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sundevil67
USA
2 Posts |
 Posted - 01/03/2007 : 16:05:58
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I am a longtime student of Dr. Sarno's teachings, and a former patient. I was able to cure myself of crippling back pain many years ago, so I consider myself someone with a deep understanding of Dr. Sarno's methods. However - I absolutely cannot seem to rid myself of the night-time teeth grinding habit that has left me with horrible teeth and jaw problems. I am breaking my teeth up constantly, and am proceeding to eat through the customer (and very expensive) night guard that my dentist made for me.
How can I retrain my brain to stop doing something while I am unconscious? I am thinking about trying a hypnotist, but am not hopeful because I have never been able to be hypnotized. I am a longtime sufferer of Crohn's Disease, so it is really important that I eat constantly in order to maintain a healthy weight. It is not made any easier by the fact that eating is extremely uncomfortable, with my jaw popping out of place during every bite and my teeth hurting whenever I chew. Anyone have any ideas??? |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2007 : 16:48:56
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Sundevil, have you tried calling Dr. Sarno? From what I understand, once your a patient of his, you're in for life. He encourages phone call questions about new conditions that may arise from his past patients.
Just because we have been "cured" of one episode of TMS, it doesn't mean that the human condition doesn't stop throwing psychological chalenges at us.
If it's TMS, then you'll need to get to the psychological roots of what's causing it.
Good Luck,
tt |
Edited by - tennis tom on 01/03/2007 17:34:27 |
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wrldtrv
666 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2007 : 23:13:11
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| Sundevil67--This is off topic, but I have to ask, are you an ASU alumnus (AZ State U)? |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 11:48:07
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I'm gradually working my way through my massive pain problem with TMJ after dentistry with 16 teeth taking 24 hours total, a couple of months ago.
I'm quite clear that this was a major trauma and it's a bit like whiplash - yes, your neck did get knocked around in the crash, but how long it lasts is TMS.
I've done a lot of processing as to the underlying rage that is worsening this TMJ. Sometimes it gets a bit better briefly when I do this, but often the pain comes on unexpectedly, like when I eat solid or hot or cold, or in the middle of the night. As you know if you are experiencing this, and as someone said above, it is a level of pain that you can't wait 6 months to process. Even with 30 years of fibromyalgia, I have never experience physical pain like this, and certainly not day after day. It's intense.
So I've been taking small doses of a muscle relaxant which inhibits the intense spasms at night and has allowed me to get some sleep.
I've also been doing some TMJ jaw exercises that are claimed to cure the problem. Here is the link:
http://www.tmj-no-more.com/
As I have done these exercises I have realized that it is a good adjunct to TMS work (and painkillers) because it is a bit like how I worked on my back and fibromyalgia pain: by going to the gym. As I do intense weights with the parts of my back that were so "wounded" I realize that the internal landscape of that old wounding/rage was completely taken over by this pattern of pain - presumably the pattern of subtle, complex oxygen deprivation that led to the pain.
Similarly, my jaw needs to go to the gym. It is definitely genuinely stressed after so much surger. And also, it has been "holding" or rather "inhibiting" deep feelings (yes, rage mostly) for so long that it doesn't know how to move differently. It's a small area with huge effects on the body, and there are lots of little muscles and tendons. So the exercises seem to act like a micro-system of a gym, for the jaw. There are strange things you do with your tongue, etc. In fact, I cannot do most of these exercises in polite company!
As I do the jaw workout, the experience is a lot like when I started doing my gym workouts despite all the fear and warnings about my "bad back" some months ago. Initially it may hurt a bit more, but I just push through, and I can feel a gradual resolution coming.
I am well aware that this symptomology may move again as I continue doing my work on the reservoir of rage. But quite honestly, I don't want it in my jaw any more!
Hope this helps.
xx
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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Logan
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 12:20:57
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I also had TMJ type symptoms and a front tooth guard that allegedly kept one from grinding one's teeth. I got rid of it immediately after reading Sarno's books in 2003. I've been pain free for almost 4 years now. And after I stopped using the guard, I felt quite a bit better right away. I think the guard just kept my focus on the area and increased the grinding.
I can identify with your frustration as TMJ symptoms "run in my family" and at one time I was convinced I would suffer from jaw/neck pain indefinitely. Since doing TMS work, I hardly grind my teeth at all anymore and my jaw no longer "pops" or gets "out of whack" or hurts at all. I know for me it was a TMS site that healed when I disregarded it and focused on underlying causes of rage.
I'm not trying to be a knowitall but I'm concerned that by focusing so much of your energy on these exercises and the guards you might be inhibiting your recovery...
