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Kurry
USA
2 Posts |
 Posted - 10/11/2006 : 11:49:18
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I have struggled with a bad stomach for 5-6 years and have had all sorts of tests done. I've been diagnosed with crohns and then IBS and then just nervous stomach etc. Nothing helps and they cannot find anything wrong with my lower intestines yet it is horrible everyday! my cousin sent me info on TMS and it seems that many of the things they mention- type A, goodist, childhood trauma- ring true to me. But honestly, I think they would ring true to 70% of the population since they basically cover everything. But I have no back pain or neck pain...just plantar fasicitis and occasionally really bad leg muscle pain if I don't work out or stretch. I don't know if they happen all at once. I can't remember a day when my stomach was normal so I am assuming i get them together...
Has anyone else been turned onto TMS as a diagnosis stemming from GI issues and did it help to explore the diagnosis? I also think that all the symptoms that are mentioned as TMS related are just too broad- I mean anyone could relate to it- does this mean TMS is an epidemic that the broad population doesn't know about? I want to believe in finding relief but right now I am not so sure... |
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Jeff
USA
68 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2006 : 12:44:07
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I am a relative newbie to this forum, and to TMS, but I had problems with GI tract issues earlier this year. I finally saw a doctor who specializes in GI tract issues, and he did many tests, and came up empty on a diagnosis. Finally he did a colonoscopy, and that showed nothing, and at that point my symptoms stopped. I then began to develop more severe leg and ankle pain, which TMSers will tell you is an example of Sarno's theory of the symptom imperative. I have reached the conclusion that my GI tract issues were nothing more than TMS (or anxiety, which is the same thing in effect), and that my TMS gremlin has simply moved onto other pain symptoms. (Apparently it is quite common for GI tract issues to resolve after you have a colonoscopy done -- no one really knows why.)
By the way, I agree with you that a particular theory or approach tends to be less powerful the more symptoms it tries to explain. I have participated in a message board populated by people who believe they have been poisoned by a particular class of antiobiotics, and there is a strong temptation to attribute every ache and pain to the antiobiotic poisoning. The same thing is true for candidiasis, which is another popular diagnosis for "what ails you." People have attributed essentially every type of symptom to candidiasis. Doesn't mean it isn't true, but it becomes harder to believe. I think this is a bit of an issue with TMS as well. If it weren't for the thousands of success stories, as well as the fact that the TMS theory makes logical sense for a relatively wide variety of symptoms, TMS would probably be in the same category in my mind as candidiasis or antibiotic poisoning -- just another alternative-medicine theory to explain "what ails you." |
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HilaryN
United Kingdom
879 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2006 : 12:58:43
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Hi Kurry,
There are plenty of people on this forum who have overcome various conditions after reading Sarno’s books.
If you search on SuccessStory (one word) you’ll find some. If you search on stomach or GI I’m sure you’ll find people who have overcome this condition. (Hopefully some of them will add their comments here, too.) I occasionally get tummyache (nothing like as bad as your condition) and I’m able to get rid of it through thinking of psychological causes.
You sound quite sceptical, which is fair enough, but you say nothing else has worked… so what have you got to lose, apart from the price of the book? Oh, and the risk of people thinking you’re loony for believing such a thing  (I must admit I kept it pretty quiet when I was trying it out.)
If you do try it out you have to go for it all-out – no half-hearted “I’ll read the book once and if it doesn’t work then I’ll go onto something else.” There are some lucky people who are cured of their condition straight away when reading the book, but others take much longer and have to work at it.
All the best,
Hilary N |
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sonora sky
USA
181 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2006 : 13:06:21
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I've had IBS and plantar fasciitis, and I know (for myself) that they were clearly TMS. You might find it interesting to explore a recent thread where people on this board listed all their TMS symptoms:
http://tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2433
I've found that when there's "no explanation" for the pain/symptoms, TMS is almost always the answer. Dr. Sarno (I think in the Divided Mind) says that every human being is susceptible to TMS. Certain personality types are more prone to frequent or intense bouts than others, but I don't think anyone's "immune" to it, because we all have minds, emotions, and physical bodies. I also think that societal/environmental pressures (of success, being the best, all work, no play, etc.) are a factor in TMS, as well as personal spirituality (being in touch (or not) with your inner self), and I suspect that people in the West are more prone to it.
Why does the broad population not know about it? My answer: because they're not ready. In our society (esp. Western), our faith is rooted in science--we want "proof" of our physical ailments--and we'd rather get a quick fix with surgery or pills before (gasp--the horror!) looking inside ourselves for the answer. Examining ourselves and our buried emotions is not always pleasant--certainly not as pleasant as popping a pill and ignoring the root of our problems.
