| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
dwinsor52
USA
81 Posts |
 Posted - 05/20/2007 : 10:00:55
|
Had been pain free for several years, then big TMS relapse. Lots of pain in new locations, especially shoulder. Yesterday, to "stand up" to my TMS, moved a lot of furniture with my husband. While at the movies later in the day, it got increasingly more painful to take a deep breath. Very painful under left arm/upper chest region. Got worse and worse, can breathe better when I lean forward. Is it possible this is TMS trying to distract me in a more dramatic way? Don't quite know what to do here......
Debby |
|
|
Sky
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2007 : 10:13:54
|
Dwinsor, I had my own pain relapse earlier this spring, though not on as large a scale. For a while I lost confidence in the Sarno theories, then correspondence with a TMS doctor reassured my confidence in Sarno's ideas and the pain went away.
I'll just copy and paste an email I sent my friend and reading it should give you the reassurance you need to re-attack the emotional underpinnings of your pain.
"also, I thought I should tell you...in case your back pain or other possible TMS-related maladies comes back to you, perhaps it'll help you to hear about my own experience this Spring with a resurgence, and re-curing, of my TMS-RSI pain from typing. The pain came back this spring, getting worse and worse over a period of like 2 weeks. I started doubting, feeling like maybe all along my hand pain was physical, that Sarno's theories had nothing to do with me. I started to think maybe I just had bad hands and typing wasn't healthy for me to do as much as I did.
So I emailed a nearby TMS doctor (Marc Sopher - he wrote his own book on TMS after Sarno cured his knee pain and he started running again). He basically told me through email that he was very sure it was a resurgence of TMS. He renewed my confidence in Sarno's ideas and my belief that the pain was emotional at root. My hand pain went away again and I finished the semester typing a crapload of papers and emails, and having no pain at all. it was amazing. "
and here was the email Sopher wrote me:
""I always tell people that I cannot make a diagnosis via email, but I do think it likely that nothing else but TMS is the cause for your symptoms. In my experience the history is diagnostic. Typing cannot cause pain! Having said that, many do get better on their own, by reading and re-reading Dr. Sarno's and my books and staying focused on this approach. The key to getting better is eliminating the doubt you have that there could be some physical, rather than psychological cause. As long as you pursue physical explanations and remedies, the symptoms will persist. The fact that you succeeded in the past is evidence that you will succeed again. The brain never gives up its strategy--this is what Dr. Sarno refers to as the symptom imperative. "
Dwinsor, you'll figure it out! Please share the success story when it does come along. I wouldn't be surprised if it comes along relatively soon! |
 |
|
|
dwinsor52
USA
81 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2007 : 10:19:13
|
| Thanks so much! Very helpful. I actually was a patient of Dr. Sopher's and he is fabulous. I think my brain might be tricking me into something really scary, that affects my breathing, to really get my attention. I didn't do anything physical yesterday that I have not done a million times. So here I am taking Advil, icing etc. which is perpetuating the fear. I was going to lie down all afternoon but I think I will take the dogs for a walk to thumb my nose at this. |
|
|
|
HilaryN
United Kingdom
879 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2007 : 08:23:07
|
quote:
Is it possible this is TMS trying to distract me in a more dramatic way?
Debby,
Yes! I get lots of minor TMS recurrences in lots of different forms.
A couple of weeks ago I got an infection and was feeling feverish and yukky. I told myself it was most likely TMS, but, being lazy, I decided it was easier to take antibiotics than try and fight it. The symptoms persisted, however.
When I went back to the doctor she said to me firmly, “There is no way your symptoms shouldn’t have got better by now - the infection should have cleared up from the antibiotics.”
She arranged for me to have blood tests the next day (all clear of course) but her words were a wake-up call to me: I forced myself to stay out of bed and move around and pretend I was OK, and the following day I went back to work – still not feeling 100% but within 2 or 3 days I was back to normal.
A couple of days later I started to come down with a cold, but I told myself very firmly it was TMS and within 2 days it had gone, too.
I was slightly annoyed, because I broke a 2-year stint of not taking any sick leave from work (previously that would have been unheard of for me – I would always get a flu-like virus which would mean me being bedridden for at least a week, usually twice a year).
All the best,
Hilary N |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Need Advice Urgently!
