. Well - as the week went on, my skin got clearer and clearer and the bloating went away. At the same time, my sciatica started to ache by the end of the week. This is ridiculous!! I now question if my TMS really went away. It just found an equivalent to take the back pain's place.
I am reading Sarno's new book which, although a bit heavy going at times, is very good in the psychology part. For some reason - one part really struck me. Sarno talks about how is is v. important for the unconsious to know (from communication from the conscious) that it knows about all the pain and sadness sitting in the unconscious. It is no longer a big dark secret. It is only then that the unconscious gives up with its distraction strategy. I guess maybe my conscious has not communicated this enough to the unconscious.
A year ago, I went through therapy with one of Sarno's psychologists -as soon as I broke off my engagement, the pain came to an abrupt halt. Now I am wondering if I need to go back. It would be so nice to get rid of all the equivalents once and for all. I just hate paying out all the money. I saw the pschologist for 4 months - seemed like a long enough time to me. Maybe I need a top up of some sort.
In the meantime, I am going to journal, keep switching attention away from pain to emotions and read the book
Any thoughts?? |
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miehnesor
USA
430 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2006 : 13:03:50
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Suz- Perhaps you need to plow through more of the emotions to get rid of those equivalents once and for all. This has been my approach and it is working slowly but surely.
While in general it may be that most folks need to understand what lies in the unconscious to rid the symptoms, we are all individuals and perhaps your repressed pain is more intense than the average TMSer.
It's true that therapy is expensive but I can tell you that it's been money well spent and i'm quite pleased with the results. Consider the cost to your life living with one TMS equivalent or another and how much that has cost you in your quality of life.
If you have a therapist that works for you and enables you to get into your feelings it is bound to help your symptoms. The hard part for most folks seems to be finding a decent therapist.
I tend to encourage folks to try therapy and feel the repressed stuff if journaling alone doesn't do the job. It is often a prolonged process but for me has been the right and only solution.
On a different note I want to thank you personally for a thread you started some time ago WRT food allergies. I've had them my whole life and now for the first time i've been able to eat many fresh fruits and vegetables w/o an immediate allergic reaction. I'm pretty excited about it. I haven't seen a let up however wrt my wheat allergy so the jury still out on that one. |
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Suz
559 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2006 : 13:13:06
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Oh meihnesor,
That is so marvellous about you being able to eat more foods. I am just thrilled. I am still eating everything in sight and ignoring the symptoms which are less and less. My big no no is coffee - will tackle that one when I am ready.
In the meantime, I guess I am quite taken back that my pain has come back. I had no idea that it may be that the equivalents have been taking it's place. I am going to read the book, journal and consider going back to the therapist again. I can't face it but it might be worthwhile. It is not easy to get to her. |
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2scoops
USA
386 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2006 : 14:32:40
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| Suz, I highly recommend Scott Brady's book Pain Free For Life, it has helped me so much with uncovering the emotions responsible for TMS. His book focuses more on the psychological and not the symptoms. Is also adds a spiritual aspect that I love. |
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Suz
559 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2006 : 14:45:01
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| Thanks Matt - will get that book. It should help access these emotions - all I really need to do I guess is let the unconscious know that I know about all those hidden, sad/rageful feelings that it is trying so hard not to let me know about. |
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Suz
559 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2006 : 15:05:54
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Before I buy the book - out of interest, did you find it more useful than Sarno's books? I do hate to go too further afield from Sarno's work as I know that answer lies in it.
Miehnesor - I bet you still have fear connected to wheat - that is probably why you can't get rid of the symptoms. I still have fear with coffee. The whole thing is absurd really. I watch people drink coffee, eat cakes, eat bread with not a thought in the world. I keep thinking of them when I start getting fearful and I laugh - out loud if I can so my unconscious can hear!!!!
I have a question for you - how long have you been doing the therapy for and do you still have pain? |
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2scoops
USA
386 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2006 : 15:23:33
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| Yeah, I have always found Sarno's books for informative on TMS, and not so much on the psychology, although his last book did a good job of doing so. But I always had the impression that Sarno said it's unconscious,well I believe it's not unconscious, it's the guilt, the shame, the anger that causes. Brady lists 5 peronalities that a prone to TMS, but he calls it AOS(autonimic overload syndrome). He also goes very into depth on journal give a good outline and asks many questions to get you to think about the emotions. He adds a questioniarre on your views on god and relationship with God. For me, the book was awesome and it is what I have been missing in my own treatment. |
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Suz
559 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2006 : 15:40:39
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Hmm - not sure, Matt what you mean. Do you not agree with Sarno's idea of the unconscious - where all these feelings of rage and sadness are buried etc. so the unconscious creates a distraction to keep us from knowing about them?