But, the bright side is that people who ARE ready for TMS work do find out about it and are able to get better, to recover, to heal themselves.
best,
ss
p.s. Your stomach isn't "bad." The more you tell yourself that message, the more you actually reinforce the pain cycle. Start feeding your mind new thoughts. If you haven't read Sarno yet, I recommend beginning with The Mindbody Prescription. Good luck!  |
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Fox
USA
496 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2006 : 13:40:20
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| Sonora sky - Did Sarno's principles help you with IBS and/or PF? If so, please give details of what you did/do to remove/reduce the symptoms...My brother has both problems and is somewhat receptive to Sarno's ideas. |
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Kurry
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2006 : 13:45:08
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thank you all for your responses. I want to get better so with that said I will read Dr.Sarno's book and see what happens. any other personal accounts of overcoming GI trouble would be helpful.
thanks so much. |
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Tunza
New Zealand
198 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2006 : 15:20:48
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Jeff said:
quote:
(Apparently it is quite common for GI tract issues to resolve after you have a colonoscopy done -- no one really knows why.)
This is interesting to hear. I have read in my TMS-book travels that just being cut open by a back surgeon who then stitches you back up without doing anything is a placebo cure for quite a few people. Of course they usually go on to get symptoms elsewhere.
It's the power of the white coat. |
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Littlebird
USA
391 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2006 : 00:08:58
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Hi Kurry,
IBS was one of my first symptoms. From the beginning, I associated it with my stress levels. It became constant when I went through a divorce. I later developed numerous other symptoms and went on to be diagnosed as having Fibromyalgia, among other things. I was given the IBS diagnosis after having a sigmoidoscopy done.
I just learned about TMS about 6 or 8 weeks ago, when I read The Divided Mind. I think you'll find it really encouraging to read one of Dr. Sarno's books.
The concept rang true to me partly because I have always associated my symptoms with stress. Whenever new symptoms popped up, it was always during the stressful periods of my life. As is true with many of the "catch-all" diagnoses, there are more than a hundred different symptoms that are said to be a part of Fibromyalgia syndrome, though you generally won't find such a large list on most web sites. I've had about 80 of the different symptoms, not all at once. The IBS has been one of the symptoms that gets better or worse in lock-step with my emotional state. Within moments of any stressor, the IBS gets worse. I get a lot of reading done in the bathroom.
Another reason that the concept of TMS rang true to me is that I have learned about so many different treatment ideas and none of them helped me long term. I have several friends with fibro, all with GI complaints, and the treatments haven't helped them long term either. We've tried western medicine's testing and drugs as well as lots of alternative medicine treatments. We've had some short term relief of some symptoms, but it's never lasted long, so I suspected that we were all getting placebo responses that faded over time.
When I put together the fact that no one whom I know is being treated successfully with any form of treatment and that every one of us recognizes the connection between our physical symptoms and our emotions and stress levels, it leads me to believe that the physical treatments can't provide a lasting cure because the trigger for these symptoms is not just a physical malfunction. The physical mechanism is triggered by the mind.
It also makes sense to me that all of these unexplained symptoms that get thrown in with the catch-all diagnosis of the day (or the popular diagnosis in the area where you live, or among the people with whom you associate, or however you want to group the people with all these unexplained symptoms) are really psychosomatic, because that's the one thing that all of these groups of patients do have in common--emotions that aren't being acknowledged.
I'm still just starting on the recovery, but the IBS is one of the symptoms that has been settling down for me. While you're reading the book, you may find it helpful to reflect on what was going on in your life at the time that your symptoms started. I hope you'll enjoy the book and that all of your GI issues will soon be just a memory.
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2006 : 05:11:42
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Hi Kurry,
After reading the thread I noticed the title again: TMS or just unlucky?
It occurred that once you have read the book and hopefully done some TMS work, you will find it interesting that this was the title you picked. There is some kind of belief that you are unlucky - a fairly common core belief. Mine is that I am doomed (but I am getting SO over it!). When one is operating with a - probably unconscious - core belief like this there are a LOT of strong negative emotions being generated like anger, fear and sadness.
The TMS healing path is like entering a kind of alternate universe where we come back to our "self" - to a self we left behind long ago. You could also say that this self is our inner child who was not allowed to have strong feelings as it wasn't safe in our early life. It can seem a bit daunting to go into this stuff - this is why the whole planet has not jumped on this bandwagon the way they have jumped into MySpace.com. So the only people who are really exploring this are the people who absolutely cannot stand their symptoms any more.
Anyway, read the book and see what happens. We await your presence in our supportive venture.
xx
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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carbar
USA
227 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2006 : 21:28:00
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quote:
Originally posted by Wavy Soul
The TMS healing path is like entering a kind of alternate universe where we come back to our "self" - to a self we left behind long ago. You could also say that this self is our inner child who was not allowed to have strong feelings as it wasn't safe in our early life.
WavySoul, thanks for the reminder. I just acquired the Drama of the Gifted Child (Miller), and I thinks it's stirred up a lot for me about the inner child.
Kurry wrote:
quote:
I mean anyone could relate to it- does this mean TMS is an epidemic that the broad population doesn't know about?
I didn't notice that anyone yet put a Sarno quote, but the subtitle to his latest book, The Divided Mind, is "The epidemic of mindbody disorders." This book talks a lot about the GI issues as manifestations of TMS, as well as the modern western health care system's failure to effectively treat patients for the spectrum of TMS related symptoms.
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TMS or just unlucky?