What if you just relaxed and assured yourself that the temporary pain from surgery is just that, temporary? Might that work better? Try telling yourself that your body is healthy and capable of healing quickly. In addition, visualize the blood flowing freely (instead of being checked by TMS induced ischemia).
Last but not least, try getting some anger out kinetically. Punch something! I'm going right now to take my own advice - I highly recommend reading Facing the Fire by Stan Lee and beating the crap out of an inanimate object as he recommends. I was able to go from 75% better to 100% pain free by putting together that last piece of the puzzle.
Good luck! |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 23:37:33
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I appreciate the suggestion to just accept temporary pain and focus on underlying issues. The thing is, the pain is not small but overwhelming - like shoot yourself in the head agony aover a large part of my body. I came out of the dental surgery howling with pain - which I had completely not expected, and since then have been strugglin for 2 months to take the right amount of painkillers not to have my focus there, but not too many.
But any amount is too many over this much time. So I am looking for any other approach to resolve it in addition to Sarnoing.
Yes, I am beating the crap out of stuff (read John Lee's book) and especially growling and letting my jaw do its thing like a drunken dinosaur on crack, and I get a small relief for a short time, but it seems that I would have to do this day and night and I don't have the time and space.
thanks
xx
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 23:16:48
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SUCCESS!
This admonishment above has actually worked:
"I'm not trying to be a knowitall but I'm concerned that by focusing so much of your energy on these exercises and the guards you might be inhibiting your recovery..."
Even though I got defensive because the pain was out of this world, I somehow also took it to heart. There was a way you said it that was kind and humble yet concerned and it got through and I kind of relaxed about the whole thing without changing much, and I am dramatically better. In fact, I have been eating much more solid food today, which has made me need some more Tylenol, but not nearly as much as I needed before even when I was eating turkey smoothies.
Just keep telling it like it is, TMS buds, and I really appreciate when it is done gently.
Yippee! I'm outa the TMJ world and back in the TMS world - a much safer zone!!
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2007 : 00:16:43
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IN AMAZING TMJ / TMS NEWS>>>
you may (or may not) have noticed my post about my mom's Borderline Personality Disorder and its effect on my early reservoir of rage, therefore my TMS...
WELL GET THIS!!
I was talking to a friend today who has a friend who can intuitively diagnose everything or some such power. Her friend has told her that she can always see the child of a BPD parent in the jaw, and that 90% of such adult children will get TMJ.
The amazing thing is how my inner intelligence has had me on the track of this as I have been insisting that my TMJ is TMS even though it is still so serious and painful.
Now I'm really up for exploring the BPD thing a bit more, going to the websites, etc, just so I can convince my brain that this is a real cause for enough rage to cause this much pain, so it can stop and I'll just acknowledge it. Today I spent some time just being with the feeling of how my mom used to flip and go from being reasonably okay to attacking me, then back. It went on for so long that I can't even imagine how enraging it was, but I just felt like crying... for HER! Darnit, this goodism is so all-pervasive...
xxx
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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HilaryN
United Kingdom
879 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2007 : 14:20:26
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Wavy,
Yes, I just read your bpd post and I wanted to say how sorry I felt that you had to go through that. I also think it’s great that you’re going through the emotions now.
quote:
but I just felt like crying... for HER! Darnit, this goodism is so all-pervasive...
I don’t think this is goodism. I think part of the forgiving process is first of all understanding what’s going on for the other person. Once you’ve forgiven the person then you can let go of the anger. This a key part of “The Journey” process (Brandon Bays).
Maybe that’s what’s happening with you.
Hilary N |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2007 : 09:19:48
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I disagree.
I started forgiving my mother a long time before I ever let myself feel the anger, and became a sickie for 30 years.
I know about the Brandon Bays work, and teach similar stuff myself, but I emphasize not prematurely forgiving. It's the right belief to hold (that other person is innocent, and is just acting from their wounds, etc.). But premature forgiveness can be fatal to the forgiver.
For example I had a client years ago who went to all these forgiveness courses and other teachers who told her to forgive her father who had sexually abused her for years. She went along with it and became anorexic and epileptic...
And what I was describing above, feeling compassion for my mother, was what I felt EVEN WHEN SHE WAS ABUSING ME. And I ended up practically disabled with what I now know to be TMS for much of my adult life.
As I've said elsewhere on this forum, the formula for me is to feel the feelings AND change the beliefs. However, changing the beliefs can make it seem difficult to still validate the feelings. For example, how do you acknowledge that you're angry (and therefore validate that you have TMS and not a "serious illness") if you believe you have already forgiven someone. It's not that I haven't forgiven my mother, many, many times. But it seems to be a kind of spiral of recovery, not a one-time thing.
