| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
phyllis
United Kingdom
46 Posts |
 Posted - 08/29/2006 : 11:16:52
|
Hello, all.
I think I am a TMS sufferer, having tried all the usual acupuncture, etc. etc. and still low back pain, and sore leg. Yet the crazy thing is I can walk and cycle. Main problem is sitting down. I do not have pain in bed. I can even touch my toes!
I am trying desperately not to feel sceptic about all this stuff. In England we are very geared to physical doctors on our National Health Service.
HOWEVER , at my last visit I saw a young doctor who has suggested my back is not that bad, and my pain is exacerbated by my anxiety disorder. I may b offered cognitive therapy. If I do accept this do I take book along or cope with emotions on their own.
I had a bad childhood in orphanages and foster care which was bad and very abusive.
Now to the outside world I am a shorthand tutor and (seemingly) very organised. Underneath is a maelstrom of emotions.
I guess I just need moral support at this early stage!
For so long I have been told my problems are various physical symptoms, e.g. bone spur, slight curvature.
YET when I am laughing with someone or REALLY busy I do not think about my back. I hope this rings bells with you all.
Good luck to you all! |
|
|
n/a
374 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2006 : 02:11:50
|
Hi Phyllis
It sounds like the young doctor you saw talked a lot of sense and that you are at the same stage I found myself in around three years ago. Like you, I had tried so many remedies, therapies and medications. Nothing worked and I was becoming more and more depressed as the pain just went on and on. It became the main focus of my life. I had to give up work and was headed for a life of disability.
I found out about TMS and Dr Sarno when I began to search the internet for information about psychological links to back pain. I bought 'The Mindbody Prescription' and my recovery began.
It wasn't an overnight process though, It was gradual and I had many setbacks along the way. However, I'm back at work now and doing everything I want to do.
Regarding cognitive behaviour therapy - like you, I was offered a course on the NHS and I have to say I did not find it useful. The therapist used what seemed to me an 'one size fits all' approach. There was very little discussion of issues that might be behind my back problem - that didn't seem to interest her. Her sessions appeared to be lifted from a text book.
I found a good psychotherapist myself and had sessions with her over six months (very expensive unfortunately), but she really helped me get to the reasons why I had so much unconscious rage.
I would be wary about taking Dr Sarno's book along to the therapist because you are at the stage where you think you may have TMS. It's possible, but by no means certain, that the therapist would dismiss it. I'd wait until you are surer in your own mind before you discuss it.
What you said about when you are laughing with someone the pain disappears rang a bell with me. It was noticing things like that that put me on to the fact that my back pain was psychological in origin. If I really had my mind off the pain (I'd become pretty much obsessed by it when it was at its worst - just before I began to recover), when I was with good friends, watching a film I enjoyed - anything that really took me out of myself. Another thing I had noticed; if I was driving in the city where my mind was completely taken up with what I was doing, the pain went away.
I hope that your book has arrived by now. Let us know how you get on with it.
Kind regards
Anne |
 |
|
|
h2oskier25
USA
395 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2006 : 11:17:04
|
Hi Phyllis,
Welcome. You sound JUST LIKE ME a few years ago. I worked out religously through my TMS, I mean just 'cause I was debilitated with pain and refraining from all fun activity and stifling my career was NO reason to get FAT after all! 
I, too, found I had no symptoms when I was with friends doing something really great. I also, could feel healing in my joints when I saw certain animal programs on TV as I felt great love for them.
Congratulations on successfully realizing you are a TMS person. Once the book comes, read it every day.
One thing that might help with your skepticism is this. Right now the major pharmaceutical companies run the medical schools. They're the only ones with enough money to supply the med schools with huge grants and large wings and such.
The main medical model in the States is 1) diagnosis 2) perscribe drugs 3) perform surgery.
That's it. Now, when's the last time your Doctor told you to take more Vitamin C? I've read in medical journal that Doctor's RISK THEIR LICENSE if they tell you to take vitamins. That sux royal.
My point in all this is that Medicine is a business that got hijacked by the big Drug companies decades ago. It's not your DR's fault, he is taught only drug remedies and surgical remedies.
The fact that your Doctors and therapists and clinicians will not have heard of TMS is to be expected. Your cure won't come from them. It will come from you looking within yourself. Trust me and the thousands of other that have been "cured" from Dr. Sarno. I put "cured" in quotes because it turns out, there's nothing wrong with us physically. 
Beth |
|
|
|
tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2006 : 01:11:09
|
Nice, informative post h20 ! |
|
|
|
ndb
209 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2006 : 05:57:48
|
quote:
Originally posted by h2oskier25
...it turns out there's nothing wrong with us physically.
Beth
Beth, best of all, there is nothing wrong mentally with us either! Sarno says "everybody, especially in Western society" is susceptible to TMS. Its the tremendous amount of pressure we put on ourselves to appear calm and collected in the face of stress and feelings of anger. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to convince ourselves of our 'value', while often battling or suppressing feelings of inferiority that come from within, having thoughts like 'am i REALLY good enough' or 'do i REALLY deserve the success i have'. At least I do....
ndb |
|
|
|
h2oskier25
USA
395 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2006 : 08:59:06
|
TT.
Thanks for the kind words.
NDB - Yes, of course you're right. There's nothing wrong with us mentally, but that's where most of the work is done.
Phyllis. Did your book arrive yet?
Beth |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
I am a newbie in England awaiting delivery of book
