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Tunza
New Zealand
198 Posts |
 Posted - 11/17/2004 : 12:29:50
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I just wanted to share something from an interesting book I'm reading that helps give credibility to the Mind-Body theories like TMS. From "Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Mind" by V.S. Ramachandran
"A more common example of mind-body interaction involves the interplay between the immune system and perceptual cues from the world around us. Over three decades ago, medical students were often told that an asthmatic attack could be provoked not only by inhaling pollen from a rose but sometimes by merely seeing a rose, even a plastic rose, prompting a so-called conditioned allergic response. In other words, exposure to a real rose and pollen sets up a "learned" association in the brain between the mere visual appearance of a rose and bronchial constriction. How exactly does this conditioning work? How does the message get from the brain's visual areas all the way down to the mast cells lining the bronchi of the lungs?....we still have no clear answers."
I have observed this in myself with hayfever in the past. Actually, while it is chronic pain (knee, RSI in arms, painful catchy, clicky joints and back etc) that has brought me to this forum the one area I have had the best success so far is with hayfever. Last summer after reading Sarno I had the first summer without anithistamines in over a decade. Discomfort from allergy was relieved about 80%
On the phenomenon that some people can "think away" warts:
"One [possibility] involves the autonomic nervous system-the pathways of nerves that help control blood pressure, sweating...and other psysiological phenomena not under direct control of conscious thought....Thus some nerves control heair standing on end, others cause sweating and some generate the local constriction of blood vessels. Is it possible that the mind, acting through the autonomic nervous system, could literally asphyxiate the wart by constricting blood vessels in its immediate vicinity, making it shrivel up and wither away? This explanantion implies an unexpected degree of precise control by the autonomic nervous system..."
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 11/17/2004 : 23:30:50
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Tunza,
Thanks for that interesting post. I printed a copy for my ladyfriend who has had asthma since childhood. I've introduced her to TMS and her attacks have decreased dramatically. The example of the artificial rose triggering attacks was interesting. Perhaps an example of conditioning like Pavlovs' dogs. TMS is all about conditioning. |
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holly
USA
243 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2004 : 16:28:14
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Wow! I always wondered in the back of my mind could my adult astma induced by cool/cold air possibly be TMS related. It started when I was 38 yrs. old. I figured that soooooo many people including children have it that it couldn't possibly be related. Children don't get TMS! We will never know I guess!
Holly |
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Louise
USA
68 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2004 : 17:07:22
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Holly,
For what it's worth, I live in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, and I developed asthma in 1994 after the Northridge Earthquake. In the fall of 1994, I had a bad case of bronchitis, and literally coughed myself into asthma. I chalked it up to the plaster dust in the air at my house which was under repair all summer. I took daily medication for asthma for almost 10 years. This spring, after having significant success with back/tush/leg pain reduction through TMS thinking, I decided to see if I could kick the asthma medication. I gradually weaned myself off of it (more psychological than physical, I'm sure - but hey, whatever works!), and I'm happy to say that I've been drug-free and asthma free since February of this year. No problems with cold or wet or windy or dry weather. My GP is having a really difficult time dealing with my recovery from asthma, but I'm doing fine. It's funny - he keeps telling me that "not everything is a MindBody ailment", but I just smile.
Before reading Sarno, I never would have thought it, but I'm now absolutely convinced that asthma, particularly adult asthma, is a TMS equivalent, and it can be eliminated. |
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holly
USA
243 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2004 : 17:37:07
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quote:
Originally posted by Louise
Holly,
For what it's worth, I live in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, and I developed asthma in 1994 after the Northridge Earthquake. In the fall of 1994, I had a bad case of bronchitis, and literally coughed myself into asthma. I chalked it up to the plaster dust in the air at my house which was under repair all summer. I took daily medication for asthma for almost 10 years. This spring, after having significant success with back/tush/leg pain reduction through TMS thinking, I decided to see if I could kick the asthma medication. I gradually weaned myself off of it (more psychological than physical, I'm sure - but hey, whatever works!), and I'm happy to say that I've been drug-free and asthma free since February of this year. No problems with cold or wet or windy or dry weather. My GP is having a really difficult time dealing with my recovery from asthma, but I'm doing fine. It's funny - he keeps telling me that "not everything is a MindBody ailment", but I just smile.
Before reading Sarno, I never would have thought it, but I'm now absolutely convinced that asthma, particularly adult asthma, is a TMS equivalent, and it can be eliminated.
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holly
USA
243 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2004 : 17:57:42
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Louise,
Just noticed your reply! It just so happened that I took my daughter to the allergist today to see if she was still alergic to strawberries.I got into conversation regarding my asthma. I told him I never actually cough, I just get tight in my chest if I breathe in air below 68 degrees. (I too had bronchitis first). I never wheezed or coughed, just got tight & produced phlem.It has put a real damper on my life. I live in N.Y. and hate going out in the winter. I have to cover my nose mouth with a fleece scarf and take inhailers before going out. I look foolish too (like Michael Jackson with his face covered) Well I asked the good Dr. if it was possible my brain could program my chest to tighten and he indicated that if I am not coughing it is not really asthma. INTERESTING!!! I started thinking about this today & poof there was your post!! How did you wean yourself off the inhailers? I would love to give it a try.
Holly |
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Louise
USA
68 Posts |
Posted - 11/22/2004 : 12:13:24
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Holly -
Like you, I didn't wheeze - I mostly had chest tightness & some coughing/phlegm. After the intitial onset, I never really had a classic asthma "attack". I was taking 1 puff of Advair AM & PM, along with 1 Singulair tablet a day. I also had a quick-acting inhaler, which I used very infrequently. To get off of the medication, I cut down the Advair to 1x daily, then 1x every other day, then I stopped. After that, I started taking the Singular every other day, and when my prescription ran out, I stopped.
I think that your chest tightness is much more a matter of conditioning, rather than temperature. I too was conditioned to feel chest tightness when I was in cold or wet conditions. While I was tapering off of the medication, I found that if I thought "is my chest tight?" it invariably would be. When I felt that my chest was tight, I meditated, concentrating on the feeling of the air moving in and out of my nose. I found that I could get to a place where I didn't notice anything else, and the tightness would disappear. The acid test came when I went with some friends in their motorhome to a beach north of Santa Barbara. It was cold and wet and raining, and I woke up in the middle of the night with a tight chest. I wasn't in the mood to stumble around the motorhome trying to find my purse and my inhaler in the dark, so I just lay there on my bed, mediatating - turning my thoughts towards feeling the breath going in and out, and the tightness went away. After that, when I felt tightness, I just mentally said "this is BS - my breating is fine", and sure enough, it was. I just had to get past the conditioning, and the fear of being unable to breathe.
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Conditioning/unconscious control of blood flow.