Does this guy Brady feel that emotions are causing the physical problems but not as a result of a distraction but as a byproduct of them? This is a little different. I just dont' want to get confused as I think Sarno really does seem to have had great success with his theory.
I like the idea of the spiritual aspect |
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2scoops
USA
386 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2006 : 17:09:49
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| Sorry to confuse you, that's what I do when when I type real fast while I'm working. Brady has learned under Sarno and teaches uses Sarno methods. He just calls his TMS, AOS, meaning Autonomic Overload Syndrome, meaning the mind gets so overloaded with presuresd from life like being prefect, trying to make everyone like us, but he also added these others http://www.bradyinstitute.com/aboutBook/painProne.asp. I didn't mean to confuse you, but he gave me more to think about and I just liked how he put it, it made everything Sarno talk about come together for me. All these pressures from our personalities, the anger, shame , fear, guilt, frustrations, etc, actaully cause our a disruption in our brain and causes pain producing symptoms. No differetn from Sarno, it's just the way he talks about it. I just look back at my life and I realize I haven't been totally honestwith myself and others. I've hid a part of myself from oters that I didn't want them to see. I am indebted to Sarno and Brady for their work, and I believe Brady's book compliments Sarno well. What I like best about Brady's book is that hegave me more to think about. If your having trouble journaling or want more insight, this is a must have. |
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miehnesor
USA
430 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2006 : 18:21:14
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quote:
Originally posted by Suz
Miehnesor - I bet you still have fear connected to wheat - that is probably why you can't get rid of the symptoms. I still have fear with coffee. The whole thing is absurd really. I watch people drink coffee, eat cakes, eat bread with not a thought in the world. I keep thinking of them when I start getting fearful and I laugh - out loud if I can so my unconscious can hear!!!!
I have a question for you - how long have you been doing the therapy for and do you still have pain?
Suz- you are probably right about the wheat problem I have. I've tried numerous times to eat bread and each time I get the tightening feeling in the esophogas. It's deeply ingrained in my brain that I have a wheat allergy. About 20 years or so ago I had an allergy test and I scored a mild wheat allergy of 2(max5). For years I just ignored it and eat wheat anyway. About 10-15 years ago I started getting the throat reaction from the breat and thought that I better watch it with the wheat. So yes i've got a tough conditioning habit to break.
Wrt therapy i'm actually on a summer break now and am not doing any therapy but will start back up in september. I've been doing individual therapy for about a year now twice a week. It's been very intense and draining but my symptoms are way down from a year ago. I've been in a men's group for about 3 1/2 years and was getting into some feelings in the group but it wasn't happening enough to reduce the huge iceberg of repressed fear and rage. I needed to really focus and grind through these emotions and I needed to do it with a motherly figure since most of my repressed emotion is with mom.
My situation is kind of extreme and it's not likely that you would have to pound away at it for nearly as long as I have. I view symptoms as merely a message from the unconscious that I need to feel repressed feelings.
You are an expert on TMS at this point. You just have to make the decision about whether you want to go deeper into your unconscious. I think it's worth the journey. |
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Kimakim
17 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2006 : 12:53:00
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quote:
Originally posted by Suz
Does this guy Brady feel that emotions are causing the physical problems but not as a result of a distraction but as a byproduct of them? This is a little different. I just dont' want to get confused as I think Sarno really does seem to have had great success with his theory.
I like the idea of the spiritual aspect
You can read a chapter excerpt here from Brady's book:
http://www.twbookmark.com/books/49/0446577618/chapter_excerpt23271.html |
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Kimakim
17 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2006 : 12:54:58
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quote:
Originally posted by 2scoops
Suz, I highly recommend Scott Brady's book Pain Free For Life, it has helped me so much with uncovering the emotions responsible for TMS. His book focuses more on the psychological and not the symptoms. Is also adds a spiritual aspect that I love.
Did you follow his 6-week plan? And, can you share how it differed from Sarno? The book looks good based on the excerpt I found, but I'm hesitant to veer off to something else.
Thanks!
Kim |
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Suz
559 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2006 : 14:06:29
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I bought the book. There is a difference between their two theories
They both feel that the physical symptoms are caused by rage/sadness in the unconscious. However, Brady feels that the unconscious causes these feelings. He does not talk about a distraction - he sees it as a kind of overflow from the brain - using all systems of the body. I actually quite like this idea.
Sarno feels the unconscious creates a distraction to protect us from all the bad feelings. The effects are the same but the process is a litte difference. I have not read about the "cure" yet |
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sciatica flare up - after a year??