"Oh yeah, sure, just change those beliefs and you'll be cured." It can certainly look and feel that way, especially if the belief change comes after a big catharsis.
Yes - but check on that person a year later. Have the symptoms returned?
I think this may be part of why this TMS work is a bit like addiction recovery. You need to accept that you have a LIFELONG tendency to distract yourself from unconscious feelings via illness, and therefore become very alert to any of the many other ways you avoid knowing what you are really feeling. The reason for my rant here is that so-called forgiveness can be another suppressive activity.
Hope this is clear. Not that I don't think - I know! - that forgiveness is the goal. It's just that we are many-leveled, and the fact that I may believe I have forgiven, even with strong loving feelings involved, doesn't mean that my reservoir of rage is done. And this has been the exact source of my own TMS.
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2007 : 10:29:49
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quote:
So since I don't actually inherently know how this word is used (I'm roughly a linguistic pragmatist, for those who care) I may be missing the boat here.
I don't use the word either - just to communicate with others who do.
Getting a compassionate sense that allows the other person to be as they are is more like it.
x
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2007 : 19:20:34
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"(selective mating and all that)"
Alexis, that sounds like an interesting solution to TMS. Could you please explain how that is functionaly performed? |
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alexis
USA
596 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2007 : 19:29:25
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| Tom, sure. Women may stop mating with guys who throw fits while driving (not too far fetched). Only works if anger isn't linked to the offspring's sex, or you're still stuck with the angry women. I'm sure there's an equivalent filter there, but as females tend to breed more selectively it has a greater evolutionary push. OK, this risks going WAY off topic... |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2007 : 21:18:25
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"OK, this risks going WAY off topic..."
It's ok Alexis, since mating, mating rituals and the ensuing relationships that result from them are some of the chief sources of life cycle pressures, and TMS "dis-ease", it seems very much pertinent. Dave's very open-minded in this regard and if there is any fall-out I will take the fall for it. Please expound away on this very important topic.
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alexis
USA
596 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2007 : 21:49:13
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| I thought it was relevant because we were out-breeding anger which was at the core of TMS? You mean we can defend this on multiple levels? |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2007 : 22:04:25
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| yep |
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alexis
USA
596 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2007 : 07:36:40
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I actually did kind of wonder what evolutionary forces Sarno was imagining might be leading toward making the unconscious more rational. (MBP page 144). But nobody ever addresses these issues since they either mean people are dying or being left out of the reproductive cycle -- neither of which is a pleasant topic.
One of my favorite quotes was from an evolutionary biologist I heard on a radio program about 20 years ago. He or she (can't remember now) said "If women suddenly decided they wanted men who could walk on their hands, it would be only a matter of a few hundred years before men did, indeed, walk on their hands." I think the topic of the radio program was something like "Why the next generation will contain fewer men with hairy backs." |
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kenny V
USA
268 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2007 : 10:59:24
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quote:
I am a longtime student of Dr. Sarno's teachings, and a former patient. I was able to cure myself of crippling back pain many years ago, so I consider myself someone with a deep understanding of Dr. Sarno's methods. However - I absolutely cannot seem to rid myself of the night-time teeth grinding habit that has left me with horrible teeth and jaw problems. I am breaking my teeth up constantly, and am proceeding to eat through the customer (and very expensive) night guard that my dentist made for me.
Good for you with your healing 22 years of back pain gone as well . Sarno also helped me solve a bit of the puzzle.Again im not here to post on a reg basis, Cuz im sure I can make a few connections to many of the TMS “equivalents “ that are mentioned so often.
FWIW perhaps plant a few seeds
Have you looked into mineral deficiency and the underlying conditions associated with them
Also see Bruxim (sp)? In what is done to correct these issues.
HTH
Kenny V
quote:
How can I retrain my brain to stop doing something while I am unconscious?
You cant if this may be a result of an underlying condition that is not addressed.
quote:
I am thinking about trying a hypnotist, but am not hopeful because I have never been able to be hypnotized.
Again may help for a while with OCD’s /quit smoking etc… but not something that is lacking in the body as to why your body responds to something that it needs and is not getting it for an absorption reason.
quote:
I am a longtime sufferer of Crohn's Disease, so it is really important that I eat constantly in order to maintain a healthy weight.
Same as above .. If you are not absorbing nutrients, breaking down proteins also you may have many digestive issues as well with this condition.
You can learn how to heal the gut look into the science behind SCD diet as well as what causes poor mineral transport.
Key to this all of this is detox in many cases if you don’t let the condition get worse.
quote:
It is not made any easier by the fact that eating is extremely uncomfortable, with my jaw popping out of place during every bite and my teeth hurting whenever I chew. Anyone have any ideas???
As stated above
My best to you
Kenny v
Always Hope For Recovery
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alexis
USA
596 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2007 : 11:03:30
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Actually, what was amusing to me (and I'm just engaged in idle thoughts here) in the quote I mentioned by Sarno, was that you could interpret it as implying that TMS people were less likely to reproduce than the average person in the population. I obviously don't really think he's saying that...just that it was a little funny that the paragraph could be read that way.
"...the way the human emotional system is now organized, in evolutionary terms, dictates how it will react, and it is often not rational [here he is talking about TMS pain]. Since the brain is evolving [how but through some sort of selection?], there may come a time, centuries or millenia from now, when the unconscious will be more rational." [MBP, page 144]
So if you were to play this out you'd want to figure out why TMS people would be less likely to have kids. |
Edited by - alexis on 01/18/2007 11:05:28 |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2007 : 16:03:39
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quote:
Originally posted by alexis
I actually did kind of wonder what evolutionary forces Sarno was imagining might be leading toward making the unconscious more rational. (MBP page 144). But nobody ever addresses these issues since they either mean people are dying or being left out of the reproductive cycle -- neither of which is a pleasant topic.
One of my favorite quotes was from an evolutionary biologist I heard on a radio program about 20 years ago. He or she (can't remember now) said "If women suddenly decided they wanted men who could walk on their hands, it would be only a matter of a few hundred years before men did, indeed, walk on their hands." I think the topic of the radio program was something like "Why the next generation will contain fewer men with hairy backs."
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I agree with you Alexis or whoever you were quoting. Men will say and do anything to get laid. They will carry purses and even go metro. With the advent of artificial insemination, males are quickly becoming irrelevant. As in much of the wild kingdom, all that is necessary for the species to survive is a herd of female cows and a bull with the strongest physical protective genes. Speculating on what genetic combination would produce the ideal homo sapien sapien, I feel a melding of male chromosomes, cloned from the sperm of Mick Jagger, Rodney Yee, Berak Obama and K.T. Lange, would do the trick. This superman would result in a superior being with the most culturaly desired traits of thiness, flexibility, sexiness and political correctness.
Since we live in a matriarchal society, with no war on our shores, most industrial work being performed by robots, the advent of run-flat tires and the Premium AAA Emergency Road Service, males are an endangered and little needed species accept for coal mining and alimonies.
With their elimination through the natural selection process by females many obnoxious behaviors would be relegated to the buggy whip catagory like snoring. The hairy back is definitely a cultural offense--thank god for waxing (although there is the rare female attracted to the gorilla look, beats me why).
I'm happy to say that despite a few close calls, I have not contributed to the TMS gene pool, by being a breeder (my abliity to run fast in my early years held me in good stead in that department). Unless I pull a Strom Thurman, I will remain childless and happily so. From what I have seen of the modern institution of marriage and child rearing (with great assistance by the government) reproduction is rife with TMS creating pressures. The brave new world could not be here soon enough for my tastes.
(I dedicate this post to Art Buchwald who passed away today--nice going Art you did it your way). |
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alexis
USA
596 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2007 : 19:17:33
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quote:
Originally posted by tennis tom
I agree with you Alexis or whoever you were quoting. Men will say and do anything to get laid. They will carry purses and even go metro.
That may be true, but I think that the speaker's point was not actually that men would do anything (like walking on their hands) for sex, but that women would breed with the men who were best at walking on their hands until after a few generations males were born better hand walkers than foot walkers. Now, it does make a difference whether walking style is a sex-linked trait...
quote:
Originally posted by tennis tom
...the advent of run-flat tires and the Premium AAA Emergency Road Service, males are an endangered and little needed species accept for coal mining and alimonies.
Personally, I'm rooting for the airless tire over the run-flat. No claim to be representative of my sex, but that's one piece of engineering I'm keeping an eye on alright.
I suspect an all female society would find other forms of fuel and would still have alimony (though I think less than 6% of US marriages currently end in any sort of alimony anyway). But since the majority of women still find men endearing, hairy backs and all, and those poor cows we now know are suffering from lack of diverisity in the gene pool, it would probably be premature to go into mourning over the demise of the male side of the species. Reliance on technology also leaves little room for fallback in a catastrophic environment.
But the question remains as to whether men, or women, want to breed with those with TMS, or whether those with TMS are inclined to breed. And what exactly Sarno thought might happen in his casual hypothesizing. My own personal theory is that while intellectually most people understand Darwinism, they often think like closet Lamarckians...and in casual theorizing what folks say should sometimes be read in that light.
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Edited by - alexis on 01/19/2007 20:35:43 |
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TMJ Worsening...
